Nerf Henchies Now!

lemme just go on the record as saying that the difficulty of thunderhead is way too overestimated. we cleared it with only one monk. the monk rocked, but still he was only one.

also, i dont think that the henchies should be nerfed. it will take the soloability aspect out of the game. the game would lose a lot of players who prefer to play the entire game by themselves without having to rely on other people. yes, i realize that this is an MMORPG. but still, if you are absolutely dependant on others to clear the game, then there really is no point in having henchies in the first place.

That's pretty impressive. I didn't think it could be done. Here are some of my henchie pics in Tombs.

Approaching the altar
Crossing the bridge
Finished

No greens or golds. One purple dropped from a chest with no inherant mod on it.

I must say I'm impressed. I've heard guildies say they beat THK with henchies, but never known anyone to do it without skills. I would like to propose a challenge if mods would allow. I would love to see if someone could do this mission with no skills and no armor, but I don't think there is a way to prove this via screen shot since anyone could just drop their armor, take a screenshot and then go grab their armor again. Posts like this do make you take a second look at the henches. Very nice.

No, don't nerf henchmen, you're FUXING CRAZY. I kept losing with people, but I was able to beat mission and bonus on my first try with henchmen. Living people SUCK and are incompetant. Especially the OP, that's so ridiculous. Henchmen should be the standard, if you aren't better than a henchman, you should be playing an easier game. Like Tic Tac Toe. Sorry, but this just infuriates me.

Concerning not having any skills, since when do warriors need skills to operate. If I had full Strength and full Swordsmanship with that character, aswell as good armor, weapons, and runes, you'd still be slashing up quite a bit of damage.

I think your sense of humour packed up its bags and left.

lmao

Some people havnt had their morning coffee, the nerf henchies thing was a JOKE.

Great post! Maybe people will realize how good the henchies are, and stop complaining so much when the team they are in starts filling up the empty slots with henchies. I've been in too many parties that just waited and waited because they absolutely had to have 100% human players in the party, or didn't want to leave the healing to henchies.

Even the new UW is quite easy with only henchies (of course with the human leader equipped with 8 skills, can't speak for an empty skill bar like this example). I did it with ease with my Mesmer.

This is so very true.

I've been KICKED out of one party because i suggested taking henches as healers... This was in THK and they were waiting for ages for the 2 only monks sitting there probably AFK (and had many blind invites i think).

Np, Now i'm on my 3rd char that had complete THK with only hench... It requires very little strategy also.

heh, I was going to that mission too with empty skillbar, but I havent had time yet

You serious? The Zaishen are _crap_. I haven't been able to get beyond the second level in the new underworld with the new henches, largely because there's no Zaishen protmonk, and both the healers run the exact same script (so they both heal the same player at the same time, using the same spell... and if a hench dies, both try to res it, at the same time). The Zaishen fighters are almost as leeeeroy as Rurik. The archers... Well I don't know WHAT they do. And the mages of course cast firestorm all the time.

I'm pretty sure I could've cleared the defiled Tombs with the real henches, but it's not possible with the Zaishen.

Thunderhead keep? Done it 4 times with henches. It's a fun mission, but not all that hard. I've done all missions in the game, except three of the Titan quests, solo-with-henches, plus most quests (e.g. all in Sorrows Furnace).

actually i did thk at lvl 18 with henchies as well and on the first try. And yes i feel that sometimes the henchies are much better then the real thing.

as far as no skills in his skill bar, i'm not so sure about that what so ever, i suspect some photoshop editing, but as far as doing it with henchies , you bet. I"ll take them anytime.

Numa, after reading so many of your previous posts where you have had good success with henchies, I am surprised by your post now. You must try again! I did this with henchies my very first time! I was playing Mesmer with skills such as clumsiness, ineptitude and empathy for use against melee specialists, then two spell interruptors, ether whatever for healing, and rebirth. Actually, clumsiness, ineptitude and empathy turned out to be my most used skills, as they were also mighty effective against the spellcasters, who tend to attack inbetween casting spells. For henchhies I just took two warriors, two healers, two mages and one ranger.

This was the first time I saw this new UW, so I had no prior knowledge of what to expect from experience. But I just proceeded carefully and slowly, and I made it all the way. However, I didn't get a single green drop as luck would have it: the henchies must have gotten them all.

I will say that these new henchy monks are great healers, and I noticed that the warriors were extremely hardy, and much easier to pull back than good old Devona, Stephan and Little Thom. At any rate, its quite doable with henchies.

One thing I find necessary here, and it goes for human as well as henchy teams, is you need to fight moving backwards. It is deadly to take a stance where you meet a foe and fight him/them there. If you do, the battle will certainly be joined by popups or other wandering patrols, and you will be overmanned. With the henchies I would do an aggro-circle-touch and then move back quickly, so we could battle whatever happened to follow us. The aggro-circle-touch rather than casting a spell or shooting helps a bit, as the henchy rushing warriors do not tend to run ahead so quickly and get entangled in the mobs.

LOL

theres always one.

BAH, tell it to do it with his warrior NUDE and without weapons/buckler...
THEN I ll be impressed...

hey if he did he did , but yeah there is always one,

Meh I've done that before the new henchmen. I seem to recall all you need is some heals, and the fact that you can interrupt the mursaats ability.

The henchies do great in THK because there is no poison water/lava for them to play in

Why oh why, in all sanity, would you want to nerf Henchies? Sure, I saw that thread long before this one, and it is truly amazing that they (henchies) are as powerful as they are, but you know what, what is that doing to hurt you in any way?

Henchies are used for the greater good. For instance, whenever I can't find a team in a mission, I take henchies. No healer in Frost Gate? Alesia. Need another warrior? Sick of waiting? Little Thom or Stephan. I captured Spell Breaker today, all thanks to a whole group of henchmen.

All in all, I don't see why you would want to nerf them, it's not like you can cheat and use them in Team arenas or in CA. I think this is just a stupid thread... Nerf henchies... How would A-Net do that, besides removing them from the game. Also, why would the henchies be IN the game anyways? Think about that one. Did it ever occur to you that A-Net put henchies in the game for people who can't find a group, or LIKE to go alone in missions? You can't do that if you are with a bunch of weak henchmen. So don't you dare start saying "nerf them" because it is simply the dumbest, most naive thing I've ever heard someone say.

Oh, and props to your guildie.

Um, I think some people need to learn what is and how to recognize sarcasm

Have any of you guys that jumped in with the "No way, no nerfing henchies" actually read the thread? My God, you people are making yourselves look like morons.

Its a bit of a shame that so many have had bad PUG experiences such that they stick with henchies most or all of the time. Really I will always prefer a real player over a hench, even if they are a bit crap, just because of the additional entertainment and socialising value. Also if/when we screw up I prefer it to be due to a real player rather than bad Hench AI.

The sad thing is that many of the people who have been scared away from grouping with others are probably the people that I would love to have in my group. In general I think it would be bad of Anet to improve henchies to such a level such that they make the game easy to complete because this will only reduce the number of players actively trying to group. This only increases the proportion of idiots that we have to deal with.

When it comes down to it, all of my memorable experiences in this game have involved other real players. It's not as though I fondly remember that time that Mhenlo and I completed the game for the first time!

You cleared the new underworld/defiled tombs with the Zaishen henches?! I'm impressed. The first level is easy, but in the second level I always get adds & subsequent wipe thanks to the combination of mage firestorms, both healers stopping healing to raise the same casualty, and the warriors gung-ho style and refusal to retreat.
As I said, I'm impressed. Thunderhead keep, Elona Reach, the Grenths Footprint quests, Ring of Fire, Thirsty River, and the first Titan quest are all walks in the park to do with henches compared to the new UW, and the new UW is damn hard because the new henches are so useless.
Good advice, which I'll relay to the leeroy Zaishen fighters.

The zaishan monks are good, but the ive noticed the same problem they are clones.

So if 2x henchmen need healing, they will both heal the same one at the same time, its like watching 1 monk standing next to a mirror. I see no benifit in taking 2 over 1 because of this, other than cover if one dies.

I tried it with my monk and henchies, and its not bad but its too much hard work, i didnt enjoy it. But i stuck in some necro skills instead of healing, and it was a HUGE improvement.