Anyway, back to it, and onward with the ongoing adventures of our Tuesday night Guild Wars: Nightfall group.

We'd kind of stalled a bit lately, mostly due to conflicting schedules meaning that one of more of us was unable to play, and we'd still not made it off the island of Istan, (lower-left), which forms, for Nightfall, the newbie area covered by the 'Pre-Searing' section of the original game. Mind you, Istan certainly seems bigger, better laid out, and more full of interesting place, people and things to kill than Pre-Searing Ascalon ever was, and we've all still got a number of jobs to finish in those areas. Unlike Pre-Searing, we can actually go back there when we like, so these bits of 'tidy-up' can happily be carried out solo, on other nights.

I personally take an enormous amount of childish pleasure going back to the Plains of Jarin and one-hitting the level 1 and 2 creatures prowling around the city gates on the Kamadan side - something you can't do so easily in post-searing Ascalon, as the lowest yard-trash you can get at after the Searing is still start as 4s and 5s, and come in groups more often. They're easily soloable in the literal sense (No henchmen/Heroes) when you're 20, but not nearly as satisfying as seeing your little character hurl one single spear and have the monster suddenly explode without a fight. Silly, and pointless, but fun all the same. What's the point of gaining power if you can't manifest it? It's no fun if the monsters are always one step above you. (See Oblivion for details.)

Anyway, hobbies aside, it's back to work, and following the ongoing story, we're now at war, largely due to the self-righteous Paragon Leader person mouthing off and giving it all that. Noble Paladin types tend to cause more trouble than Insane Vizier types, I find, because in general, Vizier types know about Diplomacy and Compromise. Our Sunspear Leader person said some bad things about the neighbouring nation's War General, and it all got a bit out of hand, and now we're boarding ships to head to the mainland, and not as tourists.

This all comes very well timed actually, as I'm now L19, and the Necromancer and Dervish are roughly the same level still. Looking at the world-map, it seems that the majority of Nightfall happens on the mainland, and we're already at the level cap before setting foot on it, meaning that the rest of the game can be planned around a known player level, and tuned accordingly. I wonder if this short, almost 'tutorial' level scheme might not be a good way for other games to go. Mind you, without 'Level' to strive for, having a decent overriding story arc becomes especially important, something Guild Wars does well, and other MMOs tend not to.

The ensuing mission (Consulate Docks) was extremely well done, and I must admit, I got a bit carried away with it all. Our party, accompanied by a surprisingly large supporting cast of friendly NPCs, crashed down the gangplank on the docks of Gandara, the home city of the newly antagonised Warlord, and charged into the city in a very well scripted and laid out assault, complete with ninja wizards abseiling down towers, large-scale artillery pieces and a rousing soundtrack that quite made me forget that there was a Bonus objective to be had too. Mind you, I'd not done this mission before, so was a bit enthralled by the whole 'Saving Private Ryan' of it all, and so we ended up missing the extra objectives and triggering the end cutscene, to the annoyance of our Necromancer, who is something of a perfectionist when it comes to these things, and in any case, has done this mission lots before.

The fighting was quite intense, but I'm settling into my role now, which mostly consists of keeping as many Chant AoE Buffs going as possible, helping with spike healing and resurrection where needed, and if I've got time and Power left, mucking about with particularly strong and/or annoying enemies with my Mesmer debuffs, all the while, flinging spears about with reckless abandon. The city of Gandara maintains GWs excellent standard of level design, and is a multi-levelled maze of steep stairways and Morrocan inspired architecture, with touches of Prince of Persia too, although what with the hectic street battles and all, I didn't have much time for holiday snaps.

We got to the top, and drove back the defenders, but then the recently Evil Warlord cheated and things went a bit pear shaped. There was demons and captures and deaths of Important NPCs and all sorts, and now we're scattered, defeated, on the run from an insane army, evil prophet, and crazy god, and currently lost in the wilderness, hiding out in a small, but picturesque, outpost in the middle of nowhere (Yohlon Haven), looking for some place to regroup. All in all, a very familiar state of affairs, and how I seem to remember spending most of the Prophecies Campaign too. I wonder if you end up on the run from an overwhelming army of darkness in Factions too? Certainly a recurring theme in Arenanet writing - look out for the Evil Viking Overlord and his Pillagers of Dooooom in next one...

Still, we're not there for Tolstoy, and the plot, if a little tired, is certainly fun, and it is a game afterall. Speaking of which, our second go at the city fight saw me disconnected halfway through, but our third go at it saw us complete the extra objectives, making for a Happy Necromancer, which is always a good thing. We're now back into the more traditional open exploration type of country, with any number of entirely new and never seen zones all within easy reach, which is always my favourite bit of an MMO - seeing the new lands and whatnot, and this is especially rewarding in GuildWars, given the extra mile they seem to go designing them.