As was revealed in GamerNode’s Newly Revealed PC Sequels and Expansions story two weeks ago, NCSoft and ArenaNet are planning to scrap any future chapters for their MMO Guild Wars following the release of Eye of the North. Meanwhile, preliminary work on Guild Wars 2 has begun. Over on Guild Wars Guru, with some help from the latest issue of PC Gamer, more information about both titles has been divulged.
The main reason why ArenaNet is scrapping the chapter formula is because it required the team to continually rehash the GW gameplay, which in turned divided new players. With Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet can spend the extra development time to solely focus on the game without having to worry about creating new professions or pre-level 20 content. A beta for Guild Wars 2 is expected sometime in 2008.
As for Eye of the North, that chapter will be the last for Guild Wars. Its expected release date is holiday 2007 and will require players to own at least one of the previous three chapters. Eye will connect the GW and GW2 storylines, and will be priced less than previous chapters because it doesn’t offer any new professions. It will, however, contain 40 new armor sets, 150 new skills (50 PvE only), and 10 new heroes. The level 20 cap will be extended and the game itself will have 3 acts–the first will contain 18 underground dungeons and the last will have you fighting against the Great Destroyer.
GW2 won’t feature transferable characters from the current game, but through quests from Eye of the North, players will be able to transfer achievements over to the sequel. The game will take place hundreds of years later in Tyria and four playable races are confirmed; Sylvari, Asuras, Charr, and Norn. Changes to the game’s PvP mode, a retooled NPC companion system and possibly a very high (or no) level cap are among the changes in store. Of course, GW2 won’t have any monthly fees and won’t make use of chapters like the original game did, but may have mini- or full expansions. For more information, nab a copy of the May issue of PC Gamer — the forum thread doesn’t contain everything.
