Guild Wars Prophecies

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Guild Wars Prophecies

Developer(s)	ArenaNet
Publisher(s)	NCsoft
Designer(s)	Mike O'Brien
Release date(s)	April 28, 2005
Genre(s)	CORPG and MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (13+) PEGI: 12+ Australia: M (15+)
Platform(s)	Windows
Media	CD (2) or Download (purchase of CD key online)
System requirements	Intel Pentium III 800 MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 2GB Hard disk space, 32MB Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 Series GPU, internet connection, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP or Linux x86 w/Cedega

Guild Wars Prophecies, initially known simply as Guild Wars, is the first campaign of the Guild Wars series of computer games released in April 2005 by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of Korean game publisher NCSoft. Prophecies introduced players to the world of Guild Wars, known as Tyria, and premiered several elements that are now known as core components of the Guild Wars games.

Like all Guild Wars campaigns, Prophecies contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. Co-operative characters may be used in the competitive portion, or new PvP-specific characters may be created at maximum level and all skills unlocked to the accounts.

1 Gameplay
2 Story
- 2.1 Sorrow's Furnace
- 2.2 Fissure of Woe and the Underworld
3 Critical response
4 Editions
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Professions

Guild Wars Prophecies introduced the six core professions of the game. These are:

Warrior: a melee weapon-wielding character with a high armor level specializing in melee attacks. Often called the "tank".
Ranger: a bow-wielding character of moderate armor level specializing in ranged attacks and environmental strategies. Also often accompanied by a pet.
Monk: a spellcasting profession specializing in defensive and healing arts
Elementalist: a spellcasting profession specializing in the four elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water). Depending on the specialization and choosing of a particular element, this class may be offensive, defensive, or a combination of both.
Necromancer: a spellcasting profession specializing in corpse exploitation, hexes and undead.
Mesmer: a spellcasting profession specializing in energy manipulation and trickery to punish adversaries for performing (or in some cases not performing) certain actions.

[edit] Co-operative missions

The main component of the co-operative story in Prophecies is told through a sequence of 25 storyline missions. Each mission consists of certain objectives that have to be fulfilled by a team of four to eight player characters and player-managed NPCs. The missions take place in a variety of settings: from the desolation of burned Ascalon to the snowy peaks of the Shiverpeak Mountains, the lush forests of the Maguuma Jungle, the unforgiving Crystal Desert, and finally the hellish Ring of Fire islands. See the plot below.

[edit] Player versus Player arenas

Prophecies introduced the core competitive arenas of Guild Wars. Initially the arenas were situated in the Tyrian continent, but they were subsequently removed to the separate (but connected) Battle Isles, accessible from every campaign in the Guild Wars sequence.

These arenas included:

Random Arena: four on four matches with teams randomly composed from those waiting to enter combat. There are many different arenas with different victory conditions; deathmatch, kill-count, and altar-control.
Team Arena: four on four matches where players form teams prior to entering combat. These matches are played in the same areas as the Random Arena.
Heroes Ascent: once known as the Tomb of the Primeval Kings (after the location from where it was accessed), these arenas constitute a continuous tournament where players form teams of 8 to battle for the favor of the gods. Teams progress by victory through a series of stages, leading to the final area of the tournament known as the Hall of Heroes. Stages in the Heroes' Ascent include deathmatch, altar-control, and capture-the-relic victory conditions. Victories in the Heroes' Ascent award playes with fame points that can be used to determine the rank of the player.
Guild Battles: two guilds meet in guild halls and stage a tactical battle with the aim of killing the opposing guild lord, a well-protected NPC. Victory in guild battles affects the rank of the guild in the global Guild versus Guild (GvG) ladder. The ladder is periodically reset between tournament seasons, and the top guilds at the end of a season often compete in official tournaments for prize money.

[edit] Story

See also: List of Guild Wars characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

It is 1070AE (after Exodus) and Ascalon is at war, fighting a double battle against both the human kingdoms of the Krytans and the Orrians in the Guild Wars, and the Charr invading from the North. The fight is not going well, but the Great Northern Wall always protects Ascalon from the worst of the threat. However, the Charr find a way past the wall, and increase their attacks. It is in this setting the player begins a new character and completes initial training quests.

However, the Wall is unable to protect Ascalon forever. The Charr are able to use a powerful ritual which calls fire and crystal meteors from the sky, known as "The Searing", destroying the Wall and turning Ascalon into a wasteland.

Two years later, Prince Rurik and his father King Adelbern, the leaders of Ascalon, fight a losing battle against continued assaults from the Charr. As the players fight through the wasteland helping where they can, they find the legendary horn Stormcaller, which is said to hold immense power against invaders of Ascalon. Rurik is able to use the Stormcaller to weaken the invading Charr and push them out of the capital, Rin. Rurik and Adelbern argue about the next move. Adelbern wants to fight off the Charr but Rurik, after seeing Rin's devastation, wants the people of Ascalon to flee across the Shiverpeaks to the safety of Kryta. For this traitorous sentiment the King exiles his son from Ascalon.

Rurik and his supporters leave Ascalon behind and travel to Kryta through the Northern Shiverpeak mountains. This is not an easy journey, as they are impeded by the Stone Summit Dwarves who try to stop their passage. The Deldrimor Dwarves aid Rurik and the refugees through the mountains. The passage comes at a price as Rurik dies at the hands of the Stone Summit while trying to ensure the safety of the refugees. The party must continue on to Kryta without him.

Kryta is the domain of a relatively new religious group called the White Mantle. The White Mantle are an organization who were formed by Saul D'Alessio to fight the Charr, who, after destroying Ascalon, headed to Kryta and Orr to destroy the two remaining kingdoms. After the Mantle defeated the Charr, they went on a counter offensive through the Shiverpeaks, but Saul, like Rurik, died a martyr in the icy mountain range. After completing some tasks for the Mantle the players become trusted members of the group and are requested to find and escort the magical "Chosen" so the Mantle can instruct them at the temple of the Unseen in the South Kryta province. While the White Mantle are escorting the "Chosen" through the Maguuma Jungle they are intercepted by a rebel group known as the Shining Blade. The White Mantle escorts are killed and the "Chosen" are abducted by the Shining Blade.

The party pursues the Shining Blade deeper into the Jungle. After catching up to them, Evennia, the leader of the Shining Blade, reveals the real purpose of the "Chosen" - to be sacrificed by the White Mantle. The players witness this truth for themselves. Betrayed, the players attack and kill Justicar Hablion, a prominent member of the White Mantle.

With the assistance of the players the Shining Blade pick up their activities against the White Mantle by taking the powerful Scepter of Orr from them. Taking this Scepter to Vizier Khilbron, the previous adviser of King Reza of Orr and the only known survivor of the "Cataclysm", a mysterious event that destroyed his kingdom in 1071AE. He is also a knowledgeable magician helping the Shining Blade (possibly because he was still bitter about the Krytans from the events during the Guild Wars), it is discovered that the Shining Blade have been betrayed and are being routed by the stronger White Mantle. The players flee with the Vizier to the Crystal Desert after the Shining Blade's base is destroyed by the White Mantle.

The Vizier suggests that the players complete Ascension, believing that it will make the players strong enough to fight the White Mantle's "unseen gods". After completing 3 trials, aided by the ghost of Warmarshal Turai, once leader of the Kournans, the players step into the mesa at Augury Rock and battle the evil inside of them (or their "Doppelganger" - a foe identical to the player). Once ascended the players approach the dragon prophet, Glint. Glint reveals her knowledge of the "Flameseeker Prophecies" which the players are fulfilling. She sends the players to the Southern Shiverpeaks to face the White Mantle and rescue what remains of the now broken Shining Blade.

The players find that the Southern Shiverpeaks are overrun with White Mantle and their "unseen gods" - the Mursaat. Both races of Dwarves are struggling with this incursion. The Deldrimor Dwarves assist the player in "infusing" their armor to be strong enough to resist the Mursaat's Spectral Agony. The players rescue the remains of the Shining Blade - but at the same time the Stone Summit Dwarves have taken the Deldrimor capital, Thunderhead Keep. The players help take back the keep and hold it against the Mursaat and White Mantle invaders, killing Confessor Dorian (Saul's successor) in the process. The Vizier appears and tells the players they need to travel to the Ring of Fire Islands to unleash a powerful race of creatures which will destroy the Mursaat.

The players fight through the Mursaat into their fortress and free the seals on the Door of Komalie, which they believe will give access to their new allies on the other side of the door with the power to destroy the Mursaat. Instead, players are betrayed when they discover that the Vizier is a Lich using the players to get the Scepter and free terrible creatures known as Titans, both of which he wants to use to wrest control over Tyria. The players confront and defeat the Lich, through his unwilling minion, the undead Prince Rurik, closing the doors they had previously opened.

The Lich is defeated but the Titans still roam Tyria. Glint instructs the players to defend each of the regions of Tyria against the Titan attacks, and finally eliminate the source of the Titan assaults.

[edit] Sorrow's Furnace

The player returns to the Southern Shiverpeaks to assist the Deldrimor Dwarves against the Stone Summit Dwarves. The players enter Sorrow's Furnace on rescue and reconnaissance missions before entering the Furnace a final time to destroy the Stone Summit's Iron Forgeman. Sorrow's Furnace is also a major area to "farm" for "greens" (See "Equipment").

[edit] Fissure of Woe and the Underworld

Many players find it exciting to fight or make money in two separate worlds, created by the gods of Tyria. These places are also where players can find the rare Glob of Ectoplasm, a material that has replaced currency for large transactions, as the amount of cash allowed to be traded is limited at 100,000 gold. These two worlds, "FoW" and "UW" are only accessible for a fee of 1,000 gold when the area the player is in has the favor of the gods.

[edit] Critical response

Guild Wars Prophecies has been well received by critics and players alike. In 2005, it won several prestigious awards including IGN's Best PC RPG^[1] and GameSpy's MMORPG of the Year^[2] awards. In 2006 Computer Games Magazine listed Prophecis as #4 in their Best Game collection, giving it in addition the Best MMO Debut and Best Technology awards.^{[citation needed]} Guild Wars has been listed in every major Editors' Choice category in both print and online publications. As of December 2006; Prophecies and the two subsequent campaigns Guild Wars Factions and Guild Wars Nightfall have together sold more than 3 million copies.^[3] While the lack of active subscriptions renders an exact comparison impossible, these new sale numbers would put the Guild Wars series as the third most popular MMOG after World of Warcraft and RuneScape.

Published criticism of Prophecies has centered around the following key elements. First, that the number and placement of creatures encountered in the PvE world can be overwhelming, especially since the party size and number of skills are both limited to eight.^[4] There is also a related problem of repetitiveness, as noted by IGN: "As fun as combat is, and as pretty as it looks, plowing your way through low-level mobs can and will get tiresome, since they don't give much (if any) experience points and will be dropping items that are virtually useless to you."^[4] This problem is lessened however by the fact that a player can freely and instantly teleport into any cities in the game their character has previously visited.

Secondly, several reviews (such as IGN's) have cited the lack of a sophisticated in-game trading system such as auction houses as exist in other MMORPGs, so the only way for players to sell items is to advertise on a trade channel that is shared by all players in the same map but may be muted by individual players. (This issue has been addressed to some extent with the recent addition of an in-game trading interface). IGN's review comments, additionally, that itemization in the game lacks variety because the only way to distinguish suits of armor is by dying them different colors.^[4]

Thirdly, both players and published reviews have commented on the unnatural coupling of cooperative and competitive matches, which require very different playing styles. At the game's release, PvP focused players were required to "unlock" their skills and items by playing through the cooperative game, even though a PvP player may have no interest in cooperative gaming. This issue, however, has been addressed by ArenaNet, firstly by introducing Balthazar Faction in June 2005 which enabled unlocking through playing PvP^[5] and further in August 2006 by making skill unlocks for the individual professions of the Prophecies campaign available in the game's online store. Unlocks for the professions of the Factions and Nightfall campaigns are also now available.

[edit] Editions

In addition to the standard edition, there are many other editions of Guild Wars Prophecies available on the market. All of them contain the basic Account Creation Code and Manuscript Book, as well as other added features listed below,

Pre-order Edition

The Pre-order edition was a disc available for purchase as a stand alone short duration access, or obtained by pre-ordering the full version of the game. The key allowed the player to access the Guild Wars beta testing. Added to a full account the key gives the player access to a unique weapon or offhand customized for their account.

Collector's Edition: The Collector's Edition was available for purchase at the games official release. The Collector's Edition comes with a Guild Wars branded Logitech headset, a free 3-month trial for Teamspeak's "SpeakEasy" service, the soundtrack by Jeremy Soule on an audio CD, The Art of Guild Wars Book 1 and Divine Aura, a glowing light around the hands of a character when they use an emote.

Special Edition: The Special Edition contains a (PvP) Skill Pack code which allows 7 regular skills, 1 elite skill, and 2 runes to be unlocked for the account from a Priest of Balthazar. The Special Edition also contains a special music-code to access in-game music from DirectSong.com, the Official Guild Wars Soundtrack CD, The Art of Guild Wars Book 2 and a map of Tyria.

Game of the Year Edition: The Game of the Year Edition contains the full version of Guild Wars Prophecies, and was released one year after the game's initial release. It contains an access key which unlocks seven exclusive weapons and accessories, each geared towards one of the six core professions. Each weapon has maximum damage stats according to its type, and each character created can get a customized copy of the weapons. This version was released as the One Million Edition in Europe and is also available as an upgrade to any earlier Prophecies editions via the online store.

PvP Edition: This edition of Guild Wars is available for the three released campaigns, and is only available from the online store. This version has all of the skills and professions available in the respective version unlocked, but does not allow the player access to the PvE campaign and areas. The edition may be purchased as a stand-alone game, or may be added to an existing account.

Many of the earlier editions are marketed simply as Guild Wars, which is how Guild Wars Prophecies was initially known.