Using henchmen

So far I have completed up to the Divinity Coast missions and every post searing quest I can find along the way**. I don't belong to a clan/guild and since my online time is a bit erratic, I have only grouped with henchmen (npc's)

Other than the obvious interaction with other players, am I penalized or missing some content by forming parties with just henchmen ?


**with the exception of The Villainy of Galrath.... I'm level 16, and even with a full group of henchmen, I can't seem to get thru the Black Curtain to get to Kessex

Nope, you can do everything with henchmen. Hell, an AI group will usually outperform a Pick Up Group in efficiency, since the AIs will coordinate with you, something players are not always capable of

P.S. FORGET Villainy of Galrath for now. It's an annoying quest, takes a long time and rewards little. Do it later. If you really want to do it, walk over to Temple of Ages, and you'll have access to parties of 8, with the henchmen a bit higher in level.

No, you won't miss any of the main content or have any penalties for using only henchmen, except for a few particular high end places. For example, once you get to Temple of the Ages, you can enter the Underworld or the Fissure of Woe - however you can't take henchmen into those places. Those places are not connected to the storyline and are not required to complete the game, however. (But, you can bring Heroes with you.)

Grouping with just henchies doesn't penalize persay, but it can make some stuff more difficult. I would suggest that u get nightfall so u can use custumizable heros if u are usually playing alone ;-)

I have seen reference to hero's but don't get the concept yet...

At least for the base prophecies campaign, only a few bonus for missions will be diffcult or not doable with henchmen since they will require you to split the team, but beside those very few, you can do everything in the game using henchies, and once you get used to them and learn how to use and command them you will find yourself very comfortable in their company. I don0t know for sure about the expansions, but i remember during the beta weekends that henchies there were a lot morepowerful and smarter than in prophecies, so i guess you'll be just fine.

In Nightfall and Eye of the North campaigns, you get the ability to add heroes to your party. They are like henchmen you can select the builds for. They allow you to do just about everything in the game on your own.

That's scary I spend enough time already sitting in camps trying to figure out my own build.

When I started Guild Wars, I knew nothing about guilds, wiki, maps or guides...I "Henched" my way to the Maguuma Jungle before joining a group at the mission with the crystals (the one that is so difficult to do without help). Of course my protector status was horrible (I think I finished Prophecies with 6/25 or something like that) by the time I finished because I didn't know about titles and the importance of doing bonuses. I had no friends and knew no one in the game.

My second Prophecies character, however, was created while I was a guild member, had access to all the help that the "net" provided and finished with protector.

All I'm saying is that I enjoyed doing both...exploring & discovering on my own PLUS having access to wiki and a guild of helpful guild mates when needed.

So......do what allows you to enjoy the game.

The heroes are henchies that can be customized. You get to assign their attributes, build their skill bars, apply runes and insignia to their armor, and provide them with weapons and offhands.

So you have the opportunity to make heroes stronger than the henchmen available in a particular outpost and you can give them builds that have good team synergy with your build and with each other. You can give them the right weapons with the right mods and the right runes and insignia to go with their builds. And they are level 20 (EotN heroes) or can be leveled to 20 (Nightfall heroes), giving you an advantage over using henchies of lower level in earlier parts of the campaign.

Also, the heroes give you a complete choice of professions and combinations, while the henchies in a given outpost are usually limited. For example, if you think having a domination mesmer on your team would help in a particular mission or quest, you can simply bring Gwen or Norgu with the appropriate setup, since most outposts do not have a domination henchie. You want a water ele to provide snares, but there are only fire eles among the henchies? No problem. Set up Vekk, Zhed, or Sousuke as a water ele and you're good to go. Want a smiting monk on your team? Good luck finding a smiting henchie!

Finally, you have more control over the heroes than over the henchies. You can flag them individually to spread them out, or flag one ahead to gather aggro, or flag them to take advantage of terrain. You can control their level of aggression (fight, guard, or avoid combat). You can lock them onto a particular target, regardless of any target you have called for the henchies or are attacking yourself.

to shorten that up... They are customizable henchman that have typically better AI. There u go.. no big wall of text xD

They also suck considerably worse than Henchmen if you don't have access to a wide range of skills or don't know how to use the professions you're skilling up.

Yeeeah, a problem, there. How do you tell a guild newbie that the henchmen would be better than his heroes...

If you didn't like the "big wall of text", why did you quote the entire thing? Seems rather pointless, especially since you weren't responding to anything in it.

I am curious about the differences between hero and henchie AI. Please enlighten me. Briefly, of course.

There is no difference between Hero & Henchman AI. And a henchman is better than a poorly equipped hero. If you do not have the gold to buy runes/insignia/weapons for your heroes, and do not have the skills unlocked to make them viable, then don't use them.

@OP - As stated, you are missing nothing except companionship. And, again, forget about Villainy of Galrath. It is an extremely difficult quest which, by the time you can do it you don't need the 4k xp anymore.

Haha, I know that feeling. I've done many missions with people where I said (after him changing his hero builds from crappy to even crappier builds): you know what? Kick your heroes and I'll just add a few henchies .

If you happen to like the idea of an "epic" quest, don't forget about VoG - it can be pretty enjoyable from that standpoint.

It's enjoyable, but after you AND your heroes are lvl 20. And given there's little of interest in the area, maybe it's best left for the time you go and vanquish the area, so you don't have to travel to the area again.

BTW, if you do it, take screenies of the floating tower. It's the only really interesting landmark in the area.

Asrai, I will help you with The Villainy of Galrath quest and help to show you what henchman best suit you and what builds will suite your Primary Profession best.

Most players find builds that they like and stick to 3 or less builds/profession.

Example, my monk never changes builds now. It strong in DoA so I just kept it, made it myself too. People think its stupid until they want help and then the power of this build kicks in WITH hero's. (I am a Smitting/ELE monk - Laugh now.. I'll set you on fire and then RoJ you)

Bottom line, Look up A S L A N in-game and I can help you. I have all of the games so where ever you are I can help with game dynamics what what Henchman to use.

Can I ask what Profession you are and what "chapters of Guild Wars" you have? Like Prophecies I know you have but do you have Nightfall, Factions or Eye of the North?

I can show you how to upgrade your armor, give you some max weapons and help you with builds and what henchman to choose. Also, run you to Borials Station if you have GW:EN and pick up 2 hero's fast.

Hey Olim I missed several quests because I didn't know the story and did the mission that caused the searing before I had done much else. It was quite a surprise. However, I have done every quest I can find post searing and plan to get this one done regardless of reward. I progressed to an area with higher henchmen last night. It's going to be a long trip, but I'm hoping we can find the way back and give it another go soon.

Aslan, thanks for the offer! I only have Prophecies at the moment. I'll do all Prophecies before adding the next Guild Wars. I plan to go thru them all, but not via any short cuts I am a necromancer. I only have a secondary profession because I think I had to choose one, and I chose Elementalist simply because I hope it will increase damage. I have no interest in healing anything

Yes. Too many people agonize over the choice of their first secondary, which really matters very little, so it's good that you've avoided this obsession. By the time you can change secondaries freely, you will have a better idea of which professions and skills will complement the types of necro builds you like to play. Until then you will be busy enough with other things, such as gaining more skills, and shouldn't be too concerned with crafting builds.

Necro is a GREAT first class. You should then be running healing and prot and CLAUDE Necro Henchman

Claude has Blood Rit as one of his skills so it might sound weird to use it but with you as the Minion Master you should be doing fine, just nee dto find you a MM build that is only with Prophecies skills to match your "desires" for prophecies only.

Its noble but much harder. Doable definatly

So I take it that you do not want me to help you cause I have skill from All of the games like Pain Inverter that will kill a boss in 2 seconds. Does like MASSIVE damage if the boss uses AoE on my minions. I run with a monk hero and 2 Necro Minion Master heros with almost the same build. So I have the option of 20 minions from thin air - no corpse needed -Aura of the Lich Elite.

So Yea let me see what builds I can find.

Ok I am racking my brain for skills for you since you are only getting them from quests given and skills trainers along the way as you travel though Prophecies.

All of my Fav Necro and ELE skills you will not get unti you are at or near the end of propheces so henchman are actually stronger skills wise than you are. I do not even think that you have an ELITE skill yet cause you can not start to cap them until later.

So let me ask you this, If the skills are Prophecies Skills are you willing to PLAY those skills BEFORE you actually get to the place where you can use a "Skills Cap" to acquire it? The other option would be to do some PvP and get some Balt Faction and unlock the skill on your account and then use a Tome to acquire the skill on your Necro.

You would still be "where you are" in prophecies and still using Prophecies Only Skills and you could only get 2000 balt faction in Trappers area since you do not have access to JQ for fast Balt faction. It would take you 5 days to get the 10K faction needed to optomize your build with Prophecies only skills.. assuming that you had none of the skills for a great build to begin with.