Ah, Guild Wars. Why did I ever leave you? I’m so sorry. Please, let’s never fight again. I’d forgotten your beauty, your diversity of skills, your hard and fast combat and your most excellent gameplay. And now you’ve gone and improved yourself by adding an expansion to the mix!

Factions is the first formal, purchasable add-on to last summer’s epic online role-playing game, Guild Wars. For those unfamiliar with the Guild War’s universe, there is a storyline that pits players against enemies as well as a large player vs. player and guild versus guild (GvG) arena based portion of the game. The PvP affects the PvE world, depending on which nation controls the arena at any given time. Characters chose a primary and secondary profession, giving them access to over 100 skills. However, only eight can be equipped for any given mission or battle, requiring players to really focus on what they want to accomplish.

Guild Wars:Factions retails for full price ($49.99), rather than for a lesser price, as most expansions do. On the other hand, this expansion introduces an entire continent’s worth of new content, two new professions and some new spells for the original “core” professions. Factions can be also played without owning the original game, now retroactively titled Guild Wars: Prophecies. Finally, because Guild Wars has no monthly fee and because ArenaNet has been so good about releasing numerous general updates to the game since its initial inception, the pricing is understandable.