Considering that most MMO publishers strong arm people into paying monthly subscription fees, NC Soft and ArenaNet's Guild Wars titles are a sweet deal. Not only are they free to play (after purchasing them, of course), but you don't need to own the original in order to enjoy the expansions. As a result of this generosity, over two million people have purchased Guild Wars, and the result is a thriving online community that's very much looking forward to gobbling up the upcoming expansion, Nightfall.

ArenaNet's always been keen on pumping its games with as much content as possible and Nightfall is no exception. The expansion contains a myriad of goodies to enjoy, the most notable being the new continent of Elona, the Land of the Golden Sun. This massive piece of real estate has been divided up into three provinces, each governed by a very distinct group of people. It's also being terrorized by an outcast god, a mean SOB that's content with turning things upside down. He was summoned by some corrupt and obviously stupid ruler, likely because he thought that he could control him, and now this super pain in the butt is running amok. And if that's not bad enough, there's a bunch of monsters terrorizing everyone, so things are pretty screwed up. Of course, if you choose to accept your mission, it's your job to make things right by whooping the god's sorry behind and restoring order to the land.

The game contains about 20 story missions and each of them can take an hour or more to complete. The developers have also mixed things up by including traps, new puzzles to solve, and enemies that have the ability to not only change appearance, but profession. To combat this, you can make use of 300 new skills as well as heroes, special AI-controlled characters that'll follow your every command. You can take up to three of them into battle and they're fully customizable. Not only is this exceptionally cool because it will let you obsess over things like weapons, armor, and skills, but it also means that you'll have some much needed support while battling the game's tougher opponents.

There's also two new professions to mess around with, the Paragon and the Dervish. The Paragon are the cleaner of the two, angelic looking characters that are more effective when positioned away from a battle than in the thick of it. They'd much rather toss spears from a distance and heal the rest of your party. They're also clad in white and gold armor, so it's best if you keep them nice and clean.

As for the Dervish, these guys are much happier mixing it up on the battlefield. These holy warriors are capable of tearing through multiple enemies at a time either with their simplistic looking weapons or their god-like powers. Whatever you choose, mass death should ensue.

There's no doubt in my mind that Nightfall's single player campaign will be enjoyable, but the Guild Wars franchise is known for PVP, and once again, ArenaNet is mixing things up. Not only are there four new guild halls, but you'll be able to partner up with the same heroes found in the single player, meaning one-on-one contests will now be four-on-four affairs (or more, depending on the number of human players). It's an interesting feature, particularly because it adds to the game's strategic elements. You'll really have to pick and choose who you bring into battle and what skills they'll possess. It'll definitely make for some epic clashes.

Considering this series' popularity, Nightfall is right up with there WOW: Burning Crusade and Star Wars: Forces of Corruption as one of the most anticipated PC games of 2006. Not only are there plenty of new features to check out, but the game is absolutely gorgeous. The varied environments (ranging from woodlands to deserts to grand palaces), different types of monsters, and various bits of architecture are quite stunning, making this one of the prettier games of the year, but it's also very tech friendly, meaning that if your PC can run the original Guild Wars it can definitely run Nightfall. GameDaily will have more on this exciting expansion as soon as more info is released.