Hands-On, e307, guild wars: eye of the north, ncsoft

Guild Wars: Eye of the North

With almost four million copies sold across the original game and its two expansions, Guild Wars is doing just fine as a franchise.

With Eye of the North, the final expansion before next year's Guild Wars 2, NCSoft aims to both bridge the gap between the old and new games while giving the dedicated Guild Wars players something to sink their (sword's) teeth into over the next year.

Guild Wars 2 will feature multiple races for characters instead of just humans. All three are introduced in Eye of the North as hero companions. Consider the mish-mash of influences that form Guild Wars's backstory, it doesn't feel that strange to suddenly have friendy cat warriors, goblins, and elves appear in the world.

Most of the content in Eye of the North are inspired by traditional pen-and-paper dungeon crawls, which may be something new to Guild Wars, but won't likely entice too many other genre fans into the fold. A new "battle music engine"—I'm not quite sure if that should be capitalized or not—will change the ambient soundtrack depending on how well—or how poorly—you're doing in the fight.

The new "Hall of Monuments," once discovered, will let you memorialize your achievements from past Guild Wars games. When Guild Wars 2 arrives, each achievement will garner you unlockables in the sequel, although in the interest of fairness none of the new gear will be too overpowered.

Although you'll barely see them in game—and then only as loading screens—the concept art for Guild Wars: Eye of the North is really great stuff. Paintings mostly. They'll be on display at a special gallery at this year's PAX.
Joel Johnson

1:00 PM on Sat Jul 14 2007
3,158 views
25 comments

Comments

LORDofDANCE at 01:06 PM on 07/14/07
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The first and final expansion.
RavenGT at 01:14 PM on 07/14/07
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It's been bothering me how all the editors and journalists are calling the previous games "expansions" and saying that EotN is the final one. Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall were seperate campaigns, and Eye of the North will be the first and final expansion of the series before Guild Wars 2. Ain't a hard concept :/
utorrent at 01:14 PM on 07/14/07
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Hmm.. Now that sony and NCSoft are buddy buddy, what does anyone think of the chances are of Guild Wars 2 coming to PS3?

That would be absolutley amazing. Considering GW is totaly free with no subscription costs and it still is better than most MMORPGS I can emagine GW2 being very nice. Specially on a PS3/PC link.

Thoughts from anyone?
Lost_Fable at 01:16 PM on 07/14/07
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I'm looking forward to all the new armors which look really good in Guild Wars. Can't wait to buy my ritualist new 15k armor. I also always preferred the more linear dungeonny levels in Guild Wars, they were always more fun to play in with a party.
alucard_0007 at 01:17 PM on 07/14/07
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@utorrent:

doubtful. It'd be the same thing with why MS doesn't want to mingle their xbox/PC installments because it would give unfair advantages
Rukusa at 01:26 PM on 07/14/07
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Coming soon for PS3 (does his happy dance) :P
Kemuri at 01:28 PM on 07/14/07
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I recently bought Guild Wars: NightFall and now I'm hooked on teh game. I'll defiantly will be buying this expansion.
utorrent at 01:34 PM on 07/14/07
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@alucard_0007:
I dont think that applys to sony.
Microsoft cant do it since Live is a seperate entity that hard to connect to PCs more than PS3s which are very similar to PCs since your connecting to the devs servers. Also it aint good for Microsoft cuz they wanna push 360 hardware first the PC live Second. Sony dont have a big stake on PCs so its benificial for them to bring all they can to PS3. And Guild Wars 2 on PS3? That would be huge for Sony, Next to WoW Guild Wars is the next big thing.

So I have hope it will come to PS3, but dunno bout the chances.. God I hope so.
utorrent at 01:37 PM on 07/14/07
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@alucard_0007: Also there cant be unfair advantage on a MMORPGs since you cant really mod the online stuff.
If it wasnt an MMORPG then yea, unfair advantage does apply
alucard_0007 at 01:54 PM on 07/14/07
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@utorrent:

I don't know, I just think that having played Guild Wars it's really keyboard/mouse intensive and that would practically make the consumer buy the extra hardware and you can't really assign button commands because everyone plays differently. Now if Sony would impliment that little controller keyboard add-on that MS has then I would feel better about it. Even if it was on the PS3 I'd get the PC version anyway because that just seems more comfortable. And you really have to remember that alot of times how fast you do something determines whether you live or die. Plus all the new features haven't been unveiled yet and that could play a huge role. Last I heard was that GW2 will be a huge improvement because the player will be able to react to their environment more with like slide and jump commands outside encampments/outposts. Now whether or not that's changed I can't say. Might be something to bring up with Gail Grey next time. I'm not saying it's not possible on the PS3, but for all intents and purposes it would be better left to the PC
WinterSnowblind at 02:12 PM on 07/14/07
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@utorrent: Guild Wars 2 IS an MMO, and considering it's still completely free, the cost for keeping it running is going to be insane. I don't see Sony going for that. At least Microsoft have the $50 Live fee to keep things going.

Also, they said they were creating exclusive games for the PS3, I don't see Guild Wars happening.

More on topic though, Eye of the North is looking fantastic. I've made a boat load of money from the recent festival, I plan on putting it towards some of the new armour added in this.
Volturi at 02:14 PM on 07/14/07
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@utorrent:
As Alucard said, Guild Wars is far too keyboard/mouse intensive to ever successfully survive the transition to a console market.

Unless we're suggesting it be on the PS3 and... be played with a keyboard and mouse...? This kind of transition, however, would make the entire idea a moot point so I'm not sure where this could be going.

Bottom line, I don't feel that a PC -> PS3 transition would be pretty for Guild Wars in general.
alb1221 at 02:35 PM on 07/14/07
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all it would take is a simple ui retuning and you could add decent console functionality, see FFXI online for an example
RevDenton at 03:26 PM on 07/14/07
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ArenaNet has such an amazing art department. Their concept pieces are full fledged works of art. I'm always excited to see what they come up with next, and GW:EN is no exception. Bring on the new elite armors!
utorrent at 03:35 PM on 07/14/07
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@alucard_0007: @Volturi: @WinterSnowblind:
Great points! Thanx for sharing your views and yeah, I guess your right.

*Sigh* I can dream tho...
justhesh at 06:46 PM on 07/14/07
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@RavenGT:

Prophecies is the only whole game. Factions and Nightfall are meant to be used in conjunction with Prophecies and eachother, despite being able to play them seperately. GWEN is the first expansion that requires another game, but Factions and Nightfall are still meant to be used to expand on Prophecies.

@Volturi:

Actually, it would be fairly easy to bring Guild Wars to a console. You are only able to equip 8 skills at a time, which could easily be mapped to the buttons, d-pad, or shoulders. The only other controls would be character and camera movement, target selection, and general purpose actions like attack/accept and menus.
RavenGT at 10:53 PM on 07/14/07
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@justhesh:
Guild Wars is a very reflex based game when it comes to some of the roles you play in the game (such as interrupting), and even though it's 'possible' to execute on a console, it wouldn't be very fun to play. Also, I know that Prophecies is the grand daddy of the Guild Wars franchise while the other two are just kind of tacked onto the original, but I'm speaking from a technical standpoint. Each of them are technically standalone games/campaigns, although I understand your perspective on this.
Volturi at 11:05 PM on 07/14/07
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@justhesh:

Maybe I'm just a keyboard whore with the game. :p With bind keys for choosing 1-8 (Or was it 12 in elite missions?) members in your party, quest bind keys, enemy bind keys, and the like a port would only please (IMO) someone who has never played Guild Wars before or someone who used the mouse to point and click more than the keyboard. As it is, that's a lot of keys to be mapping to one controller.

I just feel game play would be lacking a certain ... something in an console, though I can't quite find the best way to sum it up.

In any case, all of the GW games are designed work in conjunction with each other despite remaining very much unique. Its the selling point to buy three, not just one. However ultimately they are all "whole" games (if we're going by content alone) which can easily be played stand-alone... albeit, getting back to the selling point, the games are easier if you have the other two. Each game does have a unique storyline despite meshing with the other two, and each can be accepted as its own game. It only serves to further your understanding of the world in which Guild Wars is set to play the other two.

Buuuut... that's just my take on the matter. Bottom line is that GW:EN looks to be a nice expansion to tie loose ends together from all three campaigns and offer some more content before a transition to GW2 occurs. Time to finish up those titles. ;)
godot at 05:04 AM on 07/15/07
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@justhesh:
Factions and Nightfall are just as much fully independent, standalone chapters as Prophesies is. In fact, Prophesies is the only chapter that does not offer two unique professions in addition to the game's six core professions.
Rayzak at 08:28 AM on 07/15/07
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Yippy! More drop grinding!

I'll take a living human vagina, thank you.
psxndc at 09:58 AM on 07/15/07
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@Rayzak: Have you even played Guild Wars? Items mean generally squat in it which is what sets it apart from WoW et al. It's about what 8 skills you equip and how you use them. As a result, those of use that play Guild Wars have plenty of time for LHV because we aren't grinding for hours and hours trying to get the level cap.

You fail as a troll.

-p-
Captiosus at 12:15 PM on 07/15/07
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GW was, and still is, a POS excuse of an MMO. Sorry if that inflames the fanboy base, but it's true. It was real fun (/sarcasm) trying to explain to my friends who picked up Prophesies that level 20 was the cap, and then they had to "ascend" and that, really, was the midway point of the game.

Guilds in the game are pathetic at best and generally didn't help you progress because once people in the guild had gone through the various story instances, they never went back except on alts. This left you standing around yelling LFG for hours on end, especially in Prophesies at the ascension missions, because henchmen, which were a nice addition, just don't cut it for those missions.

Almost everyone I know who played GW quit after Factions. A few made it to Nightfall and then quit. They all went to other MMOs which kept their interest better and didn't make a bogus level cap that pretty much ceased character progression halfway through the game.

I'll give them props on one major thing I wish other MMOs would pickup on: Overworld as an instance. Being able to determine who you take with you into the overworld and not have to deal with idiots milling about was probably the game's biggest strength.
WinterSnowblind at 02:58 PM on 07/15/07
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Wow you totally missed the point of Guild Wars. The level cap is low so that it's easy to reach, the game doesn't really begin until you hit 20. It keeps everyone balanced. Instead of it being "whoever spends the most time grinding wins" it comes down to individual skill, and how well you can co-ordiniate in a group.

And yes, it was difficult to find a party for certain missions, but that's why Heroes were added. (Customisable henchmen) The entire game can be completed using them alone, and in most cases are better than actual humans. Even then, it's entirely possible to finish all three games with nothing but henchmen if you're good enough.

It sounds like you're just mad because you found the game too difficult. In my opinion, these things are exactly what makes Guild Wars great. It's about skill, not hours spent playing.
godot at 09:18 AM on 07/16/07
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@Rayzak: Perhaps you wish to appear discerning, but for most of us "living" and "human" is understood. ;)
alu at 02:23 PM on 07/16/07
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i enjoyed GW but stopped playing half way through factions. i got tired of trying to find a competent group of players to quest with. i just dont have the patience anymore for shit like that, and end up playing an online FPS for instant gratification.

spamming LFG for an hour isn't fun. and i guess i don't know enough people to find an active and cool guild.