Guild Wars 2: Hall of Monuments

Today I would like to talk about one of the most anticipated games for the season *queue superman music* Guild Wars 2. It isn't a big surprise for me that a good number of people who wait eagerly for Guild Wars 2, doesn't know about the Hall of Monuments, or even how it works.

Basically, the achievements you accomplish and add to the Hall of Monuments within Guild Wars will let your Guild Wars 2 Characters inherit a variety of rewards ranging from equipment, weapons, pets, decorative and titles. You can see a demo and a list of the rewards in this link here.

Playing Guild Wars....

It's not necessary to play GW to be able to enjoy Guild Wars 2, but those who do will get a different perspective when they play GW2, because everything is related lore-wise...while new players can get to know the GW2 world as it is, veteran players will have a different and more in-depth understanding of what happened to the GW world 250 years into the future. The important factor to  weight in when considering playing GW, is whether the player accepts the gameplay as it is very different, and if he/she has any interest in the lore or the exclusive items to be gained by playing. There is a free trial for testing the gameplay to those who want to check GW out.

Hall of Monuments

The Hall of Monuments is a room located in the Eye of the North expansion, players need to go there to add the achievements they have earned in-game, so that it registers to the HoM calculator linked above,  these achievements give the player points and these points unlock unique items and titles for their Guild Wars 2 account. Both the achievements and unlocked items are account based, so there is no need to worry about individual characters. There are a total of 50 points possible, with the first 30 points rewarding weapons, armor, and vanity items. In addition, unique titles are unlocked at every 5th point (5,10,15...50).

Doable for new players and how many points to get

It has already been confirmed that players can still work towards the rewards even after GW2 has been released, depending on how many points and how much time a player intends to spend in GW, it varies only in how long it will take someone to get there. The first 30 points or less to get the items and pets is the standard set goal for most players, and it is definitely doable without much grinding. In fact, around 10-15 points can be gained by just going through the regular mission campaigns of all expansions. The true challenge starts from 31 to 50, where it will require a good number of grinding, and for the player to go through the Hard Mode challenges of the game for the rest of the achievements. 

Bottom line, I find this to be a great feature, those who never gave up on GW may have had all the 50 points even before the HoM came out, but it breathed new life to a game that had stopped releasing expansions, giving much more meaning to actually accomplishing the achievements and something to keep eager GW2 players busy while we wait!