The huge popularity of Guild Wars wasn’t backed up just by the one million copies sold worldwide by September 2005, but by the great reviews and favorable player opinions as well. The success of the game wasn’t attributed to the lack of a monthly fee as to its complexity and PvP (Player vs Player) replay value. More than nine months after its launch, we can safely say that Guild Wars has reached its maturity, since now builds are no longer being invented, they are being perfected. As a result, unlike the first few weeks after the game’s launch, winning a match heavily depends on the skill of the players, rather than the skills they use. That’s because, despite its 6 professions and more than 450 skills, Guild Wars is a balanced game. The best proof is that Arena.net only had to change these skills a few times, the first one being almost four months after the launch. It’s a feat few producers can boast about at the release of their game.

However, with the imminent launch of the second chapter of the game, Factions, Arena.net wants to set the bar even higher. How? By introducing two new professions, each with their unique skills, as well as new skills for the existing classes. There are two ways you can achieve perfect balance in such a situation: either the new skills integrate perfectly with the old ones, or the old skills have to undergo some major changes to balance the game. As before with Guild Wars in 2004, Arena.net decided to host a free Player vs Player event to test the new skills.