The new Guild Wars storybooks

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:26:36 +0000

The idea of storybooks originally came in with the Eye of the North expansion. Guild Wars: Factions introduced the idea of factions, whom you could work with, earning faction points and Title Tracks, opening up access to exclusive items and missions. Storybooks built on this by allowing you to record your completion of specific missions and dungeons – once a certain number had been completed, you can hand the storybook in to an NPC and claim some faction rewards. The full the storybook, the greater the rewards.

This was a great idea that not only added extra depth to the storyline, but also gave you an opportunity to boost your Title Tracks and faction standings, pimping out your Hall of Monuments. With recent game updates, ArenaNet have introduced storybooks covering the three main campaigns.

Before I go any further – many of you reading this will be thinking “Awesome! I’ve completed all three campaigns, I’ll have some new storybooks insta-filled for me! Epic win!”

No chance. Any missions completed before the game update that introduced the storybooks – on November 13th 2008 – will not be recorded. You’re going to have to go back and do them all again. In Hard Mode, as well, if you want the Hard Mode version of the relevant storybook completed. Gutting – such grind is totally unwelcome.

There are four main storybooks:

The Flameseeker Prophecies – available in Normal and Hard Mode, this covers missions in the Prophecies campaign, starting with the D’Alessio Seaboard mission.
Shiro’s Return – available in Normal and Hard Mode, this covers missions in the Factions campaign, starting with the Vizunah Square mission.
Night Falls – available in Normal and Hard Mode, this covers missions in the Nightfall campaign, starting with the Consulate Docks mission.
Young Heroes of Tyria is only available in Hard Mode and covers the early missions from all three campaigns.

In the next few posts I’ll be looking at each storybook in turn, detailing which NPCs will hand them out, what missions need to be completed, and what rewards you can expect for each completed storybook.

I liked the storybooks in Eye of the North – they added more depth to the Guild Wars storyline for a PvE player like myself. They also provided a more entertaining way of progressing Title Tracks – with no requirement to hand in a fully completed storybook, you could pick and choose your favourite missions and dungeons to replay.

However, I think forcing players to have to redo all the missions from the three main campaigns is overly harsh. Prophecies has been around for many years now, and most players will have completed all the normal storyline missions – and many will have done the Hard Mode ones as well. My Title Tracks can all do with a nice boost, but having to replay all of Guild Wars again leaves me feeling a bit underwhelmed.

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Details on the Party Animal Title Track

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:18:55 +0000

This year’s Canthan New Year festivities saw a new Title Track introduced – the Party Animal Title Track. With only two levels it looks like it could be a relatively easy way to gain another maxxed out Title to display in your Hall of Monuments.

Here are the Rank details:

Rank	Title	Points
1	Party Animal	1,000
2	Life of the Party (Max Level)	10,000

And here’s the info on how best to gain those points:

Item	Points	Effect
Bottle Rocket	1	Shoot a rocket into the air.
Champagne Popper	1	Shoot a champagne popper.
Sparkler	1	Make a sparking halo above your head.
Ghost-in-the-Box	1	Summon a ghost that says “boo”.
Squash Serum	1	Causes a translucent Jack-o’-lantern with a sparkling stem to appear around your character’s head.
Snowman Summoner	1	Summon a snowman at your character’s present location.
Beetle Juice Tonic	2	Double-click to transform yourself into a beetle. Turns you into a Roller Beetle.
Transmogrifier Tonic	2	Double Click to embody the spirit of Halloween. Turns you into a slimmer Mad King’s Guard.
Yuletide Tonic	2	Double Click to embody the spirit of Wintersday. Turns you into a Wintersday Elf.
Crate of Fireworks	3	Double-click to activate a 10 minute fireworks display. This item can only be used in a Guild Hall and only one can be in use at any given time.

The Crates of Fireworks are a nice touch. If you’ve ever seen the special events fireworks that go off in the major cities, you’ll know the effect – cause for lots of “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” from your guildies when you set one off in your Guild Hall. They last for 10 minutes, and are great for Guild events.

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Eye of the North Title Tracks – Ebon Vanguard Title Track

admin — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:26:00 +0000

Warriors from Ascalon, the Ebon Vanguard have journeyed to the Far Shiverpeaks to defeat the Charr. As with the other factions that are converging on the Eye of the North, you can do missions for members of the Ebon Vanguard, and earn reputation points for the Ebon Vanguard Title Track.

Talk to an Ebon Vanguard scout in Charr territory to receive the Vanguard Patrol blessing, which grants you reputation points per creature killed in explorable areas. Every 25 reputation points you’ll get a random bonus, and talking to a new scout after getting 25 reputation points will also give you a random bonus (usually an increase in the amount of points the Vanguard Patrol blessing grants) as well as some extra reputation points.

The two best areas to farm for reputation points are Dalada Uplands and Sacnoth Valley. As an added bonus you can get a Siege Devourer in both of these areas – their monstrous amounts of hit points and the mad damage they can make farming much quicker and easier.

You can expect to get around 3000 Vanguard reputation points in Dalada Uplands, which will take about an hour to fully clear.

Sacnoth Valley will take between an hour and an hour and a half to completely clear, and will net you around 4500 Vanguard reputation points. Speak to all the scouts to boost your Vanguard Patrol blessing as much as you can, and then clear out the Charr Temple last. With 4 bosses there you should be able to achieve 300 points per boss.

Once you have Rank 1 in the Ebon Vanguard Title Track, talk to Gedrel of Ascalon at the Eye of the North to get the Rebel Yell status effect, which will activate whenever you display the Ebon Vanguard Title Track.

Rebel Yell. Title. You have +5..x armor against damage from Charr. You gain 30..x% more adrenaline when you hit a Charr. You gain 2 energy when you kill a Charr.

Rank, Title, and Ebon Vanguard reputation points needed are listed below:

1 – Agent – 1,000
2 – Covert Agent – 4,000
3 – Stealth Agent – 8,000
4 – Mysterious Agent – 16,000
5 – Shadow Agent – 26,000
6 – Underground Agent – 40,000
7 – Special Agent – 56,000
8 – Valued Agent – 80,000
9 – Superior Agent – 110,000

Rank 1 is required to get Rebel Yell from Gedrel of Ascalon at the Eye of the North. Rank 3 is needed to be able to craft Ebon Vanguard consumables. Rank 4 is needed to be able to craft Charrslayer weapons, and Rank 5 is needed to be able to craft Monument armour.

There are also 12 skills which will be granted when completing quests for Ebon Vanguard NPCs. Their effects obviously increase in line with your Ebon Vanguard Title Track rank.

Deft Strike Deft Strike
Ebon Battle Standard of Courage
Ebon Battle Standard of Honor
Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom
Ebon Escape
Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support
Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support
Signet of Infection
Sneak Attack
Tryptophan Signet
Weakness Trap
Winds

If you liked Guild Wars: Prophecies, you’ll really enjoy doing Ebon Vanguard quests in the Charr Homelands in Eye of the North. It’s like old times – wandering the gorgeous countryside, putting the smackdown on Charr – but with enough new features and skills to make it a real challenge.

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Eye of the North Title Tracks – the Asura Title Track

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:08:00 +0000

Along with the Norn, the Asura are a new race introduced in Eye of the North. About the best way to describe them is that they look a bit like Stitch from “Lilo & Stitch”.

The Asura Title Track is a new Title Track to go along with the new race, and represents you standing in the eyes of this very magic-focussed race.

The reputation points you need for each rank are in line with the other new Title Tracks:

Rank 1 – 1,000 – Not Too Smelly
Rank 2 – 4,000 – Not Too Dopey
Rank 3 – 8,000 – Not Too Clumsy
Rank 4 – 16,000 – Not Too Boring
Rank 5 – 26,000 – Not Too Annoying
Rank 6 – 40,000 – Not Too Grumpy
Rank 7 – 56,000 – Not Too Silly
Rank 8 – 80,000 – Not Too Lazy
Rank 9 – 110,000 – Not Too Foolish

As you reach the following ranks extra service will become available to you in Asuran towns and outposts:

Not too Clumsy: Consumables
Not too Boring: Weaponsmith
Not too Annoying: Armor crafter

The usual methods are available for gaining reputation points. Completing quests and dungeons are the main ones, as well as slaying creatures while under the Asuran Bodyguard blessing, obtained from NPCs near Resurrection Shrines in Asuran explorable areas.

There are two main areas to gain large amounts of reputation points. Magus Stones has a large number of easy to defeat Wind Riders. Clearing out all the enemies in this Eye of the North map area should bring you between 3000 and 4000 reputation points.

The other key area to gain Asuran reputation points is Arbor Bay. There are large numbers of low level creatures here, and I’ve found that if you zig-zag across the map, they are spaced out evenly enough to maintain any rampage bonuses. On a typical run you should be able to gain between 3000 and 6000 reputation points.

Additionally for each Polymock match you win you can gain between 40 and 90 reputation points, depending on your opponent.

Once you have obtained Rank 1 in the Title Track, and have spoken to Lexx in Rata Sum, you can display the Title to get the Edification status effect:

“Edification. Title. You have +5…15 Energy while in Asura territory.”

With the Asura announced as one of the playable races in Guild Wars 2, it makes sense to try and max the Asura Title Track, and add it to your Hall of Monuments, so you can gain any bonuses for your Guild Wars 2 characters.

If you’re an Elementalist in Eye of the North, the Asura energy bonus as well as the large number of clumped enemies in explorable areas should provide an easy route to a high rank in the Asura Title Track.

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Eye of the North Title Tracks – Deldrimor Title Track

admin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:46:00 +0000

Another new Title Track in Eye of the North is the Deldrimor Title Track. Earning Dwarven reputation points increases your progress on the Deldrimor Title Track.

As with the other new Title Tracks, you can gain reputation points by either completing relevant quests, or slaying creatures in explorable areas while under the Dwarven Raider blessing. You can get this by talking to the Deacons of Droknar, who are located next to resurrection shrines in explorable areas.

If you want to quickly boost your progress, repeat the Secret Lair of the Snowmen dungeon. With a proper team setup (I use my main character, two AoE damage Elementalist heroes, a monk healer hero, and the rest are henchies) this dungeon can be completed in around 10-15 minutes, and should yield between 800 and 1500 Dwarven reputation points.

Another good dungeon to try early on to get a quick boost in reputation points is the Sepulchre of Dragrimmar. You should be able to get at least one gold item, well over 1000 gold, and over 2000 Dwarven reputation points.

Once you’ve gained Rank 1 in the Deldrimor Title Track, you need to talk to Kodan the Dwarven Recruiter, in Gunnar’s Hold. Once you’ve done this and display the Deldrimor Title, you get the benefit of the Stout Hearted status effect:

“Whenever you use a Skill against a Destroyer, it takes 6..15 damage and you gain 6..15 Health.”

The Deldrimor Title Track ranks, points needed, and bonuses you get are:

Rank	Title	Dwarven reputation points	Damage / Health gain	Extra bonuses
1	Delver	1,000	6	Required for Stout-Hearted.
2	Stout Delver	4,000	7
3	Gutsy Delver	8,000	8	Required for crafting Dwarven Consumables.
4	Risky Delver	16,000	9	Required for crafting Dwarven Weapons.
5	Bold Delver	26,000	10	Required for crafting Dwarven armor.
6	Daring Delver	40,000	11
7	Adventurous Delver	56,000	12
8	Courageous Delver	80,000	13	Beacons of Droknar stop giving the Dwarven Raider blessing in Normal mode.
9	Epic Delver	110,000	14

There are at least 14 specific skills linked to the Deldrimor Title Track. As you increase in Rank you can gain these skills by talking to Dwarven NPCs, who will hand them out as rewards for completing specific quests. The quests themselves will also give you more Dwarven reputation points as a reward, and if you talk to the Deacons of Droknar along the way you can net even more points.

The current skill list is:

“By Ural’s Hammer!”
“Don’t Trip!”
Alkar’s Alchemical Acid
Black Powder Mine
Brawling Headbutt
Breath of the Great Dwarf
Drunken Master
Dwarven Stability
Ear Bite
Great Dwarf Armor
Great Dwarf Weapon
Light of Deldrimor
Low Blow
Snow Storm

As more players progress on the new Title Tracks in Eye of the North, we should be able to get more information on the further ranks in the Deldrimor Title Track, along with any new bonuses or skills they will unlock.

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Eye of the North Title Tracks – Master of the North

admin — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:20:00 +0000

Another new Eye of the North Title Track is The Master of the North. This tracks your progress through the Eye of the North storyline, increasing as you complete quests, dungeons, and explore the Eye of the North map areas.

You gain 5 Eye of the North mastery points for completing a primary mission, and 10 for completing a dungeon quest for the first time. You also gain additional points as you explore and discover areas in the Eye of the North map.

The points you need for each rank are:

100 mastery points – Rank 1 – Adventurer of the North
200 mastery points – Rank 2 – Pioneer of the North
350 mastery points – Rank 3 – Veteran of the North

At the moment, it looks like 316 is the maximum number of points you can obtain:

160 points for completing dungeon quests
55 points for all the primary missions
101 points for map exploration

In case you think I’ve added those up incorrectly remember that Fronis Irontoe’s Lair and Secret Lair of the Snowman don’t give points (as they are repeatable dungeon quests).

As ArenaNet tweak Eye of the North and add new side missions we can expect to see more opportunities to progress the Master of the North Title Track.

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Guild Wars: Eye of the North » Guild Wars Title Tracks

The new Guild Wars storybooks

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