Guild Wars Factions

Guild Wars Factions is an action RPG released in 2006 by ArenaNet , the second in the Guild Wars series. Factions introduce the continent of Cantha where two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, are locked in a global persistent war. Players are able to join in this conflict, assisting their chosen faction in claiming the towns on the game map.

Factions has a new PvE campaign, two new professions in addition to the original six, new skills and armor for existing professions, new gameplay modes for both PvE and PvP , and gameplay modifications in response to criticism of the earlier Prophecies campaign. Factions can be bought as a stand-alone game or can be added to an existing one. Most of the PvP content is available at Factions-only accounts.

Gameplay

Factions uses the same game mechanisms as the original Guild Wars , as all the games share a common base. However, Factions contains several features unavailable in other campaigns.

Professions

Like All Guild Wars Campaigns, Factions contains the core character classes introduced in Prophecies ; it also adds two new classes to the game:

• The Assassin is a master at getting in quickly, striking and getting back just as quick. They are able to constantly teleport around the field of combat using their ability to Shadow Step. They are capable of dealing with a particular target, especially spellcasters, in a very short amount of time. This is offset by their weak armor, making them relatively ineffective frontline fighters. They use self healing and can solo spike.
• The Ritualist is a living led to the spirit world, capable of summoning bound spirits to the field that can attack enemies or protect allies. They can also summon ghostly weapons for their allies to wield, and commune with the spirits of their ancestors through the ritual use of ashes and urns.

Dervishes and Paragons can get to Cantha via Kamadan, the port city of Istan, but they can not be created in Cantha.

PvE modifications

Cooperative missions in Factions are different from their equivalent in Prophecies. In Prophecies players complete a mission and an optional bonus mission. Cooperative missions are easy to avoid in the most accessible areas. Factions makes all missions compulsory for accessing new areas and completing the game. The bonus mission has been removed and replaced with a three-tiered reward system. Some missions are based on the time taken to complete the mission, others are based on additional objectives (such as keeping a certain number of NPCs alive until the end). Gold, experience and a skill are given at each reward tier. Several new concepts for co-operative missions have been introduced, such as missions to two teams of eight and specificallyboss .

The time taken for a new character to reach the maximum level of twenty is reduced. Experience, and therefore skill points, are easy to reach. This is the time taken to unlock skills by PvE play is reduced from Prophecies. Skill acquisition is modified by Skill Traders, rather than received by completing quests.

Boss enemies now do double damage and take the time to use spells and skills instead of having broken hex and condition durations.

Factions and alliances

Factions introduces two factions which players and guilds can side with;

• Kurzick – respecting art, religion, and social order, the gothic Kurzick dwells in the Echovald Forests.The Kurzicks are in their dark environment.The Kurzick culture seems to be more European than Asian, but the hairstyles of some of the Kurzick males and females do somewhat reflect East Asian style.
• Luxon – Considering strength above all else, the Luxon Jade Sea dwelling are often compared to pirates, and are somewhat religion-less. They tend to wear light clothing to reflect the heat of the sun.

Neither faction is inherently ‘good’ or ‘evil’.

Factions also introduce the concept of multi-guild alliances. An alliance is a group of united guilds aligned with the same faction who agree to join in an alliance under the name of a single lead guild.

Each faction has a number of towns where they own; The control of these towns is given to alliances with the highest standing with their faction. Alliances may earn this faction by means of donations from that alliance’s member players.

A player may earn account-based Kurzick or Luxon faction points while they are playing Factions. Faction points are earned doing PvE quests for a faction, competing in Alliance battles, in Competitive Missions or in some Challenge Missions. If the player does not wish to donate to the alliance, or if they play for the faction which is not allowed to, they can trade their faction for armor crafting materials or skills that can be used in the PvE portion of the game. A player is considered Luxon or Kurzick by having a majority of unspent faction points for the faction they support. To change a faction to a new faction.

Competitive missions

Factions provides PvE to a new game for the Factions campaign. In these missions, two random teams of eight compete to reach specific objectives. If a player they are respawn in the base and are able to rejoin the fight to meet the objectives. When the match finishes the players are back to the next battle.

• The Jade Quarry is a point capture mission. The common goal for both factions is to capture the jade quarries so that jade can be dug from them. Each jade is made to become Faction’s base is worth one point. In addition, there are several Watchtowers to be captured, giving strategic advantage to the owner when attacking the jade shipments.
• In the Fort Aspenwood mission the Luxons must storm a Kurzick base and kill an NPC Known as Master Architect Gunther, a Kurzick engineer, to stop him from making a new weapon for the Kurzicks. In addition, the Luxons must intercept amber shipments to slow the development of the Kurzick weapon and base repairs by the Kurzick team. The base must be defeated by the Kurzicks long enough for the engineer to complete the weapon.

Challenge missions

These missions are a new gameplay type introduced in Factions. They are specific points of view of a team to meet, offering rewards of gold, or depending on the team’s performance in the mission. The best teams on each quarter are recorded for players online. There are five different missions with different objectives. For example, Amat Basin (named by ArenaNet after the player community of the Amazon Basin , which also contributed to the official Guild Wars strategy guide) requires the players to save as many NPC refugees as possible in a set time.

Alliance battles

Battles Alliance are where the Luxon and Kurzick factions battle for control of towns on the game map. Each faction is represented by a team of twelve, split into three squads of four. Players form squads of the game that are randomly teamed with two other squads for the match.

The objective of the battle is to reach 500 points. Points are rewarded for capturing and holding strategic map locations and player kills. If one team holds all the cards for a minute, the team automatically receives 500 points and the victory. Players do not get a penalty for dying and are automatically resurrected. On Kur Players Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur Kur.

The battles are fought on a series of five maps which are more important to the Luxons, through the Kurzick. The map played by the faction. For example, if the Luxon are holding a lot of land, the maps played on the Kurzick. Teams that are playing on maps where the opposition has increased the number of faction points gained during the match.

Story

The Factions story is only loosely connected to that of the earlier Prophecies campaign. The primary link is with the monk Mhenlo, who is revealed to have his youth in the Factions -specific fictional continent of Cantha . Players Who add Factions to Their account can bring Their role-playing characters from other campaigns by Accompanying Mhenlo; characters that begin in Factions meet Mhenlo later in the plot.

Like Prophecies , Factions begins with a tutorial section, called the Shing Jea Island , with easy quests and non-threatening monsters. The Factions tutorial areas are not separated from the rest of the game like Prophecies , but are instead accessible at all times like any other outpost. In the tutorial, Canthan characters are introduced to the main characters of the Factions story, the Master Togo ritualist. Togo is a half-brother to the emperor of Cantha, and the head of the Shing Jea Monastery where new Factions characters receive their preliminary training. It is revealed that Togo was a mentor of Mhenlo. TeaFactions tutorial are kiting , snaring , and countering melee fighters.

The initial tutorial missions also introduce new players to a spreading spread over Cantha. In the hope of finding his source, the players discover the mark of an ancient evil from Cantha’s history, the disgraced imperial bodyguard Shiro Tagachi. Two hundred years before the events of the story, Shiro murdered the emperor he was sworn to protect, and was himself promptly slain for his evil act. Shiro’s death wail triggered a calamitous event, the Jade Wind , which swept across the continent of Cantha, turning the sea into solid jade and the Echovald Forest in southern Cantha to stone. (This story was featured in a full-motion cinematic trailer for Factions . ^[1]) Togo recognizes the mark of Shiro and rushes to inform the emperor; the player characters, under his direction, head to the seat of the Canthan empire, the sprawling Kaineng Center .

In the mainland, Factions characters are united with characters from other campaigns When They join force to eject Shiro’s army of the afflicted from Vizunah Square . At the end, they learn more about the history of Shiro. When he was slain for his murder, he became an envoyof Grenth, the god of death, and was given the task of shepherding the dead to the underworld. However, Shiro was not happy with this fate, and wished to be mortal again, which he hoped to accomplish by slaying the emperor to complete an arcane ritual. To accomplish this, Shiro uses his powers to spread the affliction, and uses the souls of the dead as soldiers in his army. The other envoys are not happy with Shiro’s actions and decides to help the players to put an end to him.

The first step in the Envoys’ level is for the players to Become Closer to the stars to gain the Ability to hurt Shiro In His form sent. Subsequently, they pay a visit to the spirit of the assassin Vizu , who was instrumental in defeating Shiro previously. From the Vizu, the players learn the artifacts of two other Canthan heroes responsible for Shiro’s death: the urn carrying the ashes of Saint Viktor , the patron saint of the Kurzicks , and the spear of Archemorus , the legendary hero of the Luxons . The players retrieve the artifacts, and assault Shiro at the center of his power, in the Sunjiang District, destroying his constructs and closing spirits rifts he has opened. Shiro himself, however, escapes. At the advice of the envoys, the players then choose a side; Moving with Mhenlo to convince the Kurzicks that Shiro is more important than their ongoing war with the Luxons, or with Master Togo to convince the Luxons to stop fighting the Kurzicks. This causes a momentary fork in the story; the earlier Prophecies campaign was criticized for its linearity, so both Factions and the subsequent Nightfallcampaigns have included non-linear elements in the plot. Once the players convince their chosen side, players from the Luxon and Kurzick factions meet again to seek advice from the ancient dragon, Kuunavang. They find that they are corrupted by Shiro, but they defeat Shiro’s corruption and Kuunavang aids the players in their fight against Shiro by granting them devastatingly powerful skills.

Meanwhile, Shiro has raided the palace and has kidnapped the Emperor. The players rush to save the emperor Shiro’s army of fearsome shiro’ken constructs. Just as Shiro is about to slay the Emperor, Master Togo throws himself in the way, saving the Emperor. He has steep price, as Shiro is promoting instead on Togo for his ritual; it does not seem to be necessary to spill royal blood, not necessarily the emperor’s. Togo’s death is a sharp blow, but it makes the battle against Shiro immensely personal for Mhenlo, who vows to avenge his master. In the final battle, the players assault the now-dead Shiro Tagachi and kill him for a second time, after which he is sentenced to death.Propheciescampaign, this final task Consists Solely of the battle contre Shiro Allowing players to modify Their tactics, skills and team setup before a final climactic battle; Was this innovation used aussi Against the end of the subsequent bumps Nightfall and Eye of the North releases.

Critical response

Factions Was not as well received as Critically The Earlier Prophecies campaign, ALTHOUGH It Did score well overall receiving send a score of 85.45% on GameRankings ^[2]and one 84/100 Metacritic . ^[3] It was nominated for a BAFTA award in the best multiplayer game category ^[7] and won the best multiplayer game award from DEMMX. ^[8]

Reviewers Were impressed by the addition of the new Kurzick and Luxon factions That players Could ally with and claim territory on the game map for Their covenant, ^[4] [5] aim Criticized icts weak storyline (Compared To Core ) Poorer voice-acting , and its accelerated character level curve that let the characters reach the maximum level before leaving the tutorial content. ^[4] [6] The continuing problem of the Guild Wars user interface lacking advanced team-forming and trading functions was also criticized, ^[4] but the subsequent Nightfall release undefined addressed by adding a unified party-search utility with limited trading functions.

Factions helped the Guild Wars franchise to over two million. ^[9] This is not the case for a single player for a single player account, but it does not require a single player. This figure also indicates the number of “active” accounts; Guild Wars accounts never expire, so the account activity statistics are never publicly revealed, even though ArenaNetdoes collect them (players are able to access playtime statistics using the “/ age” command in-game).

Editions

In addition to the Standard edition, which includes the games CDs, Basic Account Creation Code and Manuscript Book the following editions have been available for Factions.

Pre-order edition

Players who pre-ordered Factions were able to get a bonus CD. The disc included;

• concept art
• unique pre-order only weapons
• early access to Factions game play
• access to beta events
• 10-hour trial to the original Guild Wars

This disk is no longer available.

Collector’s edition

Collectors edition is available for players to purchase. Players purchasing this edition will receive in addition to standard edition materials;

• Soundtrack CD
• Art Book
• Sticker Set
• Mouse Pad
• Desk Calendar
• Factions Poster
• Special dance emote for Assassin and Ritualist characters
• Code for free Mini Music Factions pack
• Cloth picture (European edition only)
• A Kuunavang Minipet (Miniature Dragon NPC that follows the player)

There was a delay in the collector’s edition due to unforeseen demand. ArenaNet introduced a mini Kuunavang dragon to the Collector’s edition.

PvP Edition

This version of the game is only available for purchase from the online store. It unlocks the two Factions specific professions and the skills available in Factions but limits the players to the competitive arenas. This version of the game may be purchased as a stand-alone game or may be added to an existing account. The PvP edition does not add any character slots to a merged account.

Platinum Edition

This edition includes the standard Guild Wars Factions as well as the original Guild Wars Campaign (Prophecies).

References