Guild Wars® is a best-selling massively-multiplayer online fantasy roleplaying game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft Corporation. Initially released in early 2005, it has been followed by two stand-alone chapters (Guild Wars: Factions and Guild Wars: Nightfall) and one expansion pack (Guild Wars: Eye of the North).
Guild Wars is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG); but not in the traditional sense. The product of ArenaNet, players don’t have to worry about boss camping, loot stealing and multiple servers that disallow them from playing with their friends. Thanks to instancing, players can join with up to seven of their friends and adventure in their own personal version of the game.
Guild Wars also differs from other MMORPGs by focusing on skill, rather than wealth or accomplishments. In other online games, the player with the rarest weapon with the highest stats has a distinct advantage over the players who do not. In Guild Wars, it is the player’s skill that defines the player, not what items are in his/her inventory. Everyone who plays Guild Wars, from a new player to a player with thousands of hours logged, can use the same skills and meet on common ground. The dual profession system (a combination of a primary and secondary profession) and 10 different professions offer hundreds of opportunities for game play.
Guild Wars has a deep Player versus Environment (PvE) plot consisting of three campaigns (Prophecies, Factions & Nightfall) and one expansion (Eye of the North). Each campaign offers a distinctly different flavor and play style. You can play through the storyline, explore and achieve titles for your accomplishments.
The Player versus Player (PvP) portion of Guild Wars is also wide open. Players can face off against each other in many different ways. Alliance Battles (from the Factions campaign) offers 12 vs 12 battle where the outcome affects the PvE world. Guild Battles allow guilds to do battle with each other and gain a ranking among other guilds in the game. Finally, the Hall of Heroes is a tournament style competition where players come together to battle their way to fame and fortune by being the last group standing.
Want to know more? Visit the Guild Wars website at http://www.guildwars.com/ or the ArenaNet website at http://www.arena.net/
