Curse

Drakron · Jun 07, 2005, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Its not that hard unless you are with dummies that have to destroy every single red dot in sight.

You can even go hydra hunting as long its no more that 2 at the time but I rather sneak pass then.

Drakharran Zealot · Jun 07, 2005, 09:02 PM // 21:02

I ascended yesterday, (Yes, Thirsty River was my first 'phase') and I still have nightmares about getting to Dunes of Despair. At the end, I just said 'Screw it' and ran to it.

byoo511 · Jun 08, 2005, 02:47 PM // 14:47

I have to agree that Thirsty River is not hard. It just requires teamwork. The problem is, most people don't understand what teamwork is and believe the tactics they used in presearing and old ascalon apply to later missions.

I did this mission about 4 times with real people... lost every time.

Then i did it with all henchies and beat it on the first try. Go figure.

Dogmeat · Jun 08, 2005, 03:10 PM // 15:10

yeah I really agree thats its not too tough a mission. I tried it first with henchies but failed on the last part because I had forgotten to bring a rez signet and all 5 henchman died on the 2nd last boss and I had to try the last group solo. I then passed it with the first pickup group that I advertised for.

We had a;
lvl20 W/R (me & damage focused),
lvl20 W/Mo (possible smiting),
lvl20 Mo/Me,
lvl19 Me/E,
lvl 20 E/N, and a
lvl 17 W/E.

The primary elementalist quit after our first fight apparently dissatisfied with our groups effort. The W/N was a bit of a rusher and didn't really listen to our team plans, and the Mesmer too was also a bit of a free spirit and tended to wander ahead and not focus on the same target. We weren't really very organised but our Monk, W/Mo and myself seemed to be able to focus together.

Basically we used the same tactic for all 6 groups. We'd spend the 1st minute cleaning up the outside spellcasters and as many tanks as we could. Then our W/Mo and I would rush the priest while our W/N, Me/E ignored most of our target calls and instead sat outside with the remaining enemy tanks. Our monk basically had to focus on babysitting those two but did manage to assist us with healing too.

even with only 2 warriors attacking the priests without any support we were able to take them out quickly every time. In fact we beat the infamous dual priest combination so quickly that it wasn't until the mission finished that I realised that we had even run into them.

if we could do it without problems with a team of 3 + 2 independent rushers (good for drawing fire though) and 1 quiter then it really shouldn't be too hard for any decently organised team to pass. I suspect most teams break down and get in trouble by trying to be too fancy while killing the priests and not focusing enough on just maxing damage.

Drakron · Jun 08, 2005, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Actually having a few concentrate on the priest is a good idea since it keeps the boss and the remainsof the mobs away from those players, the priest is not hard.

What gets people killed is the "timer panic", going after the priest as fast as possible and run pass the boss and the mobs because of the 2 minute timer.

Amnisac · Jun 08, 2005, 07:03 PM // 19:03

All the ascension missions are easy. All you need is an acertive, knowledgable leader. I had a team of 6 year0olds who somehow knew nothing about the game, but since I pretty much knew what to do, we finished it first try.

Rhunex · Jun 08, 2005, 10:21 PM // 22:21

The hardest part, I always find, is the last boss/priest. Because it's a Monk. Mainly though...if the elementalists of the world would tag along maelstrom things would be a lot easier there...

For those who don't know what maelstrom does...it prevents monsters from castings spells within a certain range. So, with that kind of spell on a monk...no healing happens...and his defense sucks...

Usually I just hench it because I'd rather not risk getting in a party filled with...colorful personalities

MaglorD · Jun 09, 2005, 02:32 AM // 02:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhunex

Usually I just hench it because I'd rather not risk getting in a party filled with...colorful personalities

How do u handle the last boss with henchies?

Angela Marika · Jun 09, 2005, 09:07 AM // 09:07

I did it with 3 warriors, 1 monk, 1 ele, 1 necro. All lvl20+
No one said it was hard.

cannonfodder · Jun 09, 2005, 09:25 AM // 09:25

Can i just say all valid points, and yes elona's is very hard, especially when you party up with some gung ho idiots...

After about 20+ attempts, with various party members rushing in getting killed, getting me killed by not skipping the cut scenes(which i find very annoying)

Anyhoo's back to the topic, believe it or not i solo'd elona reach, just using the sprint skill, someone told me it was easy, believe me it's not but after about 10+ attempts it was amazed it worked...

Oh, thirst river was the easiest once i found a varied team it becam quite easy, it was just draw enemies a few at a time and kill heal and kill some more

psycore · Jun 09, 2005, 09:58 AM // 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amnisac

All the ascension missions are easy. All you need is an acertive, knowledgable leader. I had a team of 6 year0olds who somehow knew nothing about the game, but since I pretty much knew what to do, we finished it first try.

That's ok when they listen. Some people just cant get it through their heads when you give out instuctions. "Don't call targets let the warrior do that" "Don't pull mobs let the ranger do that" "Stop tanking your a monk".

DId Elona last night with a group who prior to the mission listened quite well (tatics, timing and skill discussion), but once in the mission completely arsed it ignoring every instruction given and doing generally stupid stuff (the kind that get you dead or dying and your monk freaking out). They all died in the first area rushing the priest and I left the game wondering how people who have such an understanding of tactics outside of battle cannot maintain discipline and apply them in battle.

Tkonian · Jul 08, 2005, 11:24 AM // 11:24

Sounds like you all have better online luck than me.

I have failed Elona 27 times and River 23 times - and seem no closer to getting them either.

Also have 3 Bonus missions on top of those to do (Before and After Henge) and bonus for Dunes.

All I can say is this. Unless my luck changes soon, I'm going to Quit GW. Afterall, games are supposed to fun - and I'm NOT having fun any anymore.

vLo · Jul 08, 2005, 03:01 PM // 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tkonian

Sounds like you all have better online luck than me.

I have failed Elona 27 times and River 23 times - and seem no closer to getting them either.

Also have 3 Bonus missions on top of those to do (Before and After Henge) and bonus for Dunes.

All I can say is this. Unless my luck changes soon, I'm going to Quit GW. Afterall, games are supposed to fun - and I'm NOT having fun any anymore.

Sad, but true. I'm not that active anymore with GW since I'd have to play the ascencion missions. I've gone through elona reach after 8 tries, and almost finished thirsty river. I now just occasionally play a bit pvp.

Mourning Air · Jul 08, 2005, 10:03 PM // 22:03

I finished both Dunes of Despair and Thirsty River with henchies, and plan on finishing Elona Reach the same way now. Dunes of Despair is not too hard and I did that on the first try. Thirsty took me 3 or 4 tries. After failing Thirsty the first time with henchies, I tried to join a group but no one wanted me. I am a lv. 20 mesmer and thus can rip through the priests, so it was confusing that I could not find a group. I got tired of waiting around and so I grabbed the henchmen and planned my strategy. (for the record I took the fighter, brawler, healer, archer, and mage for this one)

The general strategy of course is to take out each group, one at a time, moving towards the priest. The timer is really the key to everything. At exactly the 2 minute marks, if the enemy priest is still alive then their entire team gets resurrected. So when there is about 30 seconds left until any two minute mark, you need to make a decision. At this point you will either rush the priest or you retreat. If there is more than one group left to fight between you and the priest, it's time to retreat, wait for the team to resurrect, and start from scratch. It's worth it because you do NOT want to be inside the shrine when the enemy team resurrects, as that usually means mission over (especially with henchies). When you decide to rush, make sure you call the priest as the target - the henchmen will listen. Again, I am a mesmer so it only takes me about 10 seconds to take out the priest. So I can wait a little closer to the two minute mark, but plan accordingly here.

If you find you aren't having enough time to take out the groups, there's a trick to give yourself a little extra time to work with. Instead of fighting immediately when you get to a group, wait around until the next 2 minute mark. So once you get to about 1:50, then you start your attack. The first resurrection point will pass while you are fighting with no enemies dead yet. 10 seconds may not seem like a lot, but think about it - you don't usually start fighting until the first 10-15 seconds have already passed on the timer. So this actually gives you an extra 20-25 seconds to work with. But keep in mind, if you do it this way it will be harder to get the bonus.

Hopefully this helps a few people who are frustrated.

Andy_M · Jul 09, 2005, 08:55 AM // 08:55

To all those people who have failed the missions many, many times.... Can your Guild not help you through the missions ? Assuming you are in one, that is.

kyrell · Jul 09, 2005, 05:20 PM // 17:20

I did the test various times took like a day or so(24hours, didnt count the tries). Theres idiots and theres a good player. You can see them all. But I think you should make contact with these good players. Maybe they can help you when they have finished the mission. So make contacts with these people. I am sure if they know how you are playing, but if you are playing right they'll help. And find a good guild, it helps.

Have fun. Dont stress too much. I am a necro so I am not in the favourite class either.

StigTC · Jul 09, 2005, 10:29 PM // 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakharran Zealot

I finished it on my 6th try with what was basically a 5-man team and without the morale boost from giants. Let me explain,

This was our party.

Lets just call person#3 Smith. As you can see, we don't have two monks (everyone and their grand mother is screaming 'WE NEED 2 MONK!!' in every party I join), we have 3 warriors (2, but we'll get to that later.), an Elementalist and a Mesmer. Despite what some people may think, its a very balanced party.

Of course you don't need second monk, no missions need 2 monks. Hell, none of the missions even require a single primary monk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakharran Zealot

So why do you think I say that we have a 5-man team? Your answer: Smith. All he did was: rush into monster group, die, said "rezzzzzzzzz me", and when we're done with one of the tasks he takes the Hero and begins the next challenge without us. Even if we scream "STOP! GODDAMNIT! STOP!" He ignores us. So on top of having a useless warrior in our party, he litterally made it harder for us. Aggroing almost every mob in sight and rushing to first task right from the start (preventing us from getting the sand giant morale boost), Smith was a pain in the backside.

Now that we've cleared that up, here's how we did it;

The first test was a piece of cake, the only unnexpected problem we had with it was that the outer monster group took the central path instead of the left (forcing us to aggro the inner group too), Smith is dead by this point, by the way. Anyway, that done, we try to catch up with smith to keep him from screwing up (cost us some loot we didn't pick up) and enter the Second test.

The second test is where something went wrong, big time. We killed the first group (the left one) pretty easy, but then, not waiting for a clean 2:00, Smith aggroes the outer and inner groups of the right team. I think we killed off one of the groups before the timer hit 5:25 (35 seconds before ressurection) and before I ran into the shrine and started my own little frenzy at the priest. At exactly 5:57 I killed him, alone. But then I noticed that most of my party was dead (Only ones left alive were the Monk and the Elementalist) and that there was a forgotten swordsthing bashing me. I die. But the Monk managed to raise everyone and we killed the two remaining foes. (swordsthing and Illusionnist). Onto next challenge with the usual pursuit of Smith.

You really should have let Smith lie without being resurrected, it's much harder to do the mission with 6 people where one is a retard than it is to do it with 5 sane people.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakharran Zealot

The third test was (despite what many people say) the easiest. All we had to do was to go from right to left and we were done. (The healer wasn't a problem, we just all started going crazy on the priest and he was dead in no time). From right to left means:

Like I said, its not so hard, I did it with a 5-man team, thank you can surely do it with a full party.

Thanks for reading,
-Drakharran.

Well duh! Of course the monk wasn't an issue, you had a mesmer. That monk is the only hard thing about the mission and you brought a can of monk-begone.

Dreamsmith · Jul 10, 2005, 06:17 PM // 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by StigTC

Well duh! Of course the monk wasn't an issue, you had a mesmer. That monk is the only hard thing about the mission and you brought a can of monk-begone.

Warriors and rangers can do the job as well, assuming they bring skills like Distracting Shot, Disrupting Chop, etc (and they'd be fools not to on this mission).

Kishin · Jul 10, 2005, 06:46 PM // 18:46

It's a lot harder to shutdown a Monk as a Ranger, since you have to be able to tag the Monk's spells with Distracting Shot, and Monks cast extremely fast.

Whereas a Mesmer can Backfire, Shame, Diversion, etc. and shut them down much easier.

Zeru · Jul 10, 2005, 06:53 PM // 18:53

Thirsty is very very easy if someone can shutdown the monks healing and rather hard if nobody can. Sadly people still don't accept memsers over warriors for the task.