In short: too many enemies.
The average amount of enemies per area is ~168 or 42 enemies per Player character/hero in all the Ascalon areas.
In the Northern Shiverpeaks that is 155 per area and 25 per character.
And in the last two big regions of prophecies we have:
Crystal Desert 195 or 25 per character.
Southern Shiverpeaks: 222 per area or 27 per character.
In Kaineng City we have around 20 enemies per character and in The Desolation it is around 35. And in EotN we have around 40 enemies per character.
So Ascalon has the highest amount of enemies per player and the smallest percentage of damage dealer in the players party. Because:
If out of 32 skills 6-8 are used purely for healing or protection, then only 24-26 skills are left over for damage etc.
If out of 64 skills 12-16 skills are used for healing and/or protection, that still leaves 48-52 damage skills etc., which makes killing the smaller amount of enemies even easier.
Just my 2 cents.
PS: The areas in Ascalon are horrible mazelike another massive annoyance.
Why hard mode in Ascalon was a bad idea:
Kashrlyyk
stretchs
The only Ascalonian area that was difficult was Eastern Frontier, and even now it was faceroll with a SoS Rit, PI Mes, and JB Necro with a Prot monk, My heroes dominated that area most recently like no other time, as a melee though when I last did it, it sucked ALOT of consumables
Mike Jack
Ascalon mobs are all like level 22 though.
Bright Star Shine
Only trouble I would imagine is Diessa Lowlands, all the others were a cakewalk.. I did it 6man though (Diessa) the rest 4man.. I don't see the difficulty of 4 very well outbalanced builds, including PvE skills vs groups of 3-4 MAX with shitty builds and half assed elite skills...
Also, Ebon Vanguard rank says hi.. I even did it pre-Eotn without trouble...
Also, "QQ the game is too hard" much..
Also, Ebon Vanguard rank says hi.. I even did it pre-Eotn without trouble...
Also, "QQ the game is too hard" much..
Mordiego
Are you bacically just whining or I got you wrong? OMG, nerf Arbor Bay plz cause it's 500+ mobs and 666+ pop ups...
close?
PS. Ascalon mobs got like 4 skills on their bars, U just need Wastrel's Worry to own the area.
close?
PS. Ascalon mobs got like 4 skills on their bars, U just need Wastrel's Worry to own the area.
vader
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by stretchs
The only Ascalonian area that was difficult was Eastern Frontier, and even now it was faceroll with a SoS Rit, PI Mes, and JB Necro with a Prot monk, My heroes dominated that area most recently like no other time, as a melee though when I last did it, it sucked ALOT of consumables
|
EchoDelta
Yes Eastern Frontier was the only difficult part with the grawl healers. It took a couple tries to get the hero team builds right. No cons used.
Venganza
Oh stop moaning.
If you want to do it easier, caravan from Yaks, or better yet TOA.
Ascalon HM is plain fun, heck I solo most of it on my Rt
** Yes grawl mob north of Frontier Gate is a pain
If you want to do it easier, caravan from Yaks, or better yet TOA.
Ascalon HM is plain fun, heck I solo most of it on my Rt
** Yes grawl mob north of Frontier Gate is a pain
Tal L
I have started my vq title in ascalon area, its fairly easy.. the only hard play is diessa lowlands and dargon gullents place...
P.S.
1 I'm legendery vqer
2 Bring honey and lots of it
3 Don't forget that good music gives you 100% moral boost...LISTEN TO BOMFUNK MC's
P.S.
1 I'm legendery vqer
2 Bring honey and lots of it
3 Don't forget that good music gives you 100% moral boost...LISTEN TO BOMFUNK MC's
AngelWJedi
only trouble i ever had with old ascalon was eastern frontier. omg those grawl healers >< it seems like when you attack one the others come running to help. but with war horns and cons i got it done
The Guildless
HM in Ascalon was just fine for me. Granted, it takes a little more time to vanquish areas, but that's more probably due to the mobs being so spread out. I 4-man'ed it a few weeks ago with my WotA sin (with SY), an SoS/Resto rit and two mesmers. No consumables, no summoning stones, just plain old c-space and some micro here and there. Eastern frontier might be a little tricky, but just don't over-agrro. So that's like 3 healings skills total plus SY; that leaves plenty of room for damage.
Godrik Gandolfi
@ Tal L - LOL you are so right about music and honeycombs as the essential accessories to VQing. I recently completed my Tyrian VQ title, just Elonia to go now.
HM Ascalon wasn't too hard and remains an enjoyable challenge in a game where you can roll through almost anything with 7 heroes. It also really makes you think about your team builds to run a four man team in HM, so the rest of your game will benefit.
Eastern Frontier was the hardest one for me with a four man team. I caravanned from Yak's Bend at first but then went back and did it four-man once I'd got the build right. I found a 3-man discord hero party with me as W/N running WE Axe build plus Necrosis worked well, and made sure the necros took Defile Flesh.
HM Ascalon wasn't too hard and remains an enjoyable challenge in a game where you can roll through almost anything with 7 heroes. It also really makes you think about your team builds to run a four man team in HM, so the rest of your game will benefit.
Eastern Frontier was the hardest one for me with a four man team. I caravanned from Yak's Bend at first but then went back and did it four-man once I'd got the build right. I found a 3-man discord hero party with me as W/N running WE Axe build plus Necrosis worked well, and made sure the necros took Defile Flesh.
Kattar
Hard mode. It's called hard mode.
Black Metal
news flash: Tyria was designed before we had HM, vanquishing, mapping/cartography, etc.
It's pigeonholed in retroactively
It's pigeonholed in retroactively
Demon of FIRE
If you want to do it quicker, caravan through the whole of Ascalon from ToA. It took me around 12 hours to do (although I did skip some areas in Kryta and the Shiverpeaks). It's not hard to do if you do this and you get over 10 vanquishes out of the way. If you can't be bothered to run from ToA, just run from Yak's for a party size of six. You can't give Hard Mode to some areas and leave others out anyway 
vader
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by The Guildless
HM in Ascalon was just fine for me. Granted, it takes a little more time to vanquish areas, but that's more probably due to the mobs being so spread out.
|
Lest121
Diessa Lowlands is the only area I had problems with, the rest were EASY, imo Tyria is very easy to VQ...the bosses don't spike and the boss groups don't have armies around them like Cantha/Elona, also the skill set for Tyria mobs are pathetic in HM, they need to revamp it...
LordDragon
Same here, Diessa Lowlands was the only problem area for me also. The rest were just long but then again I did Ascalon last on my VQ-ing tour.
shodannet
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Kattar
Hard mode. It's called hard mode.
|
Quaker
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Tal L
3 Don't forget that good music gives you 100% moral boost...LISTEN TO BOMFUNK MC's
|
On topic - I found that vq'ing Ascalon was fun - partly because it required some thought about team make-up. I did most of it a long time ago (shortly after VQ'ing was introduced) so I don't recall what I did then. But I have VQ'ed some of those areas more recently as an SoS Rit, and using a half MM, half healer Necro instead of a dedicated Monk.
MisterB
I think your central premise is flawed, namely that the number of foes does not really determine the difficulty in vanquishing, just how long it takes to complete. I would argue that the difficulty is instead determined by the number and type of enemies in each patrolling group. That is why Eastern Frontier is commonly brought up as difficult, even though other zones in Ascalon have more enemies.
Also, Hard mode is hard?! What madness is this?
Also, Hard mode is hard?! What madness is this?
MithranArkanere
I only found 3 Vanquishes 'hard'.
None of them were around Ascalon.
One was in Eye of the North, one in Nightfall, and another in the Southern Shiverpeaks.
In Ascalon, one was rather annoying with so many grawls healing each other like crazy, but not hard at all.
With 'annoying' I don't mean 'hard'. Just 'slow and more boring than the average'.
With 'hard' I mean: "I had to discard the same 3 builds I used for all the other 118 vanquishes and make one just for this area".
None of them were around Ascalon.
One was in Eye of the North, one in Nightfall, and another in the Southern Shiverpeaks.
In Ascalon, one was rather annoying with so many grawls healing each other like crazy, but not hard at all.
With 'annoying' I don't mean 'hard'. Just 'slow and more boring than the average'.
With 'hard' I mean: "I had to discard the same 3 builds I used for all the other 118 vanquishes and make one just for this area".
Alathin
Bah, these enemies just make us Ascalonians stronger. You should not see it as a disadvantage, but as an advantage. Ascalonians are build stronger.
Divine Ashes
Eastern Frontier was the only hard area, and I managed to beat it with me as a ranger and three discordway necros (took a while..).
Also, there may be more enemies, but the mobs are smaller and more manageable.
Also, there may be more enemies, but the mobs are smaller and more manageable.
Naphtali
Since nothing in Ascalon can be considered hard to kill, with the exception of over aggro involving grawl healers, I'm going to assume you think it takes too much time to kill all the enemies.
It's not really the amount of enemies that takes time, unless you're actually having problems killing them, but the travel time between fights. The size of the area generally plays a much larger role than the number of enemies, and no area in Ascalon is any exception.
It's not really the amount of enemies that takes time, unless you're actually having problems killing them, but the travel time between fights. The size of the area generally plays a much larger role than the number of enemies, and no area in Ascalon is any exception.
Kunder
Your idea of # of damage skills / enemies ratio is retarded, because the number of offensive skills on a bar does not directly translate into damage output. I can run 4 skills and output 200-300 DPS, but sadly that does not scale to the point where 24 skills = 1200-1800 DPS.
Also vanquishing is ridiculously easy, quit whining. The only thing bad about Ascalon is that if you miss a mob in some areas it can take 20 mins to find it, but thats true for 1/3rd of the other areas in the game too.
Also vanquishing is ridiculously easy, quit whining. The only thing bad about Ascalon is that if you miss a mob in some areas it can take 20 mins to find it, but thats true for 1/3rd of the other areas in the game too.
FengShuiDove
Prophecies does indeed translate poorly into HM. Partially for the reasons you listed, and partially because Proph has a weak backbone anyway and is still filled with bugs and weird pathing errors. More of an annoyance than a difficulty though.
Missing HB
You know , almost all prophecies is easy to vanquish , because mobs don't have many skills.... This is even more right for ascalon areas , where most mobs only have 2 skills!! I guess it's balanced with the fact that there are many mobs , but well i didn't find it really difficult...
Iuris
The total number of enemies has NOTHING to do with difficulty. It's just an issue of how lond it takes to vanquish.
The real issue is the number of enemies per group, their level and their skill sets. That's the diffuculty, and it is balanced.
The real issue is the number of enemies per group, their level and their skill sets. That's the diffuculty, and it is balanced.
matter of time
The number of enemies in Ascalon is just fine. IMO. Some vanq are more requireing some less but if you comply with 2 basic rules: 1) properly control aggro and 2) know enemies and use right builds to overcome them, almost all vanqs are just walk in the park.
Ka Tet
I don't think that the complaint was about the difficulty, but the grind.
garethporlest18
Depending on your build for the Eastern Frontier, even that area isn't hard. What's hard is when you try to vanquish Dragon's Gullet with a titan quest on. Thankfully I didn't do that.
Ximvotn
Spend a couple platinum for consumables, not necessarily celerity's, but it will buff your team a bit to possibly agro more and kill faster.
X-Plosiv
I facerooled through whoole Tyria with this:
4 man area - Me SoS, mm/prot, echo sf, monk heal.
6 man area - Me Sos, MM/prot, Echo SF, Panic, E Surge, monk heal.
8 man bla bla..
and I've did Eastern with : 2 rangers, I think I was apply poison + fire, and friend was either barrage or glass arrows...we had 1 monk and 1 ele if im not wrong..back in the days...and that was hard one, now helped one friend and it was easy with SoS, SF, MM Prot and Healer...
4 man area - Me SoS, mm/prot, echo sf, monk heal.
6 man area - Me Sos, MM/prot, Echo SF, Panic, E Surge, monk heal.
8 man bla bla..
and I've did Eastern with : 2 rangers, I think I was apply poison + fire, and friend was either barrage or glass arrows...we had 1 monk and 1 ele if im not wrong..back in the days...and that was hard one, now helped one friend and it was easy with SoS, SF, MM Prot and Healer...
Ghull Ka
Excluding Ascalon from hard mode would have been a bad idea.
Just because you personally have difficulty with it, doesn't mean that it should be removed from the game.
Just because you personally have difficulty with it, doesn't mean that it should be removed from the game.
jazilla
the only thing i had a real issue with was the last Titan Fight in that quest where you have to aid Adelbern and now it's one of my favorite things to play in GW because of the challenge. 4 man team vs Titans at a really high level?! Sign me up!
cthulhu reborn
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ka Tet
I don't think that the complaint was about the difficulty, but the grind.
|
In the end, some areas are tougher than others. So what? They can't be all the same. That'd be boring anyways. In the end what counts is that all of them can be beaten without being a total hardcore player. The rest is details.
To Chicken To Die
Why making games that have content that will cost effort to achieve is bad.
To many people complain.
To many people complain.
chuckles79
I feel your pain, but caravan VQ'ing from Yak's is the way to go. Except for a couple of charr mobs, the enemy group size is very small and manageable.
My advice is to set aside a block of time, on a weekend and do the whole thing. Save the Flame Temple and Gullet for another time though, since it's a long detour.
The only rough part is hunting down missing devourers in the Eastern Frontier and the Grawl Bowl area. Be very careful in that area since they can bunch up quickly and 3 healers is pretty much doom.
My advice is to set aside a block of time, on a weekend and do the whole thing. Save the Flame Temple and Gullet for another time though, since it's a long detour.
The only rough part is hunting down missing devourers in the Eastern Frontier and the Grawl Bowl area. Be very careful in that area since they can bunch up quickly and 3 healers is pretty much doom.
EPO Bot
It's easy if everyone brings some summons to make up for the four player group.