Curse

Andy_M · Jun 28, 2005, 08:00 PM // 20:00

Whats wrong with doing the ascension missions at level 20 anyway ? I got to desert at level 19 (did most of the quests, bonuses ect, apart from galrath) and got to 20 as I went to dunes with henchies. Didn't do any farming ect, just played normally.

We in a race or something ?

NoseJob · Jun 29, 2005, 05:52 AM // 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_M

Whats wrong with doing the ascension missions at level 20 anyway ? I got to desert at level 19 (did most of the quests, bonuses ect, apart from galrath) and got to 20 as I went to dunes with henchies. Didn't do any farming ect, just played normally.

We in a race or something ?

Not that I know of. I got to the desert barely lvl20, totally broke and not even close to wearing the best armor there is at that moment. But I'm in a lot of fun groups and otherwise I take my chances playing with the henchies.

So in all I'm having a blast playing it slow, doing as much missions as I can and not worrrying about my bankroll.

Mistress Dasha · Jun 29, 2005, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Well I have one solution for PuG's.. I make my own groups and I lead my groups. But the catcher is how I advertise I need group members.. I found this to work great for me..

Group looking for # more members please send whisper for an application.. And I ask a few questions before I invite.

1. What Classes and what are your skills ie death,fire,what eva
2. Can you listen and take orders
3. Will you stay behind me
4. I take my time in missions is this a problem

oh and I will take 30 mins to set up a group I have no need to rush because if you do rush a group forming then you will probally have to do the mission over with so take the time the first time and everything should work out..

again I have said this millions of times communication is key.

Grandma Dasha

Jeddak · Aug 06, 2005, 09:09 PM // 21:09

I'm ready to do the last 3 missions (just made 20 doing some quests in the desert today) and like always I'm in no hurry to move along in an online game (although I don't consider the game beaten after I reach ascension..there's lots of areas I have barely scratched and just following the missions and the story line hardly scratches the surface so I feel it's silly to call that beating the game).

I don't farm, my armor is probably subpar as this is my first character and I love to explore. It's been a blast so far solo (needed help on Sanctum at 18), hard at times (my choice of ele/war for a first character could of been better) and I don't know what's in store for me now. But I will group if I have too and hopefully I will find friendly folks who work together but until that happens it's henchmen if I can. In either event the game has rewarded me with lots of fun already so it's all good.

Iraqalypse Now · Aug 06, 2005, 09:45 PM // 21:45

My trick for ascension quests is to be a blood necro and cap Order of Vampire in Elona's using henchmen. Then, you start your group with you as necro, 1 monk, and 4 warriors. With order of vampire and 4 warriors, you should have enough firepower to take out a lot of things, as well as having a lot of incidental healing on your necro. Well of blood is amazing with warriors, as they usually stand very close to the corpses they make. My skillbar was pretty much like this:

Order of Vampire
Well of Blood
Life Siphon
Vampiric Gaze
Blood Ritual
Strip Enchantment
Res sig
-- Open Slot --

Order of Vampire and well of blood make for quite a bit of healing over time, and blood ritual gives a decent energy boost to the monk as well. If you can get the monk, you can make a PUG for this in a very short amount of time, and the build requires very little teamwork except for in Thirsty, where you have to get everyone on the same page of when and where to kill things.

I'm not sure whether you can make other warrior-based support/damage classes early enough to help with ascension quests. I'm fairly certain about getting zealot's fire and ether renewal for ele/monk smiter, but not so much on draw conditions and balthazar's aura. IIRC I ascended my ele/monk as an ether renewal healer, which is a perfectly good healing build for near 2 minute engagements in thirsty etc, where the lack of good monk/X energy managment is painfully apparent.

Finally Me · Aug 06, 2005, 09:47 PM // 21:47

You still have 6 or 7 missions to go yet mate - including Thunderhead

The funs not over! Ascension is only about 2/3rds thru the game

Age · Aug 06, 2005, 10:25 PM // 22:25

Someone said beating your mirror at augary rock where in augary rock as both char. are there my Monk and Warrior anyway I still have mine to do.I would say that most don't take this missions with patients oh what is the 1st boss to kill at thirsty river despite what ghost say did it 3 times with nervouse group.

I found out you have to do all 3 ascention missions then do your mirror image.

Tourist · Aug 07, 2005, 09:10 AM // 09:10

Come again? In english this time?

Age · Aug 07, 2005, 07:42 PM // 19:42

I got a little of this last night at thirsty river as I was useing henchies and when I got to the 3 bosses i went after the preist 1st and Ghostly hero just could get near it as well as the henchies and it was return to outpost 3 time.I will admit I was a little nervous as I did this 3 times with real ppl impatient group though.I was wanting to cap the word of healing from the preist but died.It must of been tired and hot although I did finf elonas npw I need to get to dunes.

zehly · Aug 08, 2005, 10:15 PM // 22:15

There is a plus to everything: at least you know that if you do each one of them 30 times, you'll have lots of skill points to use when you change your secondary

nohooiam · Aug 09, 2005, 01:48 AM // 01:48

with thirsty being the hardest, here's one great tip for beating the team with the priest and the monk boss. get a shutdown mesmer, and the priest will drop within the 2 min mark.

Gwenhywar · Aug 09, 2005, 02:28 PM // 14:28

I have done all ascension missions with PUGs (or myself + guildie + rest random people), except Dunes where henchies are good enough. In fact yesterday when I ascended my 2nd character, my PUG managed to beat Elona in the first try and later another PUG beat Thirsty in 2nd try. I was so happy =))

Good things remember when joining/forming PUGs:

1) Be a strong leader, or join a team that seems to have a strong leader. If one reasonable person will direct the show, the group has big chances to succeed - just help the leader to make everyone else follow his commands.

2) Avoid joining groups that advertise they absolutely need "2 more warriors", or "NEED A MONK", or that say "kick the necro and get another W". These are the kind of people that can only think one way, and will panic as soon as something unexpected happens.

3) Talk to people before entering. Immediately kick the guy that doesn't reply after asked something 3x - you'll regret later if you don't click that button now.

4) Ask everyone to CONFIRM they're ok with the goal of the group (I once had to repeat "we're ONLY elite capping, NO MISSION" at least 20x before I got 7 more people with the same goal in mind). That will ensure no complaints later, and checking again they can read/write

5) Talk some tactics: who will be healing is most important. if you don't have a dedicated monk healer but only an Elmo or N/mo with some heals, ask all W/ to take more heals/stances than usual, etc. Only one ele needs to take melee/element wards, rest can take damage spells instead.

6) Never hurts to ask your W/ if they're not leeroys

People with sense of humor will laugh or joke back, but if they start yelling or don't answer, kick them now before it's too late.

It may seem like it takes time to do all that, but at the end it saves you lots of time and frustration of going into the mission with a group that wasn't made to beat it ... It really doesnt take so much time to remind people the few basic things before clicking on "enter mission".

My 2 cents

Dwiggit · Aug 10, 2005, 07:49 PM // 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by nohooiam

with thirsty being the hardest, here's one great tip for beating the team with the priest and the monk boss. get a shutdown mesmer, and the priest will drop within the 2 min mark.

Yeah, a ranger works great here too. Shutdowns are important for the Monk boss.

As an alternate strategy, my Necro/Ele was the self-designated priest killer. Most of the priest locations have a large rock behind them, which I would use as a shield. I would run past the Boss and priest, hide behind the rock, and attack the priest with indirect spells, such as meteor shower, firestorm, and life siphon. This proved extremely effective in killing the priest before the 2 minute rez timer.

Using life siphon (and it's elite counterpart, can't remember name) on any enemy before running into the Boss's den helped me take a few hits on the way in.

I'm sure other character types can be effective in using the rock as a shield, as long as they have some indirect attacks that can do reasonable damage.

Anyway, just a tactic to pass along....

Dwig

Mavrik · Aug 10, 2005, 11:59 PM // 23:59

Its really weird... I found better organization, skills, behaviour and what not back in Kryta... but every group I try and get into in the desert has sucked so badly.. I've dropped from the mission. One character in particular kept leaving town with us wearing NO armor what so ever and trying to fight like the rest of us. Well you can imagine who kept dying first and was -60% moral before we got 5 steps from the gates... So I have better luck joining with guild mates who have already ascended, we grab some hench and away we go. Pretty good luck so far...

blane · Aug 11, 2005, 03:11 AM // 03:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraqalypse Now

My trick for ascension quests is to be a blood necro and cap Order of Vampire in Elona's using henchmen. Then, you start your group with you as necro, 1 monk, and 4 warriors. With order of vampire and 4 warriors, you should have enough firepower to take out a lot of things, as well as having a lot of incidental healing on your necro. Well of blood is amazing with warriors, as they usually stand very close to the corpses they make. My skillbar was pretty much like this:

Order of Vampire
Well of Blood
Life Siphon
Vampiric Gaze
Blood Ritual
Strip Enchantment
Res sig
-- Open Slot --

Why dont you throw in Awaken the Blood in your open slot? It will boost your blood and curse.

Edge Martinez · Aug 11, 2005, 04:19 AM // 04:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by nohooiam

with thirsty being the hardest, here's one great tip for beating the team with the priest and the monk boss. get a shutdown mesmer, and the priest will drop within the 2 min mark.

I agree with you, but I can honestly say that as I'm running a Mesmer character through ascension right now, no one even considers you at Thirsty River or anywhere. They'd rather have nukers or warriors, even necros. Yet I go to PvP and Mesmers get chosen not far behind monks. I wish more PvP players spent half their time in PvE.

The Mighty Toe · Aug 13, 2005, 08:01 PM // 20:01

I had great PUG experiences for both DoD & Elona's, on Thirsty River, I had a great group, but we kept on being beaten due to the appalling health of the Hero. Anyway, I decided to go solo on it with my E/Me, Stefan, Little Thorn, Alesia, Lina and Claude (for Blood Ritual). Anyway, I died once and absolutely stormed the Forgotten.

In case of other Ele's needing help, the skills I had were:
Fireball
Ether Renewal (Captured from Ele Forgotten Boss)
Fire Attunement
Firestorm
Phoenix
Meteor Storm
Glyph of Lesser Energy
{Open Slot} (I would recommend taking Aura of Restoration, as Ether needs many Enchantments to work really well)

Tip: Use the Glyph, then cast meteor storm on Enemy Priest, then carry on killing other enemies.

PS: Fae Baul, can I join your guild?