What about the individual?

First post on the board. Wasn't sure where to post this.

I've been playing GW for awhile now, and this has been bugging me ever since I made it (by a hair's breath) to Droknar's Forge.

Perhaps my thoughts would be best understood if it were known that Guild Wars is the first multiplayer game I've ever played.
I'm an RPG fanatic (I own most of the Final Fantasy series, and the two latest Elder Scrolls series).

I've been deeeeeply aborbed in The Elder Scrolls III and IV (Morrowind and Oblivion), games whose trademarks are, among other things, exquisite attention to detail and allowing the player to be anything, do anything, and go anywhere. The reason Bethesda was able to do such things was because they made the games entirely single-player.

Now to the point:
This game doesn't do nearly enough for those of us who are inclined to be lone wolves.

Pre-searing, it's all lone-wolf. If you die, it's because you aren't strong enough or you used the wrong technique at the wrong time.

Post-searing, however, especially after the character ascends (I'm still pissed about that Level 20 ceiling, but that's another matter) you literally CAN'T go any further by yourself, even with the henchmen.

My character's a warrior. That's the mentality I play by. They try to pussyfoot around and give everyone healing spells and attack spells, in a sad attempt to create the illusion that each character is self-sufficient regardless of profession.

Does anyone else feel this way?

i dont really understand what your saying....are you saying this game is too hard and you cant get anywhere? if thats's the case, then something's wrong...

and what i found out, henchmen can do almost anything.

I'm saying that after Droknar's Forge, it's impossible to get anywhere if it's just you and the henchies.

Any player should be able to finish the entire game with relative ease alone, regardless of profession. No one should have to rely on anyone else.

My disgust with the level limit ties in here, because in any other RPG, if enemies are giving you a hard time, you can just keep gaining experience until you're at a higher or equal level, then go back and pwn them. But when the character can only get to level 20, and there are LEVEL THIRTY-FIVE enemies, wtf?

Um Its called GUILD Wars. This was my first online game but i knew i was going to have to join a guild or maybe even grp lol. This isnt MMO where u can mostly go alone except for Top lvl area's. You can hench everything in this game if u want it just takes longer. Take it slow cause the hench are a little zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Your statement about "Henching everything" is incorrect. Sometimes you absolutley need human players on your team.

Well, I'm not a super player myself, having only recently started playing computer RPGs after finally turning off the Playstation.

I'm a lone wolf, so to speak, since I just haven't gotten used to playing with other people. I play a smiting pyromancer (Monk/Elementalist), and I've beaten Prophecies start to finish with her and gotten halfway through Factions, using only henchman.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, either. Sometimes it takes me several tries to beat a mission, but that's only because I have to find the right strategy for any particular mission I'm doing. While Factions is a bit harder, I have to say that if you can't play Prophecies with just henchmen you need to try one of two things:

1) Try a walkthrough that helps you with mission strategies.
2) Break down and join a group.

If neither of those works for you, then a game like Guild Wars may just not be to your taste.

You can hench everything you need to do rly. Which is most missions and caps. Every tyria/cantha mis u can hench. Is there something important that i am missing?

Wait you are right theres one i can think of thats a pain with hench. That one jungle mission with the stones, sry havent been to the jungle in like 7 months so i forget the name.

i am a lone wolf too and i hate trying to get into group to do anything. i think Absolute Destiny main gripe is that if u wanted to go from droknars to rankor you cant fight your way there solo you either have to take a group of people henchies or run there.

@ the OP:

I know where you're coming from and I want to share a few of my thoughts:

Guild Wars is a multi player game not a single player adventure or a level grind like wow. This doesn't mean you have to play with hench or people all the time.

Note on the henchies: It is possible to do each mission with henchies in prophecies, I know cause I did it. I wasn't able to do this the first months I started playing though. I haven't succeeded doing this in factions yet.

The level cap of 20: It felt weird to me too in the beginning, but now I see it's a wonderful concept. Other games must divide content over 100 levels to give an example. Here level 20 is just the beginning and 90% of the game (prophecies + factions) is for the level 20 player. We get more from expansions too this way.

BUT you cannot "Hench EVERYTHING" as the OP stated.

Name something that you cannot hench? UW/FOW doesnt count...

Oh they don't count...but you said "You can Hench EVERYTHING" lol now whats your opinion....is it changing?

"EVERYTHING" cannot be henched.

you said...

"You can hench everything in this game if u want it just takes longer."

you can do most missions/quest whith hench you usaly find players doing the same thing i take hench quite often if i dont find any ppl doing the same mission ore quest and i dont ask for help ethier you want something done you do it your self and dont bother everyone else....

As a said I did everything with hench in prophecies, not in factions yet. There are exceptions yes, like uw or fow, but those are not mend to play with hench. I think they weren't also mend for playing solo 55 monk or duo with ss necro.

I see you wan't to have the last word on this ok..we can't do everything with henchman. What's the big deal playing in a team for a few hours. Maybe you get to learn something. Unless you want to say: ' I've beaten this game on my own', but then this is not your type of game.

UW and FoW are part of this game last time I looked...right? His statement is incorrect.

In my experience, you cannot Master Eternal Grove with henchmen. Though mabey I've just been doing something wrong this entire time. It's super easy with people though.
I think thats about the only thing I cannot do with henchies.

You can solo both FoW and UW, however.

They are also not a required part of the storyline to progress through, and thus his statement can be reworded to 'you can hench all story missions and areas.'

That wasnt his original statement though correct? Point made...buh bye

If you want to play word symantics I will give it to you. You do not need hench to FoW/UW. Heck, just go 55 it yourself like some champions who do it. Who need pugs or even hench for that matter.

That you can't is irrelevant, because they are not required.

Unfortunately GW was designed and balanced to be a team game, so naturally, individual players will have a hell of a time getting through anything, and teamplay will be a big factor in deciding the outcome.

Another word for that is grind: See a new area full of lvl 35 enemies...get destroyed, tough luck, go back and grind endless respawns of lvl 20 monsters until you get to the next area, then repeat.

GW's approach, on the other hand: See a new area full of lvl 35 enemies...get destroyed, go back and put together a better build, and outplay the AI. The more difficult the area becomes, the more important it is for you to play and select your skills well, as opposed to just having to grind more mob respawns to get to the next level.