There are multiple ¡°chapters¡± in Guild Wars. A new chapter is released every six months, and each includes entirely separate lands to explore, missions to complete, and skills to learn. Your game account consists of a series of access keys that determine what chapters you have purchased, and thus what lands you can access about Guild Wars Gold.

You only need one chapter to play Guild Wars, as each is a ¡°stand-alone¡± game, much like movies like Star Wars and Return of the Jedi can be enjoyed on their own. At the same time, much like the movie series, owning and playing through multiple chapters is more rewarding than owning only one about Guild Wars Gold.

The terminology can be a bit confusing. At first, the game was released in a box simply entitled ¡°Guild Wars¡±. When the second chapter was released a year later entitled ¡°Guild Wars: Factions¡±, the game designers decided that all chapters should have a subtitle, including the original release about Guild Wars Gold. They renamed the original chapter ¡°Guild Wars: Prophecies¡±.

When someone says ¡°Guild Wars¡± now, they are referring to the entire game world that spans across the chapters. The original release is usually called simply Prophecies, the next Factions, and the most recent Nightfall. Sometimes they are also referred to as chapter one, two, and three respectively.

Much like the original Star Wars can be found in a variety of editions. The chapters of Guild Wars have multiple editions about Guild Wars Gold. The first chapter, Prophecies, can be found in boxes that read ¡°Guild Wars¡±, ¡°Guild Wars: Collectors Edition¡±, ¡°Guild Wars: Game of the Year Edition¡±, and so forth¡ªbut they are all the same chapter, with only minor differences between them.