Another Unheard Desert "Nerf"

<-- has all classes, and very decent at running, and can almost NEVER make the run from amnoon to the first teleporter without getting scarab'ed to death.

Spellbreaker monk/r running doesn't help, vile touch is a skill ...

Regular W/Mo running does well until you get to the tele, and have to try and activate it with an angry mob of bugs swarming and body blocking you.

The few times i've managed to make it (which have all been before the update) it took longer than it would have to simply fight through them, as I had to lure the spawn from the portal back aways, then sneak around them.

Then again, I know there are more skilled runners than I, and someone will probably figure out a way to do it.

Other posters here are right: it is a noob filter of sorts, much the same as ascention missions, THK, etc.

I was just run through there just fine. Looks the same to me.

How do you think our first generation characters got through the desert? Yeah we all got run by higher level players which oop, didn't exist yet. I remember literally strolling through with my necro and a bunch of henchies no problems at all. Hey, I even had 30AL stuff on fron Corwen in Ascalon, took me all through to Droknars.

Few thoughts on my side...

1.Noob filter FTW! More such filters - less grief on THK and laters...

2.Griffon farming-truly an exploit there...just too easy to farm griffons b4, IMO. Go farm Blessed Griffons near Rankor, you'll see a difference there.

3.Another boss - another challenge FTW...runners/farmers get a harder time...also FTW IMHO. PS. You can still farm hydras, no problem there

4.Scarabs - Hex breaker, interrupts, etc. Bastards use Well of Blood on their own fallen - I used necrotic traversal and boy did I disrupt some plans... The point is - adjust yer build! That means more variety and more fun!

5. New players lower than lvl 20....go back to maguuma, take some quests, get some exp, learn, learn...dont be hasty!! You don't become a veteran overnight.

I didn't get a green item from Queen, but I aint gonna cry about it.

If you are going to run this go the western route and around to avoid that corner although some spawn right in front of the teleporter.

Amen

If you're one of those individuals who feels being run to a place is the only way you're going to 'achieve' some sort of level in Guild Wars, through bypassing a difficult (though not impossible) area such as the Desert outside of Amnoon, please I beg you do NOT join any PUGs (especially mine), do all the missions alone/solo or with henchies, or with your friends only.
Or, become the better player and overcome these areas, then have something to actually feel proud about when someone compliments you on your pulling/aggroing ability, or your 'nuking', healing etc skills.
It's not hard to pick out the ones who haven't experienced the 'experience' of the game in any group.

hey sekkira the whole point of this thread is that they nerfed the place by making it much harder then when u did it ages ago your first time

Umm...I don't see the nerf, they still spawn in groups of 4 and it's as annoying...or not...as it has ever been...I checked the whole run to the teleporter they were all groups of 4

well what i meant to say was, each ranger brings barrage and kindle, 1 ranger use kindle and the other use barrage, timing is important just alternate!

Iknow there both preps! Also you could use ignite but the AOe nerf they run, we also bring flame trap if they start to get to close!


barrage
kindle
dual shot
flame trap
whirling
healing spring
t/f

It worked befroe the update, dont know about now ill have to try it!


I also have a monk, a ranger and a W/R Sssssssssoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

When my ranger got to the desert at lvl 15 I ran myself to all the cities by myself just using troll unguent, dodge, storm chaser and LA armor. The only tricky part in the entire desert is that first portal out of amnoon. They haven't made the desert harder to run, you just don't know how to get past that first part. If ya want I could show you the lil trick.

Are you sure they run from ignite arrows? It's AoE but it's not maintaining AoE. I've never seen a group of enemies run away when I cast Fireball or Mark of Rodgort or anything like that on em, so that's sort of strange if they'd run from ignite arrows which does basically the same thing.

I'll still be making free runs there.......so anet can lick my butthole

Just as irrelevent as before.

The players this affects WILL NOT HAVE BARRAGE. Or Tiger's Fury for that matter.

If they do, they obviously have no problem getting run.

Like I was saying, I am a decent runner. I never have problems other than that first bit from Amnoon -> teleporter. If you have a suggestion for this, i'd love to hear it! Send me a PM or post it here.

Yes, absolutely they do. Message me in-game and we'll go outside elona and play some sand-drake tennis, or take a look at this video.

Wow.. you do know that you don't have to stop at the portal, but can run around to get rid of the scarabs before going to the portal, right? I thought every desert runner knew this.. otherwise you would probably die at least once in a full desert run. Good running just takes a little common sense, and you can run everywhere.

Well, when you "get rid" of the scarabs that spawn *at* the portal they just go right back to where they were. Like I said, i'd be happy to entertain ideas.

And no, I have no problem running anywhere else in the desert at all.

It was in the update list.

Except, of course, for traditional running through Lornar's Pass.

When I first stepped out Amnoon's door, the Oasis was still virtually empty, not too many people had played that far in the game. So finding a team was freakishly bad, and then doing that first stretch was murder. I almost quit the game on that first character at that point, and only went on by doing it with henchies.

It was previously a tough spot in the game (although toned down at one point, so I don't know if the new nerf is "tougher" or about the same as when I started), and I don't believe that most players are patient enough to work it through.

The better solution for party building with experienced players will reside in an in-game party-find utility. There's been a lot of discussion on this regarding the LFG problems at points in the game. There needs to be a way to post your IGN, objective (i.e. mission, mission + bonus, skill capping, dance party...), level and age (number of hours on your account).

That will help you weed out the newbies.

there is no aggroing and pulling skills involved when it comes to scarabs . They pop up ( they're burried and you can't possibly predict where they are ) and chase you , no need for "pulling " and certainly no way to contain aggro . This has always been the case however .

I agree with other folks posting though : people who didn't get run anywhere and arriving at desert to be confronted with this , will now turn to runners to get them to desert mission locations , in other words : this change will have the opposite effect from the intended one ( making running less attractive ) .This also means folks will probably have to pay more to get run .

In short: I highly doubt this was a smart move.

In order to make getting run less attractive I would have assumed making the intial quests a bit easier and less daunting might have been the way to go , certainly not making them harder .People will simply hire a runner to take them to Augury and then a runner to take them to the various mission towns and will not bother going past all those scarabs themselves.

let me clean this up some as I had just gotten up

they best way to get though the portal i've seen is as follows:...you aggro the group real near the portal by walking to them, then walk backwards until there is some space bewteen all mobs and the back of the portal. Next through all the aggro and behind the portal which should break aggrol and finally wait for them to drit out of aggro range when you in the portal(you'll have to guestimate)...then aggro as you activate the portal(can't hlep it) then port. You'll usually take a few hits but have enough life to survive.


and no, I don't rememer this being in the update and it doesn't look any differnt

Thanks for the tip, manic. I'll have to give it a try.

I'm no "pro runner" or anything like that, I really only do it to help guildies and the occasional friend get places (no first timers is always a rule).