Why does no one go ToPk anymore?

clbembry

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2008

Crow Food

W/D

I was just there and nobody else was, do they not drop ecto's there anymore?

zmano11

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2007

The Falls

N/A

sure you wernt in the wrong dis cuz i went there and there was a good amount of people there

clbembry

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2008

Crow Food

W/D

Yeah American D1 like 30 minutes ago.

Killamus

Guest

Join Date: Oct 2008

UWSC is much faster, more profitable, and easier to do.

Hooded Doom

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

IGN : Hooded Lfg Uwsc, Il H O O D E D Il

someones mad.

D/

uwsc = more betterer

Rhamia Darigaz

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by X Xenox X View Post
uwsc = more betterer manly B/P is far braver than puny sissy shadow sins.
ergo, topk = more betterer

majikmajikmajik

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2007

SATown~Tx

Guild Hopper!

R/

they nerfed pets so they cant leave an exploitable corpse which fueled MM's in TotPK for body blocking....and people moved to assassin farming.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Just because you suggested it, I H+Hed it today as a MM. Man, that new Masochism is powerful stuff....

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

Compared to UW/FoW, the rewards are worse, and it takes longer.

riceangel

riceangel

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2008

Floirda

[ASH]IGN: Tokyo Hina

W/E

Greens as an end reward is not appealing

Songbringer

Songbringer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

EastCoast

E/Me

I solo it 1-2 times a week on my sin XD

the pretender

the pretender

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

Largo, Florida

United Aussie Warriors[AUS](1)

Mo/A

Well you can H\H the whole place in NM and HM easier and defiantly faster then you normally would with people. Ran the dang place 4 times in a row and only got 4 Ectos!
Playing in a team USUALLY(Not all the time) only causes problems. And for those that say ToPK is active haha do a survey of the area hardly any teams going on all you see is Permas(A/E|A/M).

gw_poster

gw_poster

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

so cal

R/

now if a-net were to put an end chest in ToPK instead of some janky old greens, you would be seeing a lot more people there. That being said, the new pet buff might encourage more people to try to relive the glory days of B/P'ing the place - despite pets not leaving exploitable corpses...

Scf Big M

Scf Big M

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2006

GUILDWARS

Pen Island [Dong]

R/

They really should put an end chest in there. They did it for Urgoz and the Deep, why not do it here?

A Simple Farmer

A Simple Farmer

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2007

ECTOS

E/

Team runs are still done; sins and soh

Celebrian

Celebrian

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

Stop Stealing [agro]

W/

<3 ToPK <3 if only they added an end chest to it, it wouldnt be such a discarded area. As the current greens dont really make it worthwhile anymore.

Having said that, I think it would be pretty pointless to use the old b/p build considering orders dont stack anymore, pets arnt exploitable corpses and minion limit. But I'm sure with the hundreds of skills added to the game since pre-factions there would be plenty of decent team builds to complete this area that dont require Shadow Form.

riktw

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

netherlands

Mo/E

i sold my orge slaying knive for 80K in spamadan 3 weeks ago.
so yes i love topk

Petra Arkanian

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

W/Mo

Last week I was in topk (with a balanced team) the mm insisted he was exploiting my pets corpse - has this changed?

Bodock

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2009

dirty ballsack

[emd]

W/

what is the limit on minions? is it 8?

Catchphrase

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2009

There used to be a reason to do ToPK, urgoz and kanaxai when stuff aren't inscriptable. Inscriptable items pretty much defeats the whole purpose of soloing boss and doing those dungeons or w/e you call it to farm those green drops.

hallomik

hallomik

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

The Illini Tribe

N/Mo

In the old days, I used to B/P this one all the time. This past weekend, I decided to try to hero/hench it with a discord + Spirit Spammer (me) combo.

I wiped the first couple of trys, but finally got the hang of it. Winning strategy seemed to be to drop the spirits first, flag the H/H team behind me, Pull the baddies into the spirits, and then unleash the H/H.

It was pretty fast, but the cool part came at the end. After killing everyone around the Darknesses, I flagged the H/H off screen and soloed the Darkness trio - easy with a spirit spam build - and got all greens for myself.

Good times.

Monster.

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2009

...

R/

They really ought to just add a chest at the end, and maybe up the difficulty a bit if the chest was good. Could drop sigils or something, so you don't just have to buy them from the trader or off of an HoHer.

Mr. Undisclosed

Mr. Undisclosed

I phail

Join Date: Mar 2007

Phailville

D/

Would be a cool little project for the devs, maybe add an end chest or something and voila something to keep people busy. I myself have never even bothered to do ToPK because it just didn't sound profitable and I'm sure a great deal of other people haven't or have only done so once.

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

Hmm, no title, no statue, some loot, but less valuable and desired than in other areas, long and fairly boring, easy to wipe in pug (dungeon without res shrines, oh my!), final reward being decent thou (wtb wenslauss staves in bulk, 3k a piece!)

Something you do several times for fun, but never return to.

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

Hmm, I tried (and failed - have I ever mentioned how much I suck?) to clear Tombs with just my spirit-spammer and standard Sab's necros.

Would you guys say that discord is the way to go for someone wanting to do this?

- I still love Tombs - sue me
Sweet.
Quote: Originally Posted by hallomik View Post 1) I took the 2 healer plus 2 mage henches. Doh. For some reason I totally forgot about the henchmen in TotPK. I remember using the healers and rangers when I used to run my ranger and 3 ranger heroes through there. Sort-of worked a bit...
Quote:
Originally Posted by hallomik View Post
2) Always kill the Terrorweb Dryder first. In the second area where they line the raised area on either side, be patient and clear out all popups before you take them on. Pre-cast your spirits outside of range, run near the first one and teleport all your spirits in with the Kurz/Lux skill. If they meteor shower your spirits, back off and try again. There is a long recharge on meteor and they don't seem to cast it the 2nd time. Yeah, that's the nasty bit whatever team configuration you use. Summon Spirits is great for pulling them out of a Meat Shower - as long as it's not hitting me at the time (which would be carelessness on my part, right?)

Quote:
Originally Posted by hallomik View Post
3) Also, you need to flag your H/H way off screen so they are all greyed out. If they are sufficiently out of range, you will get every green. Ah, I know that part. I'm good at that part

Thanks for the tips!

hallomik

hallomik

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

The Illini Tribe

N/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snograt View Post
Sweet.

Doh. For some reason I totally forgot about the henchmen in TotPK. I remember using the healers and rangers when I used to run my ranger and 3 ranger heroes through there. Sort-of worked a bit...

Yeah, that's the nasty bit whatever team configuration you use. Summon Spirits is great for pulling them out of a Meat Shower - as long as it's not hitting me at the time (which would be carelessness on my part, right?)


Ah, I know that part. I'm good at that part

Thanks for the tips!
I just did it again to see if there was anything else I forgot to mention.

The main thing that wipes a party is being all bunched up when they hit you with their AOE skills (meteor shower, fireball, and energy surge). When I'm dealing with the dryders, as I said, I flag the H/H behind me (just close enough so my healers will toss a heal on me if needed). I pre-cast spirits and then summon them to attack the Dryder. I then step away from the spirits but not back to the H/H. Depending on how the battle goes, when the Dryder launches Meteor shower, they will either target me or the spirits (and sometimes the h/h). If they target the spirits, I cast summon spirits to save as many as I can. If they target me, I step out of the shower. Takes a bit of practice, but it quickly becomes second nature. I wiped again today the first time I tried because I ran all the way back to the H/H when the meteor showers started raining. As long as you have 3 separate targets -- yourself, spirits, h/h -- you should be in decent shape.

If you want to be extra cautious, you could spread out your heroes from the henches a bit to really make sure the AOE damage is really minimized. I haven't found this necessary if you do the above technique.

One other thing is I make two of the discord nec's also MM's. Once they break through the lines of your spirits, you'll have up to 20 minion targets to divert and deal damage.

Lastly, a word on soloing the three darknesses at the end. I use the following build: OACjAuiKpSfT+glTXTRbVT7i0gA

To kill the darknesses, I cast in the following sequence.

First I pre-cast spirits outside of aggro range in this order:
Pain,
Vampirism,
Bloodsong,
Signet of Spirits
Anguish

Then wait until my energy is back up to 30.
I cast Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support on nearest Darkness immediately followed by Summon Spirits and then Painful Bond.

I run back out of aggro range and that should be enough to take down the first of three Darknesses. Sometimes he'll have a tiny bit of health left and I'll need to do it again. I use the same technique on the last two which is easier since spirits will survive longer against fewer of them.

Then, collect 6-9 greens as it appears that Darkesses will drop either two or three greens each.

Good Luck.

Atro

Atro

Miss the good ol' days

Join Date: Sep 2009

Where don't I live?

A/

Awesome, this sounds interesting, Ive done ToPK with a friend it was pretty fun but that was ages ago, I need to try this, thanks for the info.

AlsPals

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2007

Sellin hot stock tips for pro[fit]

Me/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Catchphrase
View Post
There used to be a reason to do ToPK, urgoz and kanaxai when stuff aren't inscriptable. Inscriptable items pretty much defeats the whole purpose of soloing boss and doing those dungeons or w/e you call it to farm those green drops. Story of the game...inscriptions tanked the perceived value of most of the stuff in the game.

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

Thanks hallomik - just completed my first-ever H/H clearance of Tombs ^_^

Did it as a trial run - so inventory was full (damn that 30 second timer - lose it please, ANet; it serves NO purpose!) The drop box at the end was full of blues and whites - with just Victo's Blade and Milius' Pillar to show for my troubles. I missed out on Victo's Maul and Illyana's Staff, so no major loss.

Still love Tombs

Fay Vert

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/

While I agree that the time to next mission timer serves no purpose, and the one in tombs is mindlessly short. Gotta ask, what are you doing with your inventory that you can't fit the drops from Tombs in?

hallomik

hallomik

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

The Illini Tribe

N/Mo

Gratz Snograt. I took one mercantile summoning stone with me and popped him out in the fourth chamber. I knew I forgot something!

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fay Vert View Post
While I agree that the time to next mission timer serves no purpose, and the one in tombs is mindlessly short. Gotta ask, what are you doing with your inventory that you can't fit the drops from Tombs in?
Potential Nicholas drops, of course

Quote: Originally Posted by hallomik View Post
Gratz Snograt. I took one mercantile summoning stone with me and popped him out in the fourth chamber. I knew I forgot something! I thought I had some - I've got tons of the damn things spread over every character except my damn Rit, apparently.

(edit) I think I'm getting the hang of it now ^_^

gw_poster

gw_poster

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

so cal

R/

^^ that's sweet, gz. I think I might just do ToPK again because I'm bored shitless of the rest of this game...sabway, merc summoning stone, ele and monk hench, flag them away at end, r/rt spirit spammer build (i'm a ranger), anything I've missed? Oh yeah, B/P used to take about an 1h 15min...how long is this taking you guys with h/h?

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

Probably a bit longer than B/P - this method is more like surgical precision rather than a steamroller.