DESCRIPTION

The "Platinum Edition" package of Guild Wars includes both the "Game of the Year" edition of the original Guild Wars and its high-level add-on expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Guild Wars players go online to take the roles of wizards and warriors in a medieval fantasy world, where they 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"). Guild Wars: Eye of the North (or "GWEN," as it is unofficially known to some players who remember the little girl featured in the original game's very first quest) is an expansion pack for level-capped characters seeking new player-versus-environment (PvE) challenges. Level 20 characters return to the game's starting continent to face a new series of quests, involving new races and an old enemy — the Charr. The expansion adds no new classes or character types, but it does include 150 new skills, 50 of which are intended for PvE adventure exclusively. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide