Guild Wars Factions

Introduction
Guild Wars Factions is the official title of ArenaNet's upcoming expansion to the Guild Wars campaign, also commonly referred to as Chapter Two.

Chapter Two will be standalone and will not require the player to already own the original Guild Wars (Chapter One). However, the two chapters will be linked and players from both chapters will be able to interact. They will be able to compete in PvP and players who own both chapters will be able to port their ascended Chapter One characters over to Chapter Two.

The stories of Chapter One and Chapter Two link at Lion's Arch, where Canthan merchants were already present in Chapter One.

Story
Chapter Two takes place in Cantha, the home continent of the sailing merchants empire, with an Asian theme.

The storyline revolves around the antagonist Shiro Tagachi, a former bodyguard of the righteous emperor of Cantha, who murdered his master, but got caught and killed for it. When he was executed Shiro Tagachi let out a horrible ghostly wail that turned the seas into solid jade and petrified the forests. And even worse, 200 years after his execution he returns from his grave to pester the Canthans yet again. It is the task of the players to defeat Shiro ultimately and send him back to his grave for good.

Furthermore the story focuses - especially for the PvP part - on the two factions of the Luxon and the Kurzick who compete for the leading role in Cantha.

Future Events
ANet has recently announced that they will be holding a Factions Preview Event on March 24th where Guild Wars(chapter one) account holders will be able to beta-test and preview the upcoming game. Guild Wars account holders will be able to invite up to 3 friends to access the event free of charge. Non-account holders can also get the access key with a Guild Wars Factions Pre-Order Package (now available in stores). The pre-release event will give players a chance to play as the Ritualist and Assassin in both PvP and PvE aspects of the upcoming game. You will be able to to create characters in Cantha but your character will be created at a high level and be launched into mid-game so players can get a taste of the action right off the bat.

To read more about this upcoming event visit the Guild Wars official website, especially the Factions Preview Event FAQ.

Past Events

 * Guild Wars: Factions Global Free-for-All PvP Weekend (January 20-22, 2006)

Release Date / Pre-Order
The official global release date according this press release by ANet is April 28, 2006.
 * Note: This happens to be exactly one year after release of Chapter 1.

The Guild Wars Factions Pre-Order Package will be available in retail stores beginning February 28, 2006.

A Guild Wars Factions Collector's Edition is also available for preorder now.

Confirmed Features
The following features are officially confirmed by ArenaNet:
 * New Region: Cantha - featuring an Asian theme
 * New towns - e.g. Seitung Harbor and Kaineng City
 * 50+ new areas
 * Petrified Forest
 * Jade Sea
 * The Undercity
 * The Emperor's Palace
 * Eternal Grove
 * Gyala Hatchery
 * Jaya Bluffs
 * Maatu Keep and Highlands
 * Nahpui Quarters
 * 14 new missions - including "elite" missions and "challenge missions" (competitive co-op missions, a merger of PvE and PvP)
 * These missions will have a three-tier ranking system rather than the two-tier (normal/bonus) system in Chapter One
 * Examples: The Jade Quarry, The Unwaking Waters, Ft. Aspenwood
 * New quests
 * New tutorial area Shing Jea Monastery (similar to Pre-Searing for Chapter One)
 * Two new Factions that play into both PvE and PvP elements of the game:
 * The Luxon
 * The Kurzick
 * 2 new Professions (along with the original six core professions):
 * Assassin
 * Ritualist
 * New henchmen with the new professions
 * More character slots
 * Four slots total for a stand-alone Factions account.
 * Six slots total if a Factions account is combined with a Prophecies account
 * 300 new Skills, incl. 90 new Elite Skills:
 * 75 skills for each new profession
 * 25 skills for each old profession
 * New equipment:
 * 6 new armor types for each of the new and the old professions - again featuring an Asian theme
 * New weapons and items
 * New creatures:
 * 100+ new monsters
 * New NPCs
 * New pets for Rangers
 * Atleast two different tigers, two different crabs and a crane
 * New PvP/GvG features:
 * 4 New Guild Halls
 * Guild Hall Services
 * Xunlai Agent
 * Guild alliances (10 guilds per alliance)
 * New rating system
 * New guild emblems

From Anet

 * Factions FPE Sneak Peek (March 21, 2006)
 * Official Factions FAQ (UPDATED March 2, 2006)
 * Factions trailer zipped file in wmv format from the official site. (February 20, 2006)
 * Factions Preview Event FAQ (February 9, 2006)
 * ANet Press Release regarding Global Beta Test and Pre-Order (February 9, 2006)
 * ANet Press Release Announcement regarding Factions Beta Weekend Event (January 10, 2006)
 * Cover art of the 2006 Feburary Computer Gaming World magazine, hosted on the Guild Wars official website and featuring art for the Assassin profession.

From other sites
(Info in reverse chronological order of release - add latest news at the top)
 * GamingSteve Podcast Interview with Jeff Strain (March 20, 2006)
 * IGN article Guild Wars Factions Hands-On (March 10, 2006)
 * IGN article includes pictures of new armors. (March 6, 2006)
 * Q&A on gamesindustry.biz (February 24, 2006)
 * Q&A on Total Video Games (February 24, 2006)
 * Assassin & Ritualist hands on preview on GameSpot (February 20, 2006)
 * Mirror Korean site
 * Mirror on GuildWarsGuru
 * Mirror on RapidShare
 * Mirror on FileFront
 * Mirror on GWOnline.net
 * Guild Wars: Factions Environment Preview - The New Continent of Cantha (February 20, 2006)
 * CVG Interview (February 3, 2006)
 * IGN Preview (January 12, 2006)
 * GameSpy Preview (January 11, 2006)
 * Computer Gaming World Magazine, February 2006 issue exclusive feature:
 * GuildWarsGuru Forum on the CGW Feb 2006 article
 * GW Europe summary of the CGW article
 * GameSpot Interview with Gaile Gray