DESCRIPTION

The "Platinum Edition" package of Guild Wars: Factions includes the "Game of the Year" edition of the original Guild Wars and its stand-alone expansion, Guild Wars: Factions.

Guild Wars players go online to take the roles of wizards and warriors in a medieval fantasy world, where they'll battle and adventure on their own, cooperatively, or — as the title suggests — in guild warfare against teams of other players. The game world is home to a once-proud kingdom, which has recently been overrun by the forces of evil and chaos. Available player professions include warriors, rangers, monks, mesmers, elementalists, and necromancers, and players are encouraged to choose a combination of any two professions for each character they play.

Guild Wars features common world areas, such as towns and outposts, where all players can gather and meet, but the game is particularly mission-based. When players embark on a quest, alone or in a small party, an "instanced" private area of the game world is created for them, and nearly all of the real adventuring takes place in these exclusive territories. More similar to the multiplayer structure of games like Diablo or Dungeon Siege than conventional "massively multiplayer online role-playing games" (or "MMORPGs"), the developers refer to Guild Wars as a "competitive online role-playing game" (or "CORPG").

Factions introduces brave gamers to the continent of Cantha, an Asian-inspired land where large parties of allied wizards and warriors do battle for glory and territory. Expanding on the guild structure set in the original game, Factions features four new mission types, which encourage large groups of players to form alliances, in order to complete challenging quests and to wage war against other player groups for control of strategically valuable towns and outposts. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide