Curse

Iuris · Aug 06, 2007, 11:21 AM // 11:21

I once heard that Thunderhead keep mission used to be much more difficult than it is now. Anyone know how it was? All I have heard so far was that the henchmen were not infused.

Thank you.

Shyft the Pyro · Aug 06, 2007, 09:34 PM // 21:34

1) Only the "named" henchmen - Aidan, etc. - were infused, which effectively forced the less-skilled people (who could not compensate for this) to form groups with other less-skilled people. Predictably, such groups often failed, both in attempting to work together and in completing the mission, which led to the rise of the "Thunderhead Keep is the noob filter" legend.

2) The henchman AI did not recognize the king as a party member, so he did not get any healing even if near death, which meant that you needed human monks for pretty much the first time in the game. Unfortunately, with everyone blaming monks for the eventual wipes parties suffered, human monks got rather pissed. A bunch of them even went on a strike, refusing to work until their demands were met. Too bad no one remembers what it was they wanted...

3) Because of the many different strategies possible to make the mission "easy," the players' inability to cooperate was further exacerbated by their stubborn insistence that their plan was the one the party should be executing. This was not necessarily bad in and of itself, but when said players rushed off to carry such plans out against the insistence of party leaders and effectively negated an hour's work with their "wammo mentality," well... it was a bit more than some people could stand.

I hope you've enjoyed this stroll down memory lane. If someone has anything else to add, by all means

Iuris · Aug 06, 2007, 09:51 PM // 21:51

Thanks. Explains a lot.

Cherno · Aug 12, 2007, 12:49 AM // 00:49

The mission isn't any harder than it ever was (with possible exception of infused henchmen, which hasn't been a problem for a very long time).

Heroes make is much much easier for those players who are already experienced at the game and have well skill loaded heroes.

The problem was always with the human interaction. Experienced players being forced to team with a) inexperienced players or b) people who had a different idea than the agreed upon method or c) lack of human monks in the town to party with.

Hench monks were a big barrier for those who liked to play through with just hench because of the above mentioned lack of ability for the hench monks to heal allies outside the immediate party. But the mission itself has not changed in diffiiculty level at all.

Moloch Vein · Aug 12, 2007, 05:58 AM // 05:58

I do believe that the main reason THK was more difficult before was that people sucked more before.

killerareso · Aug 12, 2007, 01:07 PM // 13:07

as Shyft the Pyro was saying, there was indeed a time when monks were realy rare in tk. in fact we couldnt find a monk after 2 hours of searching. So i said: hey i can take some healing skills to keep him alive (i was a ranger). But then i found out that rangers cant heal xD.

So after 4 tries i finaly done it, after that i went with my monk the same mission. Got in 1 time, and i did the next 2 missions with the same party aswell.

I think the main reason why it was so hard was the fact that we were all noobs. We didnt had good builds at that time

Crowell The Fallen · Aug 12, 2007, 02:17 PM // 14:17

The further introduction of Factions and Nightfall skills have made Tyrian PVE in general much easier.

Evilsod · Aug 12, 2007, 02:22 PM // 14:22

THK can be described in 2 words. It use to be, "A challenge".

Now the only challenging part of it is the large White Mantle mob in Hard Mode who wiped me, man that was a pita.

With a decent guild team it was always easy though, now those guild members are replaced by the slightly worse heroes so its become easy.

fgarvin · Aug 14, 2007, 11:24 PM // 23:24

The King no longer Leeroy Jenkins into every mob.
The Mursaat mobs at the end now arrive at the end of much longer intervals.

And yes, regardless of most people post, in general, it was harder...especially with a full Henchie party.

Bowstring Badass · Aug 15, 2007, 12:11 AM // 00:11

It use to be hard. Was harder when the monks went on strike was stuck on THK for 2 weeks because of this.

Jumping Is Uselss · Aug 15, 2007, 12:23 AM // 00:23

ROFL i remember that monk strike, Gaile even showed up at THK.

Sophitia Leafblade · Aug 15, 2007, 09:46 AM // 09:46

If i remember correctly none of the Henchies at THK were infused to begin with not even the named Henchies (Aiden, Cynn etc.)

The Henchies did Heal the King but Rarly and erratically,

Skills were much more limited back then

and as mentioned somewhere above the PUGs were annoyingly bad on that mission. I cant count the number of times i suggested to people nicly to stay by the King (which worked everytime with henchies) and then arriving at the end battle they ignore me and defend the bottom part only to be Wiped in short Order. The Lack of attempting the bonus also didnt help since people didnt want to do bonus's back then and the bonus makes the mission easier.

sterbenx2 · Aug 17, 2007, 07:02 PM // 19:02

don't forget the update that "fixed" Lina's skillbar as she was "not using" some skills. That was around the same time she was added to the whole desert, before she was only available in some of the desert. But that made Thunderhead a little easier. But it was still easier to hench as PuGs.. BLAH.

Basically THK was the first place that slapped everybody into the reality of how tough GW really can be, we were forced to step up our tactics, and builds and learn to play as a team.. YAY THK!

Effendi Westland · Aug 17, 2007, 08:48 PM // 20:48

I made loads of money "running" this mission back in the old days (me, 6 henchies and an afk-er), only problem was that when I died the henchies would stand around doing nothing waiting for the afk-person to target something.

I've done it recently and the mobs of mursaat come alot slower now (especially the boss who would in the past arrive at the same time as 2 mursaat from the other side, but now comes ahead about 1 min before that mob).

Another thing cool thing to remember was that in a full group it ussed to be easier with bonus, as the bonus groups would attack the non-bonus groups

Div · Aug 17, 2007, 09:05 PM // 21:05

THK forced my ele to go ether prod-heal party because we couldn't get any monks...=)

New Buddha · Aug 17, 2007, 09:51 PM // 21:51

ah... memories

Miss Puddles · Aug 17, 2007, 10:13 PM // 22:13

oh jeez, the monk strike...

"heal? no! we won't go!!!"

XD XD XD

Neo Nugget · Aug 19, 2007, 05:26 PM // 17:26

lol i remember doing it 1 and a half years ago and it was sooooo hard!

Then i did it with my rit with heroes and henchies.......*cough* lol i thought it had gotten easier

LifeInfusion · Aug 19, 2007, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

THK forced my ele to go ether prod-heal party because we couldn't get any monks...=)

yep. Especially since meteor shower isnt elite.

Malice Black · Aug 19, 2007, 11:59 PM // 23:59

Ah THK a personal favorite of mine

It's a breeze now compared to 2 years ago. When I first signed up for GW and joined my first guild, THK was all they would talk about.

Only requires someone with a decent aim on the catapult and then you all just cuddle up to the king.

When I did it the first time, we didn't stand near the king as that meant certain death for him. We split in 2, one group for each entrance. Our sole monk was very busy lol very good monk though, not a single person died.