Heroes vs Henchmen, big difference?

So I don't have Nightfall or EotN yet (so expensive right now...) and I'm working my way through the factions campaign as an A/W. Yeah I know I didn't really pick a pve friendly profession, but I'm having a lot of trouble doing missions with henchmen. Usually grouping solves this but a lot of times I get groups that are WORSE than henchmen. So, when I get around to buying either NF or EotN, are heroes really that much better? Is it me? (Tahnakai temple was the worst..ugh)

huge difference. some NF henchies don't even have a elite skill slotted.

Henchmen - they use same armor, same stats, same skills...everywhere (well almost, they change a bit campaign to campaign and by level). Plus they only equip 6 skills.
Heroes - As you please (almost)...you choose insignias, runes, weapons, skill attributes, skillbars...

Point made?

both are stupid imo

Short answer: Heroes are better

If you gave your heroes the same sort of build, they would be relatively equal in most cases, except that you can micro-manage the heroes. But Heroes can be given any build (except for PvE skills), and that makes it possible to set up your heroes to complement your own build.

You mean you would rather suffer the PUGs? (The majority of which seem to have a lower IQ than henchmen.)

Or perhaps you simply have a guild that do everything you ask, which is pretty unlikely.

Heroes are only as good as the skills and equipments you put on them. Although keep in mind that they are still just AI, some build will works on them better than the other.

on the upside, they have hax skills at things that humans could never accurately do, such as interrupting RoF consistently

heroes > pugs !

haha sometimes.

Heroes aren't really good at interrupting. While their timing (assuming they have an interrupt charged that can be used in time, naturally) is generally as perfect as you can get, they are utterly useless at deciding what to interrupt. If a Hero notices a foe casting [[Fire Attunement] and have an interrupt for spells ready, they'll virtually always use it on that rather than the [[Meteor Shower] that's coming right after, for example.

Heroes are only as good as the players that are using them. If you give them crappy builds they can be worse then the henchmen or pugs. On the other hand, a well setup group of heroes are better then 95% or more of guild wars players.

A pretty good example of the heroes usefulness is MM's. Heroes are good at using it cause its a simple build and yet its one of the best for the vast majority of PvE

heroes > henchmen

heroes = customizable; better control (individual flags) How many times have you wanted to flag Alesia back from the front lines?

you have far more flexibility with heroes than henchies - builds & equipment, etc.

I think henchies were designed to be inferior "fall back" options vs. real players, hence why the AI on them is often so ba-a-ad! (Though, Hero AI is little better, if at all, really - as far as how they "think" is concerned.)

Plus, like armor and weapons, some heroes simply look better than others! (Jora > Koss; Livia > Olias or MoW!!)

Edit: as for cost, I picked up EotN for $17 at Circuit City about 2 weeks ago. <$20 = good!

Thanks for all the help! I noticed Nightfall at Amazon for $21 when I was dreading the $50 from the ANet store. (Seriously, why such a gap?!) So I think I'm going to pick it up right away. It's like the center of the game now it seems, anyway...

which is why it's necessary to micro sometimes.

i give gwen more than one interrupt in case i miss it, but i generally disable her interrupt if i know there aren't mesmers trying to migraine my party or monks spamming RoF or something. it's the same principle as disabling death pact sig when you know your party is doomed in the end.

Does anyone know if hero AI is better than hench AI? Or are they the same?

the same but with the allowance of a player micro'ing the skills and not having Ogden red mid battle is a big pro over henches anyway

Heroes can use good weapons, runes, insignias, elite skills, and etc. there is no comparison...

heroes>henchies>trying to solo the game>pugs


they use the same AI and stuf, so they wont get smarter. but you can synergize their builds which is the entire point of the game.

Long answer: Heroes can be better then henchmen. As they come, they are worse then henchmen until you are able to customize them to your needs. Skills need to be unlocked for all the different classes, builds need to be made, runes and insignias bought, weapons equipped. All that takes gold and some experience with the other classes. After that they really are far better.

Just don't go getting NF expecting instant super henchmen.

Henchies -> Agro Retards

Heroes -> You can control their retardness