I'm back after 5 years, got a few questions

so,its been a while since I played gw, and lately I have got the itch to play gw again which is awesome.this was in 2009/2010

I noticed that you can now have 7heroes in your team,since when did this happen?

Also I noticed that Ectoes went up to 10plat each,before I left aion it was 6.5-7platt each. When did the economy suddenly go up?

This brings me to the next question about prices of OS stuff. I had a very formidable collection and I remember I bought a OS 15^50 q8 Mursaat Hammer for 300-400e at that point and it seems the value of some items that was rare then, some of em are not now. And alot of OS q9 even with not a rare skin has skyrocketed in value. Since when did this happen and what caused this?

Also I have been monking for years since beta and I come to love heal/prott,mostly prott. I read here on gwguru that monks are less wanted in groups these days and most are using mo/A with AP and almost every build I see has no ress in them,no aegis,gole,hp.
what happened with monks in general?

Thanks for any replies

For OS items you should turn into PC section before selling anyone ingame!

Like Mursaat hammer q8 u mentioned goes around 800e at this time of game

Welcome Back!

ohh,okay,but it seems alot of OS skins with perf 20/20 q9 is selling alot more than back when bought em,I remember I bought a holy staff for 50k that had 20/20 HCT healing.

if I would to buy that now it would seem its almost went up in price 50x higher.

thanks

hero update was March of 2011
ectos are extremely volatile...they are subject to changing ....they had been up to 13 plat a while ago, and as cheap as 5 plat, just depends on who is playing and when.

monks...7 heroes happened, and yes, no rez is common now for players playing monk.

hmm,ectoes really fluxtuates up and down I see.

I know its been like 5years since i still played but I wouldnt go any area without any kind of ress on my bar.

and about the heroes....did they add any new heroes?? and where can I get those when i start to play again?

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hero
Scroll down for full list.
They added paid Mercenaries which are copies of your chars - handy for 7 ai mesmer party.

New heroes are Keiran Thackeray, Miku and Zei Ri, all of whom can be obtained by working through the various chapters of Guild Wars: Beyond. Razah's primary profession can now be switched around. There are also mercenary heroes.

Regarding Monks, be aware that there hasn't been a skill update of any kind for three years now, and you need to go even further back to find a general skill update (i.e, not a Mesmer rework or Ele rework). The meta is completely static. Anet were going to do a Smiting update (and a Paragon update, and another chapter of beyond, and ...) but that got shelved with everything else. As such you may not find much recent discussion on them. As far as hero meta goes though, they tend to suffer from two main issues. Firstly, they have to compete with ST Rits, which do more or less the same thing but are grossly overpowered. Secondly, running a pure backliner isn't in favour because they tend to be unnecessary. ST Rits are an exception because of how ridiculously powerful they are, but nowadays people fill teams with midliners. This is because a) they can smother very significant amounts of (if not all) offensive output from foes, b) because raw killing power can end fights quickly enough, and c) it's very easy to slot miscellaneous defensive skills onto them. This is not to say heal/prot Monks are bad - they're as good as they've always been - just that they haven't gotten their share of power creep.

Unrelated to the above paragraph, the reason Monks don't run resurrection skills is because it's better for them to use that eighth skill to prevent people dying in the first place. Rez is the kind of thing that belongs on midliners.

that really blows my mind that rits have taken over as healers and we dont use ress.
I have played with h/h and ppl since 06 and I have always use ress on my skillbar,any respectful monk should have that. So bascially a meta build has taken over GW and its either that kinda of team build or not in group?

Regarding the res on monks:
In the beginning of GW, both PvP and PvE monks used to bring a hard res. But by 2006, no sane PvP monk would bring any kind of res. Being stuck casting for 5 seconds just led to more deaths. That job was delegated to Rezzmers (Me/Mo) and other classes.
I assume it kinda bled over to PvE later on as well.

Most ares in GW are so easy, that 2 dedicated healers aren't necessary, thanks to the power creep. It makes much more sense to bring hybrid chars like this Rit with 12 points in Resto Magic, for example:
http://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/Build:Rt/...f_Spirits_Hero
or N/Rit healers who never run out of energy thanks to Soul Reaping.

so,is monks comptletly useless now? I have played actively pro protting pve for many years before 09.

I noticed that I only can have 3 heroes in my party so far, is there quest that allows me to get 7?

First of all: If you enjoy it - go for it. It's a game.
Secondly, my main always has been a monk as well. And in the past years I've met quite a few people who grew rather appreciative of a half decently played monk. Esp. pre-protting is an art the heroes haven't mastered yet.
Thirdly, if you're going to 7hero your way thru Tyria, it doesn't really matter what you're playing anyway.
So in short: Heck no!
Are you maybe in an area where only 4 chars are allowed overall?
Otherwise it shouldn't be a problem.

Have you acquired all of the heroes? You have to earn them ^^

Max

I still play with 2 monks in my hero parties (healing and prot) just because the ai still isnt very smart at times (I like to keep the classes doing what they are supposed to be --so no healing necros for me).

but as natural said, play as you wish, there is no right or wrong way to play, its a game you are supposed to have fun playing (and some folks think there is only ONE way to do that--but if you are enjoying playing then you are doing just fine). If you plan to party with others then you need to rethink your builds.

I was in spamadan.I moved to 8mann and 7 heroes could join me,I totally forgot about that

I have always liked the pre-protting myself,I usually going as ZB,SOR,SOD builds when im protting.

sad thng is that it seems like missions and vanqing are really dead in lfg, and that saddens me.

btw,thank you lifting my spirit up from that
it seems like ppl in gw are so stuck on 1 way through gw,they forget about other builds and xperimenting builds that you find yourself.

----------

I did aquire all the heroes that was available to 09. After that im not sure which heroes have come/came? is that the right word?

Remember that 'meta' just refers to what's popular. It doesn't encompass the vast majority of reasonably useful builds (or even necessarily what's optimal). With all the power creep that has occurred being grossly overpowered is the standard. Monks are "merely" good by comparison, so don't worry about being useless. It's only meta fanatics / PuG idiots who see things in a binary good or useless perspective.

Regarding the lack of activity:
-Make sure you're in the American districts.
-There are daily Zaishen quests that focus the attention of the userbase, so they're one of your best bets for finding other people to play with.
-Finding a guild is pretty important too.
-The pre-searing community is still strong. The minipets/tonics/stuff spoils the feel somewhat imo but the gameplay is still the way it was.

wow, i'm not the only one who likes to experiment!!!
i made a new hero team which needs work, as it has searing flames, fire attunement, liquid flame and glowing gaze for dmg on 3 ele heroes, 1 of them has as e/mo dismiss condition, protective spirit, shield of absorption, shielding hands
and the other 2 being e/rt, have mend body and soul, spirit light, protective was kaolai and flesh of my flesh

i'm thinking about getting rid of the res on them, and let em focus on healing/prot only, the rest having res might be good enough (and me using res scrolls)

only 1 problem i encountered is that they are out of energy after each battle, although it does work in many vqs for me

oh, the other 4 heroes are MM with shield of absorption (to have 2 of them, as it works great) and remove hex, panic mes with shatter hex (so have 2 hex removers), shared burden, slowing enemies down with attacking, casting spells and moving, and of course a rit with spirits (sos and such) and union for dmg reduction

as i said, this is a test, and works well, but i'm trying to think about good alternatives, far from done

ps. not asking for tips here, just saying how i play with experimenting

have fun with the game
and create something noone has yet, and beat them with it, haha

I wouldn't say useless, there are many ways to make any proffession that has 4 energy pips a great all-round Caster, being either the damage dealer, protector, or healer if thats what you favor.

As i main monk, i felt somewhat obstructed at the way Smiting Prayers can provide, the entire tree felt to me somewhat more of a Utillity tree other then for example Fire Magic, so i'v transformed my playstyle towards being a "Mesmer", which for me works out the way if i think of Smiting Monks.

As for Protection, being a monk protter has great advantages like having a way higher skill level (16 Attri), the downside could be Energy Management if you take that role without support on yourself (i.e having no Soul Reaping, Inspiration Magic, or under the effect of Blood Ritual / Blood is Power).

As for Healing, personally i think Unyielding Aura is the only solid way to pump extreme amounts of health on you're party (@16 Divine = +69% Healing), however being a Healers Boon has its benefits too if you have an UA Hero in you're party, with a mesmer secondairy and with the skill "Arcane Mimicry" used on your hero allows you to hold Unyielding Aura with Healers Boon toghether.(+119% Healing).

As i'd like too be objective, i do recommend that if you like to play a Healer type of playstyle that maybe Z-Way is something you could like.
It does not require any merc-heroes, but fills the damage gap a player would do seemlessly with great controll.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/z...t10534718.html

However, but as nature said, the most important factor is that you play the way you want to play, and never feel obligated too be forced into playing a role you would not enjoy, that also applies on what kind heroes you take along with you.
Any proffession player with any of the hero combinations ingame is able to get you anywhere in the game regardless of going in NM or HM.
Hero skills and setups will mainly be the only thing that you can adapt to the enviroment you will be in, in order to make things work out better for the situations you get yourself into.
(Fire against Water, Holy against Undead, etc)

Z.

about the monk part, i would rather be prot monk than heal monk, as i only need to watch my team and cast in time to reduce dmg received
shield of absorption is strong, protective spirit is, and as elite, i like shield of regeneration, although you'd need some more energy than other builds, and energy management (waste not, want not does great if used when target foe doesnt use skills)

2 other elites i like from prot. would be life sheath and zealous benediction

anyway, just try skills and take 2 healer heroes, and try to see what you think is good enough, and keep improving as you play

there's a thread on these forums under the fanmade projects, which has something called pawned, which is used to create templates with for pve (you have to choose the pve version, or else you get pvp splits), and you can make and test builds easier as long as you have the skills on your monk, heroes only need to have the skills unlocked

1 more thing i see with my monk heroes, is that its better giving them healing and prot skills, and waste not want not as energy management (if thats not enough, give them also power drain)

as for yourself, you can heal effectively with skills which require a condition, enchantment, hex etc, as heroes only spam skills, while you can think straight

anyway, thats all i can think about right now, as i havent made a prot/heal char myself yet, but have been looking at skills

also, this post is based on pve only, as i dont do any kind of pvp

Didn't know anyone still played this game. I found my account info for gw guru and decided to see if the place still existed or not. It's crazy that you can have 7 heros now. </random post>

Well Darkside ... for sure not as many still play as did in 2007, but lots of us still play daily (lots!) I hear there is an active Facebook group (A New Hope? think that's its name) with 1200+ members. I regularly visit a Reddit Guild Wars subreddit that has many contributors, and I make a daily stop here at Guru, just figuring I can always learn something new.

The 7 hero teams make it possible to solo (almost) every mission in every campaign; PvP is a far cry from its heyday ... but it's still possible to find a team for RA and JQ and sometimes GvG. Guild Wars festivals are still the very best parties on the (MMO) planet --- especially Wintersday! The new Legionnaire Summoning Stone (reward during Wafarer's Reverie) is a VERRA helpful addition for dweebs like me!

Why not roll a new character in Pre and re-live the fun all the way thru. GL and HF. See you ingame?

Not crazy. Completely logical. Not just because of the reduced numbers now but also that everyone has different likes and dislikes in playing games and the more a company can provide different styles like the solo style for missions here it just expands the numbers who will play.

Personally I ALWAYS tried every mission solo from the beginning because I like to learn on my own first and foremost and also don't want to be a noob drag on an experienced team.

Also as a mature adult I do NOT deal well with name-calling and rage resigns (just not over a failure on my part but especially by some one else who is doing there best to be friendly and trying to learn) by some immature 12 year old. I don't want to play with those morons who get their validation out of life by behaving in a cruel manner towards others. I will not play any game with those types.

So seven hero pacts, when they came out years ago, was a VERY long overdue feature.

While I did argue a lot in the past for 7 heroes and I think the ability to play the game practically with the AI is a good thing - now more than ever - I think 7 heroes harmed the game. Even 3 was kind of pushing it.

Not because of playing with the AI. People who wanted to play alone were playing alone either way.

But because it made it too easy to test party builds. With 7 heroes you didn't have to gather up people to test out party builds (theorycrafting alone doesn't really cut it) but instead could just use heroes to do the testing. This led to people, even more than before, following wiki builds. And it also drove down player skill because people would run a hero team build off the wiki and steamroll PvE with it, and never realize that the build they had on their own character was awful (which it often was, as we see by the builds people brought to Zaishen quests).

I think it would have been better if ArenaNet had simply put in more effort in keeping hench builds up to date and worked on better AI. Enough to keep them effective in PvE, without actually letting players modify their builds.

But that's all in the past anyways.

I would argue that most people don't play games to test builds or whatever. They play games to have fun.

There is noting wrong with using some standard build if you enjoy the game using it. Doesn't make you some moron. Makes you a normal person wanting to play as oppose to getting your calculator out to figure out the rate of whatever vs the killing power of who cares.

Hey, I think enough at work, I don't play to channel Einstein. I play to relax and de-stress and escape all that crap. A game doesn't "validate" my ego in any way, shape or form as regards to finding so-called challenges to overcome etc. It allows me to escape from same for awhile and mellows me out.

If you don't want this stuff then just don't use your personal toons heroes or even the in game heroes you recruit like Koss and Vekk etc. No one is forcing you to. Play the old way if you want that. But let the rest of us who want to have fun with our own toons enjoy what we want to enjoy. Because it is about ADDING CHOICE and not taking away anything from hench-lovers who can still hang out with the same old builds over and over again all they want.

Because I like playing with my other characters as heroes far far better. Kind of like my GW family of toons FINALLY got to meet each other and now can go on weird and crazy road trips together.

(It was so weird on the old days. I'd have all these toons and could never party up with them so now things finally feel normal and how they always should have been from day one.).

couple of issues with that, Zahr
1 the heroes dont use their skills they way humans would (henchies or heroes). Thus testing with them would give both good and bad results. Good because you can see (somewhat) what skill may or may not work together, bad because the heroes wont use them they way humans do. It did cut down on the time needed to test new builds (to some extent).
2 the 'build' that people use doesnt matter...'bad or 'good' is a non-issue. Unless you are pvp. Playing the game and having fun while doing it is what matters. I run crummy builds because they are FUN to play. Yes, there are more effective builds and some of them are so boring as to make the game horrible to play, but they are 'good' builds! THAT is what the wiki builds did--forced people to play builds that may or maynot be good, but were what everyone else was playing====BORING! (ibargon anyone? poor paragons wound up with this horrible but very effective build and NOTHING else, my paragon plays a totally different crummy build, but she has fun doing it!)

Having heroes allowed people to play more of the game the way they wanted to and not the way others had forced them to (if they wanted to party with them). I do not see this as a bad thing. When I get home from work I dont want to have to be forced to play xyz build 'because its the best build' or get kicked from a group. If I play on my own with my heroes I can use that build and have fun while doing it which is why I play a GAME. (if I wanted to play only xyz build there is a totally new game for that...its called gw2).

Seven heroes didnt destroy the game, heroes didnt destroy the game; they only allow those of us still playing to continue to play with less people, at times when we want to play and how we wish to PLAY. Time destroyed the game, games get old, people leave for newer more shiny games, people get bored; this happens. Life goes on. BUT this game is still around and plenty of people are still enjoying it. If you dont want heroes then find a group (guild) to play with and have fun doing it.

So play the game the way you want to, if its with the wiki builds then fine, if its with your own creative builds, fine. But remember in the end ITS A GAME so have fun doing it.


dang I type too slowly, Gadd got there first and said what I just did

You're preaching to the choir. I have always been one of GWG's loudest voices whining (I think that describes my tone accurately ) about the need for 7 hero parties and how awful henchmen and other players are. I'm just observing, in retrospect, that overall they were not such a good thing for the game, as much as I may like them (and they are obviously, at this point in the game's lifespan, necessary since PUGs are impossible). Also, Mercenary heroes are cosmetic. They do not function, mechanically, differently from regular heroes, although I use them as much as I can anyways.

PS: I still don't get how you go from character and arrive at "toon".

Toon or character, same thing. Some people in the game say one thing, some say the other. Toon, short for cartoon as in imaginary character I guess. I started out in game saying "characters" but seemed like almost everyone I met used the term "toons" and since it was shorter to type in chat box I got in the habit too. No biggie.

And to me personally the game is still a kind of RPG because I like RPGs. So I want to play with my guys. Toons I gave backgrounds and story lines to in my head. You can call it cosmetic. I call it having fun with a gaming family of heroes I created. Also if I want 4 Rits say in a party I better have some of my own toons to draw from.

been a while since I replied here,but have had a lot to do.
been playing for a while now,and its pretty much the sam,except som has really bad builds even tho they have taken them from wiki.
Im working on my last hero now.

I have tried out UA build for monk,and its pretty good for nm,but I tend to go back zb build with selfless spirit since its my favorite protting build.