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Up until recently, the Guild Wars franchise has never released what players and critics would call an “expansion.”  Instead, NCSoft produced two additional campaigns in the form of standalone games – in less than two year’s time before finally releasing the highly anticipated Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion at the end of August.

Eye of the North, commonly abbreviated as GW:EN or GWEN, requires at least one of the three Guild Wars campaigns. The rich environments provide a refreshing breath of air for those who’ve followed Guild Wars through all three campaigns, pristine landscapes are coupled with an emotional ensemble composed by Jeremy Soule, a name with which many Guild Wars players are already familiar with.  The musical score does not disappoint. The visual improvements are hard to notice at first, but the GW:EN presents a visual quality that has certainly progressed since the release of Prophecies back in 2005, which is most apparent in the way animated textures like fire and water are rendered in GW:EN. 

The gameplay itself remains unchanged as far as party sizes and the use of Henchmen and Heroes.  However, mobs have been armed with improved AI and new elite dungeons now require some level of coordination between players even in PvE (though veterans of Urgoz’s Warren in Factions or Domain of Anguish from Nightfall might just roll their eyes).  All of this is an admirable attempt by Arena.Net to promote interaction between players so that the game keeps the spirit of an MMO and doesn’t just become one man and his 7 NPC allies; that is, of course, despite the 10 new heroes that are unlocked throughout the story.  Eye of the North also boasts ample new content, though not all of these features are as drool-worthy as they may sound.