Curse

Old Dood · Aug 08, 2005, 04:08 PM // 16:08

If you take your time they are not all that bad. I go out with Henchmen and take one group of them at a time. I use my Mo/Ele and bring either Firestorm or Meteor Shower. After a big battle I will stand there and fully recharge and let my AoE spell reset too. Then I am ready for the next group.

Having SmiteHex and Mend Aliment along is really nice to have. Top that off with Word of Healing then it is all down hill from there.

Ares Runeblade · Aug 08, 2005, 04:22 PM // 16:22

These ideas are fine, but for those of us that lack the skills mentioned, theres a nice little Warrior solution to it. If your Warrior is an Axe warrior, then they should have Cyclone Axe from Pre-Searing. Post-Searing at the latest Hopefully you're warrior will have the Aggro of every one of those buggers (Mine does all the time). Then it's fairly easy to kill the little buggers with a few dosages of Cyclone Axe. Through in 1 or two shouts to protect your party, and you're pretty much set

Damon Windwalker · Aug 08, 2005, 04:25 PM // 16:25

axe warrior + cyclone axe + vampiric haft + hold aggro = good times!

Xue Yi Liang · Aug 08, 2005, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithie

They can:

strip enchantments
heal themselves every 20 seconds with parasitic bond
poison you
transfer the poison back to you IF you try to poison them BACK
run fast as hell
Do armor ignoring damage with Vile Touch
pop up from god knows where, 5 or 6 at a time, IN ADDITION to their buddies already on the surface which you aggroed
Work in tandem with their scorpion buddies spamming distracting shot.

My entire team went down in less than a minute.

There are about 10 mobs from amnoon to the teleporter.

Honestly now, what's the big idea?

LOL - Yeah. Ain't it great?

Have your tank be the point man. Your smiter/healer is well behind him just outside of his aggro circle. When your tank gets overrun - Cast Shield of Judgement and/or Balthazar's Aura while keeping him protected/healed. Balthazar's Aura is especially effective. But remember to only touch the aggro circle when you cast - otherwise they'll come after you too.

kleps · Aug 08, 2005, 04:50 PM // 16:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by KvanCetre

Call targets

Its the only way to survive the desert

pretty much. focus fire is very important in the desert.

borkbork · Aug 08, 2005, 04:51 PM // 16:51

These guys probably won't have shield of judgement or barrage... if it's their first time hitting the desert.

Just watch your step. The scarabs are really easy if you just take you time. Besides, the best tip is to bring henchies instead. They don't panic and run off like crazy.

Divinitys Creature · Aug 08, 2005, 05:33 PM // 17:33

Here is some genuine advice from me - not bragging. I have owned those with my level 9 ranger and henchies, and it's easier with lina. Ok the there are so many mobs there buried in the ground but they are in the same places each time. You need to move like a few feet at a time and take on one mob at a time. When they pop up take one out as soon as possible, then hit x (to turn around) and run like hell back towards the starting point. This gives you some time to heal and breaks up the mob a bit. Strafe around in such a way to keep them off lina and alesia. Then take another out and run like hell. Most of the time you need at least 2 retreats before you kill one so practise and see what works best for you - be like a Caromi tengu elite

Then once the whole mob is dead, go back to where they spawned and then move forward slowly until an new mob burrows out of the groud, rinse and repeat. That's basically the same kind of pulling and manipulating technique I used when I did the reverse droknar's run with my level 5 ranger.

Sadly, doing it with real people will be harder LOL

Mountain Man · Aug 08, 2005, 06:04 PM // 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTSFirebat

Running is for the weak.

And the expedient.

Mara · Aug 08, 2005, 06:42 PM // 18:42

Mark of Pain works really well on scarabs and the minotaurs later in the zone. I used it with my N/W and I bet it would work even better with a R/N using MoP and Dual Shot. Just get as many standing close together as possible.

Vorlin · Aug 08, 2005, 09:19 PM // 21:19

This is sort of an inherent problem you can run across several times in GWars. To put it bluntly, this game is almost incoherent when it comes to balance. Too easy, too hard, just right, back to too easy, then suddenly too hard, on and on. When you experience this depends on what class you have and how your group is put together (different groups experience this different times in different places). For instance, I find Thirsty River with henchmen to be ridiculously difficult with my current character. Yet other people find it to be no problem.

The only thing you can do when you run into a nutcracker like this is try to alter your group composition to one that can handle it. There's always a group design that can make mincemeat out of any given situation in GWars, knowing this can get you through any part of the game once you understand that you aren't the problem and stop banging your head against it.

Krank · Aug 08, 2005, 11:51 PM // 23:51

I still dont understand why this part is so difficult WHY anet WHY

My lvl 20 dies in like 2 seconds there

Kamatsu · Aug 09, 2005, 12:06 AM // 00:06

heh I've never found them to be a danger. Never really bothered me.. and i play with henchies. but henchies are good in that they will focus fire on what your targeting - and I guess it helps that the character I have in the desert is a warrior with cyclone axe and WY!.

First time into the desert was fun.. was sorta semi-expecting pop-up critters.. wasn't surprised when they popped up and attacked me. attacked closest and started my attack cycle.. moving onto the next target when the one I was mashing died.

I don't have any condition removers and I don't have drok armor either. Henchies I had was Thom, Alesia, Lina, Reyna & Claude. I guess being a warrior really makes fighting them a walk in the park... can't wait to get there with my ranger and see how hard/tough it is with one (since it seems most of the ppl having troubles here are rangers... hehe)

Weezer_Blue · Aug 09, 2005, 12:17 AM // 00:17

Cry me a river. Try some teamwork and coordination.

Aug 09, 2005, 12:26 AM // 00:26

Jade Scarabs are necro packs aka "I sit here and do nothing". Their damage is shit, and they have shit defense. Just plow right through them with pretty much anything and a decent team(henchman) and your set.

a_scrawny_gnoll01 · Aug 09, 2005, 01:34 AM // 01:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithie

I haven't done PvE in a while prior to starting a ranger PvE dude last month to unlock a few ranger skills. So I get to the Amnoon Oasis, got a 6 man party together for Augury Rock, and we all got wiped out by the first mob of oh... A DOZEN JADE SCARABS. Honestly now, what's with that? I dont' remember them being this difficult with my previous characters. It was a pretty balanced party too. 2 W's, 2 E's, R, and Alesia.

Those buggers are level 20.

They can:

strip enchantments
heal themselves every 20 seconds with parasitic bond
poison you
transfer the poison back to you IF you try to poison them BACK
run fast as hell
Do armor ignoring damage with Vile Touch
pop up from god knows where, 5 or 6 at a time, IN ADDITION to their buddies already on the surface which you aggroed
Work in tandem with their scorpion buddies spamming distracting shot.

My entire team went down in less than a minute.

There are about 10 mobs from amnoon to the teleporter.

Honestly now, what's the big idea?

Muahaha... this is when effort is introduced to the game. The basic PvE group tends to be 2war 2elems, and maybe 2 monks. Try more than the basic "sit there and fight, hope AE's kick ass" sense of fighting. PvE fighting should NOT be simple, and should not be something you should be able to walk through easily.
I am not an avid PvP player (if you thought otherwise), but I do believe that PvE should be stepped up in difficulty because it is so simple to overcome with brute force in Elementalist AE's and a few warriors to hold the enemies while spells are spammed.

If anything, A-net needs to increase the difficulty, because pve is so simply accomplished with basic war / monk / elem groups.

Your thoughts...?

JanderBlackstar · Aug 09, 2005, 02:36 AM // 02:36

Personally I've never had a problem with these...but I'm an elementalist.

I just grab the 2 healers and maybe the brawler hench and wade into the lot of the jades, cast lava font, inferno and fireball and 3 seconds later, I've got a BBQ.

The hardest part of the desert for me was probably the ranger mission. So many mesmers and hydras in my path...hench just don't cut it when they're being disrupted too much.

Warskull · Aug 09, 2005, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Scarab splattering:
Monk: You are probably best off keeping your allies alive and praying they don't suck. Alternatively you can smite the scarabs with zealot's fire. You have to stay back though and buffer zealot's with another enchant for the odd scarab that gets though. Divine boon is great for this.

Mesmer: Arcane echo and shatter hex, these suckers love to hex and you have 200-300 damage right there. Drop a chaos storm or some conjur phantasms to finish it off. Alternatively take them out one at a time with heavy degen.

Necro: Putrid explosion rocks these things. Also if you have incompetent allies stick death nova on them.

Ele: The buggers like to move around, shift away from your usual meteor swarm/fire storm. Use faster AoE, inferno, phoenix, chain lightning, deep freeze, ice spikes, ect. Get the damage out in a spike, not over 10 seconds.

Ranger: Let the decoys (you know the guy who has W/Mo next to his name and casts mending on himself) collect the agro and go nuts with dual shot and ignite arrows. As said before, edge really hurts these suckers. Just be careful it hurts your team too.

Warrior: Now would be a good time to start thinking about putting that secondary to good use. I will survive is also nice here. You have to take them one at a time. At this point the only thing close to AoE you have is cyclone axe and it won't cut it. You need to go without enchants (will trigger chilblains less often.) Find strong combos (like KD+Holy Strike or KD+Aftershock) and put them to good use.

Weezer_Blue · Aug 09, 2005, 04:01 AM // 04:01

Last I checked, Jade's are considered undead. Smites do well against them.

Krank · Aug 09, 2005, 04:05 AM // 04:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weezer_Blue

Last I checked, Jade's are considered undead. Smites do well against them.

I would like to confirm this as i was totaly raping the arid sea with only alesia and lina

Zubrowka · Aug 09, 2005, 05:00 AM // 05:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithie

A DOZEN JADE SCARABS. Honestly now, what's with that? I dont' remember them being this difficult with my previous characters. It was a pretty balanced party too. 2 W's, 2 E's, R, and Alesia.

That's not a balanced team. Where's your mesmer? Backfire, chaos storm, and empathy work wonder on these critters.