November 10, 2004 - ArenaNet's Guild Wars is a potentially innovative "mission-based competitive online role playing game" in which the persistent characters will be able to gain many abilities and items. Gameplay options will include cooperative group adventures that can also be tackled solo or with AI-controlled henchmen, team-based PvP battles and guild clashes, all emphasizing player skill over sheer accumulated playing time. The underlying technology will stream updates to gamers then they're logged in, and in North America at least, there will be no monthly subscription fee. The visuals, as you can see from these examples, will also be very appealing.

Four exclusive screenshots

Merchant area	Merchant
Coastal scene	Local scenery

[You can follow the progress of this eagerly awaited project here and at our Guild Wars Vault where we take a more community-oriented approach. - Ed.]