Need help deciding what class will be most effective at completing HoM achievments - Guild Wars Forums

Cravenmagic · Dec 20, 2011, 08:14 AM // 08:14

I realize that this question been done to death but it never answered the question I had in my mind.
So i will explain a little, I used to play WoW a few years ago, it had end game content as its main objective. IN GW I still am unsure what the main objective is. I am still rather new to the game and actually got a little bored of it because I felt there was no direction. I had no goal of completion like I did with leveling and then gearing in WoW.

However GW2 looks amazing, I want to complete as many of the HoM achievements I can before it comes out. THAT is now my goal.
I am leveling a bunch of characters via the SnowBall Dominance quest. Already have a couple to 20.

The question is, using only heros and henchies(preferably all heros when possible) what class will allow me the easiest time completing the HoM achievements.

PS I know there is not one BEST class and that some classes and builds are better depending on what you are aiming to do. I am an unskilled newbie still and just wish to gain some knowledge so I can get a leg up on completing these achievements.

Please refrain from comments that tell me how hard it is going to be to get those achievements, I want help with solutions, not reasons to give up.
The HoM achievements are my goal, achieving those things will be fun and rewarding enough for me ^_^

Acehole2006 · Dec 20, 2011, 08:26 AM // 08:26

Such a hard question to answer in my opinion really cause for me i find the game easy with heros. You can be whatever profession you want and still get through the game as quickly as anyone else.

However im just thinking if you was to become stuck somewhere what is it that people want most now adays.

So im thinking either a sin (as your most likely place to get stuck is HM dungeons) or an Rt cause well spirit spamming your way through the game is fun haha but also can be a very usefull support with player setups also.

Keep it short and sweet at that from me. A or Rt.

However my main is Mo who is GWAMM (god walking...) but have now just complete Rt at GWAMM also. at this stage in the game i found Rt real easy to play and think it would be a great option for starters.

Cravenmagic · Dec 20, 2011, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Hah no kidding? I was thinking about Rt from all the info I had read about them, and I just lvled a sin to 20 earlier today. I keep reading that dervishes are OP, but then again those threads and posts are usually YEARS old and they may have been nerfed to hell, any info on that?

But either case I thank you a ton! You gave me exactly what I was hoping for in terms of direction from a vet player!

Iceblue · Dec 20, 2011, 08:54 AM // 08:54

I'm going to start with your last paragraph. Its actually not very difficult to achieve 30/50 points. With some hard work and dedication you can do it with in 4 months. (I've seen players post their records here).

The advice given to all new beginners who's goal it is to get HOM points, is to start a character in Nightfall, even though its the third campaign and the third story in chronological order. The reason to start in Nightfall is because you get to collect your heroes right away, who help you (more than henchman) do the missions/quests solo (when you can't get a rl player to help). In addition you can upgrade their armor and dedicate them in the hall of monuments. The other reason to start in NF is that the story and levelling progression are quick (compared to prophecies).

As Acehole pointed out, the quick answer is to either make an Assassin or a Ritualist. Both can farm easily. The Assassin is melee, and gets his hands nice and dirty in the fight. The Rit stands back and pops up sprits while watching the fight. So go with whichever style you prefer. However, I think there's one more thing to consider. The players that I've seen complete the HOM in 3-4 months, were able to join speed clearing teams for the DoA (Domain of Anguish), FoW (Fissure of Woe) and the UW (Underworld). This means creating a character that is needed for those builds. The Assassin is definitely more versatile than the Ritualist, both in farming and speed clearing.

My* order of what best professions are:
Assassin
Ritualist
Mesmer
Elementist
Necromancer
Dervish
Monk
Warrior
Ranger
Paragon

* My opinion only - others will disagree with me (especially the ranger and paragon lovers).... and fyi, my main is a warrior and i love being a warrior.

Cravenmagic · Dec 20, 2011, 09:21 AM // 09:21

In response to you IceBlue I am aiming for the 30/50 points. You mention doing Nightfall, which is one I have yet to start any character in, for the heros. However I have rushed all my characters thus far to EotN after level 10 and thus have 3 heros (MOX, Vexx, and Mr. Dwarf). Should I is this enough or do you still suggest doing NF next? The only reason I would do NF really(unless you mean there are better heros in it than in EotN) is to make a dervish or paragon (leaning dervish).

Since I am power leveling whatever i make next with the seasonal snowball quest, and you agree with Acehole2006 on going either Sin or Rt, is there any point in doing NF with a start up/new character?

wilebill · Dec 20, 2011, 09:32 AM // 09:32

My main is a Ranger, that is what I am going to recommend. Warrior is also a good choice. Paragon is good too once leveled up. But if you want a pro recommendation, Ranger. Ranger has high survivability and that is 'nuff said for getting through all the content quickly as possible.

Iceblue · Dec 20, 2011, 10:18 AM // 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cravenmagic

In response to you IceBlue I am aiming for the 30/50 points. You mention doing Nightfall, which is one I have yet to start any character in, for the heros. However I have rushed all my characters thus far to EotN after level 10 and thus have 3 heros (MOX, Vexx, and Mr. Dwarf). Should I is this enough or do you still suggest doing NF next? The only reason I would do NF really(unless you mean there are better heros in it than in EotN) is to make a dervish or paragon (leaning dervish).

Since I am power leveling whatever i make next with the seasonal snowball quest, and you agree with Acehole2006 on going either Sin or Rt, is there any point in doing NF with a start up/new character?

For the fellowship monument, in order to get at least 6/8 points you need 10 statues (one pet leveled to 20, one rare pet*, and the rest heros (8)) so you can collect the heros in EotN or in NF. NF is just quicker (you will get koss, meloni, dunkoro and Acolyte Sousuke or Acolyte Jin right away). Plus, you will be able to get the two of the three necro heros from NF, which will help you wil the sabway or triple necro build of heros to take with you on missions.

* one rare pet you get in the factions campaign, one you have to charm in the underworld, and the other only when you get a certain level of titles (the pheonix)

If you dont have an assassin or ritualist yet, then you should make one in NF. Also, leveling all of your characters to 20 is just the begining. Unless you bought the skill packs, you probably have no skills. You also need to get titles to fill the honor monument, so finishing the NF campaign, caping elite skills while you go, and then redoing it in HM is just the begining....

Cravenmagic · Dec 20, 2011, 10:24 AM // 10:24

Hehe yeah I get that reaching lvl 20 is the beginning, soooo much to do now!
However... how can I make a Sin or Rt in NF...
Transfer them there? Sure I can figure that out, but make a new Sin or Rt in NF? Is that even possible? I cannot get that to work, paragon or dervish show up instead when I go to make a new NF character.

EDIT: Also what secondary for the Rt? I checked a few builds out and the most powerful one seemed to be Necro damage wise. Many others were healer builds? Weird but I can sort of see how it would work.

Gill Halendt · Dec 20, 2011, 10:49 AM // 10:49

Effectiveness is vain if you don't enjoy playing that profession in the end.

I'd go for whatever you like best: pretty much every class is more than capable enough to get your things done.

Cravenmagic · Dec 20, 2011, 11:02 AM // 11:02

Well Gill the problem there is that I don't know what I'll like best till I try every class and get every class its elite skills then try out a bunch of combinations with EACH of those.
Now THAT is a lot of work to find out which one I like BEST.

I will agree with you that effectiveness is vain if you do not like the prof. however my enjoyment comes from winning. Take a TF2 example, I hate playing with people who are not doing their best to complete an objective, they say it is just a game.
But I do now play games to lose, I play them to win. I do not have fun losing, I have fun building a strategy that works and then using it.

Earlier I mentioned how I understand every class can get the achievements done. It would be unfair of the creators to make it so certain classes had a HUGE disadvantage to completing the HoM achievements.

So I am not barking at you, just re explaining that for me the simplest path to victory is the one I will enjoy the most. Survivability and dmg output are always the two main concerns. I am unsure how good Sin's are for survival but the dmg looks alright. The dmg and survivability of Rt's is looking rather good atm as well.

EDIT: And back to Rt secondary, N or R are the 2 that keep coming up. Such hard choices ><
Edit2: Went Necro for now, if Ranger is really any good for a start later i can change it somewhere somehow I read.

Iceblue · Dec 20, 2011, 12:15 PM // 12:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cravenmagic

I am unsure how good Sin's are for survival but the dmg looks alright. The dmg and survivability of Rt's is looking rather good atm as well.

EDIT: And back to Rt secondary, N or R are the 2 that keep coming up. Such hard choices ><
Edit2: Went Necro for now, if Ranger is really any good for a start later i can change it somewhere somehow I read.

You make the assassin or rit in factions, and as soon as you get to Kaineng center take them over to NF to get first 4 heros, then go over to EotN and get the next 4 heros...

The assassin is very survivable. For the secondary, you can change it later in the game.

gremlin · Dec 20, 2011, 12:45 PM // 12:45

Given that I generally dislike playing a melee class/build and that I play gw1 almost exclusively as a general commanding a custom party of Heroes.

I find almost any caster class works for me and my favourite caster class would be an equal split between Mesmer and Necro.
I love them both and find they are really easy to play right through all the games.
HOM should be a breeze with either.

If you want to play melee then seek elsewhere.

Vernphos · Dec 20, 2011, 12:46 PM // 12:46

I personally LOVE dervish. The right build makes you a steamroller.

Otherwise the above posts say it best; any char can get 30/50, its all about patience and the grind.

Start in Nightfall, then move to EoTN

drkn · Dec 20, 2011, 12:52 PM // 12:52

The BEST way to get playable achievements for HoM is to get a good team build with your heroes. You may run a blank skillbar and rely fully on your heroes, if their builds synergise well, and just call targets.
Remember that your skillbar is only a 1/8 fraction of the entire team, and your input might be negligible if you run nice bars on your heroes.
That said, you can base the whole team build on your personal build, so that heroes serve you as buffers for additional damage. That's especially true for melee physical classes. Wars/dervs can dish out large damage when backed by enchantments, bonds, weapon spells, wards etc, cast by heroes, who still cast some of their own devastating spells (using non-caster heroes, unless necessary for a specific area/mission, is generally inferior due to poor AI).
Conclusion? It doesn't matter what class you roll, PvE-wise, when talking about completing the game and getting the 'play-the-game' achievements (protector, guardian, vanquisher, etc).

When it comes to getting money for consumables-based titles, like sweet tooth or drunkard, some classes clearly excell at farming. Sin, ele and rit are probably the best to use for that purpose.
But tell you what - farming is NOT the best way to get the money in GW1, especially if you limit your needs to 'only' the HoM-stuff (and not waste your precious money for the looks, like buying that perfect Frog Scepter), more so nowadays, when easily farmable stuff is quite cheap (i remember clothes of the brotherhood going easily for ~17k a piece, when HoM calculator got released, and i could easily get 3 of those in 20 min, so yeah, it was worth it, made buying obsi for my fiancee possible just after a weekend of farming). You may get into DoA-SC guild/group, if you really want to farm for money, as it is probably the best and consistent source of money. Read more about DoASC on pvx.
You could set up a service for people - get particularly good and fast at running several missions/dungeons and offer to do so a bit cheaper than your competition. I remember getting 25k per person for running Aurora Glade HM about two years ago, back when most runners didn't include this particular mission in HM, dubbing it 'too hard'. I could get one player AFK, and up to five players who would follow me and do what i say, using the builds i ping (or something similar). Believe it or not, there were people who needed such a simple guidance, and happily paid 25k, enjoying their legendary guardian thanks to this run.
Yet i always preferred to play the market a bit. Get into trading - observe the market for a week or two, then choose something you want to fiddle with, and buy low / sell high. It doesn't have to be power-trading in the beginning, you might start getting 3-4k profit per item you resell, but eventually you'll get much, much more. Without mindlessly killing monsters over and over. It bears some risk and requires you to carefully invest your money, learn trends, observe supply and know the demand, but if you get a grasp at it, it's by far the fastest and most profitable way of making money.
Conclusion? If you'd like to get into the market, it doesn't matter what you play. If you'd like to farm on your own, get a sin, an ele, and a rit. You might want something more for DoASC, but the builds might shift to favour elementalists after the anticipated update takes place, so you might want to keep one character slot for a future DoA character. If you'd like to run people and make money this way, probably an assassin would work best (though i used to run people using my mesmer, using spiritmancer build, so it doesn't really matter if you manage to find customers or supply a niche in the market).

In general, pick one class you enjoy the most and play through the game with it. It will also be your main consumer, that is - you will want to get the sweet tooth, drunkard and party animal titles on this particular character. Get Survivor. If you really are an achiever, start in Prophecies and get LDoA on that character. In the end, you want to get GWAMM with it, as GWAMM carries over to GW2.
Then, with your other PvE characters, just farm the money needed to buy armors/minipets/consumables/weapons/etc. Vaettirs with ele, dungeons and services with sin, etc.

My way of playing - as i am a strict achiever myself - would be to start over in Prophecies with an elementalist (or mesmer subclassed into elementalist), get LDoA on it and play through the whole PvE content with it. Make it my 'main' character, so as to get the titles on it. Get protector, guardian, vanquisher, and so on, so forth. Focus on playing, ignore the farming for now.
Then, after done with the titles/HoM stuff that require just playing (ok, sometimes repetitively, as with getting armours for heroes, but NOT requiring any particular build/class), i'd switch to my farming sin, or start farming with ele (though i'd probably get into the market - i remember how hard i thought it would be, but it turned out okay, and i had only 15k in my pocket when i started, to get full GWAMM + 50/50 on three accounts, mostly via trading). Also, keep in mind that making a new character at any point, getting it to lvl 20, getting it to the required place and setting up the necessary build is usually easy - if you ever need to get an imbagon to DoA, it'll take you several days to get through the NF campaign, sure, but that's nothing hard or tedious, especially with heroes.

Just focus on a class you'd enjoy playing, and if you really want to get the most out of the game (achievements-wise), start with getting LDoA - it's really easy and not so long nowadays (used to take months, now can be done in 2~4 days with correct quest and repetitive farming).
Then, after getting everything you can without farming/trading, start making money, any way you prefer.

edit:
A word about that elementalist in Prophecies.
It's the easiest to get LDoA with elementalist. Elementalists excell at dishing out huge damage in the normal mode, and i guess that before you get to the HM (including going for LDoA), ANet will release the update that will make elementalists viable and destructive in HM. Even if not, it's just as i said earlier - load the generic spiritmancer build (nearly all-powerful in itself) onto that ele and let your heroes do the rest.
So after LDoA, go to EotN for easy heroes (including Gwen), then go to NF and complete NF. Unlock all the heroes after NF is beaten. Go back to EotN and play until you have all the heroes unlocked. You might as well just finish EotN in the normal mode. Then beat either Prophecies or Factions. After getting protector everywhere (master reward for all NM missions), get into HM - redo the missions, vanquish, do dungeons (in NM and HM), etc.
Unless you care much about the lore and would like to see the whole story in game - then you might want to just pick the first heroes in EotN (up till Gwen) and then play through Prophecies -> Factions -> NF -> EotN, so in chronological order. I myself am a big lore-junkie, but i'm good enough with reading the story and lore details on the wiki, not necessarily playing through it.

edit2: in terms of picking the main class 'that you will enjoy playing', just take a look on the skills and follow the archetype that you like most. I personally hate melee fighters in any game, save rogues in some titles (Dragon Age 2, i look at you), i also find rangers/archers dull everywhere (possibly because i used to be a bowman myself, using real-life bow), so most of the time i pick casters. I chose mesmer because i liked the idea how mesmers were supposed to mindRED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO everyone around. Even though mesmer turned out not to work as i hoped, i still liked that profession and kept it as my main.

If you have any further or specific questions, including builds and other basics, feel free to pm me over Guru or try to catch me in game (Dimir Acolyte), though the latter might take a while as i'm not that active anymore.

The Guildless · Dec 20, 2011, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cravenmagic

Well Gill the problem there is that I don't know what I'll like best till I try every class and get every class its elite skills then try out a bunch of combinations with EACH of those.
Now THAT is a lot of work to find out which one I like BEST.

Keep in mind that the HoM rewards are calculated account-wide. That means you can unlock stuff with different characters and it'll add up to the total. So you could play through a campaign with one and another campaign with another. Playing through all the content with a single character is useful to progress in the Kind of a Big Deal track, though. But if you're only looking for 30 HoM points, don't be shy and just play the game with different chars.

Adrianoz · Dec 20, 2011, 02:11 PM // 14:11

So I thought I'd make a post and compile all the different guides for getting to 50 in your Hall of Monuments, just to make it easier to find a guide for people who need help with their HoM.

Here's a compilation of guides for getting to 50 points in your Hall of Monuments

Massively's Road to 50 - http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/the-road-to-50/
Comprehensive Hall of Monuments Guide - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/c...t10454341.html
Quick and Dirty Guide to 30/50 - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/q...t10454314.html
HoM Points for Dummies - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:...ts_for_Dummies
Guide to earning Hall of Monuments rewards - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...uments_rewards
A Complete Guide to the Hall of Monuments - http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010...umen ts.shtml
Guild Wars Hall of Monuments Speed Guide - http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...nts_speed.html
Hall of Monuments Guide, Clarifications & Tips - http://forum.mmosite.com/thread/2/78...52c0513-1.html

Hall of Monuments FAQ - http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/faq/
Hall of Monuments - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hall_of_Monuments

That's pretty much all the guides I could find, some small ones here and there and a few videos that cover pretty much the same things as these. Have fun and enjoy.

As for what class, you'll be able to judge that yourself after reading the above guides, but to compile it;
Elementalist for your Monument of Resilience, as their armor is much, much cheaper than other classes
SoS Rt for farming HM Dungeons, such as Underworld, for Ectos to either sell for cash to buy other items to fill your HoM with, or for buying Obsidian armor.

drkn · Dec 20, 2011, 02:21 PM // 14:21

Keep in mind that as a rule of thumb, in any game, it's much much better to farm (and/or hope for) very expensive drops rather than the currency itself. So it's much better to farm festive items or run Bogroot's all the time, 'farming' Frog Scepter, than going for ectos in UW (unless doing speedclears, which might yield decent drops from the end chest).

Silmar Alech · Dec 20, 2011, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Which class you choose depends on your playstyle. Are you the melee player, or the caster/ranged player?
If you are the melee type, the Assassin is probably the best to choose.
If you are the ranged/caster type player, a Necromancer, Ritualist or Mesmer is probably the best to choose.
Don't choose Paragon. He really weak compared to other classes and only has one good (support) build to play, but this build isn't needed for 95% of all PvE contents. Also, the Warrior and the Ranger are not the strongest classes.
Keep in mind that there is an update to the Elementalist pending. Currently, he is ok in normal mode but isn't very strong in hard mode. This could change after the update - stay tuned, it will go live probably some time early next year.

After experimenting, focus on one character and try to do your achievements mostly with that character. If you always switch characters, you will not have the practice for one class and master each class. And you distribute your titles over all characters.

Your goals are probably these, in this sequence:

- complete the storylines of every campaign including bonus.
- complete the storylines of every campaign in hard mode including bonus.
- unlock every outpost in the game
- gain additional titles for the honor monument in the hom, for example by doing some of the elite-dungeons at least once
- get a few elite armour and put them into the hom
- do some more titles: the lenghty vanquisher, cartographer and skill hunter titles. Combine this with the Zaishen-quests for good money without farming.
- get the special pets and unlock all heroes (with hero armour) and put them in the hom
- acquire and buy special weapons and put them into the hom
- acquire and buy minipets and dedicate them into the hom

Bloss · Dec 20, 2011, 02:42 PM // 14:42

A lot of people are talking about DoASC UWSC etc etc. From what I noticed (correct me if I'm wrong Cravenmagic) this player just wants to get HoM-points easy/fast (as much as possible with heroes?) but is also just starting to play again. Most speedclears take a while to get experienced at and especially when new to the games current skills. And in some (DoASC/UWSC mainly) every role matters (a lot.) So I wouldn't suggest that unless you come at the point you really need to money for the last points. How-ever stuff like frostway (all on pvx wiki,) 1x = DoA and half a tormented weapon and it's relatively easy and pug-able are worth considering.

Another thing I slightly disagree with... that everything is just as fast. I found dervish one of the fastest killers because scythes + splinterweapon = epic (best skill in a team with melee ever) and besides that anything with daggers goes relatively fast (e.g. sin, war, ranger) Just like I'm a lot faster with my mesmer than monk or elementalist. Might be me, but I doubt it. I do agree you should play a prof you like playing, so I'm glad you're trying out everything.

I found from just playing with heroes (and I play all 10 profs relatively often) dervishes the fastest melee and relatively adjustable in 4-man or 6-man area's. And due to splinter weapon and I find heroes over-all better with melee players, I would advise a melee (if you really find all 10 prof equal fun that is.)

If you do think you'll go much further than like 40 points a sin can come in handy due to the speedclears (except in DoASC most SC's use a lot of sins.) which will always stay one of the more effective ways to make money.

As for where you start, you noticed it's easy to get to eotn and other campains, so it doesn't matter a lot (I personally hate prophecies though, and NF has easiest attribute quests.)

Though I do and a lot of people here like do... Don't play every class. It takes ages and it's boring to finish campains often (I did it over-time without a real goal to get used to and experience the classes, but trust me 10x a campain is horrible.) For some HoM achievements it doesn't matter since it's account-wide, but you do spend the time lvl'ing, getting to outposts, gaining heroes etc. It's handy if you do want to go for 50/50 and likely end up needing a lot of money.

Skyy High · Dec 20, 2011, 04:43 PM // 16:43

Rit, necro, warrior, assassin are all easy to solo with.
Mesmer, dervish, ele, ranger all have their pros too.
Paragon is boring as hell (right now, IMO) to play optimally.
Monk is just a pain to play if you're using heroes, at least if you plan on healing.

Dec 20, 2011, 08:14 AM // 08:14	#1
Cravenmagic Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Dec 2011 Profession: R/N	Need help deciding what class will be most effective at completing HoM achievments I realize that this question been done to death but it never answered the question I had in my mind. So i will explain a little, I used to play WoW a few years ago, it had end game content as its main objective. IN GW I still am unsure what the main objective is. I am still rather new to the game and actually got a little bored of it because I felt there was no direction. I had no goal of completion like I did with leveling and then gearing in WoW. However GW2 looks amazing, I want to complete as many of the HoM achievements I can before it comes out. THAT is now my goal. I am leveling a bunch of characters via the SnowBall Dominance quest. Already have a couple to 20. The question is, using only heros and henchies(preferably all heros when possible) what class will allow me the easiest time completing the HoM achievements. PS I know there is not one BEST class and that some classes and builds are better depending on what you are aiming to do. I am an unskilled newbie still and just wish to gain some knowledge so I can get a leg up on completing these achievements. Please refrain from comments that tell me how hard it is going to be to get those achievements, I want help with solutions, not reasons to give up. The HoM achievements are my goal, achieving those things will be fun and rewarding enough for me ^_^

Dec 20, 2011, 10:24 AM // 10:24	#8
Cravenmagic Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Dec 2011 Profession: R/N	Hehe yeah I get that reaching lvl 20 is the beginning, soooo much to do now! However... how can I make a Sin or Rt in NF... Transfer them there? Sure I can figure that out, but make a new Sin or Rt in NF? Is that even possible? I cannot get that to work, paragon or dervish show up instead when I go to make a new NF character. EDIT: Also what secondary for the Rt? I checked a few builds out and the most powerful one seemed to be Necro damage wise. Many others were healer builds? Weird but I can sort of see how it would work. Last edited by Cravenmagic; Dec 20, 2011 at 10:40 AM // 10:40..

Dec 20, 2011, 11:02 AM // 11:02	#10
Cravenmagic Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Dec 2011 Profession: R/N	Well Gill the problem there is that I don't know what I'll like best till I try every class and get every class its elite skills then try out a bunch of combinations with EACH of those. Now THAT is a lot of work to find out which one I like BEST. I will agree with you that effectiveness is vain if you do not like the prof. however my enjoyment comes from winning. Take a TF2 example, I hate playing with people who are not doing their best to complete an objective, they say it is just a game. But I do now play games to lose, I play them to win. I do not have fun losing, I have fun building a strategy that works and then using it. Earlier I mentioned how I understand every class can get the achievements done. It would be unfair of the creators to make it so certain classes had a HUGE disadvantage to completing the HoM achievements. So I am not barking at you, just re explaining that for me the simplest path to victory is the one I will enjoy the most. Survivability and dmg output are always the two main concerns. I am unsure how good Sin's are for survival but the dmg looks alright. The dmg and survivability of Rt's is looking rather good atm as well. EDIT: And back to Rt secondary, N or R are the 2 that keep coming up. Such hard choices >< Edit2: Went Necro for now, if Ranger is really any good for a start later i can change it somewhere somehow I read. Last edited by Cravenmagic; Dec 20, 2011 at 12:13 PM // 12:13..

Dec 20, 2011, 12:52 PM // 12:52	#14
drkn Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wroc??aw, Poland Guild: Midnight Mayhem Profession: Me/	The BEST way to get playable achievements for HoM is to get a good team build with your heroes. You may run a blank skillbar and rely fully on your heroes, if their builds synergise well, and just call targets. Remember that your skillbar is only a 1/8 fraction of the entire team, and your input might be negligible if you run nice bars on your heroes. That said, you can base the whole team build on your personal build, so that heroes serve you as buffers for additional damage. That's especially true for melee physical classes. Wars/dervs can dish out large damage when backed by enchantments, bonds, weapon spells, wards etc, cast by heroes, who still cast some of their own devastating spells (using non-caster heroes, unless necessary for a specific area/mission, is generally inferior due to poor AI). Conclusion? It doesn't matter what class you roll, PvE-wise, when talking about completing the game and getting the 'play-the-game' achievements (protector, guardian, vanquisher, etc). When it comes to getting money for consumables-based titles, like sweet tooth or drunkard, some classes clearly excell at farming. Sin, ele and rit are probably the best to use for that purpose. But tell you what - farming is NOT the best way to get the money in GW1, especially if you limit your needs to 'only' the HoM-stuff (and not waste your precious money for the looks, like buying that perfect Frog Scepter), more so nowadays, when easily farmable stuff is quite cheap (i remember clothes of the brotherhood going easily for ~17k a piece, when HoM calculator got released, and i could easily get 3 of those in 20 min, so yeah, it was worth it, made buying obsi for my fiancee possible just after a weekend of farming). You may get into DoA-SC guild/group, if you really want to farm for money, as it is probably the best and consistent source of money. Read more about DoASC on pvx. You could set up a service for people - get particularly good and fast at running several missions/dungeons and offer to do so a bit cheaper than your competition. I remember getting 25k per person for running Aurora Glade HM about two years ago, back when most runners didn't include this particular mission in HM, dubbing it 'too hard'. I could get one player AFK, and up to five players who would follow me and do what i say, using the builds i ping (or something similar). Believe it or not, there were people who needed such a simple guidance, and happily paid 25k, enjoying their legendary guardian thanks to this run. Yet i always preferred to play the market a bit. Get into trading - observe the market for a week or two, then choose something you want to fiddle with, and buy low / sell high. It doesn't have to be power-trading in the beginning, you might start getting 3-4k profit per item you resell, but eventually you'll get much, much more. Without mindlessly killing monsters over and over. It bears some risk and requires you to carefully invest your money, learn trends, observe supply and know the demand, but if you get a grasp at it, it's by far the fastest and most profitable way of making money. Conclusion? If you'd like to get into the market, it doesn't matter what you play. If you'd like to farm on your own, get a sin, an ele, and a rit. You might want something more for DoASC, but the builds might shift to favour elementalists after the anticipated update takes place, so you might want to keep one character slot for a future DoA character. If you'd like to run people and make money this way, probably an assassin would work best (though i used to run people using my mesmer, using spiritmancer build, so it doesn't really matter if you manage to find customers or supply a niche in the market). In general, pick one class you enjoy the most and play through the game with it. It will also be your main consumer, that is - you will want to get the sweet tooth, drunkard and party animal titles on this particular character. Get Survivor. If you really are an achiever, start in Prophecies and get LDoA on that character. In the end, you want to get GWAMM with it, as GWAMM carries over to GW2. Then, with your other PvE characters, just farm the money needed to buy armors/minipets/consumables/weapons/etc. Vaettirs with ele, dungeons and services with sin, etc. My way of playing - as i am a strict achiever myself - would be to start over in Prophecies with an elementalist (or mesmer subclassed into elementalist), get LDoA on it and play through the whole PvE content with it. Make it my 'main' character, so as to get the titles on it. Get protector, guardian, vanquisher, and so on, so forth. Focus on playing, ignore the farming for now. Then, after done with the titles/HoM stuff that require just playing (ok, sometimes repetitively, as with getting armours for heroes, but NOT requiring any particular build/class), i'd switch to my farming sin, or start farming with ele (though i'd probably get into the market - i remember how hard i thought it would be, but it turned out okay, and i had only 15k in my pocket when i started, to get full GWAMM + 50/50 on three accounts, mostly via trading). Also, keep in mind that making a new character at any point, getting it to lvl 20, getting it to the required place and setting up the necessary build is usually easy - if you ever need to get an imbagon to DoA, it'll take you several days to get through the NF campaign, sure, but that's nothing hard or tedious, especially with heroes. Just focus on a class you'd enjoy playing, and if you really want to get the most out of the game (achievements-wise), start with getting LDoA - it's really easy and not so long nowadays (used to take months, now can be done in 2~4 days with correct quest and repetitive farming). Then, after getting everything you can without farming/trading, start making money, any way you prefer. edit: A word about that elementalist in Prophecies. It's the easiest to get LDoA with elementalist. Elementalists excell at dishing out huge damage in the normal mode, and i guess that before you get to the HM (including going for LDoA), ANet will release the update that will make elementalists viable and destructive in HM. Even if not, it's just as i said earlier - load the generic spiritmancer build (nearly all-powerful in itself) onto that ele and let your heroes do the rest. So after LDoA, go to EotN for easy heroes (including Gwen), then go to NF and complete NF. Unlock all the heroes after NF is beaten. Go back to EotN and play until you have all the heroes unlocked. You might as well just finish EotN in the normal mode. Then beat either Prophecies or Factions. After getting protector everywhere (master reward for all NM missions), get into HM - redo the missions, vanquish, do dungeons (in NM and HM), etc. Unless you care much about the lore and would like to see the whole story in game - then you might want to just pick the first heroes in EotN (up till Gwen) and then play through Prophecies -> Factions -> NF -> EotN, so in chronological order. I myself am a big lore-junkie, but i'm good enough with reading the story and lore details on the wiki, not necessarily playing through it. edit2: in terms of picking the main class 'that you will enjoy playing', just take a look on the skills and follow the archetype that you like most. I personally hate melee fighters in any game, save rogues in some titles (Dragon Age 2, i look at you), i also find rangers/archers dull everywhere (possibly because i used to be a bowman myself, using real-life bow), so most of the time i pick casters. I chose mesmer because i liked the idea how mesmers were supposed to mindRED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO everyone around. Even though mesmer turned out not to work as i hoped, i still liked that profession and kept it as my main. If you have any further or specific questions, including builds and other basics, feel free to pm me over Guru or try to catch me in game (Dimir Acolyte), though the latter might take a while as i'm not that active anymore. Last edited by drkn; Dec 20, 2011 at 01:08 PM // 13:08..

Dec 20, 2011, 02:42 PM // 14:42	#19
Bloss Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Jul 2009 Profession: Me/Rt	A lot of people are talking about DoASC UWSC etc etc. From what I noticed (correct me if I'm wrong Cravenmagic) this player just wants to get HoM-points easy/fast (as much as possible with heroes?) but is also just starting to play again. Most speedclears take a while to get experienced at and especially when new to the games current skills. And in some (DoASC/UWSC mainly) every role matters (a lot.) So I wouldn't suggest that unless you come at the point you really need to money for the last points. How-ever stuff like frostway (all on pvx wiki,) 1x = DoA and half a tormented weapon and it's relatively easy and pug-able are worth considering. Another thing I slightly disagree with... that everything is just as fast. I found dervish one of the fastest killers because scythes + splinterweapon = epic (best skill in a team with melee ever) and besides that anything with daggers goes relatively fast (e.g. sin, war, ranger) Just like I'm a lot faster with my mesmer than monk or elementalist. Might be me, but I doubt it. I do agree you should play a prof you like playing, so I'm glad you're trying out everything. I found from just playing with heroes (and I play all 10 profs relatively often) dervishes the fastest melee and relatively adjustable in 4-man or 6-man area's. And due to splinter weapon and I find heroes over-all better with melee players, I would advise a melee (if you really find all 10 prof equal fun that is.) If you do think you'll go much further than like 40 points a sin can come in handy due to the speedclears (except in DoASC most SC's use a lot of sins.) which will always stay one of the more effective ways to make money. As for where you start, you noticed it's easy to get to eotn and other campains, so it doesn't matter a lot (I personally hate prophecies though, and NF has easiest attribute quests.) Though I do and a lot of people here like do... Don't play every class. It takes ages and it's boring to finish campains often (I did it over-time without a real goal to get used to and experience the classes, but trust me 10x a campain is horrible.) For some HoM achievements it doesn't matter since it's account-wide, but you do spend the time lvl'ing, getting to outposts, gaining heroes etc. It's handy if you do want to go for 50/50 and likely end up needing a lot of money. Last edited by Bloss; Dec 20, 2011 at 02:46 PM // 14:46..

Dec 20, 2011, 08:26 AM // 08:26	#2
Acehole2006 Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United Kingdom Essex Guild: Fight For The Win Profession: Mo/	Such a hard question to answer in my opinion really cause for me i find the game easy with heros. You can be whatever profession you want and still get through the game as quickly as anyone else. However im just thinking if you was to become stuck somewhere what is it that people want most now adays. So im thinking either a sin (as your most likely place to get stuck is HM dungeons) or an Rt cause well spirit spamming your way through the game is fun haha but also can be a very usefull support with player setups also. Keep it short and sweet at that from me. A or Rt. However my main is Mo who is GWAMM (god walking...) but have now just complete Rt at GWAMM also. at this stage in the game i found Rt real easy to play and think it would be a great option for starters.

Dec 20, 2011, 08:47 AM // 08:47	#3
Cravenmagic Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Dec 2011 Profession: R/N	Hah no kidding? I was thinking about Rt from all the info I had read about them, and I just lvled a sin to 20 earlier today. I keep reading that dervishes are OP, but then again those threads and posts are usually YEARS old and they may have been nerfed to hell, any info on that? But either case I thank you a ton! You gave me exactly what I was hoping for in terms of direction from a vet player!

Dec 20, 2011, 08:54 AM // 08:54	#4
Iceblue Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Jun 2010 Profession: W/	I'm going to start with your last paragraph. Its actually not very difficult to achieve 30/50 points. With some hard work and dedication you can do it with in 4 months. (I've seen players post their records here). The advice given to all new beginners who's goal it is to get HOM points, is to start a character in Nightfall, even though its the third campaign and the third story in chronological order. The reason to start in Nightfall is because you get to collect your heroes right away, who help you (more than henchman) do the missions/quests solo (when you can't get a rl player to help). In addition you can upgrade their armor and dedicate them in the hall of monuments. The other reason to start in NF is that the story and levelling progression are quick (compared to prophecies). As Acehole pointed out, the quick answer is to either make an Assassin or a Ritualist. Both can farm easily. The Assassin is melee, and gets his hands nice and dirty in the fight. The Rit stands back and pops up sprits while watching the fight. So go with whichever style you prefer. However, I think there's one more thing to consider. The players that I've seen complete the HOM in 3-4 months, were able to join speed clearing teams for the DoA (Domain of Anguish), FoW (Fissure of Woe) and the UW (Underworld). This means creating a character that is needed for those builds. The Assassin is definitely more versatile than the Ritualist, both in farming and speed clearing. My* order of what best professions are: Assassin Ritualist Mesmer Elementist Necromancer Dervish Monk Warrior Ranger Paragon * My opinion only - others will disagree with me (especially the ranger and paragon lovers).... and fyi, my main is a warrior and i love being a warrior.

Dec 20, 2011, 09:21 AM // 09:21	#5
Cravenmagic Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Dec 2011 Profession: R/N	In response to you IceBlue I am aiming for the 30/50 points. You mention doing Nightfall, which is one I have yet to start any character in, for the heros. However I have rushed all my characters thus far to EotN after level 10 and thus have 3 heros (MOX, Vexx, and Mr. Dwarf). Should I is this enough or do you still suggest doing NF next? The only reason I would do NF really(unless you mean there are better heros in it than in EotN) is to make a dervish or paragon (leaning dervish). Since I am power leveling whatever i make next with the seasonal snowball quest, and you agree with Acehole2006 on going either Sin or Rt, is there any point in doing NF with a start up/new character?

Dec 20, 2011, 09:32 AM // 09:32	#6
wilebill Desert Nomad Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Mt Vernon, Ohio Guild: Band of the Hawk Profession: W/Mo	My main is a Ranger, that is what I am going to recommend. Warrior is also a good choice. Paragon is good too once leveled up. But if you want a pro recommendation, Ranger. Ranger has high survivability and that is 'nuff said for getting through all the content quickly as possible.

Dec 20, 2011, 10:49 AM // 10:49	#9
Gill Halendt Desert Nomad Join Date: Mar 2008	Effectiveness is vain if you don't enjoy playing that profession in the end. I'd go for whatever you like best: pretty much every class is more than capable enough to get your things done.

Dec 20, 2011, 12:45 PM // 12:45	#12
gremlin Furnace Stoker Join Date: Oct 2006 Guild: GWAR Profession: Me/Mo	Given that I generally dislike playing a melee class/build and that I play gw1 almost exclusively as a general commanding a custom party of Heroes. I find almost any caster class works for me and my favourite caster class would be an equal split between Mesmer and Necro. I love them both and find they are really easy to play right through all the games. HOM should be a breeze with either. If you want to play melee then seek elsewhere.

Dec 20, 2011, 12:46 PM // 12:46	#13
Vernphos Academy Page Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Carlina Guild: BAD Profession: D/	I personally LOVE dervish. The right build makes you a steamroller. Otherwise the above posts say it best; any char can get 30/50, its all about patience and the grind. Start in Nightfall, then move to EoTN

Dec 20, 2011, 02:11 PM // 14:11	#16
Adrianoz Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Nov 2010	So I thought I'd make a post and compile all the different guides for getting to 50 in your Hall of Monuments, just to make it easier to find a guide for people who need help with their HoM. Here's a compilation of guides for getting to 50 points in your Hall of Monuments Massively's Road to 50 - http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/the-road-to-50/ Comprehensive Hall of Monuments Guide - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/c...t10454341.html Quick and Dirty Guide to 30/50 - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/q...t10454314.html HoM Points for Dummies - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:...ts_for_Dummies Guide to earning Hall of Monuments rewards - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...uments_rewards A Complete Guide to the Hall of Monuments - http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010...umen ts.shtml Guild Wars Hall of Monuments Speed Guide - http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...nts_speed.html Hall of Monuments Guide, Clarifications & Tips - http://forum.mmosite.com/thread/2/78...52c0513-1.html Hall of Monuments FAQ - http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/faq/ Hall of Monuments - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hall_of_Monuments That's pretty much all the guides I could find, some small ones here and there and a few videos that cover pretty much the same things as these. Have fun and enjoy. As for what class, you'll be able to judge that yourself after reading the above guides, but to compile it; Elementalist for your Monument of Resilience, as their armor is much, much cheaper than other classes SoS Rt for farming HM Dungeons, such as Underworld, for Ectos to either sell for cash to buy other items to fill your HoM with, or for buying Obsidian armor.

Dec 20, 2011, 02:21 PM // 14:21	#17
drkn Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wroc??aw, Poland Guild: Midnight Mayhem Profession: Me/	Keep in mind that as a rule of thumb, in any game, it's much much better to farm (and/or hope for) very expensive drops rather than the currency itself. So it's much better to farm festive items or run Bogroot's all the time, 'farming' Frog Scepter, than going for ectos in UW (unless doing speedclears, which might yield decent drops from the end chest).

Dec 20, 2011, 02:26 PM // 14:26	#18
Silmar Alech Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Europe Guild: Tom Son [TS] Profession: E/	Which class you choose depends on your playstyle. Are you the melee player, or the caster/ranged player? If you are the melee type, the Assassin is probably the best to choose. If you are the ranged/caster type player, a Necromancer, Ritualist or Mesmer is probably the best to choose. Don't choose Paragon. He really weak compared to other classes and only has one good (support) build to play, but this build isn't needed for 95% of all PvE contents. Also, the Warrior and the Ranger are not the strongest classes. Keep in mind that there is an update to the Elementalist pending. Currently, he is ok in normal mode but isn't very strong in hard mode. This could change after the update - stay tuned, it will go live probably some time early next year. After experimenting, focus on one character and try to do your achievements mostly with that character. If you always switch characters, you will not have the practice for one class and master each class. And you distribute your titles over all characters. Your goals are probably these, in this sequence: - complete the storylines of every campaign including bonus. - complete the storylines of every campaign in hard mode including bonus. - unlock every outpost in the game - gain additional titles for the honor monument in the hom, for example by doing some of the elite-dungeons at least once - get a few elite armour and put them into the hom - do some more titles: the lenghty vanquisher, cartographer and skill hunter titles. Combine this with the Zaishen-quests for good money without farming. - get the special pets and unlock all heroes (with hero armour) and put them in the hom - acquire and buy special weapons and put them into the hom - acquire and buy minipets and dedicate them into the hom

Dec 20, 2011, 04:43 PM // 16:43	#20
Skyy High Furnace Stoker Join Date: May 2006 Profession: R/	Rit, necro, warrior, assassin are all easy to solo with. Mesmer, dervish, ele, ranger all have their pros too. Paragon is boring as hell (right now, IMO) to play optimally. Monk is just a pain to play if you're using heroes, at least if you plan on healing.