Guild Wars Eye of the North Sneak Peek Weekend

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Pre-order Note

The Eye of the North Sneak Peek Weekend was only available to those who purchased the Guild Wars: Eye of the North pre-order pack from NCSoft/Arena.net, or other online and offline vendors. A serial key was included with the pack, which was registered to allow players to enter the Eye of the North Sneak Peek via a quest, available in one major city in each current campaign.

In all towns where the Quest into GW:EN was available, you must have been level 20 to receive the quest. All members of the party must have also been level 20 as well, except for Heroes and Henchmen.

Getting to the Far Shiverpeaks

Prophecies: Len Caldoron stands near the fountain in Lions Arch, and offers a quest called What Lies Beneath. You will have to defeat groups of Hellhounds and Grasping Ghouls at levels 11 to 16 before encountering a group of Dwarves led by Ogden Stonehealer who are trying to blow their way out through the tunnels.

Factions: See Minister of Maintenance Raiugyon in Kaineng Center for the quest. You must fight groups of three level 20 Am Fah Assasins and some groups of level 20 assorted Am Fah till you find Ogden Stonehealer.

Nightfall: Take the quest in Kamadan from Bendah (Hole of Istan) to enter a "fissure" not too far outside the city. When you go inside, you enter a large cave system. You will have to defeat a few low level Corsair groups (levels 8-11) before encountering Ogden Stonehealer and co.

The encounter ends with meeting an Asura, Vekk and following him to outrun creatures called Destroyers who are all level 28. There is a 3 minute time limit, but don't battle unless you want to be torn apart by the Destroyers. Follow the green waypoints until you can get to a zone for an easy 2,500 Experience Points and take you to Boreal Station in the Far Shiverpeaks. Right before going into the station, there is a cutscene with the first encounter and conversation with a Norn. Completing this run will unlock Vekk, a level 20 Air/Water Elementalist, along with Ogden Stonehealer, a Dwarven Monk, for you to use as Heroes.

Tip: having a running skill will help you after the cutscene. You may have to leave one or more hench or heroes behind to slow down the mobs.

Introduction to GW:EN mobs

Most of the early Norn mobs you fight in the wilderness are slow casters and/or interrupt mesmers and warriors. However, as a caster class you may find this experience frustrating, as combinations of interrupts, knockdowns, and dazes will keep you from properly executing your skill combos.

If you equip at least three of your party members with interrupt abilities, having Norgu and Gwen as interrupt/shutdown mesmers, and recruiting Zho as a Henchman, you will find encounters with these mobs, especially level 28 mesmer yetis to be considerably easier to deal with. Your last hero should be a hero monk, and Mhenlo will take the second healer role as a henchman. Your remaining two slots should be either tanking or DPS henchmen.

Sealed-off areas

During the preview weekend, the following portals are sealed:

The portal from Battledepths to Heart of the Shiverpeaks
The portal from Bjora Marches to Longeye's Ledge
The portal from Varajar Fells to Verdant Cascades

Known Bugs

It seems that Eye of the North heroes will still occupy a character's hero slots after the event is over. The slots can be cleared by entering an outpost which does not allow heroes, such as the Random Arenas outpost on the Battle Isles.This bug has since been fixed.

In mission three, on their way to the Hall of Monuments, the one after viewing the cinematic featuring Jora and the Dwarves, the player's computer may randomly crash due to a memory dump error before promptly restarting the computer. This appears to be related to what graphics chip your computer uses, as users of certain Intel graphics chips report this most often. (Sometimes erroneously called the "Boot Camp" bug as the affected graphics chips are common on Intel-based Macintosh computers.)

Note: This bug also occurs not only on Macs but on other PCs as well.

Sometimes when you're in Kilroy Stonekin's tournament, you will be knocked down, and forced to return to the outpost; disregarding the "stand up" skill.

Integrated Graphics Cards & Crashing

Some players using integrated Intel graphics chips, Nvidia integrated graphics cards, and ATI Radeon integrated graphics processors have found that after loading Boreal Station, their client now crashes when under graphical stress. This is due to a driver failure, which requires a full system reboot and causes a message stating that the system has recovered from a serious system error. There is no known fix at the time, but keeping movements and camera rotations to a minimum when one's frame rate is low (during loading, etc.) minimizes the frequency of the error. Unlike the "boot camp" error, crashing can occur at virtually any time.[It should be noted that many Intel-based Macs use Intel graphics chips -- the graphics driver is the likely cause of both of these problems.
The following graphics cards experience frequent glitches/crashes during game play

Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900, 910, 915, 945, 950, 965, Nvidia GeForce 6100, GeForce 6150,GeForce Fx 5200, ATI Radeon 9600 AGP, ATI Radeon 9100 IGP, Nvidia 6200LE PCI-E, ATI x600 PCI-E

Places known to crash with integrated graphics chips

Talking to 1st Norn.
Beside pool.
Outside Hall of Monuments.
Beside single NPC in Eye of the North.
Outside gate of Gunnar's Hold.
Drakkar lake portal.
The Great Norn Alemoot quest when talking to Sif Shadowhunter
When activating the Northen Proof of Duty in Sepulchre of Dragrimmar the game crashes.

Some Possible Solutions

Some people have reported success using different combinations of the "-dx8" and "-noshaders" command line options and turning on or off various Graphics options like "Best Texture Filtering".

On some computers, the Intel graphics chips problems can be resolved by redownloading and reinstalling the client using the new GW client builds. If it does not work, reinstall Windows, and/or Windows Boot Camp as well as the Mac partition by reintegrating it back into one volume, reformatting and reinstalling the Mac side (you can use the preserve data feature), and then reinstalling Boot Camp and Windows XP.

You can skip certain areas that cause the errors on your video card by passing through those troublesome areas using another computer, preferably using non-Intel graphics chips and then starting from there.

Note: After the update on August 27th, which temporarily locked all GWEN content, some players have reported that their crash errors no longer occur. It is unknown whether the problem was intentionally addressed in the update, as no mention of any crash bugs was made.

Beware

The quest Defend North Kryta Province should be complete or abandoned before doing the Eye Of The North quest from Len Caldoron in Lion's Arch. If the quest is active it will be harder to keep Captain Greywind alive against the Titans than the usual monsters.

Graphics Chips with Problems with GW:EN

3dLabs Wildcat Realizm 500( 256MB) & 800( 640MB) - Massive Geometry errors on various items( armor( e.g. female elite enchanter top), mobs ...) approx.( not certain) since the July,17 update that "fixed" this for some Intel chipsets, game is badly playable due to this but not crashing. Using -dx8 will make it playable, but with considerably worse graphics and other problems such as the lightrays( beacon of droknar) making orientation near them very hard. (Sep,7 2007)
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Acer aspire 5602WLMi
Intel Integrated GMA 950/945G, Motherboards and the ordinary white MacBook 2006+
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Toshiba Satellite A100 - So far, it's only crashed in the Domain of Fear, and at any time in GW:EN -Second- Same chipset on a Satellite A105 I cannot run Guild Wars on anything but the lowest graphical settings and even then I still crash
Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 9000 Grapics, Dell Inspiron 6000
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, COMPAQ laptop, will freeze at any point in Guild Wars. Have no idea how to fix the problem
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X60s - installed latest driver (7.14.10.1295) along with all previous versions available for Windows Vista from Intel's support page, but problem still persists. Windows Vista gives me the following message: "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered. Display driver igfx stopped responding and has successfully recovered."
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, HP dv2000 series
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Compaq NC4400
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell XPS M1210
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell Inspiron 640m
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell Inspiron E1705
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell Latitude D620
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell Inspiron 6400
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Dell Inspiron E1505 **Seconded. Problem is anywhere in Guild Wars. I was in Elona the last time of four times it crashed** ***Third-ed***
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, AMILO Pi 1505
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, AMILO Pro V8210 (completely updated XP, Drivers etc, random crashes both in GW:EN and in Elona, both in a town or outpost, or in area's)
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Gateway MX6956 - System crash anywhere in GW:EN, usually at scenes or between areas
Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family, Acer & HP laptop computers, gateway tablet pc
Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family, Dell Dimension DV051 - ****I second this graphics card entry, Spent hour and half on phone with dell to hear i had to purchase a graphics adapter****---Thirded---
Intel 82945g Express Chipset Family, Dell Optiplex (I installed older version of the drivers(6.14.10.4299) and issue has gone away, others should test to confirm.)(I have these drivers installed, does not correct the problem)
Intel 945 chipset hp media center pc when taking hench from eye to ice video driver causes crash. i found if i only take hero's it does not crash, no explanation i can think of for this.

Mobile Intel(R)945GM Express Chipset Family, BenQ S61 - Random system crashes in GWEN. Interim solution: Download and installed latest drivers from Intel (6.14.10.4859). In GW graphics options disable "use best texture filtering."
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, Alienware Sentia 3450 Mobile - random crashes. Crashed five times during the Norn Tournament.
ASUS N6600/TD/128 GeForce 6600 (NVIDIA Drivers) - started crashing during the Norn Tournament and is now crashing regularly outside of the tournament in any map. the colors go prismatic.
Nvidia GeForce 6100 Integrated Chipset Family
GeForce 6150 Integrated Chipset Family
GeForce Fx 5200
Nvidia 6200LE PCI-E
ATI x600 PCI-E

Many of the Mobile Intel(R) embedded graphics chipsets do support dx9 but not have hardware shaders or hardware T&L. I experimented and found an optimal configuration of using -noshaders without -dx8 on the command line. I have a 915GM/GMS on my Samsung Q1 and can play GW:EN without any crashes on it.

According to this PlayNC support page, Intel Graphics Chips 915 and 945 series are currently supported: http://www.plaync.com/us/support/doc_2664.html?prod=48

Therefore there may be a fix shortly for those who have problems running the game on Intel integrated graphics.

Turning down the graphic option "Shader" to low significantly lowers lag and crashing. NOTE Windows Vista appears to correct any graphical errors it may encounter, allowing you to continue playing past the areas where errors occur. You should note, however, that there is a momentary screen flash while Windows does this, effectively causing problems if you're currently in battle.

*Developer Note: The minimum specification for GW:EN requires a video card with support for pixel shader 1.1. GW:EN uses significantly more DirectX shaders than Nightfall, and graphics cards that do not support shader model 1.1 and above may see graphical corruption or other performance related issues. Graphics cards that do have support for pixel shader 1.1 and meet the other minimum requirements can submit a support ticket to support.guildwars.com[1].

*Comment to developers: The 3dLabs Realizm Wildcats 500 & 800 are specified as pixel shader 3.0, but they do recently show severe graphics geometry distortion so this is meant as a reminder that something may be wrong in case the ticket does not reach you.

Monuments

The Monument of Fellowship - contains big statues of your unlocked Heroes as well as you current and evolved pet. This will be a generic statue depicting a bear, wolf or cat. In order to add a hero statue to the monument, the hero must have access to armor upgrade and needs to be in your party when you enter the hall.
The Monument of Devotion - shows little statues of your minipets and collectibles that you have obtained.
The Monument of Honor - shows your titles and accomplishments. Kind Of A Big Deal and Gamer for PvE. All others for PvP.
The Monument of Valor - displays unlocked high-end weapons obtained from the Eye of the North expansion.
The Monument of Resilience - shows all your ascended armor sets.

Side Note: In order to activate a monument, you need to talk to Gwen, after the cut-scene. Gwen will give you a tapestry.

Once you have used a tapestry on the monument of your choice, then you can display the related items.

A second tapestry can be obtained by completing the quest "Northern Allies" so it is assumed the last three tapestries are unlocked by completing the main quest for each race (Dwarf/Norn, Asura and Ebon Vanguard).

Beware

Minipets added to the Monument of Devotion in GW:EN, will become customized to the owner of the Minipet. It is advised not to borrow Minipets from others, as they will become customized to you, and so can't be traded back and used by somebody else.
Adding a set of 15k Armor to the Hall of Monuments will show a placeholder for the armor set - some placeholders display the correct armor sets, others do not.

New Titles Available

New Heroes Available

Gwen - Human Mesmer (unlocked at the Eye of the North)
Jora - Norn Warrior (unlocked after completing Curse of the Nornbear)
Kahmu - Human Dervish (unlocked via the Norn Fighting Tournament)
Ogden Stonehealer - Dwarven Monk (unlocked after completing What Lies Beneath)
Vekk - Asuran Elementalist (unlocked after completing What Lies Beneath)
Xandra - Human Ritualist (unlocked via the Norn Fighting Tournament)

New Pets

Note: Any pets you tamed from GW:EN will still accompany you after the event.

New Armor

New Weapon Skins

Note: This section also includes items that were previously only available as PvP rewards.

Sword

Axe

Hammer

Dagger

Spear

Scythe

Bow

Shield

Focus

The Bison Cup

Wand

Norn Scepter

Staff

Green Items

Bosses

Quest Items

Consumable item

Armor of Salvation (quest reward)
Grail of Might (quest reward, craftable)
Honeycomb (quest reward)
Perfect Salvage Kit (quest reward, craftable)
Powerstone of Courage (quest reward)
Scroll of Resurrection (craftable)
Star of Transference (craftable)

Mini Game Items / Quest Rewards

Dwarven Boxing

Norn Fighting Tournament

Polymock

Polymock Piece

Others

Club of a Thousand Bears

Collectable Drops

External links

End of Event Notes, Problems and Solutions

After the event ended, any attempt to travel or load into one of the Eye of the North towns or outposts resulted in that character being redirected to the first town of their home continent.

Prophecies characters end up in Ascalon City (Post-Searing).
Factions characters end up in Monastery Overlook, as though they were just created, but are unable to repeat the tutorial quests.
Nightfall characters end up in Chahbek Village.

GW:EN Heroes after the event

If you had any GW:EN heroes in your party when the event ended they will have been removed from your party, they will still be reported as occupying a hero slot and therefore prevent you from adding more heroes. Zoning to Random Arena (which removes all party members) will fix this and allow you to add 3 heroes again. This has since been fixed by ANet.

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