ANTOnline.com - NCsoft FS-XP-GWXST-041 Guild Wars: Eye Of The North

Customer Reviews

Reviewed on 2008-07-05

Guild Wars Eye Of The North
Bought this game for my grandson and he has not stop playing the game for over a week. He said it's the best one yet.

Reviewed on 2008-04-28

Guild Wars Rocks
To tell the truth, I dont like this game as much as the others. The PvE is monotonous. However, the farming aspects of this game are amazing. So many great things, from gold to great items can be farmed from various creatures across the game. Plus, it adds a whole other world to Tyria, in addition to the three already there. Good job ArenaNet!

Reviewed on 2008-04-03

GW is really getting to the top
Well I love this game and Guild Wars just keeps getting better. I like how it is different from the standard MMORPG like World of Warcraft. It provides a gameplay in which you can play for and hour or so and the stop, take a break or come back to it tomorrow. It keeps the game interesting and stops you from having your soul sucked away from constant gameplay.

Reviewed on 2008-03-21

Good content value
Eye of the North is the latest, and likely the last, expansion in the Guild Wars series. As such, it definitely adds more content than any of the previous games (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall) but it also requires at least one of the others to work, and is designed for higher level characters that are presumably controlled by players with some degree of experience.

The primary draw of the Guild Wars series is that it has no monthly fees for online play. Though it isn't a true MMO in the traditional sense, it has a lot of elements found in other games. Additionally, players need not be 'hardcore' in order to experience endgame content or reach the maximum level- it is quite possible (one might even say, easy) to do the latter in one day. Eye of the North actually breaks the mold in some regards, in that it does reward hardcore players for their dedication. However, it generally stays true to the series roots.

To start Eye of the North, you have to attain level 10 in any of the previous campaigns, after which you can travel to the north. If you're not level 20, you get 'buffed' to 20 while in any of the Eye areas. The storyline generally continues the Prophecies campaign, but you don't have to have played it to understand the gist of it. The expansion introduces three new factions- the Norn, Asura, and Ebon Vanguard. All of them have reputation tracks, unique armor sets, special 'blessings' that help you while in their territory, and unique PVE skills. This is where you're rewarded for dedication, as the higher your reputation with a particular faction, the stronger the skills tied to it. Additionally, there is a lot of new content, ranging from the typical new items with new looks, to new regular skills and multi-level dungeons.

The factions in general are a great addition, and their quests are generally well done and challenging. There's quite a few 'master' quests as well, which are typically very difficult- some bordering on the impossible unless you have high ranks in certain factions. You will be introduced to all the factions and acquire moderate reputation over the course of the main quest, which is lengthy but not to the point of boredom. The first questionable game issue comes to light with this aspect, however, as some of the faction skills- especially Norn faction skills- become ridiculously overpowered at higher reputation levels. Perhaps this was done as compensation for some of the equally ridiculously difficult quests and dungeons, but it also forces players to 'grind' reputation mindlessly for hours and hours if they really care about attempting the harder content with others. The vast majority of groups won't even consider low-ranked players unless they have no choice.

Overall, the campaign is quite difficult, though the main quest isn't overly challenging and can largely be completed solo with henchmen and heroes.* Most of the side-quests and dungeons are definitely challenging (though not necessarily for 'good' reasons- more on that later), and become a very itchy proposition for solo players. There are also an assortment of minigames, solo quests, and challenge missions for those that get tired of the other things. In short, there's plenty for casual gamers or solo players to do, but you won't be able to get through most of the harder content without at least one other person along- preferably more in most cases.

*This isn't to say this is the easiest way to do things, however, and a few quests will almost certainly require at least one person to help.

The new areas are generally well designed in terms of looks and layout- they include some really large maps and very attractive scenery. Of course, no area is complete without a bunch of deadly monster mobs, and you will very frequently see enemies above level 20- some as high as 30- with as large teeth as one would expect of something their level. Sometimes very large packs of high leveled monsters patrol certain areas, and some of the random and wandering bosses are extremely dangerous. This makes exploration far more of a chore than one might expect after playing any of the previous campaigns. Typically, areas are about as densely populated with patrols as they are towards the end of the Nightfall campaign, which is to say there's probably too many.

The multi-level dungeons are a great idea that could have been implemented a whole lot better. In general, the dungeons are attractive but very poorly designed. Allow me to offer a case in point. Once upon a time, I visited Vloxen Excavations, cleared almost to the end of the first level, and wiped. I respawned at the start, because that was the closest resurrection shrine- linearly, through several very solid walls- from where I died. Then I had to walk all the way back to the end, passing the other 3 shrines along the way. Further down on level 2, I encountered a necromancer boss with a patrol coming up a nearby cave- but of course I didn't know it was there, because it was off the radar at the time. As I was merrily smacking down the boss and his cohorts, the patrol emerged out of nowhere and wiped me out. I then resurrected at the shrine directly behind the boss- bitter irony after the previous nonsense- and was now trapped spawning literally on top of 20 mobs that included several minion master necromancers who kept making more minions from my party's dead corpses.

Bottom line- the developers have no idea how to design dungeons, and the Guild Wars engine was never intended to function in closed twisting tunnels of the type they introduced. This makes the dungeons very difficult, not for good (i.e. requiring you to plan/strategize/be smart) reasons- but for bad (technical, nuisance) ones. The rewards are generally not worth the time spent, as well, and players looking for a solid dungeon crawl a la Neverwinter Nights or World of Warcraft 5-man will be sorely disappointed.

Additionally, the henchman, hero, and enemy AI is not at all improved from Nightfall and in some cases is a lot worse. You still have no idea who has aggro, and things will randomly break off for no apparent reason. Sometimes henchmen will run out of deadly AOE like meteor shower, other times they'll just stand there and wait for more. If you call targets, sometimes henchmen will attack them. Sometimes they won't. If you move to engage a new target, henchmen sometimes stop whatever they're doing and drop in behind you as if playing follow the leader. Henchmen aggression settings sometimes result in very odd behavior, and occasionally heroes will do totally wacky things that I can only say must be the result of some sort of bug. Heroes can be equipped and skilled with whatever you want them to be, but they tend to be very dumb at using certain skills, and of course you can only have 3 with you at any time. In short, if you like to play solo you can expect to be cursing- frequently and at the top of your lungs- at Mhenlo and company, and whoever else you deign to take along on your adventures.

Though this might sound like a lot of serious problems, one tends to ignore them for the most part. There's simply so many things to do that when you run into a brick wall (which does happen pretty often) you can just go do something else. As with the previous Guild Wars games, the ambient music is well done. The graphics are superb, and the character and item designs are excellent. The story, though not exactly breathtaking, isn't too bad. And if some of the quests and areas are outrageously hard, it does provide something to shoot for if you thought the previous campaigns were too easy (a very common complaint). And if for some reason even that's not hard enough for you, you can turn on 'hard mode' after finishing the campaign and make it even harder! Suffice to say, provided you don't mind playing with others and suffering a few bloody noses along the way, you can get a lot of hours out of this game.

Though it has its flaws, Eye is generally a lot of fun and a great value for your money. Considering that it's free to play, it's really about as much as you would expect. It has enough content to please casual and solo players, but also quite a bit for the more hardcore fans to enjoy. It also provides a good glimpse of how things might progress from here, as in the upcoming Guild Wars 2- to which you can supposedly carry some content if you make accomplishments in Eye (no details as of now). If you've tried and enjoyed any of the previous Guild Wars campaigns, Eye is definitely recommendable. If you're looking for something that's not quite as big or polished as, say, World of Warcraft- but a whole lot cheaper and more casual, then this is probably your game.

Reviewed on 2008-01-20

Guild Wars Rules
I have played a few Online games over the years like Ashron's Call for 5 years & Diablo series. I love the fact that Guild Wars is FREE to play once you buy it unlike most of the other online games out there which charge a monthly fee. Their graphics are on par with most of the other online games & this expansion pack continues to improve the series & adds new areas to explore. It is interesting that they don't make it for Macs... Poor fanboys left out... will just have to play with themselves.

Computer & Video Games » PC Games » Role-Playing

NCsoft

Guild Wars: Eye Of The North - Expansion Pack

$29.99

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