Complete Vista Guide to Queensdale

One of the joys of Guild Wars 2 is exploring the vast world of Tyria. As you travel throughout the various zones of Guild Wars 2, you'll find various rewards for your efforts. One benefit of exploring Tyria is to interact with the Vistas found in every zone.

A vista in Guild Wars 2 is an interactive object that takes the form of a scroll hovering in the air within a pillar of light. When a player interacts with the vista by hitting [F] when adjacent to the scroll, the player is rewarded with a cinematic cutscene that shows the surrounding area. These cutscenes have lush graphics that are definitely pleasing to the eye. Some vistas can easily interacted with by simply walking up to them, whilst others require a jumping puzzle to reach them.

Besides the eye-candy of the cutscene itself, there are definite rewards for finding and interacting with vistas. They count towards the completion of both world and area. You also gain xp by interacting with them. While vistas are not earth-shattering in their impact, they are a nice little reward for exploring.

Queensdale, the human starting zone, has a total of nine vistas for the player to find and interact with. You can see the number of vistas in a zone during the loading screen or at any time in the map legend for that area.. A vista is identified on maps (you open a map by hitting the [M] key) with two red triangles.

Indicates a vista that has not been discovered

Indicates a vista that has been discovered

Vista #1 - Shaemoor Garrison

The first vista in Queensdale is found in Shaemoor Garrison once the player has run through the introductory tutorial. This vista is easily reached by running up the ramp to the second story of the garrison and walking out on the balcony where the vista is located.

Vista #2 - Western Divinity Dam

The second vista in Queensdale for the player to interact with is found at the Western Divinity Dam. This vista requires a bit of jumping as it is found on the uppermost level. To get to this vista, you have to jump to the platform with the boxes. Then by jumping from the lowest box to the highest, you'll jump to the wooden planks attached to the platform that has the vista on it. Once on the final platform, just run up to the vista and interact.

Vista #3 - Dalin's Pumping Station

Vista number three in Queensdale is found at Dalin's Pumping Station on top of one of the massive pipes coming from the station. This vista is easy to get to as all you have to do is run on top of the pipe from the pumping station. However, don't run too far as the vista is perched on the edge of a deep drop-off. If you run off the end of the pipe, you will plummet to your doom.

Vista #4 - Bandithaunt Caverns

The vista found in Bandithaunt Caverns in Queensdale is the most difficult one to reach. While there is no jumping puzzle involved to reach the vista, there are a lot of bandits defending the area, including a bandit lieutenant that requires a group to kill. Once you've dealt with all the bandits, then you can safely interact with the vista.

Vista #5 - Altar's Windings

The fifth vista in Queensdale is found at Altar's Windings, which is on the far west of the zone. This one requires no special effort to reach except for the occasional combat with harpies as you run up the hill to reach it. This vista is a convenient spot to start from to reach the skill challenge location on the south end of Pinion Trail by heading north through the cave.

Vista #6 - Clayent Falls

The vista found at Clayent Falls is on top of a house on the east side of the lake. To reach the vista, you'll have to jump up the boxes stacked on the side of the house onto one of the wooden beams sticking out of the side of the house. From the top beam, jump onto the roof and you'll then be able to view the vista.

Vista #7 - Shire of Beetletun

The seventh vista in Queensdale is located in the Shire of Beetletun. This is another vista to reach and interact with. All you have to do is run inside the wall of the town, turn right, and then run up to the vista. Easy peasy.

Vista #8 - Krytan Freeholds

The eight vista in Queensdale is located in the Krytan Freeholds and lies northwest of the Eldvin Monastery. To reach this vista, all you have to do is run up the hill to it and then interact.

Vista #9 - Godslost Swamp

The final vista found in Queensdale is located in the Godslost Swamp. The vista is located on the very top of an island in the swamp. The quickest way to get to the vista is to run up from the southwest corner of the island. You'll have to do one tiny jump to get up from the water to the surface of the island. From there, you just continue running up the island to you reach the top and the vista.

There you have it, my fellow travelers, a complete guide to the vistas found in Queensdale. Most of the vistas in this zone are easily reached while a few require some jumping around to get to. I think the effort is definitely worth it as I greatly enjoy the nice little cinematic cutscene that you are rewarded with. It's like sprinkles on your cake.