New henchies.

That took me by surprise. I didn't want to try and deal with a group, so I took some of the new henchmen with me. I also didn't want to walk to where they were, so I added them without looking to directly see them...
Now, there's a more relevant point coming, but for GOOD BLEEDING SAKES, Sheena, the new necromancer henchman?! What in the heck is that thing, and who on Tyria took a look at it and said 'We'll call it Sheena'?!

...anyway...

It seems to me that the new henchies are a lot smarter than the old ones. With my experiences, the healers actually help those that need it, and the casters in general don't put themselves in harm's way. Thoughts, anyone?

totally agree, during a battle i had died, and the healer rez me right during the battle, i find the henchies much smarter, and such a variety of them, hell an interupt ranger hench. and illusion hench. just incredible. awsome job Anet.

I concur. The new henchmen seem to be doing their job much more efficiently and there's more variety in choosing them - not to mention in their appearance as well. (Have you seen what kind of necro henchies the Kurzick have enlisted?)

I've NEVER seen so many interrupts used by the henchmen on enemies than what I've seen here now. It's a lot easier to go through the areas in the FPE with henchies than with a PUG with 4 Ritualists and 3 Assassins.

are you refering to the new ones by name only or have our old favorites gotten a smarts boost as well?

Devona the fighter actually tanks. If something rushes a healer, she doesn't just let it. Devona actually FIGHTS.
I've set off more Barbed Traps than all my Henchies combined.
I'd say all of 'em got the smarts boost.

But why JUST an earth hench? i want a water hench or air hench =(

The Earth hench is awesome. Wards
The Tengu is just cool too,

That armadillo necro hench is butt ugly, though.

Hopefully they'll give the prophecies henchmen an IQ boost, cause as of five minutes ago, Alesia is still tanking, and Orion is casting firestorm on a single opponent.

(on the subject of henchmen, morale boosts should re-enable their rez sigs too)

I like how ArenaNet made specific builds on the henchies instead of just bunching a bunch of skills together and calling it a henchman. EX: Aidan: Kindle Arrows + Practiced Stance...I would prefer it to be Choking Gas if Practiced Stance was taken...or Poison Arrow if Kindle Arrows was taken...haven't checked the skills yet, but from the replies in this thread, seems like the henchies are terrific!

I know...run-on sentence...feeling tired ^^.

BTW: The Tengu henchman was just surprising.

That'd be Sheena. And she's quite nice once you get to know her, so lay off. >_>

yes yes
Spirit henchie(fav for displacment),
Int henchie? no way nerf nerf nerf it so ppl need human interaction on this game for once(j/k WE NEEDED IT).
I'v seen the healers run up to heal a person then run back to where most of the group was pretty smart.
Earth henchie is pretty nice with the wards just as usful as (spirit)displacement.

if you have sound of GW on like I did for factions that tengu guy, you get scared when it makes a sound and go like WHERE IS THE BADDIE? but its only the henchie ><

I hadnt tested the mage henchie; does it still use firestorm?

I brought the two healers with me.
I went afk.
They've kept two bone minions alive for over an hour and a half.

Daeman rocks. Just think of him as a Rockshot Devourer... except on your side.

I <3 them for taking my http://38.99.233.252/forum/showthread.php?t=103936 suggestion (more or less).

Yeah...I started a female assassin and was going out of the Marketplace, and I saw the henchman...all the henchman...so many of them to choose from...!

I been useing hench all day and they Rock!I really like the KFC escapee.I glad to see the hench improved.There is times I dont want to wait a half hour to get a party together or join one.Henchies to the rescue...oh well

I WANNA BE A TENGU SWORDSMAN!!

Heh...Talon is so cool. And Daeman is a bloody godsend. Him and Sister Tai alone took out three Rock Wallows after I'd gone over all stupid and managed to get everyone else killed. This was after Daeman was intelligent enough to res Sister Tai.

Sheena had me panicked for a moment...I was caught in a bad camera angle, saw a Rot Wallow right on top of me, and was madly clicking for it while trying to get the camera out of the way. Kept yelling at Sheena to get the hell out of the way so I could hammer the Rot Wallow...until I managed to back up some and find out she was a Rot Wallow...:-P

As cool as a swamp Necro-Pigturtle is though, the Luxons get a Tengu swordsman and Daeman. 'nough said.

Tengus FTW!

I sure hope theres more of them later one hirable as henchies...

Tengu Henchi = Awesome. 'Nuff said.

How come theres so many Ranger henchmen??

The Archer, Interrupter and Longbow henchmen.

Whats the longbow one do??

They owned everybody in the region. Hell, I was afk, I got 6 henchies, and they actually killed off 4 mobs by themselves. Stupid me was still afk.

(Not on topic)This calls for a recount from me, in the RoF...

Well, I was afk. I'm afk all the time. 7 henchies, I accidentally targeted Harn Coldstone, and we started getting owned like...well, owned by the mobs Coldstone leads us to (i.e. the Dryders + Golems + those things). That had to be some 20 creatures. Aidan was, as usual for me, alive, and for some reason Lina was. So, I alt-tabbed back in the game, found myself dead, and found them actually killing every one of them.

I like that there's now more choice of henchmen and that the mesmer ones are a lot better than Dunham, but I still find them as stupid as ever. You can still be casting spells like crazy onto targets and they'll stand around and watch, you can still move while in a fight to avoid a melee fighter and have them all retreat in formation, the henchmen with res spells still run into a patrolling mob you just escaped from to resurrect when you even get close (of which we now have a protector henchman with rebirth - used in battle), they still don't realise that it's a good time to retreat from those 3 Oni's and a large mob of luxon/kurzick that just appeared and will get stuck (and thereafter, killed) when I try to yank them back, and they still get in your face when you're trying to take screenshots.

They are better. But they're still as stupid as ever. The new usefulness of these ones only comes from different skills they've been gifted with. Orion/Cynn became a liability because of firestorm after ye olde AoE update and in most places I couldn't dare use them. Even the Xmas snowman henchmen (with ward vs harm) were far better elementalists so I'm glad to see a warder, and just last week I observed the archer henchman was always the last alive so by all means, let me bring along more of them. I don't even care what they do, but at least one of them likes planting favourable winds everytime you stop to look around.

It's interesting to see non human henchmen, but why'd they have to make one a tengu. I can only assume Cantha has no race relations problems like those in Tyria and I must begin to accept those who are different.

That's hilarious

Yeah, the new henchies rock. The Tengu henchie still occasionally scares me with that grunting noise of his (Tengu!? Where!? Oh, wait. He's on my side), though. Daeman rocks -- interrupts FTW. Danika, the healer on the Kurzick side, has gorgeous armor; it looks like a freaking ballgown.

Yeah Interrupt henchman is my favorite. AI reflexes FTW

Annoying thing : monk hench will not rez dead party members if a human has a rez sig. Therefore, the human needs to waste the rez sig while the monks just stand around.

Other annoying thing : They will wait and wait and wait before finally ressing ppl after the battle is over (happens pretty often)

else i got no comments other than AWESOME