Guild Wars gets a real April Fools’ patch with a new dungeon, hero, and CRT-style mode

ArenaNet pushed out an actual April 1 update for the original Guild Wars, and it’s more than a joke patch. The update adds a new pre-Searing dungeon in Reforged Mode, turns Devona into a recruitable hero, and includes a few quality-of-life changes players can use right away.

According to the patch notes, Devona can now be added to your party by speaking to her in Lion’s Arch or by finishing the new pre-Searing dungeon in Reforged Mode. To access that dungeon, players need to be in Reforged Mode, complete Bastion in the North, reach Piken Square, and talk to Mullenix. ArenaNet also says a post-Searing version is planned for a future update.

The patch adds two handy inventory features too: a hotkey to identify all unidentified items, and a storage button that sends all crafting materials into storage. There’s also a small balance tweak for Smiter’s Boon and a batch of new pet rewards.

Yes, there’s still some April Fools stuff in here. A new graphics option called Nostalgia Mode gives the game a CRT-style 800×600 look. On April 1, it also changes the login logo to “Guild Wars Deforged.” The visual mode is sticking around after the event, but the altered logo screen won’t.

Guild Wars doesn’t get headline-grabbing updates very often at this point, which makes this one stand out a bit. It’s a small patch overall, but for longtime players, a new dungeon and another hero are pretty substantial additions for a 20-year-old MMO.