If you’re still playing Guild Wars addictively, chances are you’ve already completed the game’s various quests and have been focusing entirely on the game’s rich and addictive player-vs-player (PvP) modes. However, what drew many gamers to the game in the first place was its solo playability and rich world, all tied together through a series of entertaining quests (aka player-versus-environment or PvE gameplay). It’s this earlier style of play that’s extended with Guild Wars: Eye of the North, the game’s fourth expansion. There’s not much here for the PVPers, but plenty for PvE players and anyone looking to get a jump on next year’s sequel.

Little Girl Grown Up

Guild Wars gamers may remember a little girl named Gwen who, early on in the game, lost her flute, leading to one of that game’s first fetch quests. Through the course of the game she disappeared, thought to have been killed along with her family during the events of the Searing at Ascalon, an apocalyptic rain of fire from the sky. However, as we learn in this expansion, she escaped to the frozen wastelands north of Ascalon and, having grown up into quite a badass in her own right, is one of the lead characters in Guild Wars: Eye of the North (abbreviated GWEN by the game’s cheeky developers). There she’s looking for revenge against the Charr, the viscous race who brought about the Searing.

The story of this expansion is that earthquakes are rocking the land and you, the player, are tasked with finding their source. In doing so you uncover a new passageway to the north and, before long, you’re sucked into the middle of an extended conflict with a collection of faces and races, some familiar and some new. Among the new are the Asurans; tiny intellectuals with big ears and bigger egos who will apparently be playable in Guild Wars 2. They’re adept spellcasters.

The Norn are also introduced, a mostly friendly race of Nordic-like giants who respect only those who can fight. Experienced Norn can change shape into giant bears and will also apparently be playable in the game’s sequel. The last new addition are the Destroyers, an evil fire-based race like the Charr who seem intent on doing to the Dwarves underground what the Charr did to the humans above. Both of the friendly races has a series of missions surrounding their history and origins players will get to explore, as do the Ebon Vanguard, a new group of human warriors among whom Gwen is a major player.

Gone Questing

New races and groups are one thing but they’re not much good without new lands to explore. Eye of the North includes four, including the icy Far Shiverpeaks to the north of the previous gameplay area, the underground Depths of Tyria, the verdant Charr Homeland to the east, and the Tarnished Coast of the Asura out west. Each of these lands deliver the same sort of detail and quality found in the earlier Guild Wars areas, and each inspires grand thoughts of questing and exploring as you make your way from outpost to outpost. As before you can warp to any town you like, but only after you’ve visited it, meaning you will spend quite a bit of time trudging through snow and grass whether you want to or not.

Thankfully the areas are littered with resurrection points, so should you find yourself overpowered by some of the fierce new opposition that is also wandering about you shouldn’t have too far to back-track. Being overpowered here isn’t unlikely, especially since the level 20 cap that has irritated some serious MMO gamers is still well in effect. Interestingly, 20 is not only the level cap in Eye of the North but is also the minimum you must have achieved in order to access any part of the expansion. So, suffice it to say there shouldn’t be any newbies running around here asking how to dye their armor. As in the other games, it’ll be how well you manage your skills and abilities that will determine your success on the battlefield. With 100 new skills here, there’s a good bit of experimenting to be had.

Additionally, 10 new heroes have been added to mix, non-player characters you can add to your party at will and order around like your main character. You can also turn your character into a bit of a hero at the Hall of Monuments, another nod to the upcoming sequel. Here you can erect and display a sort of shrine to yourself that will stand the test of time, identifying your in-game accomplishments to be transferred forward to a character in Guild Wars 2. By the sounds of it, you won’t be able to recreate your current character in that game. Via the Hall of Monuments, you can unlock special titles for that new character by performing impressive deeds with your current one.

Finally, if you’ve completed all the quests, unlocked all the monuments for your character, and explored all the dungeons. There are still three new mini-games to try. All are basically variations on the standard combat engine that pose special restrictions and challenges. Dwarven Boxing is the first, which asks you to unequip that personalized and enchanted weapon of yours for a set of plain ‘ol brass knuckles, then enter the ring against a series of generally rather stout opponents. Next up is the Norn Fighting Tournament, a ladder-style one-on-one contest that pits you against a series of ever more challenging opponents. Finally, there’s a little game called Polymock. Taking inspiration from Pokemon, you collect game pieces and use them to spawn creatures with special abilities, then control them in battle. None of these mini-games are themselves worth the price of admission, but they are worthwhile diversions offering plenty more to do for those who absolutely must unlock everything.

A Worthy Expansion

Guild Wars: Eye of the North is an enjoyable extension to one of the most solid MMO experiences out there, even if it doesn’t add much for PvP gamers or anything at all for anyone who hasn’t hit level 20 yet in the initial campaign. Everyone else will find hours and hours of fresh PvE gameplay, expansive new lands to explore, and a set of new skills to try on for size. It’s also a bit of a tease for Guild Wars 2. After all the goodness of this version’s various offerings, it’s hard not to look forward to the next installment.

Review by: Tim Stevens
Video Produced by: Mark Fahey