The prison camp where Gwen is being held in the beginning of her story is located within the lush green Charr lands of the Eye of the Northexpansion. However, if players look to the south they can see thetransition between this "Eden" and the hellish landscape ofpost-searing Ascalon. During the mission, players can scour the ruinsof Duke Gaban's estate and marvel at some gorgeous early Ascalonianarchitecture.

The story of Saul D'Alessio begins on the far northern edges ofKryta at an iconic, remote Krytan village, providing players theopportunity to view areas of Kryta they've never seen before. Thismission occurs at night, as Saul and his loyal White Mantle followersattempt to sneak into a massive Charr army camp. The ambience this mapprovides has to be seen to be appreciated.

Last is the story of Turai Ossa. This gorgeous map gives players the opportunity to witness a full-scale Guild Warsbattle as it takes place. Adventurers can pause to enjoy breathtakingmountaintop views and watch hundreds of soldiers battle the undeadalong the banks of the river Elon. You will see artillery batteriesunleash salvos into the distance and the returning fire from undeadbone ballistae. For the grand finale, players fight Palawa Joko, mano amano, on a rope bridge suspended hundreds of feet above the swirlingmasses of fighters.

4. Why tell these tales?

We wanted to pick pivotal characters from each of the major Guild Warsreleases and highlight their untold stories. For example, we now knowthat Gwen escaped from the Charr, but players don't know the details.Each mission takes a story that somehow shaped the campaign it is tiedto, and gives players insight into why it happened, who the principalcharacters were, and how their actions shaped history. One of our goalswith Eye of the North was to tie up a lot of the major storylines presented in the original Guild Warscampaign. The mission pack tackles additional stories from eachcampaign that we had left relatively open. There are even bridges to Guild Wars Gold 2 from the Bonus Mission Pack, so in a way it strengthens the bond between the two distinct timelines just a bit more.

Some of the most fun we've ever had as a team was building theSorrow's Furnace region for our players. The Bonus Mission Pack isreally the first chance we've had since then (other than holidayevents) to take on a fun side project. It just seemed like the rightthing to do before we turn our attention fully toward Guild Wars 2.