Gamecloud - What were the developer's main goals in creating Guild Wars Factions?

Jeff Strain - Our main goals were to add fresh new play mechanics to the game and to strengthen the online community. Many players are expecting new professions, new monsters, tons of new quests and missions, and new items, and they will certainly get that in Factions. But more importantly, Factions will introduce new ways to play the game. We are introducing a new territory control mechanic that allows players to form guild alliances and fight on behalf of one nation or the other. By conquering new territory in large-scale Alliance Battles, PvP players push the battle lines across the map and bring new towns and outposts into alliance control. By earning faction points in new strategic Competitive Missions and Challenge Missions, roleplayers help their guild alliance take control of towns and outposts, giving them the ability to trigger unique events (e.g. parades) and gain access to exclusive areas of the town. The real reward for this is access to new Elite Missions, which are highly challenging cooperative missions full of wickedly difficult monsters and high-quality loot.