Curse

drunkmonk · Jul 14, 2005, 10:52 PM // 22:52

The day after i posted this thread, i got a competent group. Every one followed directions and maintained their posts and we beat the mission. We only had one monk (the 2nd was a henchie). Thanks all for you comments. BTW since then i have beat the other 2 fire island mission on the 1st time (died at the end of the last mission), Thunderhead was harder to me then these last few missions. DM

Eder · Jul 14, 2005, 11:28 PM // 23:28

I think I've tried Thunderhead Keep at least 20 times, and 4 or 5 times I even had what you could call really competent groups.

Died three times at the Mursaat monk (no mesmers in the party), and that's as far as I ever got. Another time I had a power outage when we reached the fort. When I got back online 10 minutes later my clan mate told me that they had completed the mission.

nechronius · Jul 14, 2005, 11:44 PM // 23:44

Teamwork is definitely key. I've played Thunderhead Keep using various strategies (using the siege weapons and not) and they have all led to success. Although I think it's easier if you use the siege weapons as you might be able to kill some bad guys before they reach you. Splitting parties to watch both doors isn't bad either as both doors are seldom rushed simultaneously so backup can be called in as needed.

With one char our team was down to 7 people (an ele guild mate got disconned while defending the fort) and with another we used mhenlo as a healer monk. In all cases it was teamwork that carried the day.

PAC · Jul 14, 2005, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kashrlyyk

You will have the most problem defending the fortress when the boss is a monk! Had it once, and we had no way to kill him and his monk companion before the next group arrived! And that was with the better infused armor! I don´t know how hard it is now!

I actually think this is the easiest case! Basically you want to wait to kill the boss until you've killed everyhting else in the wave (if you kill the boss you trigger the next wave - which you don't want to do...). Now, the monk boss does very little damage, so you can fully focus on the other bad guys. Now, if you get the elementalist instead: Boss(a ton of armour+spamming E spells)+continuous flow of jades+white mantle+mursaat=dead henchie team! (I only play with henchies) Also, when you think you've killed off all the trash, make sure to wait another minute before killing the boss since the 2nd wave is loooong (again, if he's a monk you can just stand and watch him)...

Mitsu Bishi · Jul 15, 2005, 07:21 AM // 07:21

Yeah, best idea is to always kill the bosses during the siege last. The Jades and Mursaat will kill your henchies fast with spectral agony, so it's very important to take them out. Also the bosses have lots of hitpoints and can survive for a long time, a long time during which your team gets slaughtered by the other baddies. If you take out those baddies first, you can hack at the boss alone and slowly cut him to pieces

Eadwyn Mirwen · Jul 23, 2005, 08:00 AM // 08:00

Easiest way in my opinion:

Have 2 range fighters that know when to trigger the catapults. Each on one side.
Basically, it is only worth shooting when enemies are in the brown circles (guess why there are brown circles....). Constant shooting is a waste of time + less damage on enemies that entered the keep.

=HT=Ingram · Jul 23, 2005, 08:41 AM // 08:41

Hardest thing I ever have is finding a Competent team. Mostly I go with henchmen,. but this is one of the few that you really need to go with real people to be successful. Unfourtunately being a ranger my options are henchmen or nothing cause no one wants rangers. so I decided to wait till some of my other guild members get to that point and I'll go with them. They are the only ones I trust anymore anyway. And for those of you yelling and laughing that I have not" finished the last mission yet" and I have been playing since beta days. I don't care. I finished with one character and took my sweet time and enjoyed myself the second time. I have no interest in rushing things when the game is not even completed yet. this way I can play what and when I want too and enjoy it every time. Between all 4 characters I have them all in different places and play when I want too on each...

Kaldor Meshekal · Jul 23, 2005, 08:56 AM // 08:56

This mission is not actually that difficult, but it does force team cooperation, which apparantly is difficult. My Elementalist has been stuck on this mission for ages, as when i am him i cannot find a group with a monk competant enough to heal the king. Or a group competant enough to work together at the end. I created my own Monk, did this first time through easilly. I have done it again with another character, with my Guild. Easy. But still not with my Elementalist...It's all in the teamwork. Work together and communicate and you'll be fine. And man those Ballistae!

Myth Osis · Jul 23, 2005, 09:01 AM // 09:01

"Assuming you can make it to the Fort....."

There are 2 strategies that work well. I have used both and both times I've past the mission. The trick is getting the whole team to work together. Our teams build was

2 W/Mo (Tanks), 2 Eles (Nukers), Ranger (Trapper), Necro (Me), Monk (healer) .. then any others you thinkwill help.

Ok like i said earlier 2 ways ......

1. You all stay with the king... This is dangerous but will make you group stronger (maby) than the other way. Its dangerous because the area in which you will need to stand will be right by the king. KEEP AN EYE ON HIM. But if your all together your tanks are tanking and your eles are nuking you healer is healing and your necro is mana buffign then you should do fine.... For the most of the time you will be taking on groups of 3 -5 but at one point things seem to peak ... ususally just before the end. At this point there may be 6-9 mobs you are fighting. Focus fire and always kill the minions 1st. Esp if there are Musatt eles these guys must go down fast using this strat because of you partys bunched formation.

The second way is also dangerous but in a different way.. Same team makup but this time leave the king at the top where he stands and you go in the middle. Run from gate to gate killing each mob of 3 - 4 at they appear at the gate ... DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. The mobs seem to alternate so running between them shouldnt be a problem.. Once again always keep an eye on the king. This is the dangerous part in this plan if you do not kill the enemy fast enough then some may slip though and get to the king. Try not to let this happen. This may happen if the group is split... do not split your group.. Haul all 8 of your asses from gate to gate together and this mission is easy. but remember allways have one leader whos calls EVERYONE follows.

Sort this before you even enter the mission.

Forsaken Moridin · Jul 23, 2005, 10:33 AM // 10:33

We had a quite unique but effective set-up due to a numerous group of guildies coming. We had 3 Warriors, me, a W/N, and 2 W/R, 2 Eles, 1 support/Nuker Necro and a prot/healer and healer. One W/R stayed on west with a prot/healer monk and an e/mo nuker on ballista. Due to my friends 1337 nukeing and ballista sniping they had no trouble. The rest were on east. When the boss came, the tank with the prot monk solo tanked the boss for about 5 mins while we slaughtered the monks/cultists and jades. After they were all dead, we Raped the Mursaat boss. Everything else from there is simple. Good Drops too.

silvertemplar · Jul 23, 2005, 12:34 PM // 12:34

Finally beat the mission after like 10 failures. The teams i were in tried almost all the various tactics people mentioned, the one that pulled us through [and it was actualyl a whitewash, we killed Dorian outside the fort even]:

1.) 1 Monk [me]
2.) 2 support healers [E/Mo and a Necro with Well of blood etc]
3.) 3 Warriors and another Elem and Ranger.

After cutscene we split up in 2 teams but we all went up onto the ballistas. So 4 people were firing them [there's 2 ballistas on each side]. When the whitemantles came the Smoke Phantoms were still standing [nothing reached the gates, of course i also healed some of them from above].

When the jades/mursaat came, we eased up on the ballistas [onle 2 people on each side] and got them at the gates. With the ballistas hitting a few mursaat elems, it meant they were coming in 1's or 2's [easy kills, but we had to run between the gates if 2 mobs came from both sides at the same times].

Then Dorian and his gang came, we aggroed them from the wall, so they never actually got into the fort.

Important Factors:

-NOT relying purely on Monk healing, at least 4 members could heal themselves or had secondary healing abilities [Well of blood from above when fighting is right at the gates works WONDERS]. As monk i could actually concentrate on things like Aegis and Heal Party [which do not require me to be in range of anyone].

-Everyone made sure all mobs entring a gate was aggroed and not allowed to move up the stairs.
-Do not underestimate ballistas [i did the mission alot of times where the team did the "stand in the middle" or "stand near the king" effect ignoring ballistas.

In the end only 1 boss came into the fort and a few jades, the rest were all killed by ballistas. We actually stood there wondering why are we waiting as Mursaat Elems were dripping in 1 by 1.

Team members DID die, there were hard moments, but rezzing fast and having multiple forms of healing made a diff.

Audhumla · Jul 23, 2005, 05:10 PM // 17:10

That was my party when I (finally) completed it last night.
Nobody died even once.
Both Ws were tanks, I'm not sure what exactly the Me did, Monks did general healing/protection, the ranger poisoned and ignited lots, and the Necro was mainly support while keeping degen on everything and putrid spamming.

The Me and R manned ballistas, the rest of the group waited in center of map. Once a group approached a gate, the team would rush that way and just kill it (usually very quickly). Fertile Season seemed to help out pretty well, when placed in the center it usually reached all the way to the gates.

We would just bounce back and forth between the gates as mobs came in. We finished with each mob pretty quickly, so there wasn't much time when a gate was unattended to and enemies were entering. When this DID happen, one of the Ws and a Mo would leave andgo start on the other one while the rest finished up. Good leadership, a balanced group (like that one), and a decent strategy for holding the keep are the keys to success.

=HT=Ingram · Jul 26, 2005, 12:47 AM // 00:47

yea rangers with longbows really are useful casue they can attack from the wall as they approch. Often slows their approch actually, and then you can take out 60% of the marsaat before they threaten the fort inside. I even got the Confessor from over the wall and killed him well clear of the fort interior. half the jade bows will retreat upon attack from the wall. People without longbows use the catapults and also help with the approching mobs.

I have not had a group yet get the bonus though. I would like to see that. but that takes a lot of team work,and requires spliting the group to light all the beacons... on the wall within 30 secs of killing the Dagnar Stoneplate boss. This means you all have to SKIP the Cutscene too... BTW...

Also if you all have completed the mission and want to go back, there are some nice chests outsdie the fort. you can get through the closed door before killing Dagnar Stoneplate and go look around outside. but be careful who ever has the king following them has to stay behind to keep him safe. This also makes the waves easier to win, cause you have taken out the majority of the mobs before the invasion.

teny10 · Jul 26, 2005, 04:07 PM // 16:07

I must say I started to like this mission after all. After helping guildies on it for two straight days, and successful I might add, I'm starting to like this mission. Team compositions is not all that important actually, as long as you have ppl that are willing to listen and following orders. Oh yeah, we beat the missoin w/ three necros, zero ele primaries, and one monk robot, mhenlo. At one point I was the only one alive and was trying to rez ppl while fighting three giants and a monk boss. Good times. I think this mission is a good challenge for those of you that are bored and have nothing better to do.

zehly · Jul 26, 2005, 09:38 PM // 21:38

I did it in the international district with 3 players (necro, ele, monk) and 5 henchies. We used the door bug and killed that bad guys first.

=HT=Ingram · Jul 27, 2005, 06:39 AM // 06:39

I'm almost positive thats the only way to get out there to get the 3 chests... Cause if you wait till they are open you never reach them and save the fort too...

lishi · Jul 27, 2005, 08:50 PM // 20:50

the first time i beat the mission i wasn't infused ...

i died like 10 times but the group was good and we did it anyway