Do people still do missions in Prophecies?

I haven't played Guild Wars since I beat Factions years ago. I used to have every mission with the bonus' cleared in Prophecies, and I want to go back and do them all again, but before I waste my time I want to know, do people still do these missions (for example, Thunderhead Keep, Hell's Precipice, etc. those really far into the game missions)? And if people do still do those missions is it hard to find a group, or are there still a good amount of people playing them? I'm talking about American districts, btw.

From what I've seen in Pre/early missions many people still play, but I have no way of knowing about the harder later missions.

Not to any significant extent. Most people are now getting ready for GW2 so they aren't really interested in the missions that much. Taking a look in game now, there are people in the later mission outposts, but whether they're interesting in forming a group with other players is a different issue. On the whole, I'd expect to be doing a significant amount of the content with just heroes and henchmen. This isn't an issue nowadays given how massively overpowered everything is, but if you're looking to be playing with real people for most of the time you'll be disappointed.

Pretty much what Marty said but in later missions sometimes people do try to get groups together however the number of people that do are very few.

How about in the Faction/Nightfall missions? Are those more populated?

No pretty much the same.

Alright, thanks for the answers!

Oh, one more question. This is kind of random but..does that 55hp Monk thing work anymore? Pretty sure around the time I stopped playing they did something to it, but idk.

Yeah, it works, but there are more worthwhile farming builds now. It isn't used much, if at all, anymore.

I've actually found Factions to be the place to find groups for the missions. Every time I went to any mission outpost, there was always a few people looking for groups.

Best bet is to find a guild that still works through the campaigns, or make some friends that are willing to help. I know I'll join random PuGs in missions if they are asking and I'm there. Just gotta find the right people.

GW is a solo game now really. I've play the same dungeon with Guildies and heroes and I can honestly say it was easier to complete it HM with heroes than it was with human players in NM.

People are now more populated in certain hubs. But, there are still new people buying GW1 to get more familiar with the lore for GW2.

What happens now is that as soon as they reach Lion's Arch they switch over to EotN or Nightfall and get some heroes. They go back and do the later missions when they can fill their group with heroes.

Also, the henchmen have had their builds tweaked so that they are more helpful. This means that as soon as you can get just a few heroes equipped you can use the henchmen to fill out the party.

This means that the outlook for finding a PuG is slim.

you will still find some when that mission comes up for the zaishen mission, but most of those people are doing hard mode.

just go here if you need help on any certain missions you should get some replies. or just join an active guild ;o

There are still people doing these missions, but there are a couple of things that affect the ease with which you can find a group.
- With 3 campaigns and 1 expansion, the people who are doing these missions are more spread out. In earlier times, when campaigns and the expansions were new, there would be a large number of people doing the same new content, but now, it's all been around for a while, so people are more spread out.
- With the addition of Heroes, and particularly, the 7-Hero team, veteran players (and even some new players) are less likely to spend much time looking for a group before they just grab some heroes and play on. So, it's that much harder to find people trying to form a group.

Given the above, I would suggest a couple of things.
1. If you are looking for a group to join, be sure to put your request in the Player (Search) box. Also, learn to use the Search - often times people will not notice groups or people that try to join through the search box. It may help if you specify that you want/need help.
2. Do not be afraid to use Heroes, and or join a group with Heroes. I usually use my 7-mercenary team for almost everything these days, but I'm willing to take a few humans with me, but not if they insist on waiting for more humans.
3. If you are only concerned with progressing the story line (not trying to fill a book), don't be afraid to join a group doing Hard Mode - provided, of course, you can do HM.

I find that missions (and areas) are significantly more populated on days that mission/area is the Zaishen Mission/Vanquish. If you're patient, just slowly progress through the campaigns in sync with the Z-Mission/Vanquish each day (i.e. a mission a day). That way you'll most likely have actual human players in your group.

You also get the added bonus of Z-coins which you can use to buy things or sell to others.

When a mission is the day's Zaishen you will find people, but they are not necessarily useful. They either want to do it HM (which you don't have if you haven't finished the campaign) or they want to do just the bonus in NM. In Factions the bonus is beating the time so it's all Hard Mode.

If you're a newb it's worse, because the gap is simply too big. It may not be a very nice or helpful experience, you're just baggage along for the ride (assuming they take you). They're not likely to be willing or able to explain everything.

Quick anecdote: I pugged with a handful of buddies for a ZM (in Hard Mode of course). The first try failed horribly so we resigned, adjusted our builds and started again. And this time it went all the way through without a problem. And when I think about it now, we didn't talk a lot about it. We knew why we failed, we knew what to change. Whatever communication passed among us would have been completely cryptic to a newb, and a lot of stuff was implied but left unsaid.

Get some nice guild for missions, I'm glad I've found one. Everyday there is a new Zaishen Mission, and in that outposts you can find people doing them. Offcourse, in AMERICA districts because that is where the population is.

On a different note, I was just doing tyria cartographer these weeks along with VQ and some missions (I hate it when I need to do mission for 2 mm of map), and I was gladly surprised when I saw that in many many mission outposts people are looking to form a group.

So, In many mission outposts, I suggest going to America district (who knows, maybe you just play on them. I usually play on European because of better ping for me) and try your luck.

In last 2 days I've encourter this:

Raven Point HM (starting from Olafstead) - Went with 4 guildies, and 1 PUG. Pug ended up after in our guild, since he missed playing with people too.
The Wilds NM - Went to map there, in outpost there were 1 person asking if anyone wants to play with him. In European district.
Thunderkeep - I think 2 people wanted to play.

That was in European districts, I think in America there should be even more.

TL;DR - People now gather in America Districts, and it's not hard to find them. Find guild who likes to play a lot of PvE, that work's (I've got back into GW before several months and until I've found guild that suits me game was little bit boring with just heroes). Join Zaishen things (VQ, Bounty, Mission) since there people now usually gather. And check section on this board for PUGs.