Guild Wars Nightfall



Guild Wars Nightfall (Campaign Three) is an upcoming stand-alone product ("Campaign") of the Guild Wars game series.

Theme and Storyline
Previews provided during E3 expo (see external links) as well as screenshots and the PvP preview show the use of 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 region.

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.

Features
Only features that are officially announced by ArenaNet will be posted here!


 * 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"


 * 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 ingame store.


 * "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.


 * 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).


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


 * New weapons
 * Scythe
 * Spear


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


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


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


 * New Henchmen
 * Timera (Brawler Henchman)
 * Abasi (Hunter Henchman)
 * Khim (Healer Henchman)
 * Odurra (Illusion Henchman)
 * Jurra (Illusion Henchman)
 * Herta (Earth Henchman)
 * Sogolon (Motivation Henchman)
 * Gehraz (Holy Henchman)


 * New Monster types, and new varieties of existing monsters:
 * Boarillas
 * Bush Toads
 * Centaurs
 * Chaos / Realm of Torment creatures
 * Grasp of Chaos
 * Scythe of Chaos
 * Corsairs
 * Djinn
 * Water Djinn
 * Griffons
 * Harpies
 * Insects
 * Preying Lance
 * Grub Lance
 * Juvenile Bladed Termite
 * Bladed Termite
 * Margonites
 * Scarabs1
 * Plants
 * Fanged Iboga
 * Stormseed Jacaranda
 * Skale
 * Ridgeback Skale
 * Frigid Skale
 * Skale Blighter
 * Touched Plains
 * Turtles
 * Slashing Heket
 * Undead
 * Wurms
 * Stalking Nephila
 * ... and many more ...
 * 1) Although the Scarab Plague was a significant event in Elonian history and a number of quests relate to it, it has not been confirmed that Scarabs can actually been encoutered in-game.


 * New Animal companions for rangers, including:
 * Flamingo
 * Pygmy Hippopotamus

Acquisition
The following packages / editions are available at various games retailers worldwide:
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Standard Edition is officially scheduled for release for October 27th, 2006. Guild Wars: Nightfall standard edition will be available on the Guild Wars Online Store immediately upon its release.
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Pack has hit store shelves on September 15. It includes an additional character slot, promotional ingame items as well as a few fan articles. However, it does not include the game itself.
 * The Guild Wars Nightfall Collector's Edition will include the game itself as well as numerous fan articles. Release date is supposed to be the same as the standard edition.

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

From official sites

 * 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 screenshots 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 screenshots (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

 * Gamespot - Preview with some information on the customizable heroes and some impressions from the Game Convention Demo
 * New screenshots and concept art on Wartower.de (August 28, 2006)
 * Games Convention Leipzig coverage (August 23 - 27, 2006):
 * GameStar.de - Screenshots
 * PCGames.de - Report (in German) and screenshots
 * 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 coments)
 * 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 1999. Coincidentally it also has a North-African (more specifically: Egypt) theme.