Back To Guild Wars!

OK. This whole day job is eating into my otherwise perfect gaming lifestyle. Two-and-a-half months ago, I was contentedly satisfied playing my World of Warcraft- until I was hit by the stark realization that, yes, the gaming lifestyle needs to be supported by a steady source of income. So I begrudgingly returned to corporate slavery to generate the resources required to keep on gaming.

And here comes the announcement of the release of Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Ahh. I have such fond memories of Guild Wars. It was the very first MMORPG I got into (since I was very much working at the time). I've started playing in early 2006, and I've worked my way through the Prophecies campaign, the Factions expansion, and then the Nightfall add-on.

They say that Eye of the North is Guild Wars' first REAL expansion. What exactly they mean by that, I have no clue. But whatever it is, it sure sounds a whole lot better than the first two. Yay! More Guild Wars action for everyone!

Guild Wars is a great game for people who have work. While, yes, World of Warcraft is just as entertaining (or arguably more so), you'd like to be able to make full use of the gaming time you're paying for every month. Unlike WoW, GW is free-to-play (after your initial purchase, of course). And unlike LOTS of other free online games out there, this one actually kicks ass. The storyline is very engaging, the character development allows you for lots of customization, the quests are appropriately challenging, and the game has incredibly high replay value. Getting both add-ons (Factions and Nightfall) gives you a lot more quests to play with, additional storage space, four extra character slots, improved henchmen and so much more. Oh, and it looks and sounds good too.

So just before I go get myself a copy of Eye of the North, I'd like to back and revisit the lands of Tyria, Canthia and Elona. Spend some time with old friends, make some new ones- getting myself in the mood for a lot more Guild Wars action. Let's play!