need some help - getting crushed

I'm a level 10 W/Mo.....and I'm kind of wishing I had gone W/N instead, but that's a different story.
My trouble is that I'm getting crushed. I'm in Yak's bend, I tend to go out with henchmen, which I've heard from others are normally alright, and sometimes better than other real people. Usually I just take the healer.
I've got a sword skill set, (with a max dmg sword) heal area, frenzy....etc....but I'm getting crushed.
Is it because I don't have enough people in my party (I was trying to keep the #'s down so I'd get more xp and more drops), is it because I'm using henchmen (are they not that good?) or am I doing something else wrong. Its getting frustrating, every group I run into turns into a mess. It took me hours to beat the big dwarf group just outside yak's and I had 3 other hechmen. We'd kill one dwarf, and I'd lose everyone. Have to resurrect them all, and try again. I've been trying to pull guys out with a bow, but I end up with the whole group all over me.
I'm kind of rambling, so I'll stop.
Anyone have any thoughts, other than I'm a complete noob and should go play mario sunshine...
Thanks in advance

Ok the 2 skills you mentioned are pretty lame on a warrior.
Frenzy is considered a good PVP skill but a terrible PVE skill as in PVP you will usually not be the target of attacks but in Pve you will be.
Heal area is not that good on a warrior as you will mostly be next to your enemies hitting them in the face. Heal area will also heal them as well as you.
I dont know what armour you are wearing so upgrading to the Yaks set may help.
If you are still having problems take more hench or even real people.

i hope you aren't using the heal area while you are attacking those dwarves since you would be healing them and yourself which would attest for the hardness to take them down.

On top of that I would kick frenzy out of my build as fast as it was humanly possible and either use flury, berserker stance or not bother with an IAS at all.

for the next part I would suggest to not take to expensive skills along as a selfheal. 10 energy is quite a big chunk of your available energypool to waste on that. I would suggest taking healingsig and some armourincreasing/evasionstance along so you can use them together and not get hit to hard while using it.

why dont u tell us ur skill set maybe we can help u with that.
and u can also show us ur shield and sword

If you are taking henchmen take a full party. Along with the advice given here by others you should not have that difficult a time.

As everyone above has mentioned. Drop Frenzy, you will take double damage when those dwarves are "crushing" you. Heal Area is also no good for a warrior as D.D. mentioned. If you want to attack faster then use flurry instead. However, PvE I still wouldn't recommend this. Are you using an axe, sword or hammer? If you are using an axe consider cyclone axe and vigorous spirit. Also, increase your party size. If you want more drops and are limiting your party size then grab one more and see how you do. Personally, I would take a full party of henchies in that area anyway.

If frenzy is your only attack use a speed booast like SPRINT or another stance so when taking major damage turn on your other stance to stop taking the double damage.

It still isn't worth it in PvE since you will be targeted at any time, other than when teaming with much lower level people. Just forget about Frenzy in PvE or the monks will all hate you.

Now Frenzy + Healing Signet, that's a winning combo!

Level 10 is OK for this area but if you have unfinished quests back in Ascalon you might want to go do those, especially if they reward skills. Have you been to the Courthouse and Serenity Temple?

The armor is the same here as in Ascalon, assuming you bought armor there. I think this is the first opportunity to get Gladiators armor though. My advice for armor for any profession is this order:

Pre-sear collectors
Post-sear Ascalon Crafter
Jungle Collectors
Desert Collectors
Droknars Forge Crafter, armor of choice

It sounds like you are using Frenzy with Empathy on you. There are quite a few mesmers in that area that will cast Empathy on you, which causes damage to you every time you attack. Using frenzy just speeds up the damage you take from Empathy, not to mention the extra damage from the warriors as a result of using Frenzy.

If this is your first time through the game you shouldn't be worrying about who gets the most experience and drops, this is a multiplayer game, interact, join some groups, make friends, even though you might meet the odd idiot, you'll have more fun. (henchies dont talk much).

If you are new to Guild Wars, it would probably be helpful for you to find an active PvE guild. Stand around Ascalon Dist1 for a while and weed thru the people that are recruiting for there guild. A decent PvE guild will have a mix of new and old players and should be willing to help you out or give you tips if you need help in the game.




Edit: I saw your bio and it says your in a guild "DOOM" already. Are you a guild of 1 person?

If I'm playing tonight I would be happy to help you out. IGN:Immortal Galrath

Wow, you guys (and gals?) are great! Thanks for the advice. I wish I wasn't at work so I could try all this stuff now.


I just noticed last night that heal area was healing the enemies as well....what's up with that??? Its gone.

Frenzy is going to be dropped too. It was alright when I was fighting 1 or 2 enemies, it helped finish them off quicker, but now I don't even use it.


Bezerker stance...I don't think I have that one, I'll have to figure out where to get it.


I've upgraded my armor pieces to 50. Most of the stuff from Yak's. Is there something better at this point?


I'm using a sword, someone gave me a decent one, I think its a max-dmg one. But it seems like my skills are limited, I use sever artery and gash. They do alright, but nothing fantastic. I'd go over to an axe or hammer, but this sword seems to be doing a decent amt of damage.


What's healing sig?


WSMCASEY: I am part of a guild, I joined when someone invited me early on. I still talk with him, but I've never done anything else with that guild. He's a great help, but FAR more advanced than I, so he's usually busy somewhere else. If you don't mind I'll look for you tonight, I should be able to get on.


party group size....I guess I'm just an old school gamer, I'm so used to playing alone that its tough to get used to the group thing, I just want to jump in and play, rather than hang around looking for a group. I'm a father of two little ones, so my gaming time is minimal AND valuable. But I should spend the time and find a good PvE guild like you suggested.


Thanks again for the help!

oh wait, I think I remember healing sig now, that's the one that heals a good amount, but lowers your armor a lot, right? Bear with me, like I said, I'm at work and trying to remember stuff from the game. Now if I could play at work.....

Healing Signet=the first warrior skill you get.

Ya, it lowers your armor by -40 (which makes u take double damage, liek Frenzy), but that's where stances that let you dodge, evade, or block incoming attacks come in handy.

I think you said you usually take the monk henchie. Usually isn't good enough. Never leave town without a monk, because No heals=death.
Frenzy=death.

Definitely take some real peple out with you if you can find some. This game wasn't designed to be done solo (although its possible in some places).

Definitely watch out for the drawf mesmers, and their Empathy. I play a mesmer myself, so I know exactly the feeling of upraorious laughter that dwarf has when he gets to watch you kill yourself.

One more tip, in this game enemies are in parties, just like you are. That massive mob of dwarves is actually comprised of about 3 seperate groups. They are just smushed close together. Here is your lesson on "Pulling". Since enemies are in seperate groups, when you touch your aggro circle (the ring around your dot on the minimap) to just 1 enemy, only his party will attack you, and the other 2 will mind their own business. It is often handy to carry a longbow around for such situations. Even if its a crap bow, it will still have the huge distance of a longbow, so u cna get the enemy's attention from far back, and let him run away form the other groups, to attack you.

^^^I hope that made sense.

^^^ good stuff there! Empathy is another reason to take along real people, as you can get someone with hex removal to get it off you!

Empathy: for 8-20 seconds, whenever target foe attacks, that foe takes 3 - 30 damage. (you don't want to be the "target foe" - LOL)

And longbows rock for pulling apart mixed mobs! A longbow will hit someone that is outside your aggro circle, and it will only hit the one your aiming at, aggroing only his group (even if you only do 1 damage), leaving the rest of the mob alone.

Thanks for the info, I'm learning a lot.
I've got to start paying more attention. I saw that I had empathy on me, but I keep swinging....of course with 6 or 7 irritated dwarves around me, I really didn't have much choice.
On pulling groups, I've tried to stay just out of range and plug them with an arrow or two, but I tend to end up with bigger group surging at me than I had hoped. The large group of dwarves outside of yak's is one example, if I hit any of them, I'd end up with quite few after me. I'm not using the short bow either, so I should have a decent range.
I think I'll take your advice and look for some other "real" players.

If you have empathy on you and are in a group of enemies, target yourself and use cyclone axe & stances until it ends.

I remember the first time I left yaks on my first character and was horribly frustrated. The enemies there are significantly tougher than most of what you had run into before.

You start running into new enemy groupings and spells. I personally think that level 10 is a little low to be there but it can probably work out ok.

One thing that makes it harder is that the dwarves are more stout and have better armor than the things you have run into before. It is a good place to start learning and honing your pulling and coordination talents, as well as comboing up some skills.

Cherno, you're exactly right. things were pretty smooth up until now. I was getting by just fine.
Seems like its time to start playing smart instead of just bashing through.

I don't know guys, frenzy is almost always in my bar in PvE. I have to use it
selecitvely, but for me, it's the casters that the heavy hitters go for first. I
need to beat the bad guys off of them fast or I'm gonna be on my own
really quick. So I need it to build up adrenaline fast enough to use my other
skills to assist in the kills.