Missions: why do I suck so much? Is it bad luck?

One question: if your character is, for example, a E/Me and you don't have any other characters built to a high level, is there a way to cap skills for your heroes that are for other professions.

In other words, how do you get an elite skill for your warrior or monk if you don't have warrior or monk characters at a level sufficient to cap those skills?

Thanks!
blaster

Change your secondary to E/W or E/Mo

Yes, but that only works if your character has already ascended.

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He needs to WIN in RA to get Balthazar faction. o_O

To OP: While I certainly see that your hero builds are less than perfect, I'm not going to try to fix them all. I'm not that good at monk builds, or warrior builds, or anything but necro builds. However, I _am_ good at necro builds.

Olias as MM: Run N/D, Death 12+1+3, Earth 8, Blood 4, Soul remaining.

Dark Bond - Infuse Condition - Mystic Regeneration - Animate Flesh Golem - Animate Bone Fiend - Animate Bone Horror - Blood of the master - Signet of Lost Souls

Staff with enchantment upgrade if possible

If no Flesh Golem stick in Animate Shambling Horror instead.

This is the build I use on my Olias and he's better than 95% of all human MMs.

Why do players choose Olias instead of Whispers?

olias is easier to get.

as for the difficult missions, just remember this: those missions are good indicators of the difficulties of later missions. let's face it, the ring of fire missions are vastly more difficult than thunderhead keep. if you can't get past thunderhead keep, there won't be any chance of you getting past the missions after it.

instead of thinking of THK as an annoyingly hard mission, think of it as a valuable lesson in playing skills. the mission will force you to learn skills needed for the more difficult tactics and teamwork strategies needed for the later missions.

I finished Thunderhead Keep. I used Dunkoro to protect the King while I used my heal on him. I stck to him like glue, and he was all over the place, as usual. I suppose there was some luck involved this time, too. My group: Whispers (total MM), Zhed for fire damage, Dunkoro-protection, Mhenlo, Aiden, Devona and Cynn. I went this time with all the damage dealing I could. Stuff went down fast even without me helping much. I did set up the Heroes for some group protection and self-healing.

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I did the quest that led to Whispers. Don't think I've ever run across Olias. I set Whispers as MM, totally, does a heck of a job!

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Since heroes things are a bit easier ,every mision in every campaign can be done solo(heroes+hench) but of course there always is the tricky mision where u might need another player,Unwakeing waters and eternal grove can be a bit hard to do solo,Tyria doesnt pose a threat at all it is posible to do al the campaign with heroes and henchman.Nightfall ahs some tricky misions ,i would advise not to take master of whispers´s misions because are a lot more harder than margrid´s misions.

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I recent addition to the resources available to intrepid adventurers is the PvX Wiki that can supply you with a great many templates to elaborate on.

May I also suggest that you use a Searing Flames elementalist build for your henchmen? If you happen to have two eles in the group, more copies of the spell only increases its utility.

Another way to gain Balthazar faction, especially if Random Arenas isn't your thing: the Zaishen Challenge. The one in the Battle Isles. If you don't have it unlocked on your account (I think once one of your characters gets there, it's there for everyone on your account...been awhile, so I'm not sure, sorry if this is incorrect...ditto with getting there.), you can just warp to the Great Temple of Balthazar, step outside to the Isle of the Nameless, then talk to the guy near the gate, finish the tutorial fights (pretty easy), and voila, you're there.

Once you're there, set up your team with heroes and/or Zaishen henchmen, hit enter battle, pick an arena, select an AI team to fight, and give it a whirl. Try them all out (the arenas and AI teams) and find which you can defeat most reliably...you gain Balthazar faction from wins (and kills) in this way, though there is a cap of...I believe 2k-3k? (Not sure, sorry) per day, which you can gain this way (other methods of gaining Balthazar faction have no cap).

That's a nice alternative to gaining enough faction to unlock a skill or two for your heroes without having to shell out cash for them or capping them solely for your heroes. It can be more reliable than Random Arenas if doing the PvP thing isn't what you want at the moment.

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I'm back again, retried Grand Court of Sebelkeh six more times. I simply can't do it and I'm not going to pay someone to help me do a mission that a game has made too hard for the average player! Is there ANY other way to get past this mission so I can get on with the questing?

I've tried many suggestions, NOTHING works for me. I last about two minutes. That place is overwhelming. It's totally ridiculous and I'm really angry now!

I'm sorry again. I thought this thread was moved to Elona Explorer's League.

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chryshal tell me ur skill bar runes and attributes maybe there we can help u out with some advice. i believe u can do it!
nvm u already did it
didnt realize this was 4 pages long already

If this quest is an easier one, then I'm definitely in the wrong game.

I finished the first campain up to Hell's Precipice, another difficult mission, but at least it isn't a game stopping mission. This one is.

Oops, I'm referring to Grand Court of Sebelkeh, I really need to stop doing this.

If you are doing it with heroes and hench, you need high damage output. Also it'll be all about how good you are at flagging heroes at the right places.

The first thing you have to do is to kill the initial group that marches to the middle. Flag all your hench on the altar in the middle, and make sure they dont leeroy any of the extra margonites. Prioritize on monks and necros first otherwise they will use wells on an already small map, making your life difficult. You should be using the corpses with an MM Olias instead.

After all the incoming margs are dead do the portals one by one. Again, use flags to get your whole team to close the portal. Beware of the tentacles as they'll rip through your whole team if you are too close. Once the portal is closed, leave one hero behind so that he can take over the portal.

For the boss dude that spawns, you'll need some quick hex removal with revealed and inspired hex on a couple of heroes. Other than that, he and the blobs that spawn after he dies, perish quickly.

Also a high level in lightbringer title helps make masters. If you don't have a high lightbringer rank, then I suggest you take it really slow.

This is a difficult mission to get masters on, but definately not the most difficult in game, and definately passable. Hells Prep is easy when you know how to do it, and so is this one. But for players doing these the first time, it is normal for any mission to be difficult at first.

Thank you for answering.

All I can really say is I can sympathize. While I've completed Nightfall and Factions, I've yet to earn the Protector title for those two chapters. Specifically, in Nightfall, I'm missing masters on the missions that require you finish 'x' mission in a certain amount of time to gain Masters.

Prophicies, I do have my Protector title. It took me 8 months to achieve, but I'm very proud of it because I hero/Henched all 25 missions. Missions like Thunderhead Keep, also defeating Glint for the bonus before you get into the Tomb of Kings, and even the Ascension Missions were tough for me.

I'm not what you call a "hardcore" Guild Wars player. I can't name off skills and builds like I'm an automated wiki. That's not a knock against those who can - in fact it's impressive. I'm just saying I'm not that involved. I know enough to get by and know enough to make the right adjustments.

Agree, there is a high level of difficulty in Normal Mode on all three campaigns, but for me, I kind of like that challenge. I can't tell you how many times I tried taking down Shiro on Gates of Madness in Nightfall. At least two dozen times before I finally got it. I was frustrated, but secretly, I really enjoyed that challenge. Some would tell me I just suck and my reply is I truly don't care for the opinion. I love figuring out how to beat things by developing techniques from my own errors.

I refuse to read the wiki until I've completed a mission. I take my own notes. That may sound silly, but I tend to learn more by doing that. When I first attempt a new mission, I typically "wing it". Just go in, do what I can, and just get a feel for what I'm expected to do. Then I'll adjust my skills, my approach, and give it all I have. If I fail, I'll make new adjustments and keep trying.

I guess really what I'm getting at is this. Don't take the difficulties you encounter as a blow to esteem. Instead accept the challenge and give it the attitude "I will beat you, you s.o.b". Even if it takes you the two dozen times, when you finally do beat it, you'll feel the true accomplishment.

And hey, if you can't laugh at yourself now and then for getting completely torn apart, where's the fun? When I first tried a Hard Mode Mission in Proph, I got slaughtered by Grawl. GRAWL! I never laughed so hard in my GW life. But I remembered to take my hex removals next time heh.

I tend to play pretty much as you do, Sinnocent. The challenge keeps me going and going. But, in Prophecies end mission, I finally realized I was wasting too much time. I did finish Factions, with a pug. That surprised me because we finished it in one try. It's safe to say, however, that most of us had tried it at least a few times before, since we knew what to do.

I've never attempted titles. I play for the fun of the adventure and going for titles seems too grinding for me. For that reason, also, I don't carry caption sigils. If there is an elite skill I really want, I will single it out and go for it specifically. Since I hate grinding, I feel fortunate in finding Guild Wars. There is enough content, enough quests and missions in these campaigns, that I don't have to play the grind game.

I haven't tried a pug yet for Grand Court of Sebelkeh. I feel like most posters, that pugs are generally too frustrating. I do feel annoyed that this mission was put in before the expected harder missions because I would like to try the Wurms and at least get close to the end. Some posters have offered their help and I haven't taken them up on it, yet.

One thing I've noticed is that in spite of all my attempts at finding the best skills and best group heroes and henchs, it really doesn't matter much. A good balance is important, of course. But the developers did an excellent job of balancing out those classes, at perfecting the AI, and they usually they do a far better job than many players do. Hence, the reason so many of us prefer the hero/hench groups. Some players prefer the companionship of guilds, and I do too, usually. But, the guild members of the guild I was in, have all quit except one. He and I occasionally attempt the harder missions together.

I'm playing the GWEN prerelease weekend now and will go on to that expansion rather than beat my head against the wall with the missions I can't do in Nightfall and the end mission in Prophecies. My patience has worn too thin.

Sry I don't have time to read this all again but we should meet up in game.

You play an ele, right? I play one too and I've done all three campaigns. If you like throw me a pm and we can go do Hell's Prec or Grand Court together. Of course your welcome to bring along your guildies.

Grand Court is one of the harder mission but it certainly isn't the hardest. You have to get a group that actually have adults playing behind those avatars rather than demented teenagers "frenzy+healing sig, wahoo".

IGN: Mazey Vorastagg (different to my name here *doh*)

I understand and sympathize with the OP. Some of the missions are hard to complete. I remember the first time I did THK. I was henching my way through with my first character, a ranger/monk. No matter what combination of henchmen I used I could not finish it on my own. I wasn't even trying for masters, just trying to get through. I had to pug it. But even pugging wasnt working great. We would get into the citadel and everyone would start chasing stuff around, instead of camping the king. Overall it took me around 45-50 tries to complete that mission. I wasn't able to hench any of the mission in the ring of fire islands. I am not a good player. I only finished that campaign with that first character. When factions came out, I made a monk and a necro with the new slots...I promptly got stuck at the vizunah square mission. I definitely couldn't hench it. It made me feel crappy, cause everyone is always saying how easy these games are, but it didn't feel easy for me. After finally getting through vizunah, after pugging and multiple attempts, I continued on to complete the game with both of the new characters, (much easier to get into groups as a healer or an mm or an ss.) I had to get into groups more and more often though. Nightfall was the same. I had heroes now, so that was great...I could partially control what skills my party had....and I was able to hero/hench my way all the way to the grand court mission. I think that is the one. (I am not good at flagging/splitting my team, but in most missions it is unnecessary). After that I was only able to finish a few missions later in the story line on my own. Many would be too difficult for me to hero/hench.

I have however finished each campaign. I finished prophesies with my ranger, and then much later with my necro. I have finished factions with my necro, (and went back and got protector), and my monk. I finished nightfall with my dervish. (working on finishing it with the necro). To finish it with more characters would mean completing those 'bottleneck' missions again, and a whole new series of pugs...

This is what brings the apprehension that I feel towards GW:EN. Dont get me wrong, I am gonna buy it, and I am gonna play it. It looks like it will be a blast. However, since it is geared toward 'experienced' players. I might not be able to complete it. I have not been able to complete any of the elite missions. (the deep, or the warren) I can't hero/hench my way to razah. I am not a good player, and much of GW:EN's content might not be available to me....
But at least I have a couple of years to try.

Cryshal, frickett, tanhauser.

I'd be willing to give you guys hero builds in game if you'd like. I may also be willing to help with missions, but normally I'm a singularly unhelpful person.
ign Yun Soo Jin

I have studied hero builds, and builds for my characters. I have tried many different ones, too. It just doesn't seem to make much difference to me.

I play games to have fun, not have to "work" at it. That puts me in the category of very casual player, and there are lots of us. It's good ANet created a way to play that's harder, for those players who want it. But the nature of the games demands pugs occasionally, unless you are in a "good" guild, and most players don't like pugs. It's why hench and heroes were added, and they are well done. I can understand making the missions hard enough to have to think how best to win at them, and have to make more than a couple tries. But after a dozen tries and with an honest effort, if we get stuck, that tells me the mission shouldn't be that hard. Yes, I know many, if not most of you, don't find those particular missions that hard.

I sent an email to support about this and their answer was to read the forums to see how other players do the missions, which I repeatedly do. Also, they said they regularly read the posts so they can stay on top of what players want or don't want. That I find hard to believe. I never see any posts from them. And I don't see changes made because of what posters say.

I will play GWEN because even if I don't finish, the missions and quests will be fun, and I love the adventure. However, I just have to hope they haven't stuck a difficult mission like Grand Court of Sebelkeh somewhere in the middle or the fun stops, for me.