Guild Wars Nightfall Gets Prerelease Bonus Pack

[Liquidize105]

ArenaNet has just announced a bonus prerelease package to preempt the upcoming new installment in the Guild Wars series - Nightfall.

Expect the bonus pack to hit store shelves on Sept. 15 with the following content:


Guild Wars "Play Now" key for a 10-hour/14-day trial* of Guild Wars PropheciesTM and Guild Wars FactionsTM.
Guild Wars Nightfall Bonus Key, providing one additional character slot for a Guild Wars Nightfall account, as well as two exclusive items for the new professions—a Firey Sunspear of Shelter for the Paragon and an Icy Soulbreaker of Enchanting for the Dervish
Mini strategy guide, concept art, screenshots, in-game renders of characters and items, preview trailer, wallpapers, lore, quick reference card, music, and more!

Click here (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?p=361376#post361376) for the full press release.

Here are 7 new screenshots (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15745) for your viewing pleasure!


http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/gwnightfall/thumb.Istan.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/gwnightfall/Istan.jpg)

[Liquidize105]

ArenaNet Announces Prerelease Bonus Pack for Guild Wars Nightfall

Fans to get first taste of next Guild Wars game in new retail package that will include exclusive character items, an additional character slot, screenshots and more


August 1, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) — ArenaNet® and NCsoft® today announced a brand new retail package which will soon give Guild Wars® players their first look inside the exciting upcoming release, Guild Wars NightfallTM. The announcement comes on the heels of the Guild Wars Nightfall PVP Preview Event where players were able to create characters using the new Nightfall professions.

The Guild Wars Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Pack is expected to hit store shelves on September 15 and will feature:

Guild Wars "Play Now" key for a 10-hour/14-day trial* of Guild Wars PropheciesTM and Guild Wars FactionsTM.
Guild Wars Nightfall Bonus Key, providing one additional character slot for a Guild Wars Nightfall account, as well as two exclusive items for the new professions—a Firey Sunspear of Shelter for the Paragon and an Icy Soulbreaker of Enchanting for the Dervish
Mini strategy guide, concept art, screenshots, in-game renders of characters and items, preview trailer, wallpapers, lore, quick reference card, music, and more!
Guild Wars Nightfall takes place on the continent of Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. It is a nation comprised of three great provinces; The island province of Istan is the home of a vibrant people who live among the monuments of an ancient empire. The military province of Kourna, under the command of its great leader, Warmarshal Varesh, hugs the shores of the mighty river Elon. And in the rugged lands to the north, the Princes of Vabbi rule from their opulent citadels. Elona is a land of wealth and power, protected by its champions, the Order of the Sunspears. In Guild Wars Nightfall, Elona has fallen under the shadow of an evil, outcast god. Against the encroaching desolation of an infernal realm, the people of Elona will need more than a hero to save them, they will need a hero to lead them. . .for nightfall is at hand.

Guild Wars, an instant bestseller worldwide upon its release in April 2005, and Guild Wars Factions, the number one game in both North America and Europe earlier this year, are global online roleplaying games. Guild Wars Nightfall continues the tradition of inviting players to immerse themselves in an epic storyline centered in a vibrant fantasy setting, build personalized characters, and find adventure in missions and quests. This a Guild Wars game unlike any players have seen before.


About ArenaNet
ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, Washington, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation. ArenaNet has built a state-of-the-art interactive game network and develops premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. ArenaNet's titles, Guild Wars and Guild Wars Factions, are global online roleplaying games that allow gamers to play with anyone, anytime, and anywhere in the world. More information about ArenaNet can be found at www.arena.net.

About NCsoft Corporation
NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its AAA franchises that include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes®/City of Villains®, Guild Wars/Guild Wars Factions and Auto Assault®. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.plaync.com.

[dena miscreant]

Cool. I didn't play the free weekend... anyone?

[Praetor-Vong]

I thought Guild Wars was a non-subscription based game?

[xcalibur]

There is no subscription fee.


-X

[bitwise]

There's no subscription fee, but they do release new chapters every six months or so. They're separate games, but you can still play with someone who doesn't own a chapter you do.

[Ragman]

preview weekend was nice, additional faction in form of medalions and flames
but the new professions were still a bit unbalanced,
6 Derwish/Monk teams ruled gvg and tombs.

btw it has been confirmed that the +1 character slot from the preorder stacks with the +2 for adding Nightfall to an exsiting account (so chapter 1 + 2 + 3 + preorder= 9 slots)

[CannibalKid]

I generally hate pre-orders, suspect they're scams, and go out of my way by proving retail stores wrong by purchasing games on opening day from stores that do not offer pre-orders, but Arena.net has really been making it worthwhile to do so. The stuff they give you is of actual use (and therefor value), as opposed to stupid doodads or press material, and ingame items are generally of higher usefulness that other game companies ingame bonus stuff that ships with only the Special Edition. I'd much rather have a 5th character slot in GW than a worthless MiniDiablo/Zergling/Panda.

[agentgray]

I wasn't too impressed with the free weekend. I get a feeling that this is primarily going to be a PvP game even more than what Factions was.

This shift in focus by anet to more of a PvP game kind of surprises me because there were a LOT of players playing PvE parts of the game when prophecies was released. I guess there must have been many, many more playing the PvP.

[Ragman]

actually Gaile Gray recently said that after the pvp focus of Factions,
Nightfall will have a pve focus.

[Liquidize105]

Images should all show up now.

[bitwise]

I wasn't too impressed with the free weekend. I get a feeling that this is primarily going to be a PvP game even more than what Factions was.

This shift in focus by anet to more of a PvP game kind of surprises me because there were a LOT of players playing PvE parts of the game when prophecies was released. I guess there must have been many, many more playing the PvP.

The weekend that just passed (where you could play the two new classes) isn't really a good way to judge how Nightfall will be. After all, this past weekend was meant as a beta for all of the new skills that would come with the next chapter. You just don't get the kind of exploitation of broken skills with PvE than you do with PvP, so there was really no other way to do it.

It sounds like chapter 3 will have a lot more stuff to do as far as PvE is concerned, with scriptable henchmen and all.

[TheDevilUno]

How about some Mounts now? HUH GAILE? Explain that one!!

[Deadend]

How about some Mounts now? HUH GAILE? Explain that one!!

shhhhh, be very quiet or else I will be forced to point out how stupid you are.

[TheDevilUno]

shhhhh, be very quiet or else I will be forced to point out how stupid you are.

You Hunting Wabbits?

[Deadend]

Nope, simply put, I don't want to have to point out how mounts are a horrible match for Guild Wars.

But a rabbit hunting minigame would be cool in Guild Wars.

[bitwise]

Nope, simply put, I don't want to have to point out how mounts are a horrible match for Guild Wars.

But a rabbit hunting minigame would be cool in Guild Wars.

i think maybe he was joking around ;)

preview weekend was nice, additional faction in form of medalions and flames
but the new professions were still a bit unbalanced,
6 Derwish/Monk teams ruled gvg and tombs.


As I remember, the Factions classes were a bit overpowered when they were first tried out. I guess that's why you do stuff like this.

[Ajguy]

I rather enjoyed the preview weekend. Since I gave up on WoW and decided I needed a new MMO fix, I've been getting back into my old copy of the original (Prophesies as it's called now), and I've been loving it. I've been on the cusp whether or not I should go for Factions, but the preview weekend taught me a lesson; I need the Dervish! I loved that class. The Dervish/Warrior I made was amazing. And while I expect it to be nerfed, it should still be great. It's nice to see that the pre-order will get me free time with Factions too, so maybe it will convince me to buy that as well.

Is there an Evil Avatar Guild in the game? If not, we should consider one.

[Mason]

Dervishes are crazy strong, but something is only really overpowered in GW if it is difficult or impossible to counter. There are tons of ways to cripple melee attackers, so I could see Dervishes going live in their current form without actually being a major problem, as protection monks, necros, and mesmers can render them useless. That said, they probably should be kept in line with Warriors and Assassins.

[agentgray]

I'll still wait until after the release. Gaile is fine and all but the person is like the Major Nelson of Guild Wars.

Plus, nowhere does it say (that I've found) that it'll have a PvE focus.

Ajguy, yes we do have a (rather inactive) guild.

[Ragman]

Plus, nowhere does it say (that I've found) that it'll have a PvE focus.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6048/log247pag1tx3.jpg
at the very bottom

[bitwise]

Dervishes are crazy strong, but something is only really overpowered in GW if it is difficult or impossible to counter. There are tons of ways to cripple melee attackers, so I could see Dervishes going live in their current form without actually being a major problem, as protection monks, necros, and mesmers can render them useless. That said, they probably should be kept in line with Warriors and Assassins.

Dervishes aren't exactly melee attackers, though. A lot of their damage is done by "blowing up" enchantments placed on them. The enchantments take their effects regardless of the condition of the attacker. So it's not like a blind or crippled Dervish can't still do damage since they don't actually have to hit with their attacks to do anything. That, and they're really hard to kill. In an Alliance Battle, I had 4 people on a single dervish, two of them nukers, and it took 15 seconds for the guy to go down. With a fire and air elem.