anet disambiguation . arenanet inc. type subsidiary industry computer and video games interactive entertainment founded spring 2000 1 headquarters bellevue washington u.s. 2 key people mike o brien president and co founder patrick wyatt co founder jeff strain co founder products guild wars prophecies guild wars factions guild wars nightfall guild wars eye of the north guild wars 2 rytlock s critter rampage guild wars 2 heart of thorns number of employees 300 3 parent ncsoft website http www.arena.net arenanet is a video game developer and subsidiary of ncsoft founded in 2000 by mike o brien patrick wyatt and jeff strain and located in bellevue washington . they are most notable as developers of the online role playing game series guild wars . contents 1 history 2 titles 2.1 guild wars 2.1.1 guild wars prophecies 2.1.2 guild wars factions 2.1.3 guild wars nightfall 2.1.4 guild wars eye of the north 2.1.5 guild wars beyond 2.2 guild wars 2 2.2.1 guild wars 2 living world 2.2.2 guild wars 2 heart of thorns 3 references 4 external links history edit the founders of arenanet were former employees of blizzard entertainment who played important roles in developing the highly successful video games warcraft warcraft 2 starcraft diablo diablo ii and the battle.net gaming network . they left in february 2000 to form their own company . their new studio was briefly called triforge inc. 4 before changing its name to arenanet . the company was acquired by ncsoft in 2002 . on 10 september 2008 ncsoft announced the formation of ncsoft west headquartered in seattle washington . 5 arenanet founders jeff strain and patrick wyatt left arenanet to take roles at ncsoft west in 2008 and ultimately left ncsoft in 2009 . the only founder left is mike o brien . titles edit guild wars edit guild wars prophecies edit guild wars is the first in a series of guild wars a game that merges the action rpg and the role playing video game genres into one with competition in both the player versus player in random matches teams tournaments or guild battles and player versus environment in missions quests or area exploration forms . the developers call this blend a corpg short for competitive online role playing game . important goals of the game are both to minimize the amount of repetitive actions a player has to perform to become a respectable force in the gaming world called grind and also to minimize a player s dependency on game items to stay competitive . these are two goals that set the game apart from most mmorpg s where one hardcore player will gain major advantages when competing against another more casual gamer simply from having played the game more and found better items . in guild wars the advantages in battle will instead come from how well a player picks and uses the character s 8 skills from a library of hundreds an art that is hard to master . the game is different from most mmorpg s in that it did not have any additional recurring fees but bases revenue on standalone game expansions or campaigns in addition to microtransactions . this structure was discontinued with eye of the north which was a traditional expansion pack that required one of the three standalone campaigns . arenanet stated that this was because they felt that this format was restricting their ability to add new game mechanics and balance the overwhelming number of skills introduced with each title and decided to begin work on guild wars 2 to address these issues with eye of the north bridging the gap between guild wars and guild wars 2 . guild wars factions edit guild wars factions is the first sequel to guild wars and among other things adds a new world map with accompanying missions two new professions the assassin and ritualist several new gaming modes and titles which measures the advance of characters in several tasks . it is sometimes referred to as the second chapter with the first one being the released game itself but then with the label guild wars prophecies to make a distinction between the chapters . be aware that this is not an expansion pack but a stand alone product meaning that it does not require guild wars prophecies to play although it enhances the player s gaming experience to have both titles . guild wars nightfall edit guild wars nightfall the third chapter in the guild wars saga was released on 27 october 2006 . as with the previous chapters this is a stand alone product but it can be merged with the previous campaigns to enhance the gaming experience . this third chapter introduces a new world map two new professions the dervish and paragon a new pvp mode but its most remarkable new feature is the introduction of heroes who travel with the character between missions and campaigns and are fully customizable by the player . guild wars eye of the north edit eye of the north is the first true expansion pack in the guild wars series . released on 31 august 2007 it requires one of three earlier full campaigns and introduces two new races the asura and the norn that will be playable in the upcoming guild wars 2 . it is intended to bridge the gap to guild wars 2 by means of a hall of monuments a mechanism that allows transferring achievements in the original series to the sequel . guild wars beyond edit in an effort to resolve plot threads arenanet has released a series of mini expansion updates collectively known as guild wars beyond . this series of storylines and events in guild wars helps set the stage for guild wars 2 which takes place 250 years in the future . guild wars beyond begins with war in kryta then hearts of the north and continues with winds of change . citation needed after the guild wars 2 release arenanet formally announced that they will no longer release any new content . 6 some of these scrapped beyond updates included the ebon vanguards withdrawal and establishment of ebonhawke ; the lunatic court and their attempts to free mad king thorn ; expanding on the story of palawa joko and continue that plot thread which was left dangling in nightfall ; and the disappearance of evennia last seen in old ascalon during the krytan civil war . 7 8 9 10 11 guild wars 2 edit announced in march 2007 guild wars 2 is the sequel to the current guild wars series of games . the game is set around 250 years after the events in the original series and contains several new features consisting of a more persistent world as opposed to mostly instanced dynamic questing a personal branching storyline and an updated graphics engine . 12 on the morning of 20 august 2009 arenanet released the first trailer for guild wars 2 on their website . 13 closed in house beta testing started in december 2011 and press beta weekend events started being rolled out in march 2012 . beta weekend events began in april 2012 and were open to those who pre purchased the game those who received an invite by signing up and those who obtained a beta key from a giveaway . on 28 june 2012 arenanet announced that guild wars 2 would be released on 28 august 2012 ; meanwhile people who pre purchased the game received a three day headstart and began playing three days earlier on 25 august 2012 . 14 in its first 2 weeks of sales guild wars 2 sold over 2 million copies . 15 after the release of guild wars 2 arenanet initially spent their time fixing issues with the game ; such as bugs and connection problems . once the game had become stable they set their focus on further improving guild wars 2 and evolving the concept of a living world by adding both temporary and permanent content in biweekly updates . along with these updates were seasonal and holiday events . guild wars 2 living world edit guild wars 2 heart of thorns edit guild wars 2 heart of thorns was the first expansion pack for guild wars 2 released on october 23 2015 . heart of thorns introduced the revenant profession to the game four new open world maps with three distinct biomes 10 man instanced raids the stronghold player versus player game mode and a new world versus world borderland . references edit about arenanet . arena.net . archived from the original on 7 march 2007 . retrieved 2007 03 25 . contact arenanet . arena.net . archived from the original on 5 march 2008 . retrieved 2008 02 21 . english community manager aidan taylor in the official guild wars 2 forum . 2013 . retrieved 2013 01 16 . triforge games will be new venture for senior blizzard programmers . arenanet press release . retrieved 2008 08 09 . ncsoft announces formation of nc west . ncsoft . 10 september 2008 . retrieved 2008 09 11 . dead link guild wars development and automation guildwars.com ncsoft and arenanet celebrate guild wars 5th anniversary with guild wars beyond and the war in kryta ncsoft costume design and hints of what s to come massively s interview with the guild wars team massively passing the torch designer john stumme joins the live team arenanet blog relics of orr minisode 10.5 lead designer of guild wars awesome relics of orr guild wars live team interview kill ten rats guild wars 2 official faq . arenanet . retrieved 2012 04 14 . guild wars 2 first official trailer . arenanet . retrieved 2009 08 20 . guild wars 2 arriving august 28 . gamespot . 28 june 2012 . retrieved 2012 08 25 . guild wars 2 sales now over 2 million units worldwide . external links edit arenanet ncsoft corporation guild wars official site guild wars 2 official website v t e guild wars arenanet guild wars factions nightfall eye of the north guild wars 2 heart of thorns v t e ncsoft games aion upheaval auto assault blade & soul city of heroes dungeon runners dragonica exteel master x master pangya point blank tabula rasa trickster wildstar lineage lineage lineage ii lineage eternal guild wars prophecies factions nightfall eye of the north guild wars 2 heart of thorns studios arenanet destination games openmaru paragon studios related nc dinos scott jennings retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title arenanet & oldid 744375111 categories 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