Guild Wars expansion, sequel announced

by Ross Miller { Mar 27th 2007 at 6:53PM }

NCSoft subsidiary ArenaNet has announced two new Guild Wars titles: a full-blown sequel and an expansion for the original that serves to bridge the full games together. Guild Wars 2 will follow in its predecessor's footsteps by foregoing a subscription fee but feature a fully persistent world. Little else is known; the current planned release date is second half 2008.

An expansion for the original Guild Wars was also announced. Entitled Eye of the North, the expansion will unlock exclusive items and weapons in Guild Wars 2 for those who continue with the series. In the meantime, Eye of the North will feature more of everything, including weapons, titles, items, armor sets, 18 dungeons, 10 new heroes, and 150 new skills spread across the ten professions. The expansion is planned for a holiday 2007 release.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Tags: arena net, ArenaNet, eye of the north, EyeOfTheNorth, guild wars, GuildWars, nc soft, NcSoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

dark @ Mar 27th 2007 6:59PM

Was the original worth it?

hvnlysoldr @ Mar 27th 2007 7:02PM

Two words. FREE SUBSCRIPTION

Jonathan Tran @ Mar 27th 2007 8:38PM

HELL YEAH it was worth it.

And for all the crying WoWers that say "but you can't jump"

1. In GW2 you CAN
2. In WoW you can't dodge arrows so QQ some more

Also, I heard some rumors that GW2 might also come to consoles.

This is going to be the best MMO ever... great PvP, no ganking, no ninja looting, no fees

WoW players: just think, by the time this game comes out.. YOU WILL HAVE SPENT MORE THAN $500 on WoW.... ouch

Scott @ Mar 27th 2007 7:32PM

is $.50 a day for an mmo really that expensive?

Ken @ Mar 27th 2007 7:47PM

Sure its a "free subscription" but if you have to buy expansions every year, it doesn't become so free anymore.

Plus I'd rather pay for a quality game (yes, I said it... Guild Wars lacks alot of quality) than play a free shitty game.

Slaziman @ Mar 27th 2007 8:05PM

Gah... and I just bought Nightfall and Factions...

The PvP in Guild Wars is addicting as crack

Slaziman @ Mar 27th 2007 8:05PM

Gah... and I just bought Nightfall and Factions...

The PvP in Guild Wars is addicting as crack

SparhawkJC @ Mar 27th 2007 8:06PM

The original started out very good, however the latest chapters have caused many in the community to lose faith in Arenanet. As of now you have PvP, the main focus of the game very unbalanced with many of the best players leaving to play other games. The single-player experience, while entertaining in its own right, wasn't as deep or immersive as people expected from an MMO.

They did certain things that were very awesome.
-Low level cap and no permanent attribute and skill selections. Allowing for you to try different things without having to roll a new character.
-Instanced play
-Gorgeous graphics that can even run on low-end rigs.
-A great vision for competitive PvP that ultimately couldn't be realized.
-Oh, and NO MONTHLY FEES

Also to put things in perspective, I've put in over 3000 hours over 22 months into Guild Wars. It only took a 10 day trial period to convince me to switch over to WoW. As computer RPG it's very good, but pretty sub-par when you compare it to MMORPGs for PvE or competative PvP games such as Counterstrike and Starcraft for PvP.

Ben @ Mar 27th 2007 9:14PM

It won't be fully persitent. There will be instanced areas in the game.

Lonin @ Mar 27th 2007 9:37PM

Actually, a lot more information is known about Guild Wars 2.

According to PCGamer (who has a 14-page writeup about both GW2 and Eye of the North) Guild Wars 2 will take place hundreds of years after the events in the current Guild Wars campaigns. It will also have a completely retooled control scheme (including jumping), ditching the current iteration's point-and-click system. The game is planned to have a level cap of at least 100, or possible no level cap at all. A fully featured sidekick system is planned in addition to a retooled NPC companion system.

The graphics engine will be a drastically reworked version of the current Guild Wars engine. Changes include higher resolution textures, a higher resolution terrain engine, more per-pixel lighting, a substantially higher polygon count, more post-processing effects, a fully 3D pathing and collision engine and, as already mentioned, support for a persistent world.

Guild Wars 2 will still feature instancing along with the persistent world though, inlcuding a new "event" system that encompasses entire regions. There will be at least 4 new races to play including the Sylvari, and elf-like nature-loving race. The Asuras, a somewhat rabbit-esque race of underground dwellers that have personalities and characteristics similar to gnomes of other fantasy games. The Charr, which should be familiar to current Guild Wars fans. And the Norn, a race of half-giant shapeshifters in touch with their bestial sides.

Finally, the PvP and server system will be totally new. First, the server system will allow players to transfer to any "world" they want, and the worlds won't have any geographical restriction (like North America, Asia, etc). Loyalty to one world has its advantages though as there can be world vs. world PvP in inter-world battlegrounds called the Mists. Up to three worlds at a time can battle at a single time in a giant game similar to capture the flag.

So... Suffice to say, there's a lot more to Guild Wars 2 than Joystiq originally posted.