Guild Wars Nightfall Free Public Key for Preview Event

Anyone can download the client and use the free key to try Guild Wars Nightfall during the preview event this weekend.

Links and keys here:

http://www.guildwars.com/support/NWP...

I hope my pc will allow me to try it out this weekend.

I still think it's crazy that they don't give out free 10-day trials reguarly like WoW does. I mean, if WoW has 7 million users, learn to imitate the things they do to GET those users, people!

Crazy probably yes. They are doing pretty well though. They have a very different pricing model from WoW so I guess they're trying to be careful.

The preorder packs for Nightfall and the retail game itself will include trial keys so if you want one we can get you one.

In fact, I was going to open a preorder soon so if you want a key let me know.

I am just trying every game out there right now just because I can. Quitting WoW gives one a lot of time...I downloaded this for the event to see what fun I can find.

Servers are getting jammed.

Im getting 15-20k transfer rates today. I should have left the client running over night. However, I did get to play the tutorial for 5 minutes!

Anyone can download the client and use the free key to try Guild Wars Nightfall during the preview event this weekend.

Just curious but does "anyone" mean "anyone" or "people that had previously had a Guild Wars account"? I am seriously jonesing for an MMO lately and the no monthly fee aspect is rather appealing to me at the moment. I'd run out and buy it but I had some doubts about the game when I ran through the beta.

UPDATE - Apparently "anyone" means "anyone". I made a Paragon named Valorim Lock and I'm downloading the Island of Shehkah now.

When I say anyone.... when I say anyone... I means ANYONE...

LockAndLoad wrote:

"people that had previously had a Guild Wars account"?

GW is for LIFE, bubba. Can't "have had" an account unless you were banned or something.

Just one of the benefits of no monthly sub

My Dervish kicks butt. Particularly with that awesome Scythe you get from the pre-order pack. I guess the extra character slot only becomes activated when you have the full game.

I've noticed that there are a few things that need to be added. There is one character that says he can't leave the town, but then proceeds to follow you outside. Even outside, he says he is forbidden to leave the town. Also, there are no special "auras" for the new classes. these were part of the original collector's edition.

Other than that, everything is really solid, and the quests are pretty fun, so far. I love the Dervish but haven't played the paragon. I tried out some of the standard classes with the Nightfall look, and the new character models are pretty cool looking. I really dig the butterfly wings on the back of the new Necromancer models.

Back into the breach I go!

Seph wrote:

My Dervish kicks butt. Particularly with that awesome Scythe you get from the pre-order pack.

Oh hells yeah. I'm definitely going to be re-making my Dervish/Monk. I thought the Paragon looked really tacked on (like they sat down and said, "we're adding a new frontline melee class so we should probably add a new ranged class too."). People that have tried it have been very positive about it.

The Nightfall version of the female elementalist is rather nice. I mean, the faces and hairstyles and stuff are average but the outfit... yow.

I'm also really digging the new heroes and the overall structure of the Nightfall campaign. I didn't get too deeply into it but it feels a lot more freeform; perform a bunch of missions, rise through the ranks, but you aren't immediately thrust into OMG SAVE TEH WERLD. It's also a really convenient and non-confusing way to get a character their 2 +15 Attribute Point boosts (you get 1 boost at your first Sunspear rank increase and the other when you hit Captain, and you can easily farm for promotion points in early areas).

I'm loving some of the new sword designs as well. All in all this is looking like a really solid addition.

I really enjoyed the free event this weekend. However, I don't feel like paying to buy the software all over again (I would want all the originial content too).

That's their pricing model though. Pay for the campaigns you want, skip the ones you don't. Beats having to pay a monthly fee (in addition to the initial cost of the game) or close your account, IMHO.

Yeah, I know their model but the orignial still costing $40 is what I am shocked about. I was hoping it would be down to $20.

I've seen it for $29 on occasion, but yes, they've been able to maintain the price.

So, I spent two hours playing around with Nightfall, and there's some good stuff here. My overall reaction is that it combines the introduction for new characters of Factions with the pace and storyline of Prophecies (the original).

Features-wise, I love the ability to acquire customizable heroes. I noticed they get the benefits of your unlocks.

Also, the ability to command henchmen, and even use the skill bar of your heroes to cause them to use a particular skill while in the heat of battle.

In the photo below, notice the following changes:

- Ability to set waypoints for henchmen using the flags at the bottom of the minimap (top right corner)
- Separate skill bar for your hero with the ability to set aggressive, passive and defensive modes.
- In the inventory and skills dialog, you can select either yourself or your customizable heroes to set skills, runes, etc. while in town.

Very cool stuff.

IMAGE(http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7991/gw569uh6.th.jpg)

In all honesty, Prophecies is probably the longest of the three games. On average, Prophecies missions give around 10% the experience of Factions missions, for instance. Since the technical differences between the games are minor, it doesn't surprise me that the first chapter is still near full price. Don't forget that you can take Factions and Nightfall characters back to Ascalon, too.

That said, I felt the story of Factions was a hell of a light tighter and more interesting than the story of Prophecies.

Devilstick: You spent all that time scraping out the names in that image and you missed one! "Stalking Nephila drops xxxx, reserved for INSERT NAME HERE"

I found myself stuck in factions, but am finally moving forward.

Hehe - thanks. I just fixed it.

I was more worried about the names on my friends list than my own. People can already get my IGN elsewhere on this forum.

Where are you stuck?

Sephirotic wrote:

I found myself stuck in factions, but am finally moving forward.

Same here - PUGs can be brutal to my poor Assassin.

Lately I've been playing an assassin, so I know the feeling.

Though, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.

I tried making an assassin/warrior build that uses criticals with axes for area effect. Didn't work out too well. Then I tried making a ranger/assassin build that uses the ranger's Expertise to spam tons of assassin attacks back to back. Worked a little, but still not that great.

I guess I'm just not that great at playing the assassin. It's hard for me to make a melee character that can't take many hits... which is why I'm loving the dervish.

Believe it or not, I was stuck on the multiple group mission (the fourth mission for new characters, the first big one for transferred characters). I could NEVER get a reliable group to play with. People would randomly drop leaving the rest of us in jeopardy. I FINALLY got in with just the henchman and was able to do it on my own, but it took me two months to do it.

So now I am at the celestials mission. I am enjoying it now that I can move forward.

note: I completed 95% of prophecies with just the Henchman, including Elona Reach. I MUCH prefer the henchies, but that's just my anti-social nature. I loved taking other guildies through that mission.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I tried making an assassin/warrior build that uses criticals with axes for area effect. Didn't work out too well. Then I tried making a ranger/assassin build that uses the ranger's Expertise to spam tons of assassin attacks back to back. Worked a little, but still not that great.

I guess I'm just not that great at playing the assassin. It's hard for me to make a melee character that can't take many hits... which is why I'm loving the dervish. :D

I went with Assassin/Ranger. The only ranger skills I've been using are Apply Poison and Troll Unquent.

I have some points in Wilderness Survival, but everything else is in assassin stuff. I basically spread poison around the enemy mob while the tank grabs aggro, then run in for a few quick strikes, back out, etc.

It's worked ok so far, well enough for me to manage to get the survival title for my assassin.

That's the thing, Devil, aggro doesn't work the same way it does in WoW. Hence no skills that deal with it.

Sephirotic wrote:

note: I completed 95% of prophecies with just the Henchman, including Elona Reach. I MUCH prefer the henchies, but that's just my anti-social nature. I loved taking other guildies through that mission.

I guess you're happy about the new hero system then, eh?

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's the thing, Devil, aggro doesn't work the same way it does in WoW. Hence no skills that deal with it.

There are a few. Several classes have abilities to slow, pacify, or otherwise take a mob out of the action. But with the array of AOE spells and the fast fury of action, they don't get much use. People are more concerned about doing damage diablo II style. Which is fine by me as long as people are not just pushing up the death penalty.

One thing I have noticed is that classes that spawn other creatures (Necro/Rit) are heavily hounded my enemy mobs. I can't count the number of times as a Ritualist I hear from my teammates, "Focus on the ritualist!" and I know the enemy is thinking the same thing as I get pounded into the ground. The AI in GW has given me more trouble than WoW or AC2's did. I am going to say that makes for "better" opponents, but it can be frustrating at times. Especially in a PUG who isn't want to listen to any planning or advice.

Luckily I'm a bad-ass and I die with dignity.

Right, but there aren't any spells that, say, shift aggro to you or away from you. I guess the assassin and elementalist have some spells that result in a broken aggro lock, but only because they teleport out of range and/or become a non-valid target.

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's the thing, Devil, aggro doesn't work the same way it does in WoW. Hence no skills that deal with it.

Like BadMojo said, there are *some*, and as you pointed out, there is shadow stepping. My main approach is to avoid drawing aggro in the first place (unless I'm the tank).

When playing with henchies-only, I move to where my targets are just outside my aggro bubble. If you call a target, but then immediately hit the "back" button, you won't attack, but your tank will rush in and grab aggro. (Some of your casters might too, but at least *you* won't get spiked.)

That seems to work for most areas.

Skimming here, but if you bought the game previously and dont have it anymore you can download the original game for free, as long as you remember your UN and PW

LobsterMobster wrote:

I guess you're happy about the new hero system then, eh?

Oh, yes! Yes, indeed! *rubs hands together as menacingly as one can rub their hands together*

I am running an Assassin build myself and have been having a great time with it. Here is the build from Guild Wars Wiki:

Palm of The Golden Phoenix Build

I took out blinding powder and replaced it with critical strikes. The benefit of this build is that you get quick heals from critical striking with Way of Perfection, and by using the dual attack skill Critical Strike, you hit twice resulting in a double heal. By using Iron Palm, and Golden Phoenix Strike (make sure you are enchanted!) you skip lead attacks which lets you get to the dual attacks quicker and with more energy. Through a combined use of Way of Perfection and Shadow Refuge I hardly ever have a problem with Health managment. There may be the odd time that I get very low in health, at which point I disengage, run, heal up, and then get back into the fight. I found the biggest help though for my Assassin was getting the best armor possible for him quickly (not the 15K stuff). Assassins need the extra armor alot more quickly than the other character classes (except the Warrior) since they are expected to be on the front lines and thus can take a pounding more so than other classes with the same relative armor level.

Try using the above mentioned build, equip the best armor possible with a vigor rune, hit and run, and you should be fine. When I first started playing as an Assassin I was always face down in the dirt. Once I adopted the above build, got the armor, and realized that it is okay if I run from the fight I became a juggernaut of destruction. I finished Vizunah Square with an 8% Morale Boost (not having died once) and was able to quickly bring down the Afflicted Ritualists, Monks, Mesmers and other casters on the back lines single handedly while everyone else was mucking about.