Ancient Orr: Guild Wars 3's Setting

Later Guild Wars games meet Orr after it has gone. Guild Wars 2 visits the formerly sunken ruins of that nation, raised from the ocean floor by the Elder Dragon Zhaitan. Guild Wars 3 winds the clock back more than a thousand years and lets players stand in Orr while the kingdom is alive.

The era

The June setting diary places the game on the continent of Orr, over a thousand years before Guild Wars Reforged, in the period before the human gods left this world. It is an origin story for the franchise: before the First Guild War, with hostilities between rival guilds rising and the Order of the Vael on the back foot. The former God of Death has been recently usurped.

The Vaelwardens diary calls this the Orrian golden age. Magic blooms through the wilds. The Elder Dragons' slumber is at its deepest. Humanity is young here. The humans spotlight says the Six Gods brought humans to Tyria more than seven hundred years before the game's present, and that Cantha, Elona, and Ascalon already stand. The gods are present. Floating Arah is their high city.

Signets enter mortal hands in this era as a gift: Melandru and Dwayna gave the early Vaelwardens the craft to create and refine them.

What later games already know, and what they do not name here

The setting diary points veterans at threads that start in this Orr: the charr invasion and a mysterious vizier in Guild Wars Reforged, the sunken ruins Zhaitan raised in Guild Wars 2, the disappearance of the human gods, the rise of Grenth and the fall of Dhuum, and Abaddon's arc in Guild Wars: Nightfall. Those are named as mysteries that arise from Orr before the Exodus, not as events the new game has dramatized.

The humans spotlight is blunter about the kingdom's future: Orr's great collapse comes over a thousand years after this present. At the game's own point on the timeline, Orr stands. Reading dramatic irony out of that gap is a reading of those sentences.

How the games are supposed to touch

The philosophy post commits to a new Hall of Monuments that connects a Guild Wars 2 account to a Guild Wars 3 account. Continuity already on the page includes the Order of the Vael and Grenth's succession as fresh history in this era rather than ancient backstory. Playable kodan and asura belong to this golden age as revealed species, not as a later-game map promise.

Why this setting, in the diaries' own terms

The setting diary says a game after Guild Wars 2's timeline would collide with the plan to keep telling Guild Wars 2 stories. Starting in Orr lets the studio stay with one region and tell a closer story: a guild trying to find its place. New players do not need a previous Guild Wars game to understand the present.

The humans spotlight puts the tension on the ground. Mavenwrights look at Orr's magic and see progress built with human hands. The Vaelwardens are there to protect the Vael and the wilds that magic made.

FAQ

Where does Guild Wars 3 take place?

On the continent of Orr, more than a thousand years before the original Guild Wars and Guild Wars Reforged, while the kingdom is alive.

Is Guild Wars 3 before or after Guild Wars 2?

More than a thousand years before both. It is a prequel.

Are the Six Gods in Guild Wars 3?

The setting is the era before the gods left Tyria, with Arah as their high city. How directly players will meet them is unrevealed.

Does Orr fall during Guild Wars 3?

The humans spotlight places Orr's great collapse more than a thousand years after this present. At the game's own date, Orr thrives. Whether the story ever reaches that later fall is unrevealed.

Are the Elder Dragons in Guild Wars 3?

They exist. The Vaelwardens diary puts their slumber at its deepest in this era. The named opening conflict is the Mavenwrights.