Curse

FujiwaraKazuma · Jul 30, 2005, 06:13 AM // 06:13

I wanted to take the opinion of everyone on this board on how they feel about the missions on Guild Wars and what their most favorite, least favorite, hardest, and easiest missions are, just to see what the average guild player has a hard time doing or is getting annoyed by a lot of the time. When you list your most fav/least fav/hardest/easiest, make sure you have a reason why, and I'll take a tally at the end to see what most people feel about the difficulty and enjoyability of the missions on Guild Wars. I'll start!

Most Favorite: Iron Mines of Moladune
I don't know why I like this mission so much. In my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed being a Warrior and running 2/3 of the mission and watching ourselves get creamed by Markis and his Musaat crew with only one member surviving (usually the monk) and having miracles happen as you watch for one hour the monk trying watch the Mursaat get out of the way and be able to revive our nukers, healers, tanks, and lastly, trappers, to defeat the Jade Armors and Mursaat army. And for some odd reason, we forgot to infuse ourselves because one of our party members forgot to give the essence to the Seer. Good times. Good times.

Least Favorite: The Dragon Lair
It's a very long, boring mission. No challenges or difficulties whatsoever (the obstacles for each area was a complete joke) and it felt repetitive (although you could get some skill caps from the bosses). And to add to that, since this mission is really repetitive and long, getting to Glint is less than half the fun of doing that mission and since she's very hard, you'll have to endure the process of doing this mission over and over and over again.

Hardest: Thirsty River
I know many of you will say Elona's Reach, Thunderhead Keep, or Hell's Precipice, but I found this the hardest, mainly because I had someone run me Elona's Reach, had a great party who knew what they were doing in Thunderhead Keep, and Hell's Precipice isn't that hard if you know how to kill the titans and make sure the Undead Lich is in the caldera at all times. Thirsty River just made me angry at all my seven attempts to try to finish it. It's not that it was easy up until the end, but the monk boss just creamed us every single time, and that was even with a great party. I had to find an ultimate party to actually finish that mission (or at least defeat the monk boss).

Easiest: The Dragon Lair
As I stated before, it's repetitive and gets old quick, but if you don't want to pay a visit to Glint during that mission, you're pretty much setting up yourself for a free pass to Droknar's Forge, no strings attached. Seriously, I thought that they would put some super hard mission that will get people insane time after time, but with that mission, I found myself buying my 1.5K armor as quick as travelling from Iron Mines of Moladune to Granite Citadel. Piece of cake.

TALLY

Most Favorite:
Iron Mines of Moladune - 1

Least Favorite:
The Dragon Lair - 1

Hardest:
Thirsty River - 1

Easiest:
The Dragon Lair - 1

ManadartheHealer · Jul 30, 2005, 06:26 AM // 06:26

Favorite Mission: Thunderhead Keep
Catapults rock, defending a fortress I love. Many people hate it because it's hard, but I think it's rather easy and enjoyable.

Least Favorite Mission: Hell's Precipice
Hate it. First off, it was WAY, WAY too easy to be the final mission. Second, it was way too long and monotonous. I don't want to have to sit there pulling mobs of titans for 50 minutes, just to have some warrior/monk decide at the last minute that an entire party wipe sounds like fun

Hardest Mission: None
They were all really way too easy. It's just moron human players that make advancing a difficult task. You think a mission is hard? Hench it, and it becomes easier. Henchmen have double the IQ to average human player lingering around (especially in the idiot trap that is the Desert)

Easiest (relative to it's place in the storyline): The Dragon's Lair
I needed to cap skills and finish the mission every time I went. I had heard so many horror stories of human players that I henched it and no health bar dropped below 75% the entire time. I finished it in like 30 minutes.

Tourist · Jul 30, 2005, 06:44 AM // 06:44

Most Favorite: Thirsty River
I'll admit right up front, I seem to have a knack for getting into good, or at least solid groups for this one. 3 Characters ascended, and every one of them passed Thirsty on the first try. My last run was with a W/Me a few days ago, and our group was truly fearsome- we demolished the first enemy team and immediately move on against the second, wiping both out in under 4 minutes(3:52 I think it was). I was the only tank, and we only had one healer, but everyone else knew what to do and they simply tore down everyone in our path. That healer boss? PLOWED UNDER. Didn't even break stride. Not a single death that I can recall, either. Best ascension mission group I've ever had. So yeah, I kinda like Thirsty.

Least Favorite: Divinity Coast.
An old, long-time hate, just because trying to get the bonus with my first character gave me fits. Literally played through it dozens of times, often with groups that SPECIFICALLY wanted the bonus, and we'd always get ganked by bad luck with mobs killing the chosen before we could get to them. Stupid, annoying mission. Oh yeah, and I godamned hate that Eye of Janthir. And Hablion. What a prick.

Hardest: Elona Reach
Elona is the bane of my ascension existance. I've never been totally stonewalled by it to the point where I wanted to quit the game, but there's just something about that mission that makes people lose IQ points, I just know it. From guys that go afk 30 seconds in for the next 10 minutes, then promptly leeroy off into the nearest group of baddies while the rest of us are exploring elsewhere, to groups that suddenly forget how the hell to draw aggro mid-mission, I rarely see more mind-boggelingly random stupid behavior than what I see in Elona.

Easiest: Frost Gate
I dunno, I've just never had a problem with this one, or even the bonus really. You go, you do it, it ends, and that's it. Even some of my dumber groups have been able to pull through and complete it. Dragon's Lair is a good honorable mention though.

Ellington · Jul 30, 2005, 06:49 AM // 06:49

Favorite Mission: Thunderhead Keep
Hard and annoying, but out of it came a couple of the best, most coordinated PUGs I've been in.

Least Favorite Mission: The Frost Gate (I think)
It might have been a different map, but I remember one of the Northern Shiverpeak maps being exceptionally long and tedious.

Hardest Mission: Thunderhead Keep
Took me two days to get past this. Especially frustrating because minor lapses in coordination at the very end are what usually killed us.

Easiest Mission: The Dragon's Lair
Not much left that needs saying for this one.

Zeru · Jul 30, 2005, 06:52 AM // 06:52

Fav.
Riverside Province

A fun mission to completely solo.

Least Fav.
The Wilds

The bonus is hard here and every bad person simply must do the bonus so it's almost always better to run past unless you are at a decent level.

Hardest

Any mursaat mission as it requires a group of humans unless you have great patience and are a healer.

Easiest
Dunes

Does anyone ever lose here?

Than · Jul 30, 2005, 07:00 AM // 07:00

Fav:The one where Rurik dies. Was waiting for that upity bum to get an axe to the head.

Royalty, really.

Least Fav: ATM its Bloodstone Fen. Not especially difficult, but everytime we get the Hablion some idiot Aggros everything and I end up having to Rez the whole team. Yes, thats nice you have the Rez spell, I don't care, Rebirth works better when I'm not trying to Aggro everyone again. Welcome to the bottom of the Rez list.

Hardest:Either Thunderhead Keep or Hells Precipace. The only two that snagged me up and had to repeat more then 2 or 3 times(barring D'Alessio Seaboard, but that was lag issues).

Easiest:Yeah, dunes. So easy. Oooo seige wurms, they hurt...kinda...

Shayul · Jul 30, 2005, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Favorite: To tell you the truth, I actually enjoyed the Sanctum Cay mission...I had many minutes of fun with my Healer Monk refusing to yield the Scepter of Orr to the Vizier ("no!! It's mine, my own...my precious") Then, when my party finally talks me into doing it: "thieveses! Filthy, tricksy thieveses!! We curses them! We hates them forever!"

Just as a sort-of rationalization...I was half-asleep, 3/4s of the way bored, and helping a Guildie. Afterwards...it made the whole mission worth it. =D

Least Favorite: Hell's Precipice. Easy if you want it to be. Hard if the idiots refuse to make it easy. Boring as hell if you do it properly...I mean, how fun is it to pull small groups of Titans time after time...? >_>

Hardest: Hrm...probably Thirsty River for me. Too many bad experiences with PUGs.

Easiest: The Gates of Kryta...I just never had a problem with this one.

Kershent · Jul 30, 2005, 07:02 AM // 07:02

Favorite: The Wilds. Challenging, not too long or short, the storyline takes a good twist (albeit predictable) during this mission. It's pretty straightforward, but I find it very enjoyable.

Least Favorite: The Ruins of Surmia. I like starting new characters, and I like helping guildies through lower levels, and I think I can safely say that Surmia is by far the longest, most boring mission in the game. The only interesting part is the very end, which takes up a good 5 minutes of a 40 minute mission. How it takes 40 minutes, I don't know! But I do know that this mission sucks.

Hardest: Thirsty River. Pretty fun, but very difficult to complete. It's kind of funny, though, how the first time I got through this mission, it was after a good 15 attempts with different groups. I got one together, and we did it flawlessly, and it suddenly felt terribly easy. Before that, though, it seemed like even a group of decent players just couldn't get through.

Easiest: The Dragon's Lair. I thought this one was pretty fun, but man, coming right out of Ascension and into this one? It's like having to chisel your way through a brick wall to advance, then suddenly having to chisel through a wall of butter.

The undead Mesmer · Jul 30, 2005, 07:07 AM // 07:07

favorite hmmmm that price would go to the borlis pass mission ooh good times soloing it

least favorite hmmm thats the nolani acadamy i did that one millions of times i hate it

hardest so far the hardest whas thunderhead keep (didnt finish it yet) because i only get noob teams that dont call and dont make strategys or its because im only lvl 19 there

easiest again the borlis pass mission.

Lost · Jul 30, 2005, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Favorite: Riverside Province
Kind of hard to pick a favorite. But I rather enjoyed sneaking by 90% of the mobs in this mission. And sticking it to the White Mantle jerks.

Least Favorite: Anything with Devourers
No explanation needed.

Hardest: Thunderhead Keep
I'll pick this one because it requires having no idiots (which is rare). All the other missions I can get by with one idiot, but this one I need some intelligent players. Oh, and it's so very very long and boring trying to clear the dwarves and yawning inbetween 1-2 Mursaat mobs at the end. The end really drags on too long.

Easiest: Dragon's Lair
On my first time through the game after going through Elona Reach and Thirsty River I expected this mission to be some kind of super challenge. Seven henchmen and no deaths later I was quite disappointed.

Aracos79 · Jul 30, 2005, 08:50 AM // 08:50

Favorite: Riverside Province. I picked this mostly because it was one of the most satisfying bonus completions I had ever done. I had an excellent group. We assulted each tower, pulled aggro beautifully, and completed the mission and bonus without a single player death. Simply an outstanding accomplishment.

Least Favorite: The Wilds. This mission is so damn long and boring. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to be the longest time wise in the whole game. On my last character that went through there I had two groups quit on me half way through because they got lost... even with me pinging and drawing directions. Yes henchment really are better than half the players out there. :P

Hardest: Elona Reach. Yes I know this is an easy and obvious pick, but for me it's simply true. I always manage to find the stupidest groups for this mission... even when I form them myself. Players that seem to know what their doing just turn into idiots all the sudden when they see that timer pop up. Really folks... 30 minutes is MORE than enough time.

Easiest: You could easily pick any of the other 20 missions to put here. Hardly any outside of Elona, Thunderhead, and Hell's Precipice are actually hard. But I'll make an "outside the box" pick here and say... Thirsty River. When you get down to it, this mission is fairly mindless. Assault ONE team at a time, wait for rez timer, assault next team... rinse, lather, repeat. You don't even need the morale boost from the Sand Giants. That's just overkill.

DFrost · Jul 30, 2005, 09:40 AM // 09:40

I don't really have much love for any of the missions, I prefer quests a lot more. However,
-Frost Gate is kind of cool
-Hell hath no fury like a female * ranger trying to * finish Thirsty * River!

* = insert your fav. expletive here

Syzerian · Jul 30, 2005, 11:18 AM // 11:18

Favourite: Aurora Glade, I just absolutely loved attuning the portal. Why arnt there more missions like this?

Worst: Thunderhead Keep, just so boring and easy holding the area for about 1/2 an hour while being attacked by 2 guys every 5 minutes.

Hardest: Abaddons Mouth, groups that dont know how to focus fire or to avoid aggroing enemies really make this one hard.

Easiest: Dragons Lair, a walk in the park compared to the missions before it. Only requires 3-4 people with 1/2 a brain for success.

none · Jul 30, 2005, 11:54 AM // 11:54

Favourite: Abaddon's Mouth.
Those double-bosses can proof to be quite a challenge. I remember fighting Willa for like 30 minutes on some teams, until we finally brought her down. It's definitely not the hardest mission around, because if you're prepared, you can get her down in like 2 minutes - and I'm not even talking about Mesmer Power.

Least Favourite: Ruins of Surmia
I think that one is just awful. I always walked from Piken Square to Nolani Academy and skipped Surmia. Rurik is an annoying companion, and I hate having to listen to him. That said, I really love the setting of the end fight.

Hardest: Thirsty River
I agree on that one, simply because it's the only mission I ever failed on good teams. All other missions just require a decent team (that includes the three missions at the end), whereas this mission definitely requires a bit of luck.

Easiest: Dragon's Lair
Easy going, nothing else. Except the bonus, of course.

Some comments to the other missions:

Elona Reach:
Extremely easy - in my opinion, if you include the bonus - way easier than Dunes of Despair. I finished it with all (four) characters with henchies only (and that was before they added Lina). Everytime I help someone to do the mission, I feel like a tour guide, going on some sightseeing tour.

Thunderhead Keep.
Easy as well, although it depends more on the team. I failed this mission only once, shortly after release, because we didn't know about infuse then. After that, it was always pretty easy. Actually, I only found out about the bonus like 2 weeks ago. Before that, I always wondered what the point of the bonus is (because I always lit the beacons, and there didn't seem to be anything special).

Ring of Fire
That one can be pretty hard if people don't listen. And it's even harder, if someone insists on going the long way (never trust that Vizier, remember?)

Hell's Precipice
Almost as easy as Elona Reach. Henchies do a great job in concentrating fire (so those Sparks are dead pretty fast). If you're with a PUG, make sure someone takes winter, and things will go much faster.

corax5 · Jul 30, 2005, 12:13 PM // 12:13

Favourite: Hell's Precipice
Simply because on my third attempt 4 people from my group left halfway through leaving me (ranger) a warrior another ranger and a necro I believe, and we finished the entire mission so easily, I have to say killing the Undead Lich was the easiest boss battle of them all, simply because he sucks.

Least Favourite: Anything in Ascalon, Pre and Post
Walking around that infernal place just depreses me because of the amount of times I've done it all.

Hardest: Abaddon's Mouth
The amount of times I ran into that fortress and died is uncountable, that was until I managed to get a good team together.

Easiest: Anything in Ascalon
It's obvious as they're the first missions in the game, but I just don't see how its possible to fail any of them.

LathalDraugr · Jul 30, 2005, 12:25 PM // 12:25

Hardest: Thunderhead Keep

Any mission with non-team players is hard but Thunderhead stands out because it's quite hard to do with henchmen compared to the other hard missions.

Easiest: Thirsty River

This mission isn't actually the easiest but relative to other peoples expectations and experiences I found it easy. As long as your team understands the 2 minute res system and you haven't got the standard 2 warrior 2 elementalist 2 monk party and bring a decent ranger or mesmer (even a decent axe warrior will do) this is one of the easiest late-game missions.

Favourite: Thunderhead Keep

Get a good team and this is the best mission in the game. Running back and forth wiping out mursaat while the catapaults are annihilating even more is great fun. It's tense but it a good way and it's great when the mursaat finally stop.

Least Favourite: Elona Reach

The mission itself isn't too bad but like plenty of people have pointed out it seems to be the biggest idiot magnet in the whole idiot trap that is the desert. Thankfully it's possible with henchmen though so not too hard to get done.

ElderAtronach · Jul 30, 2005, 01:59 PM // 13:59

Favorite: gotta be Hell's Precipice. By the time you get there, most of the idiots have been weeded out by the stupid-filters that are the ascension and Thunderhead Keep (and to a degree, Ring of Fire). I've never had a bad PUG in Hell's Precipice. I've had some of the best groups I've ever been in during that mission. Plus, you get to see teamwork and coordination really shine there.

Least Favorite: Ruins of Surmia. OMG why is this mission so long? Not only that, but the bonus has you backtracking through half of the damn map. Very annoying and repetitive until the last part with the obelisks.

Hardest: Thunderhead Keep. There is a serious backlog of retards who have been stuck on that mission for days or even weeks. The more times they try and fail they more hostile they become, especially to monks. You almost are required to take henchmen, guildmates, or friends that you know are competant. PUGs will invariably fail more often than not.

Easiest: Borliss pass. I could probably solo it, but I haven't tried yet. I did breeze through with a 3 person party once though. Too easy.

NEW CATEGORY!
Most annoying: Dragon's Lair, in the last part with the facet of strength. Random, LONG knockdowns that only affect YOUR PARTY. Ugh that is so damn annoying. Almost as bad as masses of giant herders in south shiverpeak wilderness areas. But at least with giant herders, you know the knockdowns are coming. In Dragon's Lair, they're random... and did I mention long?

Tsukiyomi · Jul 30, 2005, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Favorite - Oh, I can't remember which mission it is, but it's the one where Rurik is killed in the final cutscene. Was it Frost Gate?

Least Favorite - Easily Ruins of Surmia. My goodness that's a long and boring mission.

Hardest - Thunderhead Keep. It took me so long to get a group, then we'd fail like a bajillion times. Ugh. That's the most stressful mission.

Easiest - The Great Northern Wall. lol.

FujiwaraKazuma · Jul 30, 2005, 03:59 PM // 15:59

Here's the tally so far: (For those who didn't specify and gave an overall description of what types of missions they are, gave me two answers, or gave me an answer that didn't follow the criteria, I didn't record them down)

TALLY

Most Favorite:
Riverside Province - 3
Thunderhead Keep - 3
Hell's Precipice - 2
Frost Gate - 2
Iron Mines of Moladune - 1
Thirsty River - 1
Sanctum Cay - 1
The Wilds -1
Borlis Pass - 1
Aurora Glade - 1

Least Favorite:
Ruins of Surmia - 3
Hell's Precipice - 2
The Wilds - 2
The Dragon's Lair - 1
Divinity Coast - 1
Frost Gate - 1
Bloodstone Fen - 1
Nolani Academy - 1
Thunderhead Keep - 1
Elona's Reach - 1

Hardest:
Thunderhead Keep - 6
Thirsty River - 3
Elona Reach - 2
Abbadon's Mouth - 1

Easiest:
The Dragon's Lair - 5
Dunes of Despair - 2
Thirsty River - 2
Borlis Pass - 2
Frost Gate - 1
Gates of Kryta -1
The Great Northern Wall - 1

At least, we are seeing the obvious, clear winners of the four catagories, but we've only had 17 posts (or 17 people), and even though 17 people replied, there are still hundereds, thousands of people who have even more different opinions. Let's keep going!

Lord Nova · Jul 30, 2005, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Favorite mission:
Elona's Reach. I was stuck there for about a week because i didnt get a good group but when i completed it I felt good the rest of the day.

Least favorite:
Thunderhead keep, maybe its fun with a good team but thats very very rare.

Hardest:
ooh wich should i pick: Elona or Thunderhead Keep. Got stuck with both for a while.

Easiest:
Dragons Lair. Its soooo boring, hey there is another group of monsters *yawn* lets see *yawn* if i can kill them soooonneeer then the last group of *yawn* monsters.