When NCsoft released the original in 2005, it promised a revolution in Massively Multiplayer Online games: an online game with no monthly fees and completely standalone expansion packs. With simple gameplay, and endless multiplayer and solo options, the first game gained a devoted following of experienced and new players alike. Exactly one year later, Guild Wars Factions widens the horizons of Guild Wars, almost doubling the size of the world. The expansion pack offers whole new worlds to explore, and it doesn't require Guild Wars to play. Players can explore the new continent of Cantha by traveling from the lands of Tyria or they can travel in Cantha alone--and even those who only own one of the Guild Wars games can invite their friends to join their questing areas and share the game content without forcing each other to buy the other game. 
Cantha's elegant castles house both beauty and intrigue. View larger. |
Exotic new armor sets, faces and hair styles offer even more unique character options to players. View larger. |
Hundreds of new monsters await in 50 new quest areas.View larger. |
Cantha's Warring Factions
The expansion pack adds whole new ways to experience the game: alliances and factions. In Tyria, players banded together in small guilds and warred against each other, but Cantha is a land of much more complicated politics. Guilds can join together in alliances, align themselves with one of Cantha's two warring factions, and battle other alliances to gain and hold territory. The epic Faction Battles can change the face of Cantha in real time, shifting borders and changing the control of entire cities and towns as battles are won and lost. The Battle Isles play host to most of the new Player vs. Player content, providing alliances a huge battlefield to supplement the Tyrian arenas.
Player versus Player combat reaches a new dimension with massive Alliance Battles.View larger. |
Alliances will also have access to two new kinds of missions, Alliance Missions and Elite Missions. Alliance Missions feature multiple teams battling for control over resources and strategic locations, earning faction points for their alliance. The best and most powerful alliances can venture on Elite Missions, which are designed to be the ultimate challenge for even the most experienced teams.
New Player Options
Solo players have not been neglected either, and those who choose to remain separate from alliance and faction politics still have a lot to enjoy in the expansion. Two new professions are available to the denizens of Cantha: the deadly Assassin and dark Ritualist. Assassins wield daggers with fatal precision and can teleport to strike down enemies up close, while Ritualists summon the spirits of the dead to control the battlefield. New faces, hair styles and armor sets give the two new professions their own distinct look, evoking the exotic feel of Cantha. To allow players to experience the new professions without deleting their old characters, four extra character slots will be added to players who have previously existing Guild Wars accounts.
The Assassin emerges from the shadows as a playable profession in Factions. View larger. |
While the level limit has not yet been raised from 20, players who still love the six professions from the core game have not been forgotten. Dozens of new skills are available for the older professions as well. Players have more options than ever before, and the new story missions and quest areas will test their ability to adapt to new styles and situations. Hundreds of all-new weapons, items and pets offer characters a huge amount of customization, and a new mission type will put each player's skill to the test. Challenge missions are cooperative missions with scoring objectives, and NCsoft will post the highest scores and display the rankings in-game, adding a new competitive element to the game that doesn't require direct combat.
NCsoft has taken care to cater to their entire player base with Guild Wars Factions. Team players have new options that range from Braveheart-style mass PvP battles to the online RPG version of organized sporting events. Solo players and lone wolves have plenty of character customization to play with as well as the continuation of the Guild Wars story. Even those who only own Guild Wars Factions or Guild Wars can expand their game experience by sampling the content with players who own the other game, making Factions an expansion in the true sense: it broadens the horizons without being essential to enjoying the complete game.
