In addition to officially announcing Eye of the North, the developer has confirmed Guild Wars 2. Eye of the North provides “a Hall of Monuments where players’ accomplishments are memorialized and eventually inherited by their Guild Wars 2 characters, unlocking exclusive items and bonuses in Guild Wars 2”.

A launch date for Guild Wars 2 isn’t yet set, but as previously reported ArenaNet expects the sequel to go into beta in 2008. As with Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will be subscription-free and “will draw from the game mechanics that made the original Guild Wars one of the most popular online games ever and will add a fully persistent world”.

Sticking with the Guild Wars subscription-free model, Eye of the North is compatible with any of the three previously released campaigns in the MMO series and new content includes 18 multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all ten Guild Wars professions, ten new heroes, 40 new armour sets and new items, weapons and titles.

The expansion features 18 large, multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all 10 Guild Wars professions, 10 new Heroes, 40 new armour sets and additional items, weapons and titles. It’s set largely in the dungeons and caverns of the lands of Tyria that players first explored in Guild Wars Prophecies, ArenaNet has explained.

The expansion’s storyline follows up on events told in the original Guild Wars campaign, and is set in previously unexplored areas of the continent of Tyria.

It also paves the way for Guild Wars 2, bringing in the Hall of Monuments which allows players to carry the legacy of their characters into the full sequel.

“The Hall of Monuments will allow players to preserve their accomplishments and titles from Guild Wars, Factions, and Nightfall, which can then be claimed in Guild Wars 2”, NCSoft explains.