Guild Wars Beyond kicks in another free update with the Hearts of the North update. I really like where the Live Team has taken this one because it’s a wrap-up of the War in Kryta story told through the eyes of Lieutenant Keiran Thackeray. Thackeray, ancestor to Guild Wars 2’s Logan Thackeray, went missing in action after the Battle for Lion’s Arch. (Thankfully, ArenaNet lowered the difficulty of the Battle for Lion’s Arch so players should have an easier time getting to this new content.) We knew from Guild Wars 2 lore that the Lieutenant took off with iceheart Gwen, founded Ebonhawke, and made children. But, how did that happen?
Well this small content chapter in Guild Wars Beyond tells that story Bonus Mission Pack style where the players don the role and skillbar of Keiran as he fights his way back in to Gwen’s arms. Keiran gets a sidekick NPC, Miku to help him out. Miku’s role seems to hint at the next chapter of Guild Wars Beyond in Cantha, Winds of Change. The gameplay is pretty fun as Miku, the assassin, runs in and essentially tanks while the player stands back and launches some pretty serious bow attack skills.
The Hearts of the North chapter will end with the wedding between the Lieutenant and Gwen, and ArenaNet is offering a fistful of new costumes to accompany this content. There are three tuxedos (groom, male, female) and two gowns (bride, formal). The tuxedo costumes come with the much requested top hats. Like all the other costumes, these are additional purchases. ArenaNet really seems to be liking the income coming from the costumes as they will be releasing one set for each of the last three months of 2010. The final set for the year is hinted to come with the Wintersday update. I feel that this influx of costumes effectivelys turns costumes from once-in-awhile-must-haves to more optional purchases.
Either way, it’s some fantastic new content, and I can’t wait to see what the Guild Wars Live Team is cooking up for the rest of the year.
–Ravious
Omg yay!!!! But now I have to decide between vindictus and gw for my spare time… ahhhhhh…. hmmm I guess I could just race through tokens then play gw… but what if the content is short and im stuck with no tokens…. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *panics*
also, HOLY CRAP THEY RELEASED IT ON MY BIRTHDAY AWESOME!!!!!!!
Edit: AHHH ITS NOT LOADING FAST ENOUGH!
GW… possibly the most over-looked and over-shadowed MMO out there. With this and the announcement of LotRO’s updates, I’m hard pressed as to where to spend my gaming time now… but this is really awesome and looks like GW will win for the time being.
Sidenote: I still don’t see paying money to buy the costumes… but thats just me and I would never knock anyone for buying them or ANet for selling them, especially as they’re just cosmetic.