Guild Wars: Eye of North dated

By Robert Purchese Published 2 July, 2007

Expansion in late August.

NCsoft has revealed that Guild Wars: Eye of the North will be available on 31st August for GBP 24.99.

It's touted as the first expansion in the series, despite being the third paid-for update. Factions and Nightfall were campaigns, you see, so Eye of the North is the start of a new direction for developer ArenaNet. GET IT RIGHT.

It's all about rewarding the existing fan-base, apparently. The veterans. So, rather than introduce lengthy campaigns designed to ease new players into the fray, ArenaNet can focus on expanding the elements that have kept old-timers loitering around.

So, that means you'll be treated to 18 meaty new dungeons, 150 new skills across all professions, 40 new armour sets, 10 new Heroes, new weapons, new items and titles. Eye of the North will also act as a bridge to Guild Wars 2, allowing you to carry titles and accomplishments over using The Hall of Monuments.

"Guild Wars has one of the most committed and loyal player bases I've ever seen, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North is our way of delivering prized content to veteran players and creating a link to the future of Guild Wars," said Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet.

Eye of the North will continue in the no-fee tradition of the MMO series, so once you've bought the game you won't have to fork-out on subscription costs. It's a method that's proved exceptionally popular, propelling Guild Wars to reach out to more than 3.5 million people worldwide - helped along considerably by the critically acclaimed gameplay.

We recently cornered lead designers Ben Miller and Eric Flannum to talk about Eye of the North, Guild Wars 2, and rewarding loyalty. Head over to our interview to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Benno #1 5 years ago

    please stop expanding this game

    i would prefer a proper sequel with better animations

    the graphics looked so sweet, but the animation of the characters just looked plain crap

    in this respect i liked the presentation of wow a lot more

  • Machetazo #2 5 years ago

    A proper sequel is coming, and what's been written of it, it seems very promising. Eye of the North will put a bookend on GW1, while also linking the two scenarios. I think it's a worthwhile addition to the line; and I'm glad it's going to be out soon. :)

  • tonynibbles #3 5 years ago

    LOL@ Benno please stop expanding this game

    I think you should re-read the bit GET IT RIGHT.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/07 @ 16:12

  • ZuluHero #4 5 years ago

    hmm no news of a CE of this yet? I would love another one to finish off the other 3 i have. Can't wait for this (and GW2) - love GW, can't get enough!

  • login_name #5 5 years ago

    From what I've heard, there is no CE for GW:EN. Just a pre-order pack.

  • FunkyRenegade #6 5 years ago

    I'd rather they just got on with GW2 and got that done quicker rather than expanding GW AGAIN.

  • BrokenSymmetry #7 5 years ago

    This Eurogamer article states "propelling Guild Wars to reach out to more than 3.5 million people worldwide". This seems to be incorrect: the NCSoft press release says "The Guild Wars franchise has sold more than 3.5 million units since the release of the original Guild Wars campaign". As many people will have bought all three campaigns, the number of individuals that have played Guild Wars is probably around 1.5-2 million.

  • Orange #8 5 years ago

    I will buy it and play it. Enjoyed all the others, however I'm not committed enough for GVG and the PVE is boring once you've finished the main quest line.

    Looking forward to a sequel and it does need one, it may be an expansion but it still sounds like more of the same.

  • Skywise #9 5 years ago

    @BrokenSymmetry: I mostly agree with your statements but some accounts get shared by many people to balance this a bit. I got 2 accounts from GW friends who stopped and passed those on to 2 real life friends.

    @ZuluHero: what is your characters name? maybe we could quest a bit later this week :-) My main char is Agni Lebannen

  • ZuluHero #10 5 years ago

    @skywise

    Ooh! My mains are:

    from Proph:Yuna Wildbloom Necro/Mo,
    Factions: Lotus Lightfoot Assassin/Mo
    NightFall: Luna Lightflower Para/Mo

    All lvl 20.

    I'll add you to my friendlist tonight! Im on the US servers though, so we'll have to play through an international district. Its always great to meet new players :)

  • Laurenza #11 5 years ago

    @Benno. I don't really see what was wrong with the character animations. Each prof and gender have their own, unique dances. They also have a spell-casting animation that varies depending on prof and gender, which is also different depending on the length of the spell. It's also nice they went back and added lip syncing to the old campaigns when they introduced it in NF.

    To anyone - I have all the games, but I usually hang around Prophecies. You'll usually find me in Sorrow's Furnace, FoW/UW and Tombs.

    Factions - Laurenza Rendemal - Necro, usually N/Mo MM/Orders, N/Me SS
    Prophecies - Chiara Rendemal - Ranger, usually R/Rt B/P, R/Me Trapper
    Nightfall - Windsong Rendemal - Monk usually Mo/E Healer, Mo/Me Bonder

    Any other female players out there like me?

  • Azazel #12 5 years ago

    oh oh oh!

    Wilfred B Ramble (anyone get that reference?) lvl 20 Warrior - Prophecies
    Az Zazel - Lvl 20 Necro - Prophecies
    Dynaheir X - Lvl 13 - Nightfall

    And some others that are of no real level for nightfall and factions. w00t.
    Must start playing this again.