Guild Wars

hong · Sep 17, 2007

Maybe when I find myself getting overwhelmed, I'll pick up Nightfall and/or Factions and do some quest farming....

Vocenoctum · Sep 17, 2007

trancejeremy said:
Yeah, but I found I simply couldn't do the later missions by myself with the henchmen. Even bought the strategy guide, but didn't help.

I had problems with a few of them, but managed to get through them. I use an Elementalist/Ranger and was predominantly fire setup, and found reshuffling skills helped a lot.

To be honest, I'm probably just not a very good player, and for most of the earlier missions, I was just overleveled. But for the later missions, they are meant for people already at level 20 (and ascended) so I couldn't do that.

My problem is "keep X alive" missions. I've no healing and the NPC's don't rez and it's just irritating.

There's still lots of the game mechanics I've not explored, and which is hard to do solo, such as interupts and such. It generally just comes down to dishing out damage and choosing either fire or ice setup.

Plus I made all my heroes take some kind of Monk, which makes recovering from a near TPK easier.

Deuce Traveler · Sep 18, 2007

I just started playing this past weekend with a 10-hour demo I purchased for $3. So far I like it and have gotten my character up to 6th level. I'm playing a fighter and wouldn't mind joining up with someone from here since I trust the maturity level of this site, but so far I prefer running solo.

hong · Sep 18, 2007

Vocenoctum said:
I had problems with a few of them, but managed to get through them. I use an Elementalist/Ranger and was predominantly fire setup, and found reshuffling skills helped a lot.

My warrior/ranger is now 14th, and basically a bow specialist. A more experienced player would probably have gone ranger/warrior, but it's been working okay so far.

My problem is "keep X alive" missions. I've no healing and the NPC's don't rez and it's just irritating.

Haven't you picked up Alesia, the monk henchperson? She's been invaluable so far for my solo adventuring. I can't imagine doing some of the big mob fights without some form of healing.

There's still lots of the game mechanics I've not explored, and which is hard to do solo, such as interupts and such. It generally just comes down to dishing out damage and choosing either fire or ice setup.

Yeah. For me, I tend to play it exactly the way I play NWN: select target, begin attack sequence, let the AI take over.

Tactics for me is basically choosing which target to attack, and activating skills when things get hairy. Oh, and kiting once in a while, to cut the big mobs down to size.

Vocenoctum · Sep 19, 2007

hong said:
My warrior/ranger is now 14th, and basically a bow specialist. A more experienced player would probably have gone ranger/warrior, but it's been working okay so far.

I tinkered with a Warrior/Ranger, but could never figure out if the warriors armor penetration affected bows. I think it does. The other advantage is higher Armor.

Ranger/Warrior, you get more spell points and Expertise lowers the cost of skills you do use. Truthfully, I think Warrior Ranger adds some to the mix, but Ranger/Warrior doesn't add much of anything (you're not melee, don't have the armor, and useful skills are lacking).

Necromancers tend to be high maintenance if you go the minion route, so I haven't actually chosen a second class for my pre-searing ranger-9.

Haven't you picked up Alesia, the monk henchperson? She's been invaluable so far for my solo adventuring. I can't imagine doing some of the big mob fights without some form of healing.

I have healers, and Hero Healers are great. You can select which skill they use too...

But, what I mean is, when you have to safeguard Big Bob Redshirt, and all he wants to do is charge forward... I can't heal him, and don't know how to reliably get my Heroes to heal him. They heal me just fine, but even their group healing doesn't help Allies.

Yeah. For me, I tend to play it exactly the way I play NWN: select target, begin attack sequence, let the AI take over. Tactics for me is basically choosing which target to attack, and activating skills when things get hairy. Oh, and kiting once in a while, to cut the big mobs down to size.

One of the bigger changes for me was finally figuring out how to "call" a target, so the entire group attacks one, then reassign to the next, rather than them getting scattered and spreading attacks out. Henchmen tend to swarm so it's not as big a deal, but there it is.

Holding down Control highlights all the bad guys, double clicking "calls" it and they focus.

Deuce Traveler · Sep 19, 2007

I've been trying a Warrior/Mesmer, but am only 6th level so time will tell if this was a good pick or not. I decided just to have fun, though, and not worry too much about power.

hong · Sep 19, 2007

Vocenoctum said:
I tinkered with a Warrior/Ranger, but could never figure out if the warriors armor penetration affected bows. I think it does. The other advantage is higher Armor.

Ranger/Warrior, you get more spell points and Expertise lowers the cost of skills you do use. Truthfully, I think Warrior Ranger adds some to the mix, but Ranger/Warrior doesn't add much of anything (you're not melee, don't have the armor, and useful skills are lacking).

Well, I was thinking of things like runes, which can only be used if they match your primary class. So you could get some pretty twinky Marksmanship, but only if your primary is ranger.

I have healers, and Hero Healers are great. You can select which skill they use too...

But, what I mean is, when you have to safeguard Big Bob Redshirt, and all he wants to do is charge forward... I can't heal him, and don't know how to reliably get my Heroes to heal him. They heal me just fine, but even their group healing doesn't help Allies.

IME so far, safeguarding people hasn't been too hard. The storyline missions are usually structured so you can easily beat off the isolated monsters that attack (but I did spend a lot of time exploring and levelling first, plus I got the Game of the Year Edition which gives you some bonus twinky items). With the quest missions you have to fight your way to the guy, which means the path should be clear behind you. I've only got up to Grooble's Gulch though, and haven't got any of the expansions, so maybe it gets tougher later on.

I'm having trouble keeping the healer alive, though. The monsters zero in on her like... like they actually know what they're doing! It's criminal, I tell you.

hong · Sep 19, 2007

Deuce Traveler said:
I've been trying a Warrior/Mesmer, but am only 6th level so time will tell if this was a good pick or not. I decided just to have fun, though, and not worry too much about power.

The Prophecies campaign is supposed to get seriously nasty near the end, which is my main concern. I guess I'll just hook up with some experienced players if I can't beat it after the first couple dozen tries.