Curse

Mister Muhkuh · May 28, 2006, 01:15 PM // 13:15

dont know what build he used, but a guildie made incl. bonus with necro and henchies

NJudson · May 28, 2006, 05:13 PM // 17:13

So since I've been playing THK with my ranger it seems as though most of the PUG that I've been getting into want to do the bonus. I'm not sure if we ever succeeded in getting the beacons lit within the 30 second time limit, but if we hadn't succesfully activated the bonus then do "more" enemy come at you with 1 or more beacons lit or do then only come at you in bigger numbers if you successfully activate the bonus?

I think I'm going to avoid any more PUG that want to do the bonus. It's a big enough pain just trying to get the mission completed.

linh · May 28, 2006, 06:21 PM // 18:21

This mission is the best example to know why henchies >>> PuG.

MaglorD · May 29, 2006, 01:39 AM // 01:39

Just completed this mission on first try with my assassin and henchies. Nobody died

NJudson · May 29, 2006, 02:48 AM // 02:48

Well suck me sideways....I just completed THK!!!! Finally, after about the 15th try using my ranger I got into a pretty damn good PUG. We pretty much split the group into 2 teams manning each gate and 1 person using catapults on each side. It was a bit chaotic and at the point when the Perfected Armor came we darn near almost got overwhelmed, but we held on and then it was smooth sailing after that. Bonus got hosed though...guess we didn't light beacons in time? But WHO CARES!!!! I'm finally done with the mission! WOOOT!

[email protected] · May 29, 2006, 03:55 AM // 03:55

As the torches need to both be lit in under 30 seconds after the cutscene, I don't see how the bonus can be completed with henchies as it takes 2 people to light them in that short amount of time.

I have a feeling some people that are claiming to have done the bonus alone just lit the torches, not knowing it didn't do anything. It's impossible because of the mission trigger, not the difficulty. Please confirm.

Matsumi · May 29, 2006, 04:50 AM // 04:50

You can light the beacons in time by yourself with some running skills, see the picture attachments in my earlier posts. For my mesmer I used illusion of haste. You don't need anyone else really but the henches, unless you don't want to bring running skills. You don't need to fire the catapults, you just stay by the king. If you see the message "...the end is near, great dwarf save us!" or something to that extent, you didn't light the beacons in time for the bonus to start. Basically it's the last thing they say, the other ones when the timer is going off are "The mursaat are closing in on us!"

I guess even with the SS's, some people just believe it's impossible, that's probably why you fail. Need more screen shots? lol

NJudson · May 29, 2006, 05:02 AM // 05:02

I wish they would put some sort of bonus timer countdown on the screen so you know whether or not your going to make the bonus or not. But all things considered, I'd have to be REALLY bored to go back and make an attempt at the bonus. It is extraordinarily annoying enough just trying to get a decent PUG put together and even if you choose henchies I just don't think I want to go through the hell that is Thunderhead Keep.

easyg · May 29, 2006, 07:04 AM // 07:04

Yes, THK is still henchable. Did it last week with my brand new r/mo. Got the bonus too. With Dodge, lighting both beacons was no problem.

I've done mission/bonus 5 times with henchies. Like others have said, this is one mission where henchies are superior to most PUGs.

PUGs tend to aggro too much early on. Later, when the keep is under attack, then want to do stupid stuff like roam around outside, or split up to try to defend both entrances simultaneously, or mess around with the silly catapults.

The secret to doing this mission with henchies is smart aggro control. Yes, henchies are often better than humans. This quest proves it.

P.S. I keep hearing players complaining that they've tried the mission like 10 times etc etc etc. Why is it that it never occurs to these players that the reason they keep failing is because they sucks?

A word of advice: when you see a player spamming "LFG THK -- OMG I tried this mission 14 times!" avoid him like the plague. Chances are he's the reason group after group failed. All it takes is one idiot.

Evil_Greven · May 29, 2006, 08:43 AM // 08:43

I've gotten 5 of my 8 characters past THK. Assassin & Ritualist aren't there yet, but Mesmer is and has failed it about a dozen times with PUGs (and, ironically been the last one standing almost every time).

Haven't tried it again with my mesmer in awhile, but is it that I suck or that I have incredibly bad luck? :P

Numa Pompilius · May 29, 2006, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by [email protected]

As the torches need to both be lit in under 30 seconds after the cutscene, I don't see how the bonus can be completed with henchies.

Sprint (or Illusion of Haste, or Stormchaser, or...) FTW.

Evilsod · May 29, 2006, 10:43 PM // 22:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cymmina

Lighting the beacon attracts more guys. If you hope to hench the mission, you can't do the bonus, not easily anyway. If you had 2 people (one to man the catapults, one to control the courtyard with hench), then you could do the bonus.

Thats not true. As far as i know when the actual Mursaat turn up (ones you get for the normal mission) after all the bonus ones are dead. Even if i'm wrong the Mursaat/Jade aren't even remotely problematic until the boss turns up.

In 3 attempts of the bonus, all 3 have been the Perfected Armour. If he goes after Mhenlo... your f*cked. I got lucky on my 2nd attempt and he chased after Eve who they managed to keep alive. The 3rd (on my warrior) is just shit. You just can't body block the Jade Armour boss AND get the stupid frigging henchman to kill another target at the same time.

And for the last frigging time ITS NOT 30 SECONDS! I activated that bonus on my warrior, using henchman (i even ran out to check the Dwarves still lived) without using a running skill. If it was a 30 second time limit then it would be impossible for a class without running skills to do it with henchman, pretty bias if that were the case.

NJudson · May 29, 2006, 11:10 PM // 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by easyg

P.S. I keep hearing players complaining that they've tried the mission like 10 times etc etc etc. Why is it that it never occurs to these players that the reason they keep failing is because they sucks?

That is SO not true with me. While I know I'm no super l33t player, but I do consider myself to be pretty good and I know patience and aggro control and when to let casters recharge...etc. I beat mission with PUG using my tank on 2nd try (almost the 1st try) and then beat mission with PUG using my monk on 1st try. Then with my ranger it took me 15 tries with many different PUG to beat it. There were a few pretty decent PUG when trying to beat this, but wasn't until the 15th time that I got into a really good one. So when it comes down to PUG it is quite often just a matter of how lucky you are to get into a good one.

And by the way, with my experience in doing this quite a few times I believe the best strategy is to split the team to cover each gate and use catapults as well. It gets a bit chaotic, but if everyone knows what they're doing and knows when to help out when one side begins to get overwhelmed then its not so bad. This is of course dependent on the fact that everyone is on the same page and isn't trying to do their own thing.

When I beat mission with my tank we camped the king and I found this to be a bit more risky than covering the gates. When you camp the king you are more at risk to get overrun and annihilated I think. However, I guess camping the king is more of a simpletons approach and easier for team control.

Evilsod · May 29, 2006, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by easyg

P.S. I keep hearing players complaining that they've tried the mission like 10 times etc etc etc. Why is it that it never occurs to these players that the reason they keep failing is because they sucks?

Lol, theres so much bullshit there its amazing. With my first character (ranger) i completed Thunderkeep first time, with my second character (warrior) i completed Thunderkeep, first time, with my third character (ele) i completed it second time (went downhill on my monk).

Keep in mind that on my Ranger, i'm almost certain i was still wearing armour bought from the Crystal Desert (i didn't wanna pay that much for Droks, thought it'd get better

). On my warrior i lagged horribly for the entire Fort scene. Yet i managed both first time, why? Because the PUG was good. I wasn't a great player on my ranger at that time, and i sure as hell wasn't a big help on my warrior.
You can almost guarantee that some idiot won't have there armour infused on that mission (if your playing prot monk you notice instantly from RoF doing more than 9). If all depends on the rest of the team, i took my smiter/prot into a pug with 1 idiot (wammo) who wasn't infused and kept running into groups alone to loot things at the same time... I beat the mission and bonus with that group, no problems at all other than the wammo.

Usually when the players start ranting about how many times they've failed it you can almost guarantee its either the wammo or the monks fault. Warriors are prone the been general morons on this mission and monks are prone to leaving. Took my mesmer a fair few trips to get through it because of that. Once you actually find a good group you can start relaxing a bit. Hell i went out and started soloing some Mursaat... then got myself killed when i didn't spot Dorians armarda

Not like it matters. If you lose on that group you deserve to fail. You'd be surprised how much fun that mission can be. With my smiter/prot i ended up saving the king purely by tanking and killing 2 Jades that attacked from 1 side while the rest of the team we're killing the boss. Never underestimate SoJ when theres only 1 target

Mister Overhill · May 30, 2006, 12:05 AM // 00:05

My youngest daughter took her necro and her boyfriend (new to GW) took my nuker through THK this afternoon with 6 henchies (no tanks). They drew Demitrios the Enduring, and it took awhile to beat him down, but aside from that it went great. First time out of four or five tries that she has beaten it. They didn't go for the bonus though.

easyg · May 30, 2006, 01:49 AM // 01:49

Well, I don't really camp out at the king for most of the fort defense. I wait in the open space in the center of the fort. When I see a mob coming, I meet it at near the entrance with my henchie team and hit the squishies as hard as I can.

Meanwhile, I keep an eye on the other entrance. If I see something coming thru the other side, I run over and aggro the other mob. When that mob is aggroed, I lead it back towards my henchies.

Keep in mind, the mursaat will stop going up the stairs as soon as a player aggros them. Herd them back to the henchies and repeat.

Thankfully, mursaat have pretty weak armour and even henchies can roast them quickly. The nice thing about henchies is that they will all attack what you want them too (unlike people). This simplifies matters a lot.

I keep on doing this, killing the mobs one at a time, until they are all dead. The mursaat never get close to the king.

malignant-heretic · May 30, 2006, 03:23 AM // 03:23

i did this with my lvl20 mm necro about a week ago and i finished it 1st try and imo it was easy.

i took:
fighter
brawler
healer
protector
cultist
mage
enchanter

and i honestly had no problems at all. when it comes to defending the keep i just stayed in up infront of king jalis and the enemies ignore him if u are there. the only part i found slighlty difficult was when the ranger jade bow boss came. but other than that is was EASY! . even confessor dorian and his team fell in a minute or 2.

so yes it is still possible :P

Avarre · May 30, 2006, 06:38 AM // 06:38

Henched it yesterday, absolutely zero deaths just standing at the king until somehow... the King died, tanking 1 jade armor, in the middle of the group of hench with nobody else taking damage. I'm assuming for now it was a surge of henchieness as I never noticed his health going down...

Aside from that little incident, just staying at the king is extremely easy as mobs tend to come up one group at a time, even when the boss arrived it didn't take long to dispatch him. Never used the ballistas once

From what I've heard from other players, henching bonus is not that hard either. I wouldn't be surprised (assuming you can get beacons lit etcetc).

Evilsod · May 30, 2006, 10:58 AM // 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Henched it yesterday, absolutely zero deaths just standing at the king until somehow... the King died, tanking 1 jade armor, in the middle of the group of hench with nobody else taking damage. I'm assuming for now it was a surge of henchieness as I never noticed his health going down...

Happened to me once, theres a absolutely f*cking ridiculous bug sometimes where the King stands that close to the edge of the thing he stands on that Mursaat from the bottom that stand near the wall target him.
Spectral Agony > King Jalis

Drops him in basically 1... specially if you don't notice it.

Mister Overhill · May 30, 2006, 10:31 PM // 22:31

Yeah, when the king joins the fray you need to watch his back all the time.