Tracking your progress in Eye of the North with books

A neat new feature in Eye of the North is the concept of tracking your progress in special books. Once completed these books can be handed in to NPCs in exchange for reputation points.

There are three books you can collect and complete:

• The Hero's Handbook
  
• The Master Dungeon Guide
  
• Zho's Journal
  

You can obtain the Hero's Handbook and the Master Dungeon Guide from the following NPCs:

• Gedrel of Ascalon, in the Eye of the North
  
• Kodan, in Gunnar's Hold
  
• Tyr the Skaald, in Gunnar's Hold
  
• Lexx, in Rata Sum
  

Ask them about "written evidence" and they will give you the books. Once accepted, these two books will be customised to your character. If you place them in storage you can request another book, although at the moment completed quests and dungeons will only be updated in the first book you have.

I suspect at some point you will be able to place the books somewhere in the Hall of Monuments, which would explain why you can have more than one copy.

The Master Dungeon Guide will document your progress in the following dungeons:

• Catacombs of Kathandrax - Page 1
  
• Rragar's Menagerie - Page 2
  
• Cathedral of Flames - Page 3
  
• Ooze Pit - Page 4
  
• Darkrime Delves - Page 5
  
• Frostmaw's Burrows - Page 6
  
• Sepulchre of Dragrimmar - Page 7
  
• Raven's Point - Page 8
  
• Vloxen Excavations - Page 9
  
• Bogroot Growths - Page 10
  
• Bloodstone Caves - Page 11
  
• Shards of Orr - Page 12
  
• Oola's Lab - Page 13
  
• Arachni's Haunt - Page 14
  
• Slaver's Exile - Page 15
  
• Fronis Irontoe's Lair - Page 16
  
• Secret Lair of the Snowmen - Page 17
  
• Heart of the Shiverpeaks - Page 18
  

Annoyingly, any dungeons that were completed during the Sneak Peek weekend won't appear in the Master Dungeon Guide. Can't say I'm too happy about that, personally.

Any dungeons and quests that you have completed since starting Eye of the North (after the official launch) will automatically show up in the books when you acquire them.

Zho's Journal is a special book that can only be gained once you have defeated Zho in the Norn Fighting Tournament.

Zho's Journal can only be acquired once per character. When you receive any of the books, they are customised to your character.

The Hero's Handbook contains details for each of the Primary Quests you complete. As you finish them, a summary of the quest is entered in the Handbook.

The Master Dungeon Guide is used to keep track of each of the dungeons you complete. Again, as each one is finished, a summary of the dungeon is written into the Guide.

When the Hero's Handbook or the Master Dungeon Guide is completely full, you can hand it in to one of the NPCs to receive 2500 reputation points for that NPC's race. So, if you wanted to boost your Asuran Title Track, you'd hand the completed Hero's Handbook in to Lexx in Rata Sum.

Zho's Journal is a special item, primarily of interest to Rangers or those characters who have Ranger as a secondary profession. The Journal documents Zho's journey in hatching a Black Moa egg and can be used to acquire and hatch your own Black Moa egg.

To complete this you must have all 3 chapters of Guild Wars, as Zho has journeyed to them all to accomplish this task. If you do try and hatch your own Black Moa chick, bear in mind that there are no quests, and NPCs will have no icons above them, showing who to talk to. You will need to read through the Journal and use it to work out where to go and who to talk to.

As an aside, you may notice that The Hero's Handbook and the Master Dungeon Guide are references to the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide from Dungeons & Dragons. Even the colours match up to the current editions.

This is a pretty long blog posting, but the idea of books to track and record progress in Eye of the North is a new one, and questions about the books seem to frequently come up.

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Is Eye of the North your favourite soundtrack?

Is Eye of the North your favourite soundtrack? Or perhaps Nightfall? Maybe Factions?

Jeremy Soule's music is superb - haunting, catching the feel of the game, and adding atmosphere and depth. You can purchase and download the full high quality soundtracks from Direct Song and then have them played at random within Guild Wars, even if you don't have the relevant client.

Obviously you can also play the soundtracks that came with the full retail copies of each game, and even get some bonus tracks with the Collector's Edition of each chapter.

So, the question is - which is your favourite soundtrack of them all? Which one inspires you to explore the Guild Wars world, which one gets your blood pumping in combat, which soundtrack captures the sense of loss of the conflicts that ravage Tyria, Cantha and Elona?

Place your vote on our exclusive Eye of the North soundtrack poll, on the right hand side of this blog. The poll will be open until 31st October - make your vote count!

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Eye of the North Title Tracks - Deldrimor Title Track

Another new Title Track in Eye of the North is the Deldrimor Title Track. Earning Dwarven reputation points increases your progress on the Deldrimor Title Track.

As with the other new Title Tracks, you can gain reputation points by either completing relevant quests, or slaying creatures in explorable areas while under the Dwarven Raider blessing. You can get this by talking to the Deacons of Droknar, who are located next to resurrection shrines in explorable areas.

If you want to quickly boost your progress, repeat the Secret Lair of the Snowmen dungeon. With a proper team setup (I use my main character, two AoE damage Elementalist heroes, a monk healer hero, and the rest are henchies) this dungeon can be completed in around 10-15 minutes, and should yield between 800 and 1500 Dwarven reputation points.

Another good dungeon to try early on to get a quick boost in reputation points is the Sepulchre of Dragrimmar. You should be able to get at least one gold item, well over 1000 gold, and over 2000 Dwarven reputation points.

Once you've gained Rank 1 in the Deldrimor Title Track, you need to talk to Kodan the Dwarven Recruiter, in Gunnar's Hold. Once you've done this and display the Deldrimor Title, you get the benefit of the Stout Hearted status effect:

"Whenever you use a Skill against a Destroyer, it takes 6..15 damage and you gain 6..15 Health."

The Deldrimor Title Track ranks, points needed, and bonuses you get are:

Rank	Title	Dwarven reputation points	Damage / Health gain	Extra bonuses
1	Delver	1,000	6	Required for Stout-Hearted.
2	Stout Delver	4,000	7
3	Gutsy Delver	8,000	8	Required for crafting Dwarven Consumables.
4	Risky Delver	16,000	9	Required for crafting Dwarven Weapons.
5	Bold Delver	26,000	10	Required for crafting Dwarven armor.
6	Daring Delver	40,000	11
7	Adventurous Delver	56,000	12
8	Courageous Delver	80,000	13	Beacons of Droknar stop giving the Dwarven Raider blessing in Normal mode.
9	Epic Delver	110,000	14

There are at least 14 specific skills linked to the Deldrimor Title Track. As you increase in Rank you can gain these skills by talking to Dwarven NPCs, who will hand them out as rewards for completing specific quests. The quests themselves will also give you more Dwarven reputation points as a reward, and if you talk to the Deacons of Droknar along the way you can net even more points.

The current skill list is:

• "By Ural's Hammer!"
  
• "Don't Trip!"
  
• Alkar's Alchemical Acid
  
• Black Powder Mine
  
• Brawling Headbutt
  
• Breath of the Great Dwarf
  
• Drunken Master
  
• Dwarven Stability
  
• Ear Bite
  
• Great Dwarf Armor
  
• Great Dwarf Weapon
  
• Light of Deldrimor
  
• Low Blow
  
• Snow Storm
  

As more players progress on the new Title Tracks in Eye of the North, we should be able to get more information on the further ranks in the Deldrimor Title Track, along with any new bonuses or skills they will unlock.

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Eye of the North Title Tracks - Master of the North

Another new Eye of the North Title Track is The Master of the North. This tracks your progress through the Eye of the North storyline, increasing as you complete quests, dungeons, and explore the Eye of the North map areas.

You gain 5 Eye of the North mastery points for completing a primary mission, and 10 for completing a dungeon quest for the first time. You also gain additional points as you explore and discover areas in the Eye of the North map.

The points you need for each rank are:

• 100 mastery points - Rank 1 - Adventurer of the North
  
• 200 mastery points - Rank 2 - Pioneer of the North
  
• 350 mastery points - Rank 3 - Veteran of the North
  

At the moment, it looks like 316 is the maximum number of points you can obtain:

• 160 points for completing dungeon quests
  
• 55 points for all the primary missions
  
• 101 points for map exploration
  

In case you think I've added those up incorrectly ;-) remember that Fronis Irontoe's Lair and Secret Lair of the Snowman don't give points (as they are repeatable dungeon quests).

As ArenaNet tweak Eye of the North and add new side missions we can expect to see more opportunities to progress the Master of the North Title Track.

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Official press release as Eye of the North goes live

(I wanted to repost this Eye of the North Press Release because it contains some good information about the expansion, direct from ArenaNet)

Guild Wars: Eye of the North Goes Live, Expanding Guild Wars World
NCsoft releases the first expansion to award-winning, subscription-free Guild Wars franchise, builds bridge to Guild Wars 2

Brighton, England. August 31st 2007—NCsoft® Europe and ArenaNet® have launched Guild Wars: Eye of the North™, the first expansion to the Guild Wars® franchise of subscription-free, online roleplaying games. Guild Wars players who purchase the expansion can access Eye of the North content through any of the multi-million-selling Guild Wars campaigns–Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions™, or Guild Wars Nightfall™. The expansion also includes an innovative feature that allows players to take achievements they have earned over the years with them into the forthcoming Guild Wars 2®.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North, continues the subscription-free business model pioneered by ArenaNet. The expansion is now available at the Official Guild Wars In-game Store and at http://eu.plaync.com/eu/, as well as from retailers across Europe and in North America, for an expected suggested retail price of £24.99 / €34.99.

Eye of the North advances the story told in the original Guild Wars campaign, and is set in unexplored areas of the continent of Tyria. One of the highlights of the expansion is the Hall of Monuments, which allows players to preserve armor sets, pets, Heroes, and titles earned while playing Guild Wars, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, and take those accomplishments with them into Guild Wars 2.

The expansion also contains a host of new features that will appeal directly to veteran Guild Wars players, including 18 multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all 10 Guild Wars professions, 10 new Heroes to aid them in their adventures, 40 new armor sets, and more items, weapons, and titles.

“We think fans will find a lot to love in Guild Wars: Eye of the North,” said Mike O’Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. “Not only do we go back to the original Guild Wars lands and stories to wrap up plots and themes fans have clamored to learn more about, but we’ve also built a bridge to the future through the Hall of Monuments. This will give loyal players a way to preserve what they’ve accomplished in Guild Wars over the past two years, and reclaim the legacy of their favorite characters in Guild Wars 2.”

The Guild Wars franchise recently surpassed four million units sold and is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed online roleplaying game series of all time. Guild Wars 2 is expected to go into public beta in the second half of 2008.

For more information, visit the Guild Wars website at http://www.discoverguildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars series of games, including Guild Wars: Eye of the North, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the PlayNC store at https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl?language=en-gb.

About ArenaNet
ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, Washington, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation. ArenaNet has built a state-of-the-art interactive game network and develops premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. ArenaNet’s titles, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North, are global online roleplaying games that allow gamers to play with anyone, anytime, and anywhere in the world. More information about ArenaNet can be found at http://www.arena.net.

About NCsoft Europe
NCsoft Europe (NC-E) is headquartered in Brighton, England and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online games. NCsoft has already successfully established itself in North America, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand. NC-E began operations on 1st September 2004 and serves as a central hub for all NCsoft sales, marketing and distribution operations in Europe, via its European distribution network. NC-E launched Lineage® II in November 2004, City of Heroes® on 4th February 2005, Guild Wars on 28th April 2005, City of Villains™ on 31st October 2005, Guild Wars Factions on 28th April 2006, Guild Wars Nightfall on 27th October 2006 and Guild Wars: Eye of the North on 31st August 2007. More information about NCsoft Europe can be found at http://eu.plaync.com.

NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Eye of the North, Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet, Dungeon Runners, and Lineage and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. City of Heroes, City of Villains, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Eye of the North images for forum avatars

Your favourite Eye of the North characters are now available to download and use as forum avatars!

You can download a zipefile from ftp://ftp.guildwars.com/downloads/fansite-kit/gwen-avatars.zip. Once you uncompress it you'll find a selection of image of your Eye of the North characters, including Gwen, Vekk the Asura, Livia, and Pyre the Charr.

The images can be uploaded straight away to use as your avatar on the forum of your choice.

Which Eye of the North character will you choose?

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Eye of the North minigames - The Norn Fighting Tournament

The next Eye of the North minigame you can discover is the Norn Fighting Tournament.

Head on over to Gunnar's Hold - by the time you've reached here you should have progressed far enough along the Norn Title Track to be able to talk to Magni the Bison. You can find Gunnar's Hold easily from the Eye of the North map I blogged about previously.
Magni will give you the Round One: Fight! quest - then talk to Gellir Frostshield and pay 100 gold to enter the tournament.

During the tournament you will face 5 opponents from around Tyria in a one-on-one battle. The 6th opponent you face is Magni the Bison himself.

Defeating certain opponents will unlock some heroes and items for you:

• The heroes Xandra (Ritualist) and Kahmu (Dervish) are unlocked the first time you beat them in the tournament
  
• If you beat Zho and Onyx you will get Zho's Journal, which contains hints on how to get a Black Moa Chick
  
• If you bring Zehtuka's Great Horn and beat The Great Zehtuka, he will trade it for a Zehtuka's Horn
  

The Norn Fighting Tournament is a repeatable quest, and can be a great way to boost your Norn Title Track, as you get the follow reputation point rewards each time:

• 1st opponent defeated: 5 Norn reputation points
  
• 2nd opponent defeated: 10 Norn reputation points
  
• 3rd opponent defeated: 15 Norn reputation points
  
• 4th opponent defeated: 20 Norn reputation points
  
• 5th opponent defeated: 25 Norn reputation points
  
• 6th opponent defeated: No reputation awarded for defeating Magni the Bison.
  

The first time you defeat all six opponents, you receive the following skills and rewards:

• "Finish Him!" "Finish Him!"
  
• A Touch of Guile A Touch of Guile
  
• "Dodge This!" "Dodge This!"
  
• The Bison Cup
  

Having fought your way through the Tournament once, each subsequent time you've finished the quest and beaten all six opponents, you will receive a Bison Championship Token.

One of the opponents you come up against is Gwen - it's quite satisfying to give her the smackdown after her irritating behaviour in Old Ascalon (and throughout the Eye of the North, actually).

As the Arena is in Norn territory, make sure you have your Norn Title Track selected, so you can take advantage of the health bonus it gives you.

While playing this Eye of the North minigame, see if you can spot the Street Fighter 2 references ArenaNet have littered throughout the tournament. Feel free to add any you find the comments section!

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