Nightfall PC Gamer Thread

NOTICE: Updated with confirmations by Anet! http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10047430

Since no one else started it, here's the rundown of what you'll find in the November PC Gamer (with Dervish on Cover, and Back as well!). I will not use direct quotes, images, or anything else copyrighted. I will update this throughout the day, but feel free to help me out by adding stuff yourself.

Those not intererested in the Gray Giant mini-pet should still pick this up. It's a great read, and has lots of cool pictures.

Oh, and this thread contains SPOILERS. You've been warned.



The End of the Trilogy?

Nightfall is "an apocalypse", says Jeff Strain. "It's an endpoint." It will tie up some loose ends from Prophecy and Factions. But don't worry, Chapter 4 is in the works, and hints of what's to come can be found within Nightfall.



Regions of Nightfall

Istan Starting region, themed after ancient Egypt. Contains port of Kamadan, where travelers from other chapters will start.

Kourna Savannahs and mud huts.

Vabbi Arabic themed with floating mosques and castles, magical fountains and tapestries with flowing text. SPOILER ALERT: This place will be devastated by the "evil god" at some point.

Desolation The poison desert, with sulfer pits. You'll even ride inside giant wurms in this stage to cross the most dangerous parts! (Yes, you control the wurms, getting special "wurm" skills to replace yours!)

Realm of Torment Hell, basically. Promises to look very gory, pushing the "teen" rating. Will be unmappable, as the fog of exploration persists even after you've "explored" a part of the realm.



Beefier Story / Better Voiceacting

Jeff Grubb writing (from D&D fame), more dialogue trees with NPCs, completing quests will have consequences on gameplay, professional actors hired for voice acting. Drinking and dancing mini-games (or Quests, sounds more like it).

Also, Nightfall is larger than Factions (20 missions vs 15), there will be branching storylines, (although not as extreme as the two Luxon and Kurzick paths in Factions), Three New Challenge Missions and One new Elite Mission (not based on Alliance, but opened at a certain point in game).



Swappable "Inscriptions" and Choosing Mods to Salvage

"Inscriptions" are "inherent bonus modifiers for weapons" and can be transferred among most weapons, or sold for gold. Also, no more salvaging what you don't want, you can choose what component you want to salvage.



Templates for Your Characters include Secondary Changer!

You can now assign preset skill and profession builds and switch them in Outposts. "No more hunting through outposts for Profession trainer!" I assume they mean once you unlock a secondary, I can't see GW giving you secondaries for "free." Still, a much requested and needed feature!

Templates confirmed: "A new template system will allow you to save your own custom builds for every contingency."


Heroes

[over] 12 heroes, can have three a a time, will need specific heroes for some quests. Can upgrade Hero's skills, weapons, armor, and give them secondaries.

"Aggressive," "Defensive" and "Passive" modes, can be sent to to certain areas by placing "flags" on the mini-map. Finally, we can tell a Hero to hold an area!

There's also a list of the names and brief bios of all the Heros. http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10047430

Confirmed:
"for the first time ever, you'll be able to band together with customizable Heroes that will not only fight by your side, but level up with your character and follow your orders as you fight to hold back the night.

Nightfall brings more than a dozen Heroes to your aid as you battle against the forces of darkness. Each of these Heroes will gain experience at your side. You can even equip them with new weapons, upgrade their armor, and choose their skills for them. Best of all, you will be able to direct your Heroes in battle, telling them when, where, and whether to fight at all. You'll even be able to activate their skills for them. The amount of control is up to you. Use them like enhanced henchmen or direct them much like extra, full-fledged characters. The choice is yours."



350 New Skills!

Including new skills for Assassin and Ritualist! Confirmed!



Exclusive Nightfall Quest & Gray Giant Mini-Pet

Note: The PC Gamer cover tagline is incorrect. It should say "Get an Exclusive Nightfall Quest and Mini-Pet!" not "Guild Wars Mission and Mini-Pet." This quest is for Nightfall only, and only available to those with the PC Gamer code.


UPDATE: For some magazines, Page 96 is Blank. Don't Panic! There should be another page in the magazine with the code printed on it. In essence, you have two pages "96". Just look carefully through the whole magazine. (Thanks to Knightsaber Sith and Darksun.)

There's an access key printed on page 96. You can add it to your account now, although it won't do anything until the Nightfall World Preview Event on Sept. 22 - 24, or when you install the Nightfall retail key. (Go to "Create Account or Add Access Key" tab to enter in the code).
Then:

• Go to Kamadan, the port city of Elona. (Nightfall Only)

• Type /bonusitems to get "Broken Toy" item.

• Accept "The Toy's Story" quest from the NPC Makh, and complete quest to get Gray Giant mini-pet.

You can repeat these steps when you get the final Nightfall release, as all items gotten from the Preview event will be deleted. Also, remember that the preview event is open to Elona only characters who'll have no access to storage. No one will make any permanent Gold during the Nightfall PvE Preview by selling their pet, so don't worry!

I read the article last night. It was HUGE! There will be tremendous updates to Nightfall. What I think will be interesting......


*****SPOILER WARNING******




is that this "battle of the gods" will have effects in Cantha and Tyria. I'm very curious what will happen on both of these continents and whether they will permanent. Also, the article says that Nightfall will "tie up some loose ends" from the other chapters. Will we finally find Gwen?

Maybe.


What i liked better, was the region "Desolation" we have to summon a Worm, then the worm eats us and we have special skills to ride on the worm, on the "Desolation" area, the are is so leethal that nobody can be there witouth the riding pets.




FINALLY MOUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TAKE THAT PVP PLAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHAHAHAH.

Wtf Are Inscriptions?!?!?

hmmm i hope that since we have to fight a god the 5 gods of tyria; Balthazar, Dwayna, Grenth, Lyssa and Melandru will come in the game with a active role.

i just can't wait

I cant believe that no one is excited by the wurm riding. I AM THE ONLY ONE?

No, it's very cool. I'm curious if its your whole party, or if you each get a worm to control.

which issue of PC gamer and the american, australian or euro version?

November, and I'm in America.

cool..thanks

I'd say that wurm is about as close as we'll get to mounts in GW.

The first I heard of them is this article. Pc Gamer says they will replace "inherent bonus modifiers for weapons" and can be tranferred among weapons, or sold for gold.

You can also pick which component you want to salvage. All in all, this sounds very good!

EDIT: Thanks to Lov and Knightsaber for the clarification.

Sounds to me like these "inscriptions" replace natural mods like 15^50 but not the mods from upgrades

You can take 2friends, and its hard to obtain the worm mount. At least thats what i get from the magazine.

That's not the impression I got at all. It sounded from the magazine you had to get the wurm to survive the sulfur pits. You have to complete a Quest to summon the wurm. The wurm will swallow you whole, allowing you to control it. It's unclear whether you do this by yourself, or have a whole party of "wurm riders" (or "wurm insiders?"). If you want to leave the sulfur pits, you have to ditch the wurm.

nope on that as i bolded the contradiction.

inherent is what it comes with

mod is what you salvage and add.

no way are they going to cut something like salvaging mods

they simply added an additional *class* of mods

That makes sense. So, now we can alter the inherent "Inscription" of the weapon, as well as the mods.

It does sound like we can choose what to salvage now, though.

All i gotta say is that everything sounds Sweet. Can't wait till i get the mag, i gotta wait till it hits the selfs.

Is the November issue of PC gamers out yet?

It's out for subscribers, I'm not sure it's on shelf yet. I believe it will be on shelf on the 19th...

O, ok, thanks, gotta wait just 4 more days >_<

Someone said that their Barnes & Noble in North Carolina has it out now; but it's supposed to be out on the 19th

I was actually told the same thing by a guildmate who has it. I'll have to stop by my local Barnes & Noble.

Wow.. Seems ANET have put alot of depth into the Pve aspect of Nightfall, actually sounds worth playing (and after factions, I was debating buying it as i Pvp more than pve)

I just added the key from PC Gamer. But when I went into Account Management, I could not see it listed under extra features. Can anyone confirm?

Hmm, I didn't check. It did say the "Miniature Giant" (oxymoron?) was added when I actually added the code, but I didn't check the Account Management after I did it. Sorry. If this is still unanswered by the time I get home tonight, I'll let you know.

I've seen a couple people say the same. As long as it actually went through; and you didn't get the message that it was already in use, you should be fine. If it says it's in use, mailman stole your key!

Sounds great from the article, i am gonna go pick up 2 copies of it in stores tomorrow for a look myself. Thanks for the posted info Mordakai

Sounds like theres still hope with PvE from Nightfall but we shall have to see.

Blue within Blue eyes, Worm rideing, THE SPICE MUST FLOW!

on to Elona!

LMAO!

He who controls the spice controls the universe!

Gaile's recent log says the magazine confirms new skills for Rit/Sins.

Confirm/deny

Hmm, the article does mention new skills, but I don't remember it saying anything about Ritualists and Assassins specifically.

mine said added but went to account managment cant find it there...but take into account when I first got my factions preorder it took a few days to list there also. So I am hoping it takes a few days to list

Crap, yes it does, I'll update OP.

whoa

the article probably has a mistake and it would not be the first time.

300 skills so where are the extra for ass/rit coming from

they wont short the new professions so the only way would be to strip new skills from the core 6 professions.

i would wait for official confirmation on that to avoid ass/rit disappointment later

This is no mistake Gaile Gray confirmed it herself in some FROG talk.

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtca9.gif

THUS ANET HAS MADE IT OFFICIAL NEW RITUALIST AND ASSASSIN SKILLS FULLY CONFIRMED BY ANET.

LOL, chill Lov. This is a "PC Gamer Nightfall" thread. I'm just posting stuff in the article.

Of course, Gaile did happen to confirm Assassin and Ritualist skills will be in Nightfall, although the number of total skills could be wrong.

this is me eating my own words. tastey. my view on trilogies still stands, however-> id still much rather them leave some of these mysteries going, but hey Im confident Ill be pleasantly surprised with how they handle it.

Too bad USUALLY the second part of a trilogy is the best- I mean just look at Jurassic Park... :/

quoted because i cant wait. unmappable... better run, survivors.

Wait until you read the description of the Realm of Torment. It sounds really gruesome.

Oh, interesting thing of note: The Gods of Tyria page shows all the Avatars of the Dervish... except Grenth who's "abstaining."

Now, it could be they just didn't have enough space to show Grenth. Or, it could be that Anet is redesigning Grenth (the weakest looking of the Avatars, IMO), and didn't want the old pic shown. I can always hope, anyway.