Guild Wars Nightfall unveiled

By Tom Bramwell Published 18 July, 2006

Beta event soon. Plus: loads of info on Dervish and Paragon professions.

Guild Wars Nightfall is the name of the next game in the Guild Wars series, developer ArenaNet revealed today.

What's more, it's already heading into beta-testing, with a worldwide first-look PvP event scheduled between July 28th and 31st.

The PvP Preview Event will give both Guild Wars Prophecies (the original game) and Guild Wars Factions players a chance to try out the two new professions, amongst other things.

Those are the Dervish, a scythe-wielding holy warrior, and the Paragon, a guardian angel of the Elonian people.

Dervish can channel divine powers, apparently, temporarily becoming the physical embodiment of a god - which is obviously a bit handy in the thick of battle.

That's where you'll likely find them most effective too, as they can swing their scythes to attack multiple enemies at once, and also have a variety of combat-related enchantments and inherent healing and protection abilities suitable to their role.

The Dervish garb - a nod to their dual-role of priest and warrior - isn't particularly well armoured, but agility and enchantments that make them resistant to injury, turn aside enemy-attacks and infuse their own with elemental power make up for any wardrobe weakness.

Meanwhile, the Paragon are seen as brilliant battle commanders, with a shield and throwing spears, able to empower themselves and allies with verbal chants and shouts. They can also resist hexes and conditions, and strut around in ornate armour with an angelic motif - usually wings engraved onto the metal plates.

Their role as guardian angels of the Elonian people means they serve the land's champions against malevolent threats, having been propelled to paragon status by a near-death experience in early life, which they put down to the gods themselves. As a result, they live to serve.

And in the case of the PvP Event, that which they serve will be pain. Oh yes.

As well as getting comfortable with the Dervish and Paragon, then, you'll also be able to compete for items that can be exchanged for rewards throughout the weekend, which kicks off at 8AM BST / 9AM CET on Friday, July 28 and concludes at 7.59 BST/ 8.59 CET on Monday 31st.

We'll bring you more on Guild Wars Nightfall in the near future.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • Eraser #1 6 years ago

    GW is reaching that point where it's all becoming a bit much

  • alimokrane #2 6 years ago

    Another expansion already ? well I guess that makes sense, since they have no player subscription fees (unlike world of warcraft) then they have to make an expansion every six months to get the money they spent running servers back. not complaining of course!
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 15:42

  • WriterUK #3 6 years ago

    It's not an expansion... it's a standalone game. You don't need Guild Wars or Guild Wars Factions to play.

    If you do own those two, you get access to lots more content, of course. :)

  • reality_cheque #4 6 years ago

    I missed Factions, but this sounds nice - I'm definitely looking forward to playing as a paragon :D

    Hmm, Pa/Mo perhaps?

  • alimokrane #5 6 years ago

    @ WriterUK

    but as I understand what Factions added to the table was just two professions and another place (a continent or something) to play in so isnt this considered as an expansion especially since the retailed package includes Guild Wars as well as Guild Wars Factions for 29.99 .... I probably just dont get it.... LOL
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 16:00

  • optimusprym8 #6 6 years ago

    You still have to buy each release individually AFAIK. Am looking forward to this release, Factions added so much more, can't wait to see what else they have planned :) Oh happy day

  • Fallen_Angel #7 6 years ago

    @alimokrane

    Kinda right there. The games are completely standalone in that you don't need Prophecies (The first one) to play Factions, BUT you don't get any of the Prophecies quest line or ability to travel to that continent in Factions and vice versa (Plus you're missing the new classes). This also (annoying) means you cant have Prophecies and play with mates who have Factions (Although I THINK you can still talk to them)

  • jlaakso #8 6 years ago

    Cool. I just won Factions and was wondering whether the game was still running along nicely or on its last legs, perhaps. If I end up playing it, it'll be the first new retail PC game I've really played since... um... Icewind Dale II, unless I'm mistaken.

    You can buy either Factions or the new expansion to begin playing GW, but if you've been along since the original release, you'll need the same packages anyway to get the new content. It's not that difficult; the same deal for everyone.

    But first! A PC upgrade is in order.

  • riz23 #9 6 years ago

    Great news. Anet always said they intended to release GW expansions, add-ons, further games, what-you-will in regular 6 monthish (Some great english there!) instalments. It's just taken them a while to get to that point. Paragons sound good, I like the idea of chucking spears. If you've never played GW get Prophecies(The original GW) first, it's got a great story line and leads you into the strategy of the game much better than Factions. I just hope they provide some more Character slots with Nightfall, I'm already full up.

  • reality_cheque #10 6 years ago

    Factions is still going - the only difference a new expansion makes is you'll find a load of players migrate over to the new game - but almost everyone keeps their characters to play with their friends who don't have the new one.

    The only thing I'm not sure about is if you get the 6 basic classes from the first game with each expansion - I've never had just the expansion installed. Can anyone clear that up for me?

  • Raziel #11 6 years ago

    Yes, you do get to keep the 6 core classes and their "Core Skills".
    The Core skills are basicly about 2/3 of the skills you had in chapter one, filled with 1/3 of the current chapter. But if you own both, or all 3 chapters, you get acces to all of them, allowing for further and better skill combo's.