After its existence has been accidentally leaked multiple times now, Guild Wars 2's second expansion Path of Fire has finally and officially been announced. It will bring with it the Crystal Desert and the adjoining kingdom of Elona as fully exploitable and rather massive zones, the Human god of war Balthazar as the main adversary, mounts that all come with unique effects and abilities, as well as nine new elite specializations - one for each of the current classes.

If you're wondering what all of this might look like in gameplay terms, wonder no more as ArenaNet released an extremely detailed video going over pretty much every feature. The entire video is about 22 minutes long, and if you're even remotely interested in Guild Wars 2 I would suggest you give it a look as its quite fascinating. Here you go:

For those of you that prefer the written word, however, you'll find a few more details over at the official website. As for the release date, you can expect to see Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire this September 22nd. In other words, there will be no pointless waiting and over-hyping like what we had to endure with Heart of Thorns!

To further emphasis just how much they've learned from their previous mistakes ArenaNet has also announced a free PvE preview event for the Path of Fire expansion. Whether you're a veteran player with multiple legendary items or a complete beginner that only just jumped into the free-to-play version, you'll be able to test out Path of Fire's PvE content from Friday, August 11th through Sunday, August 13th. Now that is how you build confidence in an expansion! And finally, since I can offer you very little else until the free weekend comes around, allow me to send you off with a couple of images: