Great Expansion, does what was required (Guild Wars Eye of the North (PC))

Member Name: iToast

Product:	Guild Wars Eye of the North (PC)
Date:	03/01/08 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: transfer achievements to GW2, new races,

Disadvantages: short storyline

~~Introduction to Guild Wars~~
I presume that most readers will be familiar with the other Guild Wars games, Prophecies (the original), Factions and Nightfall. Just a quick word for those who are not, Guild Wars is a MMORG, somewhat similar to World of Warcraft, but without subscription fees. That is to say, once you've bought the box with the game inside, then there are no subscriptions.

However, to play Guild Wars: Eye of the North (GWEN), you need to own one of the other campaigns, as GWEN is an expansion, not a campaign. Make sure you don't just get GWEN, as you won't be able to play it by itself.
How Guild Wars Works: You create a character with whom you will adventure on the continents of Tyria, Cantha and Elona. The character has a limited number of skill slots, only 8, meaning that you can take a maximum of 8 skills with which to fight with. Most of the fighting is done in teams.

The max level in Guild Wars is only lvl 20 - this is to prevent long hours of grinding, and make it more even for newer players. It's the skill bar and how you use it that really matters, as opposed to how long you've spent killing the same monsters again and again.

~~Eye Of The North~~
Eye of the North is a great expansion on the previous 3 Guild Wars campaigns. It is the precursor to Guild Wars 2, and introduces all the new concepts that will be involved in GW2. The new races are introduced - Charr, Asura and Norn will all be playable races in GW2.
The story for GWEN is pretty basic RPG-style story. Large, fiery monsters called "destroyers are coming from under the earth's surface. You must find and defeat their leader, the great destroyer. To do this you must gain the trust of 4 groups of allies who live in the north - you can gain reputation with these allies, and they will help you.

~~Groups You Can Gain Reputation With~~
~Norn~
Short-tempered giants with the ability to change into bears, these expert hunters roam the north solo, and respect only strength and courage.
~Asura~
These are small, humanoid creatures that remind me of piglet from Winnie the Pooh. They are excellent wielders of magic, and respect intellect.
~Dwarves~
These live in caves under the Shiverpeaks. There's not that much to say about them. They are the first creatures you run into in GWEN.
~The Ebon Vanguard~
This is an organisation of humans living in the far north, focused on fighting the charr in their homeland. A large battalion of theirs has recently gone missing.

~~New Stuff~~
There is a lot of the kind of new stuff that GW players will enjoy immensely. There are
- 4 new sets of elite armour, one for each faction
- 5 new titles, one for each faction and then the master of the north title
- Many new skills, some of them faction based.
- 10 new heroes, one for each profession
- New "destroyer" weapons, which can be transferred to GW2 via the Hall of Monuments
~The Hall of Monuments~
This is an invention that many Guild Wars players will be thanking Balthazar for. This allows players to create a monument for their characters, in which their achievements can be transferred to GW2. The transferrable achievements are Titles, Heroes and Pets, Armour, Weapons, and Minipets.

~~Complaints~~
I have no real complaints with the expansion, but the main storyline could have been a bit longer. I finished it in less than 2 days.
After one has completed the storyline and defeated the great destroyer, there is plenty more to do - the Dungeons do not even feature in the main story line, and the various minigames leave a lot to be explored - there is Dwarven boxing, the Norn Fighting Tournament, Polymock (a tactical minigame played with miniatures), all of which are challenging and something different.

Definitely recommend this to any GW player.

NB I have published a similar review on Ciao under the same username. This one has been improved a bit though.

Summary: recommended for any GW player. Lots of fun