Thunderhead Keep

I tried to beat the Thunderhead Keep mission 11 times with PUG's and failed and each and every time. Sometimes we would not even make it to the fort.

After all these unsuccessful tries I decided that I would use henchmen to beat this mission. Whenever I was in town I would see people spamming that they would run you through the mission for 1-2K! There was no way I was paying someone to run me. I beat the mission with henchmen on my second try.

I have two points. My first is that PUG's can be fun but also VERY frustrating. THK is a mission that requires some teamwork. Even if we all agreed to a certain strategy before reaching the fort, 1-2 players would abandon it immediately, get killed and then spam to be resurrected. When someone tried to do that, they also died. Don't be afraid to use henchmen on harder missions because they can do a really good job (they listen to you).

The second point is that when I finally beat the mission, it felt great! If I had paid for that run I would not only be out the money but also would have cheated myself of a great victory. That was the hardest mission for me and beating it is really what the game is all about for me.

Congratulations! I, too, have found henchmen to be generally more competant than your average PuG player. They focus fire on your target and never complain. Their skills sets are all decent, and they all carry some form of rez!

What's funny is that Thunderhead Keep isn't a very difficult mission.

Simply stay wiht the king, defend him, and let the bad guys fight below.

Yet 9 time out of ten, someone runs down, aggroes the Stone Summit or Mursaat, and brings the whole mission crashing down.

I assume a lot of people just bludgeon their way through the game, failing over and over until they luck out and get a group that succeeds in spite of their stupidity.

My other nemesis is The Wilds, where some damned idiot will attack or aggro the two talking centaurs to screw up the bonus. Ugh. One of my characters did that mission 11 times before getting the bonus; ever time, someone ignored map scribbles and chat to fight the centaurs.

A good pug is a joy, and finding one (like I did this morning at Thirsty River) is a joy. But it is a rare joy...

For some reason I too, was having problems with thk. One question, how can you be ran in a mission where you had to defend the king? Dont you still have to fight and defend the fort?

I like to run it with a guildie and henchies and go for what we call the triple bonus. Keeping the kings little buddys alive through the whole thing. Now that is a challenge ! Another fun way to do it is go out to the right instead of crossing the bridge. Fight through the Avicara, (open the 1-2 chests along the way-heh), and cross the other bridge. The chests can drop some nice stuff as well so don't talk to the midget after the win and head on out for mapping and a chest run (usually 1-2) - You'll have some Jade/Mursaat to deal with, but there is that cool teleporter gate down there and the lovely dwarven village to see...

Quote: Originally Posted by Timmy Shinobi

Honestly, I am not sure how getting run through that mission would work. I guess it could be a scam also but there were a few different people spamming it. Maybe if you have 5-6 good teammates, you could have the other three just stand there.

This mission gave me the most trouble and Aurora Glade took me 8 tries. Every other mission I have finshed in 1-3 tries. I thought the easiest mission in the entire game was Glint. It was a lot of fun too.

Congrats on finishing it. I myself just finished it with henchies yesterday after trying it at least a dozen times with PUG's.


SR

What will really be a let down is finishing it and getting no fat reward etc.. it's mkore of a "big deal" I finished..lol

What will really be a let down is finishing it and getting no fat reward etc.. it's more of a "big deal" I finished..lol

I think the biggest problem with that mission is that everyone seems to think you have to man the catapults and split into two groups to guard the gates. I never even went to the gates, let the ghost NPC's get killed, and waited for all of them to come to me.

I lost one hench for the entire mission and was able to easily rez him in between waves. The only thing that was even remotely hard was that the King engaged a monster a few times and I had to keep moving with him.

Some of the Bonuses aren't idiot proof like the missions >_< THK is famous because the mission itself is not idiot proof.

Some of the bonuses actually require the team to do soemthing other than LEEROY into groups and kill kill kill everything - Which makes them harder.

Top Ones:

1) THK - The Mission (Bonus isnt much actually)
This is lost most of the time because stupid PUGs think they know whats right. Their wrong... I was in an alliance group to get someone through THK so he could buy skills in Ember. We had to pick up 2 PUGs...OMG...One PUG just went afk at the start of the mission to Leech off our win, The other one was...I don't even know. He was a Blood/SS/MM Necro...Not even kidding. He brought Vamp Gaze, Bone Horrors, Weaken Armor, Spiteful Spirit, etc etc etc...Even after we told him just to go Minion Master or SS (he said he was both, and we told him to change into one or the other...he didnt) - further more, all he EVER DID at the Fort part was Uselessly shoot the catapults at nothing (and yell at us to shoot them) or Aggro Mursaat groups so they wouldn't go over my traps...Luckily its easy eonugh where we didnt need them.

1) The Wilds - Bonus, and sometimes even mission...
This bonus requires them to do something that goes against everything in the LEEROY handbook..Actually sitting there and NOT killing something..The mission can also be failed too by people that think their right and go off in the complete wrong direction.

3) Divinity Coast - The Bonus
Dont even try it unless you got someone that has done it before in the group and have a group that will listen... You got to be swift and only aggro and kill stuff that is relevent to the bonus. This is impossible with PUGs..

4) Riverside Providence - The Bonus
First of all really only people going for Protector of Tyria even bother with the bonus since the mission part can be completed with literally having to only kill 1-2 groups of enemies. The bonus also requires Timing and Pulling from the towers - two concepts LEEROYs don't learn in their training. So you get someone that runs up and gets WTFPWNT by all the patrols that rush to the tower. Another thing is people that rage because the bonus takes too long compared to the mission (this is for those "Mish+Bonus" groups. If I want the bonus here I SPECIFICALLY go with "Bonus Only" groups)

5) Ice Caves of Sorrow - The Bonus
This bonus requires you actually use people (henchies arent infused, and you fight a few Mursaat) - and those people be infused themselves. Two things that are impossible to find here outside of Guild/Alliance groups.

6) Abaddon's Mouth - The Bonus
No PUGs are almost ever doing the bonus, since like Riverside the bonus adds so much time and fighting to the mission. Mish+Bonus groups never make it. Even in Bonus only groups...YOu have idiots that decide to talk to her before you clear the path or the group is too noob to handle the enemies you face on the path.

Riverside province, I have done solo with a riposte warrior build, it's so easy I don't understand how people die.

Ice Caves henchies get infused now, have done for a while, so easy enough to pick up the bonus (and map the whole place out) with them.

Quote: Originally Posted by Raxxman

Quote: Originally Posted by Former Ruling

For a start they CANT get infused on Ice Caves of Sorrow. And the last time i did Iron Mines with henchman on my rit they still weren't infused after you met with the seer. Luckily once you get Shelter and Union up it makes no difference.

Thunderkeep is the best mission in the game. Its so funny how my assassin is the least likely to get a group there (zomg we get pwnzorred) yet they can solo Mursaat Eles quick enough to give a warrior a wet dream.

Removed Swearing, don't swear please! - RTS

Quote: And the last time i did Iron Mines with henchman on my rit they still weren't infused after you met with the seer. henchie infuse isnt as good as yours, even infused they take alittle more degen and dmg than you do when your infused.

I bought the game about 2 weeks ago, and am currently at THK (as of last night). I've done all the missions with PUGs, and I have to say either I am VERY lucky, you guys are VERY unlucky, or people just downplay PUGs to the point where all the degrading happens because of people like you.

The Wilds? I joined a mission+bonus group and finished it first try with no troubles at all, we whipped through it. Divinity Coast? Riverside Province? Same situation. DC took me two tries, as our tank got err7'd the first time, but I had no trouble with it.

I assume a lot of you are just spamming "LFG to do mission/bonus" or something along those lines, or inviting yourselves to the "GLF 2 more to do mission/bonus." I've found the most success comes from the group leaders who know EXACTLY what they want. At the Dragon's Lair mission, someone was saying something along the lines of "PRO GLF 1 restoration rit, 1 monk, 2 interrupt rangers/me, 1 tank." I switched my skills to interrupting ones, and joined up.

Upon joining, he gave a quick questionnaire to everyone to make sure we all knew our roles, and then just asked us all privately to follow directions. I whispered him telling him I just got the game, and was relatively newbie, having never done the mission before, but I would follow any orders given. We beat the mission AND the bonus, with virtually NO trouble at all.

Rather than trying to fish randomly for a good PUG, or join a random one and hope it's good, you're going to have to put in a little effort, and LOOK for a good PUG.

~Salad

When guys offer to run you thru the mission, they probably don't literally mean a "run" but rather:

"For a little cash, I'll take you thru the mission with a team of 6 henchies."

I have done this on several occassions for friends and/or random people I like -- for free, of course. Btw, if anyone is stuck at THK, send me a private message and I'll take you thru

My only instruction to piggybackers is

1) "stay close to me"
2) "die"
3) "stay right here and don't move"

Cause it can be hard to control the henchies properly with two live characters running around giving the henchies conflicting commands.

infusing the henchies at iron mines requires them to be bundled up near the Seer to receive infusion. what you do if you are henching this is to stand right beside the seer and let the henchies gather round you BEFORE you turn in the essence of poo to the Seer. you will see a white light implode into their abdominal area when this happens. that is the animation for them getting infused. any henchmen too far from the seer will not have that animation effect and will subsequently get raped by spectral agony.

THK can be henched easily with bonus by simply camping the King. no heroics, no running down and meeting the enemy in glory. also bring the mesmer and necro henchies, theyre better than cynn and far more useful.

FYI