Guild Wars Nightfall



Guild Wars Nightfall (Campaign Three) is a stand-alone product ("Campaign") of the Guild Wars game series. Guild Wars Nightfall, globally released on October 27, 2006, is the official product title of ArenaNet's third campaign in the Guild Wars world. It is also commonly referred to as Chapter Three, Campaign Three(C3), Nightfall Campaign, or just Nightfall.

Theme and Storyline
The Nightfall campaign uses a North-African theme, with landscape, architecture, art, and creatures inspired by Africa/Arabia as well as ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, and other historic cultures of the North-African/Arab/Mediterranean (Maghreb) region including the African civilization of Kush for character designs.

From the Press Release on the Prerelease Bonus Pack:


 * Guild Wars Nightfall takes place on the continent of Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. [...] In Guild Wars Nightfall, Elona has fallen under the shadow of an evil, outcast god. Against the encroaching desolation of an infernal realm, the people of Elona will need more than a hero to save them, they will need a hero to lead them ... for nightfall is at hand.

The events of Guild Wars Nightfall take place in 1275 DR, which is 3 years after the twin events of Lich Lord opening the Door of Komalie and Shiro Tagachi bringing the plague to Cantha.

Features

 * All of the Core features common to all campaigns.


 * 2 new Professions:
 * Dervish - "a scythe-wielding holy warrior"
 * Paragon - "guardian angel of the Elonian people"


 * "Heroes", party NPCs similar to henchmen, but customizable.
 * From Press Release August 24,2006: "Guild Wars Nightfall introduces new customizable Heroes who level up, follow player instructions in combat, and use skills and equipment of the player's choosing. [...] And for the ultimate one-on-one challenge, competitive players can choose to enter the new Hero vs. Hero Battles, where they group with a custom team of Heroes and fight against other players from around the world and their customized groups of Heroes.


 * Over 350 new skills:
 * 75 skills (15 elite) each for Paragons and Dervishes.
 * 25 skills (10 elite) for each of the six core professions.
 * 25 skills (10 elite) each for Assassins and Ritualists (requires Guild Wars Factions).
 * 3 title-based PvE-only skills.
 * A number of temporary, mission-specific skills.


 * New missions
 * 20 storyline missions
 * 3 Challenge Missions


 * New armor types and weapons for each of the Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall professions.


 * Five regions:
 * Istan
 * Kourna
 * Vabbi
 * The Desolation
 * The Realm of Torment


 * New Henchmen and other NPCs


 * New Monster types, and new varieties of existing monsters.


 * New Animal companions for rangers


 * Additional character slots: Four slots for a stand-alone Nightfall campaign account or two additional slots if the account is merged with a Prophecies and/or Factions account. In addition, one more slot comes as a bonus with the Guild Wars Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Pack. Further slots may be acquired from the in game store.


 * Facial animation: Characters will move their lips while talking and show facial expressions during in-game cinematics.


 * New combined Skill and Attributes panel, with access to the new template system that allow players to save builds.


 * Rideable Wurms.

New Features
The following features were made available in a major update which was released on December 1st 2006.
 * The Domain of Anguish, which contains four explorable areas and one Elite Mission.
 * A Ritualist hero: Razah
 * Four additional types of gems.
 * New hero armor.
 * New weapons will be acquired in an unspecified new way.

The following features were made available in the Wintersday 2006 update which was released on December 20st 2006.
 * Party Search — The new Party Search system allows players to seek and form parties throughout multi districts.
 * Reconnect After Disconnect — This long awaited feature allows players who have lost connectivity to the server due to a network error or a client crash to return to the game whence they were disconnected.
 * A new Festival hat maker NPC which is able to memorize and create any Festival Hat you present to him.

Acquisition
The following packages / editions are available at various games retailers worldwide:
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Standard Edition was officially scheduled for release for October 27th, 2006. Guild Wars: Nightfall standard edition is available on the Guild Wars Online Store. However, note that buying Nightfall from the Official Online Store will automatically use the merge feature with the current account that you used to order Nightfall online with. Also, it does not include client software, manuals, or any other special documentation found only in the retail boxes.
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Pack was released on September 15. It includes an additional character slot, promotional in game items as well as a few fan articles. However, it does not include the game itself.
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Collector's Edition includes the game itself as well as numerous fan articles. It was released on the same date as the standard edition. The Collector's Edition is not offered in the official online store.

Update

 * 10:59 p.m. PDT October 26th, 2006 - Guild Wars Nightfall Went Live

Past Events
The event ran until 11:59 a.m. PDT (18:59 GMT) on Monday, September 25.
 * December 20, 2006 - January 11, 2007 - Wintersday 2006
 * October 28 - 3 November, 2006 - Halloween Event
 * September 22 - 24, 2006 - Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event
 * July 28 – 30, 2006 - Guild Wars Nightfall PvP Preview Event

From official sites

 * press release. (December 13th, 2006)
 * Nightfall In-Game Cinematic #3. (October 25, 2006)
 * Guild Wars Insider, issue #1, information on GWN features (Oct 20, 2006)
 * Guild Wars Nightfall FAQ, all facts from the official webpage (published October 13, 2006)
 * The Scribe #16, detailing new animal companions (September 21, 2006)
 * Nightfall In-Game Cinematic #2. (September 21, 2006)
 * Product info page (Sept 19, 2006)
 * New screen shots in the eu.guildwars.com gallery (September 13, 2006)
 * Press release regarding Preview Event (September 12, 2006)
 * Info - from the Korean website (in Korean), incl. new concept art and screen shots (August 25, 2006)
 * Press Release - Release date announcement (August 24, 2006)
 * Press Release - Nightfall to be presented at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany (August 15, 2006)
 * Nightfall In-Game Cinematic, previously shown at the ChinaJoy expo. (August 15, 2006)
 * The Scribe #9, which mostly relates to the Guild Wars Nightfall PvP Preview Event (August 3, 2006)
 * Press Release on the Prerelease Bonus Pack (August 1, 2006)
 * Guild Wars Nightfall PvP Preview Event coverage:
 * Preview event info from the official Korean website (in Korean), with new images of Paragon and Dervish
 * Preview event info from the official Japanese website (in Japanese) (Note: Previously unreleased new images of Dervish and Paragon have been replaced with old images.)''
 * Preview event info from the official Korean website (in Korean), including logo and images
 * Official Logo, high-res, from the Korean website
 * GuildWars.com: Press: Releases: July 18, 2006

From other sites

 * On10.net - Interview with Gaile Gray (video) (October 24, 2006).
 * Gamespot - Interview with Mike O'Brien and Jeff Strain (October 23, 2006) (video).
 * Gamespot - Guild Wars Nightfall Hands-On - Playing With Heroes, the New Classes, and Controlling a Giant Worm (October 18, 2006)
 * IGN - Guild Wars: Nightfall Hands-On NPC Heroes, new classes, and ridable wurms. (October 18, 2006)
 * NZGamer.com - Guild Wars: Nightfall, Hands-On (October 13, 2006)
 * NZGamer.com - Nightfall Creature Feature (October 11, 2006)
 * GuildCast Episode 47 - Facts and Opinions on the Nightfall Preview Event in downloadable audio format. (September 25th, 2006)
 * Gamespot - Preview with some information on the customizable heroes and some impressions from the Game Convention Demo
 * New screen shots and concept art on Wartower.de (August 28, 2006)
 * Games Convention Leipzig coverage (August 23 - 27, 2006):
 * GameStar.de - Screen shots
 * PCGames.de - Report (in German) and screen shots
 * WOLFGaming.Net - Photos live from Games Convention
 * WOLFGaming.Net - Review and more photos from Games Convention
 * Gamespot - Preview with focus on the two new professions (July 18, 2006)
 * Adrenaline Vault - Interview with Jeff Strain, mostly about Factions, just a minor note confirming the North-African look of C3 (June 13, 2006)
 * E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006 coverage:
 * Tom's Hardware Guide
 * 1UP.com "Guild Wars Keeps Expanding"
 * IGN Guild Wars Campaign 3
 * GameSpy Guild Wars -- Campaign 3
 * GW C3 (some comments)
 * Guild Wars C3 concept art  (7th on page)
 * EXE Guild Wars C3 observations (just a glance)
 * Chapter 3 to be shown at E3 (April 10, 2006)
 * Confirmation of Chapter 3 on TVG (February 24, 2006)
 * Q&A with Jeff Strain on gamesindustry.biz (February 24, 2006)

Trivia

 * "Nightfall" is also the name of a 3D adventure game for the Apple Macintosh published in 1998. Coincidentally it also has a North-African (more specifically: Egypt) theme.
 * See Nightfall on Wikipedia for a list of other possible name origins.