Curse

Andy_M · Jul 10, 2005, 08:52 PM // 20:52

Have a necro cast MoP on whatever is next to the monk and attack that mob instead. The monk is so busy healing whatever is being attacked the he forgets about the MoP shadow damage on himself. My main char being a warrior/necro I use this tactic alot and is pretty effective against the AI.

GranDeWun · Jul 10, 2005, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Thirsty is one mission where offence easily trumps defense...forget monks & take more killing power. It is the hardest for henchies though, since they are weak(er) in attack. Best advice: ignore those who insist on 2 monks & go with a mixed group.

MaglorD · Jul 11, 2005, 02:53 AM // 02:53

Ya I finished all ascension missions with henchies....I'm your inspiration....

Seriously I did with my elementist. I do too much damage for the stupid monks to heal.

Aegri Somnia · Jul 11, 2005, 07:30 AM // 07:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogmeat

The primary elementalist quit after our first fight apparently dissatisfied with our groups effort. The W/N was a bit of a rusher and didn't really listen to our team plans, and the Mesmer too was also a bit of a free spirit and tended to wander ahead and not focus on the same target. We weren't really very organised but our Monk, W/Mo and myself seemed to be able to focus together.

Basically we used the same tactic for all 6 groups. We'd spend the 1st minute cleaning up the outside spellcasters and as many tanks as we could. Then our W/Mo and I would rush the priest while our W/N, Me/E ignored most of our target calls and instead sat outside with the remaining enemy tanks. Our monk basically had to focus on babysitting those two but did manage to assist us with healing too.

even with only 2 warriors attacking the priests without any support we were able to take them out quickly every time. In fact we beat the infamous dual priest combination so quickly that it wasn't until the mission finished that I realised that we had even run into them.

Mesmers dont necessarily need to follow the target calls to be effective (not saying that yours was because they didn't). A (decent) mesmer can pretty much kill the Enemy Priest on their own before you even take your first swing at him. Had too many occasions where one of the team would start yelling 'PRIEST!!!' , only to respond 'Priest down'.

Even more so with the Boss + Priest, I'd rather shut down the boss's Word of Healing than try to interrupt the Priests's Orison to stop/prevent cross-healing. That may be why they went down so fast, (not saying that was the case ofc). But, Good Job.

Silent Butt Deadly · Jul 11, 2005, 08:43 AM // 08:43

Quote:

Zeru -
Thirsty is very very easy if someone can shutdown the monks healing and rather hard if nobody can. Sadly people still don't accept memsers over warriors for the task.

W/Me FTW!!! You'd be surprised how effective they are on any pve caster...it's brutal.

I have to agree with most of the posters above though....PUG's are awesome when you get lucky or you have a few friends online, but when pickings are scarce or you find a bad one, it seriously leaves you re-evaluating your opinion of Alesia's AI & how intelligent she would appear in that same group.

For those who haven't ascended yet, the missions get harder imho, but at the same time, much more fun. I ran my 2nd toon through the final mission (Hells Precipice) the other day with a PUG and throughout we had just one single death. Incidently, you see alot more "group needs 2 monks after ascension", but that doesn't mean they're essential....some people just like their security blankets. That last mission mentioned was completed with one primary monk & a R/Mo who did a great backup healer job, as well as his other rangerly duties such as pulling (I say that tongue in cheek - rangers aren't the only ones who can pull - I'm just lazy so let them think it's their job). I think I even completed the same mission a few days later with a different group which only had a primary monk and a henchman monk (& no "winter") with very few deaths.

Determination, skill & teamwork (even in PUGs) is what will win the day everytime, unless you get an unlucky break. Perserverance is the key to enlightenment & success. Those that are giving up before they have even ascended are missing out on roughly a third of the game at present.

Kostabi · Jul 11, 2005, 08:46 PM // 20:46

I'm going to have to agree with most people on this thread and say Thirsty River is easy IF you've got a party full of team players.

I honestly can't remember how many times I've attempted this mission, probably over 20 times and then tonight on my very first go I managed to beat it, with relative ease... all thanks to having a group of excellent team players instead of the usual pick and mix quality I land with.

The pickup group I was playing with had three Ele's (E/R, E/N, E/Mo), one Mesmer/Ele, a Ranger/Mes (me) and a Warrior. Thereby dispelling the myth you need two monks or even a monk primary to finish this mission.

I never thought I'd see the back of Thirsty River.

Tailon · Jul 11, 2005, 11:38 PM // 23:38

I agree with the OP, thirsty river is not that hard at all. I beat that mission with a full group on the second try. I played the only healer (E/Mo), and things went a long just fine with the exception of one guy going afk when we were about to start with the "simulated PvP" part and comming back right before the end cutscene.

Longasc · Jul 12, 2005, 10:00 AM // 10:00

The only problem with Elona and Thirsty River is not the mission.

It is the people.

You need to work together, have a strategy and some knowledge about game mechanics.

In this way people get forced to learn. I think the Ascension missions are pretty good in this regard, but I am sorry for all the players who play 2nd/3rd chars and have to deal with a bunch of retards that screw up Elona over and over. They can do it easier with Henchmen, really!

It is amazing how many Warriors already in Droknar's STILL rush into anything without thinking, how many Fire Elementalists rush ahead of the Warriors and cast Firestorm only to have the monsters run out of the radius, Firestorm hitting nothing but they get themselves beating up. They should probably become Warriors of the type mentioned before.

I assume some smart players had to bear the pain of having a dangerous moron in their group. It is also ridiculous that players make it to Hell's Precipice and cast Firestorm and Flare - nothing else, no immolate or whatsoever - on the Burning Titans.

They do not even consider changing to Air for this mission to deal some damage, or to Earth to cast a Ward against Melee.

"I am a Fire Elementalist". Yes, and I am worried and wonder that such players come so far.

Normally they should crowd Thunderhead Keep and the Ascension Missions to give any thinking player a horrible time there...

Bottom Line: The Ascension Missions are supposed to teach players teamwork. It is a major part of GW gameplay, and also the key to success.

IMO, Ascension missions also teach people how to efficiently communicate with a pickup group...

Kabale · Jul 12, 2005, 12:25 PM // 12:25

I agree with pretty much every post in this thread. Teamwork is the key here. I think the problem is, people don't always know what part they're 'supposed' to play, or which one would work the best for that mission, probably because they haven't played it before.
I've done Dunes and Elona's now, but couldn't do them first time around because I had never done the mission before and neither had any of the other people in my PUG. The second time around, we had a better picture of what skills to use, pulling tactics, etc because we had failed once, knew where we failed and where to improve. The second time round was much easier.
When I fail a mission, I ALWAYS do it a second time, hoping the others would want to do it again as well. If you take the attitude 'oh this group sux, im getting a new one', chances are you're gonna end up with another group that probably has some people that haven't done the mission before and you will fail again...

Drakron · Jul 12, 2005, 02:18 PM // 14:18

That is completly true.

First time I did River we failed, we did more times and each we learned something new and moved more into the mission, I am sure that if we done it one or two more times we would beat it but the group disbanded after about 4-5 tries.

The good news is that there are many people running their 2nd or 3rd character and elite capturing that are doing the ascemtion missions and I belive if you have 2-3 of such people in the mission it goes easier.

Kabale · Jul 12, 2005, 02:46 PM // 14:46

Yeah as long as they don't decide to abandon after they got their elite skill. It's kinda sad people actually do that (haven't come across it yet, but I'm sure it happens).

Calimar · Jul 12, 2005, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Had the same problem doing dunes with a group yesterday - this Miss something going on and aggroing just about everything. Not to mention the basic inability of the vast majority of PvE players I've met to call targets or attack called. Gets a lot better on english districts but believe me - if you want to play smart people, avoid italian district.
Which annoys me greatly, being as I am an Italian guy. I don't even TRY to get a PUG in the ITA district anymore: if there's noone in the guild wanting to come with me, I just switch to UK and look there. Saves me the headache.
Now you complain of what I find perfectly acceptable - think how bad it can be.

Good hunting everyone... need someone who does do his best, look for Kahlan Shawnee! eh eh.

purecash123 · Jul 12, 2005, 03:20 PM // 15:20

when i did thirsty it was so easy...and we only had a lvl15monk
just bring meteor shower nukers and you're good

Mistress Dasha · Jul 12, 2005, 03:28 PM // 15:28

lol all these posts and it boils down to one thing..

if you have a good group you pass if you dont you fail...

baalzamonbarnes · Jul 12, 2005, 11:37 PM // 23:37

So all you're saying is "look at me I beat it"? You didn't give a single reason why it wasn't hard except that you were able to beat it with basically 5 lvl 20s. And nearly everyone died, so it was still fairly difficult for you.

I don't understand...

Hyperious Satanicus · Jul 12, 2005, 11:39 PM // 23:39

It tok me 20 times plus or minus a few. But i did it with all Henchmen. Once I slowed everything down and picked off the enemy little by little I had no problem.

Gwenhywar · Jul 13, 2005, 02:16 AM // 02:16

why don't you all that are stuck at a certain ascension mission get each other's IGNs and group up for the mission?

They are really quite fun, with a decent group, and it's sad to see so many people are missing the fun because of frustration lame PUGs cause

I'm doing all missions together with a friend, and with the 2 of us working together, we can usually (not always ...) mold any PUG that doesn't consist of complete Smiths into a working team. Well, the real Smiths are an exception of course ... nothing but returning to outpost and clicking on "kick" helps against those.

It took us 3 tries for Elona today - same PUG, which eventually learned to work together and did a nice job on 3rd run (after a catastrophic 1st run, after which the ranger Smith luckily left, and the necro Smith finally started realizing that excitedly running towards any red dot isn't that good for his health).

Thirsty River also took a couple tries, but didn't seem too hard - we even got the bonus, surprisingly. Then the Dunes with henchies ... that is probably the easiest mission I've seen so far - getting TO the Dunes is the real hard part

.

I still want to go back to Elona to finish the bonus and cap skills, so if anyone needs a smiting/healing monk for the mission, beep me in game

MaglorD · Jul 13, 2005, 02:17 AM // 02:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longasc

I assume some smart players had to bear the pain of having a dangerous moron in their group. It is also ridiculous that players make it to Hell's Precipice and cast Firestorm and Flare - nothing else, no immolate or whatsoever - on the Burning Titans.

They do not even consider changing to Air for this mission to deal some damage, or to Earth to cast a Ward against Melee.

Hell's precipice doesn't need air skills. All you need is ranger with winter. Fire + Winter does more dps than air skills. An earth elementist with Ward against Elements would help a lot in damage reduction.

Longasc · Jul 13, 2005, 09:27 AM // 09:27

Thanks for the hints, but I do not need them anymore - nor is it related to the topic.

Wings of Illusion · Jul 13, 2005, 09:36 AM // 09:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Creston

I may be blind, but I think you have three.

Creston

they have 2. warrior monks tend not to heal others.