Guild Wars 2 revealed
Plus new GW expansion.
ArenaNet has revealed details of Guild Wars 2, as well as a new expansion for the existing game.
Guild Wars 2 will enter beta testing sometime in 2008, whilst the Eye of The North add-on will be available this holiday season, according to information unearthed on Blue's News.
The new game will take place hundreds of years after Guild Wars, will add four fresh races, and introduce large overhauls across the board. Campaigns will be done away with (since they ultimately made the original feel bloated), and the level cap will be raised as high as 100 - with suggestions there might not be a limit at all.
A sidekick system similar to City of Heroes looks set to be introduced, as do new companion NPCs for each player, who won't take up a party spot, but will decrease the power of the player they follow.
The click-to-move mechanic is going to be scrapped in favour of more freedom, to run, swim, or jump, and group PvP will now sit alongside huge world-battles between players, which will have no limit to their size.
Whilst instancing is very much in, it sounds as though it will be less prominent, making way to a more persistent approach this time around. You can also expect all the action to take place in one world, linked up on multiple servers so that everyone can play together.
All that and fancy new graphics will make it a serious alternative to other games on the market, as will its continued insistence on no subscription fees.
Eye of the North, the new expansion, will attempt to link the story between the first and second titles. You won't be able to transfer characters between games, but achievements are rumoured to be carried through in the Hall of Monuments.
Eye of the North will also add some kind of character development past level 20, as well as a new storyline, buckets of new armour, skills, and 10 new heroes.
Unfortunately NCsoft was unavailable to comment on whether we might see it on other platforms other than PC, but we'll let you know when we do.
Head over to the Guild Wars guru forums for more information.