Prophecies players can chose to combine the two game accounts into one, and gain two additional character slots (total six) and the ability for all of their characters to travel between Tyria, the original continent, and Canath, Factions’ new continent, provided the appropriate quests have been completed. Alternately, players can chose to keep the accounts separate, giving them four slots per game (total eight), but no ability for the Tyrians to travel to Canath, or the Cathans to travel to Tyria or to transfer goods between Prophecies & Factions characters directly. If the accounts remain separate, the only way for Tyrians to meet with Cathans is on the Battle Isle for some PvP action. New Faction players get four character slots and their characters gain access to Canath and the Battle Isles.

I chose to merge my accounts, because having a high level character being able to fund my new one is a very useful thing. Unlike most MMORPGs, Guild Wars is not equipment focused. While you cannot ignore equipping your character, you will only upgrade your armor a few times during the game and your weapon a few times more. All armor is customized for the character crafting it, so there isn’t any trading of armor between the players. The weapons are switched out depending on the attribute setup chosen by the player, so most people keep 2-3 different weapon sets depending on how they want to play their character that day.

That last sentence is what makes Guild Wars very impressive. There are many different ways to set up your character, and very few of them are out and out wrong. There are, of course, only a few setups that are the most optimized, but a player can be effective for their party and enjoy the game by making intelligent and fun choices for their character. Factions builds upon this principal with respect to its two new professions: The Ritualist and The Assassin.