The Elona Reach Mission made me stop playing

Ok, I been chug-chug-chugging along with my W/R for about sixty or so hours now when I suddenly hit Elona Reach. I try the mission, remembering that it is quite difficult from when my healer character played it. We fail and I try the mission again. And again. And again. I keep trying the mission until suddenly, three hours have gone by and I've gotten nowhere. So, I quit for the night, thinking that maybe tomorrow will be my day. So I try again the next day. We fail. And again. I get fed up and go away. For the next week, I try to beat the mission once or twice a night, but to no avail. As of today, I haven't played Guild Wars for three days. I am coming up with excuses not to play because I can't take failing that mission anymore.

I realize that they want Ascension to feel like it means something in terms of skill, but honestly, this is freakin' ridiculous. Dunes is a cake walk, and even Thirsty River isn't really very hard if you take things slow, but Elona Reach has to be done so carefully that if even one party member screws up just a little, everyone fails.

I like Guild Wars. I really do. But why should I want to buy Chapter 2 if I can't get any more of my characters past Elona Reach?

Yours Truly,
Discouraged and Disheartened in the Desert.

1) dont aggro
2) use henchies (believe it or not every time i used henchies i finished. every time i play it with HP we fail)
3) if the above dont work get an experienced member of your guild to help you.
4) if there are not any experierenced members in your guild/ your not in a guild pm me , priest of melandru, and ill get you through it. (assuming of course your in america)

I have played this mission 13 times and only two times have I gotten through it. The mission is not that hard as long as you get a good team. If you try and kill everything you will loose. If you don't have a balanced team you will loose. The problem is not that the mission is too hard. Its that too many people don't know how to work as a team.

The good news is that after that mission the PUGs got a lot better. So I consider the mission a weeding out mission.

That's why I use henchmen for Elona Reach. It is, IMHO, by far and away the easiest of the Ascension missions, but all it takes is one idiot in the party to screw it up. Luckily, the henchman AI, although not as good as the best players, is still a lot better than 90% of them...

Hmm, I've found Elona needs someone to take compelte control of the group - and for everyone to follow the instructions straight away. It took me 3 days to do the mission the first time through, and it was only completed that time because a player took complete control. I then walked a friend of mine straight through it on the first try - because it was me who took complete control this time.

Although overall I understand where you're coming from, the desert is 1 big steaming pile of crap.

Yes, Elona is about teamwork. You can't do it without a good coherent team.
With someone calling targets and deciding on the route it's not too hard.

I found the Ascention missions, though difficult, very useful and challenging. They give a taste of what teamwork and co-operation is all about.

But that's really the problem, isn't it? Good, coherent teams without complete idiots are very hard to find.

Except no one ever follows the calls or takes the suggested route.

I guess I'll have to try it with hechies, although I *HATE* doing missions with henchies.

Then do what we always did. *Before* the mission even starts, decide on caller/team lead. Explain that this is about teamwork. Usually people will follow someone if they know what they are doing and are polite about it.

this is rediculous, i've done elona four times now with different classes, i've completed it with henchies and with other players, i think out of all the times i've done it i've only failed twice. its really not that difficult.

I had a couple of tries with bad groups, but after I realised we needed a good coherent team I just made sure we had one before we started.
I asked for players who knew how to follow instructions and understood the idea of teamwork and target calling.
Once I had a full team I explained how I planned for us to do the mission in a co-operative manner, with one person calling and deciding the route.
When I'd finished saying that, some players decided to leave the group because they didn't want to follow orders, but I soon found some others, and repeated the process, and before long, had a good coherent team who were ready to do the mission properly.

Personally, I'd like to see more missions that require this sort of structured teamwork, instead of the usual ones where you can get through it with a bit of luck and no skill or planning.

Wait until you get to Thirsty River.

*slowly calms himself*

If worst comes to worst you could pay some warrior to run it for you. I could not beat this mission (although now I think I could with henchmen now that I have more patience after the awful thunderhead failures). Finally someone took pity on me and ran the mission for me by themself, I just had to sit there by the ghost and wait.

Right, I've done that, a lot. I've taken to doing that every time, as a matter of fact. And there's still always, without fail, one idiot who just won't do follow orders.

You're either lying, lucky, or you've got a knack for this mission. No, it's not really all that difficult. You just have to know exactly what you are doing every step of the way, you have to time all party movement perfectly, you have to move very close together, and you have to have very good, if not perfect, coordination of attacks.



The trick with Thirsty River is just to not rush things. Elona Reach requires more than that.

I think the trick to Elona with henches is to be a monk. That's all. Because Alesia will get herself and then the team killed in short order, and you need to be able to either raise her or replace her.

Also, for the record: I *hate* timed missions. Passionately.

How can you not get adds with henchies? Every single time I fight the mobs on the other side of the bridge, on the left side, I get adds, because the henchmen engage when I don't want them to engage and don't retreat when I want them to retreat.

I have found the best strategy for doing Elona's with real people. When the map loads, grab the crystal as fast as you can. Then, right before you drop it off, organize. Find someone (who has beaten the mission successfully) who is going to be the leader, puller, and caller, and make sure everyone in your group knows that they shouldn't do anything except to follow him. If everyone understands this, it make it a lot easier.

Elona's is the hardest, by far, in my opinion. Dunes is extremely easy if your team is even half-competent. Thirsty is easy if you've got decent offense (Backfire slaughters the priests). In Elona's, you have to pull well almost every time and not draw adds.

I finished it with my W/E on my second or third try with a PUG (my first try was just with two henchies I think so I'm reluctant to count it). We took a little time here and there and had about 5-6 minutes left.

One idiot can spoil the mission if you let him/her. The trouble that I've seen with Elona Reach groups (that I've been in that failed) is that everyone wants to rush, just because it's timed.

[old man voice] When I did it the first time, the cut scene ate into the time alotted. You whippersnappers have it easy now.

But seriously. I've done just about all of the missions at least once successfully with a man down minimum. If someone is that much of a problem, leave them dead. They'll either leave in frustration, or realize that they're getting a free ride and go AFK while you finish the mission. There is enough time to complete the objective, even with mistakes, there is about 10 minutes of extra time. Ok, maybe 5 if you're extra cautious.

Keys to success in this mission, IMO, are:

Stay focused -hard to do with an aggromagnet to be sure, but whisper to the monks and request, especially if you're team lead that any problems get left dead.

Stay calm - You have plenty of time. Time doesn't start until after you talk to the ghost now, so stay calm, and all will be well.

Stay positive - When you start thinking you can't do it, you will only set yourself up for failure. Remember that the game devs want you to succeed so that you'll by GW2 (3,4 and so on ) so they want you to pass this one.

Stay informed - If a particular mission is causing you trouble, look online and find a guide that will walk you through it step by step. I bet you've already done this one.

FWIW I consider Elona to be the most difficult mission to do with henches that I've tried, harder than Thirsty River or Wotshernames Ashes (when I was lvl 12, and before the devs split up the mobs). In fact, to me it's a brick wall. I simply can't do it with henches.

I got through it because my buddy took control of the group and only 1 person gave up and dropped from the group, we still made it. He was a Ranger too. I did'nt play for a few days after because of my work schedule and he was too far for me to catch up. I think in the last 2weeks I have played maybe 3-4 hours. Most of that play time was today when I helped a couple of guys do a mission from Yak's Bend.

The other missions are too hard to pull off with henchmen the way they are. Seeing as how I have pretty much given up on finishing the game I don't think I will be buying any expansions. I know Anet is on top of bug squashing and what not but they seem to be failing the players by not adding obvious features, keeping out the general riff-raff, and really fixing exploits rather than making non-exploiter's games tougher (adding monsters in areas does'nt count as an exploit fix).

I remember that mission, I used to hate it with all my heart. On my first character I failed 3 times then got it. Now it's a regular thing for me to go through helping out a guildmate getting him through that mission first time around.

Just disarm those mines, get left crystal first, then right. And when you're getting the last crystal you shouldn't have to fight anyone other than those who come out of that gate, and you can just run past those an let the henchies handle it while you complete the mission.

I hated all the ascension missions when I was a R/Me.

Tries:
Elona's Reach~6 (too many mobs, too close together)
Dunes of Despair~4 (attempt of bonus, when enemies were still coming)
Thirsty River~6 (Could never kill monk boss fast enough)

In the end though I persevered, and finally beat all those missions.

Once you beat it, if you play it again to say - help a guild member - you'll realize how easy and simple it really is. Once you know the strategy to use, it's one of the easiest missions in the entire game.

Elona is not hard. By the time you are trying to asscend you ought to understand about calling targets and what the white circle on the compass is for, sadly far too many don't.

If you keep failing a mission you are obviously doing something wrong, did you think to try doing something different?

The problem is the rest of the game has been too easy allowing people to fumble through in ignorance (especially when carried by the rest of the party).

In one Elona PUG we had a pacifist W/Mo He followed us around but never once attacked anything, he just stood and watched and occasionally ran away when he was attacked. Why did the game let him get to the desert?

Even though people on this thread seem to say how they cakewalked through the mission, i also failed it plenty of times and it frustrated the living hell out of me. Instead, i just created new characters and well i'm also playing less and less because of the linearity of it and always running into a mission which i find a pain in the arse to to do. So i end up playing less and less too, also only logging on when i no longer feel the frustration of the previous session.

The REAL issue here is the fact that you can NOT do anything else, no alternative area to explore, route to take, nothing. It's not like Galrath's which you can go "f--ck it, lets skip this, i'm sick of repeating this". No, you HAVE to freaking do it. Now, i'm sorry, somewhere the reward just do not match the frustration. I actually finished missions going "oh wtf, this was so sadistic, i think i'm just gonna quit for the weekend".

There is just nothing ELSE to go and do which is less frustrating other than quitting when you can't get the "magical" perfect team+perfect guild+perfect class combo+perfect henchmen AI to all work together in perfect harmony for 30 minutes.



I'm sorry, people saying things like that is just not helpful at all, clearly you're exagerating and either trying to go "hey look, i finished this mission 3rd try, haha i'm so cool even though i didn't know my left from my right when i did the mission""

OR

"it took me 12 guild-guides and 35 hint-manuals and walkthroughs to do it, but once you know you must walk in a 23.4 degree angle and step left at rock number 23 to avoid the knight's elbow and then target the 3rd ancient from the right first before taking 12 steps to the left of the 2nd gate..THEN it is the easiest mission in the game!!! [oh and i forgot the mention you need a monk with skills x,y and z and mesmer who casts an interupt exactly when the clock readin is at 7 minutes 42 seconds...trust me this mission is so easy i can do it blind now]"

My success rate for Elonas reach is 80%. And the 20% is usually cause I push my luck going for the bonus. Do the hardest parts first. (Namely the left) It's tricky cause there are so many mobs that can get dragged into an already difficult fight. Get the team to LURE them away from hotspots. Unfortunatly since Elonas and Thristy River are such a bottleneack for noobs who refuse to work as a team, target monks first and consider lure the enimes to a safer location that is easier said then done.
Soulution? As your guild for help. Your guild won't help? Get a new Guild.
Mind You I've gone through this 8 times with completely random team (Except the guilde I was helping out.)
In my opinion Thristy River is MUCH harder.

Oh god the monks at this point in thre game! Do yourself a BIG favor. Bring Alecia. She's better then 90% of the monks you'll find in this area.
In fact here's a quick checklist of how to do this mission.

*Bring either a good monk healing Monk or Alecia.
*Designate a target caller. (Look here for a guide on how to do it
*Make sure everyone follows target calling.
*Bing one or two perment resses only. Get everyone else to bring res sigs. They recharge after every boss and can be used in the heat of battle.
*Make sure eveyone knows what the agro circle is.
*Don't try and run the crystal unless your a warrior with sprint. It draws MASSIVE agro. The forgotten ones know how impotent it is and will drop whatever they are doing and go for the character holding it.
*You can use this to your advantage. If your a warrior with Defensive skills such as endure pain, sheild stance or gladators defense, grab the crytal, get all the enmies near you then get your nukers to to blast the crap out of the area.
*Make sure the warriorsa are in the front, and the casters in the rear.
*Always target the Healer (Sages and the monk boss forgotten) first.
*Next get the arcanists or cursebearers.
*Unless it's the monk boss get the Minions first and The boss last. They have massive HP and their minions will carve you up (And blind you in alot of cases) if you don't take them out first.
*Take the left Crystal First. I prefer not to take the bridge but to got up then come around it. This is the hardest part of the mission so should be attempted first.
*On the way to the seccond Crystal clear a Path AROUND the gate. It may look like you don't need to get thoese extra mobs but once someone touches the Vsion Crytsal the gate opens and enmies swarm around it.
*Try to lure enmies away from hotspots.
*If someone drops dead use RES sig Imediatly. It's desinged to be used in battle not after.
*Take your time. 30 mins isn't too hard if your not after the bonus.
*Backtrack when you are delivering the crystals. You are much less likey to get in fights this way.
*Warriors should assist the casters under attack. Cassters should run to the warriors when under attack. Warrior takes a swing. Enmie desices warrior is bigger threat. Caster goes back to the rear ranks heals, Then resumes nukeing/healing.

Looking at it now This makes alot of of sense for most missions... I'm going to write a PvE guide. Seems alot of people could use it.

I'm not sure why everyone thinks the Elona's Reach mission is so hard. It was the easiest. You just go to Elona's Reach and pay a warrior monk 1.5k to run it for you. Then sit back, relax, and wait for the reward. Easiest quest in the whole game.

The trick to elona reach is also patience...find a spot where monsters do not stumble upon you and draw enemies there. Fight them in groups of 3 whenever possible. You've got 15 minutes for the left crystal, use them - rushing in gets you killed.

And before entering the mission, make everyone agree to following orders and tell them about the tactic.

You are saying in one sentence "I couldn't do this myself i had to PAY someone to do it FOR me , but it is the easiest mission in the game" ....huh? Clearly your logic is messed up. If it's required that i PAY "experienced" players [i.e. people that did the mission already] to "drag" me through the mission then obviously it is not easy or fun or anything worth doing .......

The fact that you're so defensive about the subject leads me to believe that you really don't know what you're doing. Point blank, if you cannot beat Elona its best to quit because the gameplay involved is essential in places such as FoW and UW. Drop the childish act, learn the basics of pulling and learning patrols, or quit the game altogether.

...indeed, read the title of this thread again and consider what you are actually saying. I will probably take your advice. *shrug*

What exactly in Elona's reach makes the thing so hard for people? The time limit? The mobs?

The players make it hard. Plain and simple.

As the wise Frank Miller has taught us from 300 and Sin City, WHERE to fight counts for everything.

-Bango Skank was here

I feel your pain.

In fact, let me direct you to a post I made in these forums on this very subject :

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ht=elona+reach

Of all 3 test, Elona's was the hardest, Dunes was a joke did it on the first try with a PUG and Thirsty took like 4 tries with the same group but we kept learning from our mistakes and strategies so no one wanted to leave and it felt good when we came out successful! Elona's....ummmm.... 7-8 tries all failures cause some bonehead aggros stuff, I called it a night. Next day I organized a group myself of all casters, rangers and 1 monk (not really needed but he wanted to join, some level 14 monk oh well don't matter as long as he's not crazy) no tanks at all, not really needed. I chose these classes cause they tend to play sheepishly and not jump to their doom MOST of the time. I was the leader and it was great they listened to my called targets and everyone stopped when i told them to and go when i said go. we took our time and had 5 minutes left when we got back it was perfect! we did it on the first try! I guess you need a good leader for the team but more importantly good team mates too! Felt soooo good when we past it, found out others in the group failed alot doing this too and where sooo happy.

Elona's reach does really seem to be weeding out the bad players from the good here. I wish there was a badge you get on your name when you ascend so you'll know who took short cuts to certain areas and not group with them when doing high level missions. that's when it really counts!

forget elone reach, thunderhead is driving me nuts. It is so hard to get a good enough group for this. the king keeps dieing in the fort, fortunately I have come up with a good strategy but find a good enough group to pull it off is going to be hard.

I echo this sentiment. I have done elona about 20x, helping people and what not. It has become so easy, because I know the strategy by heart.

Okay so you want a useful suggestion on the forum? Well it's hard to express. You need to know where to stand. You basically need to know which mobs to agro, which ones to skip. You basically needs to know where and whom you'll fight, and which ones first.

Of course you also need both a good leader (like everyone else has been saying) and a good team mates, who will listen to the leader.

I'm not gonna detail you the battle plan for elona. I'd need to make arrows and scratches on the map to be very clear about it.

But I'll give you a little pointer. There are a LOT of people who have done the mission like 20 or so times just like me ;p Sometimes they advertise themselves looking for a group. I would suggest you take this ppl into your group, and let them lead through. Of course some of them might be bogus.

Ehh... Well I wont say that elona is an easy mission but with the right people it is quite simple most of it you can walk through do to being able to avoid most patroling mobs. throughout that whole mission I only had to engage in around 4 fights if that most of it was evading groups by waiting for them to move off to a different location. but the one mission which I considered bothersum was the thirsty river mission. do to people lacking the abilitie to listen and people running ahead with their god complex.

well, if you need help with it and I'm in game just PM me, I'll help you out

Thirsty river took me 10 times (literally) to beat, and elona took me ONCE. We went slow.

THat's it; Just drew lines on the minimap to tell the players not to cross and they didn't.