GW: Nightfall Beta Review

[Tami]

Over the past weekend (as all of the GW players here know) we were treated to a beta preview weekend for Guild Wars: Nightfall which is due on store shelves October 27.

Allowing for the expected glitches, disconnects and unbalanced skills, Nightfall is very impressive. Arenanet's design team have developed a Guild Wars chapter that will undoubtedly surge to the top of the sales charts and remain there for quite some time.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful. We were able to visit all types of terrain from swamps to low mountains, grassy plains to jungles, and of course deltas and the ocean shore. The details in the textures and terrain add so much to the feel of the game, and after the somewhat cramped quarters of Cantha, it was like going on a massive safari.

The First City, which is full of Indiana Jones-like traps was alot of fun to do quests in and just explore. Vercz and I were very happy that we got to kill the annoying Darehk, though.

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I spent the weekend playing the new Paragon profession. While I am not used to playing characters which depend more on adrenalin than casting energy, I was impressed and will undoubtedly end up keeping this new character and developing her further.

My Paragon, following my "tradition" of starting my character's names with the letter A, and using a variation on my old SCA character name for her second name, started the game with my usual green-dyed armour.

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There are so many new features in Nightfall, as well as changes to some of the standard features in the game. The new portals are much nicer than the standard shimmering fog. These portals are much more "Stargate" in appearance and add a nice new sparkle to the environment.

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So far, most of the Istani area is explorable and as a GW Cartographer, I truly hope it remains thus when the full game is released. There were an abundance of outposts and towns to venture into; hopefully the Elonian mainland will also be as explorable.

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I noticed in a few places on the map, when going through at least two portals to new maps you were zapped further along the path, almost like there was a hidden town which hadn't been added for the beta event. Perhaps the developers didn't want us to be able to see all of the new towns which will be on the island in the final version.

While many people didn't like the "locked gates" in Factions, ArenaNet included some in Nightfall. I like these locked gates, as they force the players to level up their characters to move forward in the game and get through the locked gates and access more quests. This will perhaps prevent some of the game running and low level characters in the more advanced areas of the maps.

There were an abundance of quests to do, which I particularly enjoy doing. ArenaNet has also used a combination of mission types. Some are timed like the Factions missions, and some are of the Prophecies style - another feature which I liked. I also noticed that some quests have their difficulty level noted in the quest text such as Difficulty: Masters.

It was good to see the continuation of pop-culture inclusions in the game as well as the NPC humour that was present in Prophecies and Factions. These are not only fun to find, they keep you paying attention to the textual parts of the game. Many clues about "events" are also to be found in the quest text and by speaking with various NPCs. Some of these "events" appear to also be taking place in Tyria and Cantha, so it will be interesting to find the changes which occur in those areas once Nightfall is released. I do wonder if only certain things will change for certain players though, depending on which chapters you own and such. There will most likely be some type of advantages for those of us who own all three chapters and can freely travel between them.

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I didn't screenshot it, but I think my favourite early game quote is in the first mission where you have to sink the Corsair ships, and the NPCs are talking to each other:

"There are a lot of them"
"Nah. There are only two corsair ships, and three of us. We outnumber them!" ...Koss FTW LOL

The Identity Theft quest was about recovering Item Identifiers for the merchant. The name gave me a chuckle, however. Same with the quest named "Material Girl" and I'm sure that these gems are generously sprinkled throughout the game.

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One of the biggest improvements/additions is the new Hero Control. While I didn't really spend alot of time using the new controls, I was impressed with the possibilities they add to game play. I am not sure yet how I feel about having to unlock alot of skills for my Heroes to use, but as I was planning on gathering more elites from secondary professions for the Skill Hunter title, my heroes will at least have the core skills and a few elites to choose from. Being able to set our hero's skills, attributes and weapons is a huge bonus. It's almost like playing dress-up - and it makes you think your gameplay through more carefully as well. Some people feel that this may complicate the game too much but I feel it will just make players think more and depend on their skill in the game and not just brute strength and spike power.

Here are few shots of the new player UI. I like the improvements ArenaNet has made, especially in moving Attribute Points off the [H] menu and onto the [K] menu. I also like that you can move your skills around in the [K] menu instead of in your active-play bar. I was forever changing my skillbar and forgetting to realign my attributes. Nothing like going out in a map planning to snare and spike only to realize you have...no...Water power. DOH!

I also liked being able to change to an unlocked secondary profession without having to travel to a profession changer like the one at the Temple of Balthazar and paying to change my secondary each time. The drop-down secondary profession menu is a very welcome addition.

Here are some GUI shots:

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The only improvement I would like to see is that each hero has his/her own storage and gold for needed weapons and purchases. It would be nice if we could dye our hero's armour as well, but at this time we are only able to dye their weaponry and off-hand items.

Another new map feature I like is the location of collectors and what they are collecting:

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This is so much easier than trying to remember where that collector was who had the nifty off-hand focus you needed. Now you just have to note the name, then find him/her on the map once you have the needed materials.

The new monsters we got to battle were also well done. While some of them, such as the standard skales are returning in Nightfall, their new variations add new challenges. I think the Harpies are going to be on the top of my hate-list, much like the Imps from Prophecies and the Onis from Factions. I did find a new kind of Imp, but it had an almost slug/snail-like appearance and was nothing like the nasty little winged things in Prophecies.

Another new addition I enjoyed are the Conscription Orders you get from the Sunspear Scouts which hang out near portals and resurrection shrines. The hunting and killing of plants, skales and insects is a novel way to not only earn gold and item drops, you can earn titles as well (something I enjoy working on).

With so much to do and explore in Nightfall, I think it will occupy the full six months until the release of Chapter 4. I only hope that the next 30 days pass with reasonable speed so that I can get back to exploring the map, which is what I spent most of my time doing during the beta preview. I did partake of all the quests and missions I came across, but my primary purpose was to uncover as much of the map as was possible and to screenshot them - partially so that I can remember where things were in the game, partially to see how much the Istani area changes between the beta event and the final release.

Now to accomplish all that I need to in Factions and Prophecies before October 27th - secondary skills to find, the final .1% to uncover on my Factions map for the Grand Master Cartographer title, gold to save up........

[Vercz]

very nice ada /smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':)\' /> ...now i want nightfall even more that you reminded me /cry.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':(\' />

lol, and i want to play gw now... *drags self back to homework...* FOCUS! heeeeeeeeeeee /biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

[Tami]

lol

I played GW last night for the first time since the WPE ended, and all I can say is....

STUPID @#$% HENCHIES!!!

that, and I really miss the new features like the drop-down menu for secondary professions....

[Josh]

Very nice review. I can't wait for Nightfall /smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':)\' />