Curse

sc2071 · Jul 28, 2012, 07:49 PM // 19:49

Hi all,

Seriously, as the title says, I must be the worst at this game. I've really tried. I've read all the guides I can find, looked a build strategies, but I just don't get it.

Oh yah, the problem. I KEEP DYING! I'm playing a Ranger/X and being a family man, I only have time to run solo using heroes and henchmen. But they just fail fail fail for me.

I've read numerous claims that this game is easy with heroes and henchmen on normal mode missions/dungeons. Well, I've got to be horrible playing this game, cause it ain't easy for me. Healers can't keep the team up, DPS never seem to pick the right targets or bring them down fast enough, and every seems to stand in the fire!

I've managed to make my way through Prophecies, and now I'm onto EotN, but I'm having such a hard time.

I guess what I'm looking for is an idiots guide for a general hero/henchmen team that can help me beat this game easily. As I've said I've tried reading the stickies on this site, and it just doesn't help!

I don't have a lot of skills and elites unlocked. My ranger is using Incendiary Arrows, Ignite Arrows, and mixture of multishot and interupts. I have MOX, Vekk, Ogden Stonehealer, and Gwen unlocked so far for heroes.

Maybe my kill order is poor? I always go for healers first, then casters, then melee. Maybe my damage is too poor, and my henchmen are fine? Just don't know where I'm going so wrong.

Can anybody help me out please? Or point me to a guide that perhaps has more basic strategies for a team build? Maybe just tell me what henchmen will get the job done?

I'm just hitting a brick wall here and I'm just about to uninstall Guild Wars, which is a shame.

Thanks!

EDIT: Here's my build for my Ranger, something to critique perhaps:
http://gw.gamependium.com/tools/buil...Hz4D%2faWXcVDA

Snograt · Jul 28, 2012, 08:26 PM // 20:26

Have you always just played the ranger? If that's the case, at least part of your problem will be that you just lack any usable skills for your heros.

Do you have Nightfall too, or just Proph and EotN? If the former, take the quest to Kamadan and grab more heroes. Lots.

Kamedin · Jul 28, 2012, 09:52 PM // 21:52

depending on the foes, i would recommand taking out the AoE enemies (mesmers/Eles) first, then switch to healers/melee (depending on how hard the melee is actually hitting.) and like the above person, if you have Nightfall, get lots of heroes. (a way to get skills, go pvp like in fa/jq/ra, and use the balthazar faction to unlock skills, which then in turn let your heroes use them.)

**Marty Silverblade** · Jul 28, 2012, 11:11 PM // 23:11

Your problem is probably just that you're trying to go from Proph to EotN. EotN was designed as content for players who had completed the three campaigns. If you're trying to jump in having only done Prophecies there's going to be a massive difficulty jump, let alone how much you're already at a disadvantage given your limited hero selection and skill availability. That's not to say Proph to EotN is impossible, but if you're willing to put more time into the game (and don't just want to kill a month before GW2) then I'd definitely recommend backtracking to Nightfall (Factions is good too, but it won't really add much). Buying the skill unlock packs will save a lot of time/effort too, though whether it's worth it depends on how much disposable income you have, and again, how much you actually care about GW1.

ruk1a · Jul 29, 2012, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade

Your problem is probably just that you're trying to go from Proph to EotN. EotN was designed as content for players who had completed the three campaigns. If you're trying to jump in having only done Prophecies there's going to be a massive difficulty jump, let alone how much you're already at a disadvantage given your limited hero selection and skill availability. That's not to say Proph to EotN is impossible, but if you're willing to put more time into the game (and don't just want to kill a month before GW2) then I'd definitely recommend backtracking to Nightfall (Factions is good too, but it won't really add much). Buying the skill unlock packs will save a lot of time/effort too, though whether it's worth it depends on how much disposable income you have, and again, how much you actually care about GW1.

This and sometimes it's best to just use henchmen instead of heroes if you don't have a lot of skills unlocked. You can hop on gwpvx.com to look at some meta hero builds so you know what to unlocked with balthazar faction if you rather take the pvp route to unlock skills for your heroes.

Also, spreading your heroes apart is good to avoid all of them getting hit by area of effect attacks. I usually go for Ele's and/or rits first then whatever else. I bound the command hero buttons to 6, 7, 8, and 9 for the entire group. You will be placing them often so it's best to do this, though you can bind them to whatever you see fit.

Practice makes perfect... and good luck, all I can tell you is try not to get frustrated and take your time, the game isn't very noob friendly and most of us understand that

if you have any more questions feel free to PM me or post here.

akelarumi · Jul 29, 2012, 10:14 AM // 10:14

Hi and welcome,

I'm pretty sure your not the worse player and the fact your writing here and asking for help proves that

I didn't look into your build simply cause I don't think that will be the problem. good team of heroes can be used by a player with 0 skills (this is actually used to test the effectivness of heroesbuilds).

There are several "mistakes" new players make nowadays.

a: Rushing too far ahead. While it is ok to go to e.g. Eye of the North expansion to get better gear/skills/heroes it is not recommended to play that expansion before you finished atleast one regular campaign. The reason for this is that Eye of the North was designed for people who finished the original campaigns and thus provide a challenge to experienced players. Though it is not impossible to make EotN the first part of the game to be finished it is not recommended.

b: 7 heroes are as good as you make them. The game was never intended to be played with 7 heroes. When the quests and campaigns where created in prophecy's and factions people only had the henchman. Nightfall and Eye of the North are created with in mind that you could bring 3 heroes. if you wanted to play solo you needed 4 henchman in your team. The update to allow 7 heroes was made "only" 1,5 years ago. While this is a great way to make the game easier to play solo it is not recommended to use 7 heroes as a newbe. The reason is that it takes time and resources to make a good hero team. To have access to skills and gear for your heroes you need to have played a good portion of the game. A not/badly skilled hero is worse then a henchman

Try to look at your heroes and only bring one or two and use henchman instead for the rest.

c: armor. you might have forgotten to bring max level armor. the max level for a ranger is armor level 70. if it is below you should make it your priority to upgrade your armor. This can be done in Kaineng center (factions), Boreal station (eye of the north) and consolate docks (nightfall). depending on how many materials you have gathered you need bout 10 platinum.

d: resources. To be succesfull in this game you need to invest time and game gold. Though it generally takes time to get money to build a good team, it is the hardest with your first character to find the resources. luckely there is a method of getting a nice amount of money to start with.
- go to the great temple of balthazar
- register your account at Tolkano
- talk to High priest Zangh and ask him any question (really doesn't matter what you ask)
- return to Tolkano and buy a zaishen key for tournament points, repeat this till you have 10 keys (you can't get more at this moment).
- sell the keys in american district to other players (use the "p"arty search window to find out who wants to buy). They price is slightly fluxuating but you should get between 5-6k/key (so in total you should end up with 50-60 platinum)

If you have any questions or want me to meet you ingame to give more detailed help just give me a pm on this forum with your timezone nd ingame name and I do my best to meet you ingame.

sc2071 · Jul 29, 2012, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Thanks for the replies all! I really do appreciate it.

I've got 5/50 in HoM having completed the Prophecies campaign. I would like to get 14/50 before GW2 releases, but I'm probably only able to spend about 10 hours a week as a casual player so I don't know if that goal is realistic.

I've headed over to Nightfall and have picked up a handful of heroes already. If I narrowed my team to 2-3 heroes, what professions make the optimal choice?

Are there any builds on GWPvX that a good intro builds? Seems a lot of them assume you have all the skills unlocked.

With WoW you have the holy trinity, with Guild Wars it seems you have a lot more than that with roles. You've got DPS, AoE DPS, Healing, Protection, Minion Masters, Interupt. Not sure which roles need to be filled, what skills really define the role, and whether I should go for a balanced team or stack certain roles?

I've picked up a Necromancer, and the potential to zerg the missions with minions seems nice.

Thanks again!

Lyv · Jul 29, 2012, 10:06 PM // 22:06

Quote:

Are there any builds on GWPvX that a good intro builds? Seems a lot of them assume you have all the skills unlocked.

Hero builds on PvX usually have a few optional slots. Also, if you don't have certain indicated skills, try to replace them with something quite similar.
Example : if you want an UA healer, the most important thing will be UA, then some efficient heals.

Quote:

If I narrowed my team to 2-3 heroes, what professions make the optimal choice?

Mesmers for damage and shutdown.
Rits for healing and spirits (possibly prot too).
Necros or Monks for support.

Hero teams usually are full casters with some meatshields as protection (minions and/or spirits) ; 2 healers or half-healers.

Try to unlock the most important skills first.
I would advise that you give Gwen a standard Panic build for massive shutdown (i.e. unlock Panic, mistrust, some rupts, some inspiration energy management).
Then make Ogden a decent healer (UA or Word of healing or Healing Burst).
Give your necro the basics for a MM : one minion spell, masochism, maybe Death Nova and Aura of the Lich as elite.

Hero skill trainers in Nightfall can give you useful skill (almost) for free, use them. You can also buy some at a skill trainer, but watch as the cost increases. See if you can get some as quest rewards (use the wiki for this).
Begin with henchmen, then replace them with heroes as you progress. Take it slow in the beginning, get a hand on the game mechanics and you'll be good.

sc2071 · Aug 06, 2012, 11:13 AM // 11:13

Just wanted to say thanks to everybody for their help and advice. I think I have it all working now and I am making my way through Nightfall pretty easily. I even revisited EotN to get my Fellowship tapestry, and it was much easier.

I'm basically running this (hero builds from GWPvX.com):
R/X - Barrage Pet + Interrupts (me)
R/X - Barrage Pet + Interrupts (Jin)
D/X - Avatar of Dwayna (MOX)
Mo/X - UA Healing with Hex + Condition Removal (Talkhara?)
Mo/X - UA Healing with Hex + Condition Removal (Dunkoro)
N/Rt - Aura of the Lich (Olias)
N/Rt - Curses, Weaken Armor, Order of Pain (M of Whispers)
Me/Mo - Panic build (Gwen)

I see the interrupts of the rangers and mesmers as essential. The minion master is nice, but wondering if I should swap it for another pet ranger. Also, wondering how much I'm getting out of the curses/orders necro.

Guess I'm just wondering if any of these should be substituted with some better builds... like another ranger, elementalist, or ritualist. Who should go, what should come in... well I don't know?!

Anyway, thanks again to everybody!
-SC

Amy Awien · Aug 06, 2012, 03:26 PM // 15:26

Looks ok. You'll find an additional necro in EotN, one Rit at the end of Nightfall and another one in EotN.
Curses is good to have, you seem to have just enough physicals to make Orders work, but more is better - consider giving your casters spears. If you swap in a Barrage ranger with a pet your team setup will look a lot like the Barrage/Pet teams of days long gone.

Dar Drakor · Aug 08, 2012, 06:03 PM // 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc2071

Just wanted to say thanks to everybody for their help and advice. I think I have it all working now and I am making my way through Nightfall pretty easily. I even revisited EotN to get my Fellowship tapestry, and it was much easier.

I'm basically running this (hero builds from GWPvX.com):
R/X - Barrage Pet + Interrupts (me)
R/X - Barrage Pet + Interrupts (Jin)
D/X - Avatar of Dwayna (MOX)
Mo/X - UA Healing with Hex + Condition Removal (Talkhara?)
Mo/X - UA Healing with Hex + Condition Removal (Dunkoro)
N/Rt - Aura of the Lich (Olias)
N/Rt - Curses, Weaken Armor, Order of Pain (M of Whispers)
Me/Mo - Panic build (Gwen)

I see the interrupts of the rangers and mesmers as essential. The minion master is nice, but wondering if I should swap it for another pet ranger. Also, wondering how much I'm getting out of the curses/orders necro.

Guess I'm just wondering if any of these should be substituted with some better builds... like another ranger, elementalist, or ritualist. Who should go, what should come in... well I don't know?!

Anyway, thanks again to everybody!
-SC

Ritualists would help but again everything depends on skills...Razah is available AFTER you finish NF (mission to acquire him is a little difficult for the unprepared), Xandra is available in EOTN if you beat her in single combat in the Norn Fighting Tourament mini-game (you may need to go through the fight chain a couple times as she doesn't always appear) and Initiate Zei Rei is available in Factions after you finish The Final Confrontation mission in the Winds of Change chain of missions in HM.

I don't know that you necessarily need 3 barrage rangers with interrupts (you don't really even need a 2nd one tbqh) if you already have a Panic Mes. The Pets are ok but without running a pet support build (and you wouldn't be if you were using Barrage and interrupts) the Pets tend to die pretty quickly and be minimally useful as single creature distractions. I would definitely not take out the MM in favor of adding a 3rd ranger. Proper minion bombers give up upwards of 11-12 minions at a time that can explode on death for AOE damage...which is much better bang for buck than having a 3rd ranger? (I've never ever even used 1 ranger unless I was playing my ranger). Barrage is not always the most useful if there aren't a lot of foes clumped together and if you are splitting your skill bar with interrupt skills. Just sounds like you're trying to do too many different things on one hero and it minimizes overall effectiveness. GW is a game fo specialties....you want each hero to be a master of something instead of each kinda being jack of all trade types.

I would suggest at least one rit (with SoS if going with just one) but you could be more than fine with 3 rits (Sos, SoGM, ST). A minion bomber (AoTL with deat nova) would also be very useful in meat/flesh heavy areas. The bombing part (what death nova does) becomes even better in HM areas as the enemies tend to set them off quicker (since they do more damage). I'd also suggest a 2nd mesmer (Ineptitude, Psychic Instability...which can interrupt/knockdown multiple foes).

You could do without the melee guy (MOX) if you have minions and spirits. As with rangers, unless I was playing my physical character personally (or if a mission/quest forces me to take one) I never have any melee guys in the party.

Dar Drakor · Aug 09, 2012, 12:15 AM // 00:15

Its been mentioned im sure but proper flagging and pulling (id suggest a flat bow to pull ESPECIALLY if you have the advantage of high ground which, especially as a ranger you should always be seeking before you start combat.

One of the biggest reason why most hero/hench only teams wipe is because they cluster together which in turn overloads your healers ability to keep everyone healthy. Use your hero flags (right below your compass) to separate your party into 5 separate packets (you are the 5th). This way even if you do get hit by something like Meteor Swarm (for example) not everyone will get caught in it.

More advanced flagging includes moving your flagged heroes by reflagging them. You can also bait some enemy casters to cast their AoE spells at you and then moving away before the spell is complete. This works on slower casting AoE spells that target an area...but not on other spells that target you specifically.

Having minions and/or spirits also offer up meat/spirit shields that draw potent enemy spells (why most 7 hero teams have at least either a minion bomber or spirit spammer.

So...you would basicaly: a) flag team apart, b) pull one mob at a time, c) target healers/eles first (know your enemies). Proper pulling can also cause enemy mobs to bunch up which makes Panic Mesmers rule by shutting down most of the mob. Mix that with minion bombs, spirit hits, SoS and additional mes spells and most parties go down pretty quickly even in HM.