Joining the henchie PvE guild

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way - or the first to even post about this but I have to get this off my chest.

I'm finding myself playing more missions and quests as a soloer with henchies (whenever possible).
The downside is obvious.
The upside is, in missions like Thunderhead and Ring of Fire, I don't have to deal with people bickering over who didn't listen or who's a "Leeroy." I play GW to relax, and I don't feel like reading that all the time in a game. Even quitters don't bother me as much as whiners.

The henchies are pretty laid back.
They're not the best players but they never complain.
And, while a bad henchie gets himself/herself killed - a bad player will get the whole team killed.
Henchies are as patient as the day is long - If I have to go afk for a minute (even 30 minutes) in a mission I don't have to worry that one of them will get impatient and start to aggro.
Even if I feel like quitting - the henchies don't hold it against me the next time we quest together.
Sure, there are some things they can't do - so I can't play the whole game with them. But I'm glad they're around.

a little bit of tactics and the henchies can go all the way really. My main char is a nuker so at first the henchies didnt work quite like I wanted to I discovered attack stop attack stop method to get them to run ahead for me to aggro. Henchies rock although I think the Mehnlo and Lina have a grudge against me :P

Hear, hear. Sounds like I am not alone. I love henchies. They are polite, try their best in doing their respective jobs, and don't irritate me.

I completely agree. Henchmen at level 20 are better than most players. So once you're at Dragon's Lair, you shouldn't use any people, unless you're organized to kill Glint. Past that everything including bonus is easy up until parts of the ring of fire. I suggest just going with only 2-3 real people that you know and all henchmen. That way you're just friends playing which isn't hard to coordinate and you still have pretty good players with you also.

I agree that using the Henchies in my particular case is easier.
I'm having a hard time having the warrior run ahead and get aggro for me however.
I was told to use Ctrl-Shift-T...but this didn't do anything for me.
Am I doing it wrong?
I sometimes wonder if he knows he's running to his death being lvl 3 and all, while I'm lvl 7(at least I think he's lvl 3).
Please help me understand better how to get him to aggro...what is the attack, stop, attack method?

I'm getting very frustrated and am debating going back to my warrior instead of my monk...

Mind

Dude, I feel the same way - if none of my guild mates are around, I'd much rather farm or hench than join a pug.....that is when I can get into a group coz I'm always coming up against the "you're a w/mo...noob" kind of attitude which I find really annoying coz I've got over 750,000 exp so I'm no noob.

I play to enjoy and relax as well, have a bit of banter and a laugh, take my time, take in the scenery etc. My guild mates all feel the same way which is cool coz we get to have FUN along the way and get the satisfaction that we completed a quest/mission through thought and skill rather than blindly running from one messy encounter to the next. I'm not into agro, I try and think about targets and pulls and protect the squishies as much as possible unless I'm asked to lead and call, but even then I don't go off on my own.

I'm based in Europe but play on the American servers (I know, boo hiss for going to the dark side), so if ever you want to party up with me (or my guild mates), I'd be more than willing to help out on missions and quests and all importantly have some fun playing the game was all love.

Rich

agreed... hooray for henchies. = )

though i wish you could sorta customize, even slightly, the skills that henchies bring. for example, you might want to pick several flavours of necro. or a mesmer that actually does something. =p

the level 20 henchies with elites are so effective they're scary. only perhaps the top 20% of players floating around in the game can match them in effectiveness, and they only use 4 skills? try picking any 2 random monks from a pug and i don't think they will match mhenlo + alesia in effectiveness and vigilance.

yes, horray for henchies! they earn those dye drops, gold drops, key drops and what not. I use them a lot but will join people for quick missions like The Undead Horde from Beetletun, thats always fun with people who never did it before... "OMG There are more coming?! AHHHHH!" hehe But yes, henchie rule. Sure they can be mindless but their smarts is more then a lot of people you could team up with. Only problem I've had with hench is the lack of commands for them. I'd prefer a /Stay command so I could pull enemies to them. Or in the case of the Seaboard mission where you need to stand in the fountian's circle to survive best... henchies don't tend to stay in that and like to stand or walk through poison water.

But... ROCK ON HENCHIE!

Try using Ctrl-Shift-Left Click.
You'll say something like "I'm targetting xxx" and if you're near enough, all the henchies will start attacking the target even if you don't.
And if you are afraid of aggroing more than one mob, just keep running back. The henchies will follow and so will the mob that they aggroed.
Henchies are pretty damn good I must say.

edit: you might have to left click twice...I can't remember

I've been using henchies for a long time now, save for the 3 missions that I find undoable with them (Dunes of Despair, the Magumaa crystal attuning mission and Thunderhead Keep).

Multiple reasons really, the first (and most important) being that henchies don't grouse and leave if you've run into a setback, nor do they bitch at all if you go afk in a mission. Secondly, they don't trash talk, try to sell items that I'm not interested in or spam chat with nonsense like the sexiness of your avatar. Lastly, they're predictable. I can catch aggro precisely with them, which is something that about half of PUGs find hard.

A good PUG still surpasses a henchie team, but increasingly, I find that getting good players in anywhere except SF has become pretty tough.

When playing with henchies you don't need to call target just press C then spacebar or \ that key then press spacebar.The time to press T is when you are with real players especially PvP.I never press T when useing henchies.I don't mind useing henchies on quest but in missions I haven't had the best of luck with them and at Iron Mines.when I was in SF they the party started to blame I had to say stop the blaming and of course I was playing my Monk and they started on me that is when I said it ppl get a little nervy someone just needs to take a lead in a party.

Finished Ring of Fire with henchies. And I was running a Curse/Blood Necro with 2 capture signet and a rez signet on me. Yup, I only brought 5 skills! So any thing is possible with henchies.

The only problem I found is playing Aurora Glades. Can't keep up much with the running.

Henchies rock. Sure, they mess up sometimes - but they will mess considerably less things up than your average PUG. When no guildies are around, henchies are my first choice for just about anything. They even work nicely in those missions some people say are impossible to do with henchies (like Thirsty River, Elona Reach or Ring of Fire). I found all of those easier to do with Lina and company than with PUGs.

It sucks badly that you can't take them into UW or FoW. This is the reason why I go there considerably less often than in any other area of the game. Most PUGs just suck and the longer I am playing GW the less inclined I become to join a PUG.

And when you die, it's usually a case of watching the henchies mop-up for you instread of them all screaming "OMG you suck", before logging out.

My only beef with henchies is that they don't talk. It would be nice if alesia could tell you what her energy level is at or even engage in humourous conversations.

Eve: "Stefan, use your healing signet buddy!"
Lina: "Take that mesmer out guys!"
Cynn: "Dunham, that sound is annoying the hell out of me"
Dunham: "Sorry"
Beast Master Archer: "I'm attacking Flesh Golem"
Stefan: "O.K. i'm on it!"
Devona: "Dunham, don't just use your wand, you noob"
Stefan: "Nice heals Mhenlo"

Imagine going for dinner and they're engaged in a converstaion when you return.

Stefan: "C'mon lets take 'em!"
Lina: "No, Beast Master Archer is AFK, we should wait"

i hear you man. i do all of my missions and skill caps with henchies these days. its just not worth the time finding a group that turns out to be terrible or leaves midway through.

and beast master, that would be simply the best thing in the world. i would do everything with henchies then. tombs... gvg... hell i would just sit in dist and talk to them.

1. Never done a skill cap with real people. Never.

2. Doing most missions with Henchies. But then again missions are all repetition now. Since I have done each a million times.



Yes, Henchies are ok.



I bet in team Arena I would do better with a henchie team...

Too bad you cant try Tombs with them. Probably do well



Ratatass

What are you on again?

but skill capping is much easier with henchies...almost afk

I love the henchies. At level 20 they absolutley rock. But I do have to say, not as any argument or even devil's advocacy, that i have had some on my most rewarding experiences and GW relationships forged out of PUG's. The ratio to good pugs to bad is pretty awful, but it is important imo to group up sometimes with total strangers. talk before you leve town. make sure they seem cool. if they do, try goin go out. make sure to communicate what you think is best. The experience of being ignored by noobs over and over has your spirits down i know....but having a REALLY good game with a group of strangers doesnt just HAPPEN. u have to work at it. And with that work comes a sense of pride (esp at the end when everyone is like "that was a really great group!"..."can i add u too my buddies list? ur a really good ranger!") that can be contagious and make everyone feel really good and its GOOD. can't get that from miss lina ;D

While for the most part I prefer henchies, I'll never forget my best experience with a PUG - ever.

We pulled together some random people, and proceded to enter the Elona mission. I was leading the group, because I'd had the most experience with it (I had failed twice before with some pretty awful PUGs). We proceded to get the first crystal; easy as pie. The second one we got raped. Two seperate groups ambushed us, and just shut us down. The same thing happened on our second try. The third time we tried something new; we sneaked by them. What happened?

We won. We then proceeded to fight our way to the Arena mission thing (I can't remember it's name, it's the one where you have to fight 1 group, then 2 groups, and then 3 groups) and beat it. Unfortunately, that was when we had to break up.

The amazing thing is that the team followed calls, the Monks worked together (Spreading their healing effectively, having complimenting builds), the Ranger kept their monks from healing too badly, and the Warriors didn't aggro everything in sight. Great fun

I've thought of an advertising slogan!

Henchmen - THE BEST!

I think Anet definitely should have had a command system in place for henchmen. Auroa Glades is a perfect example. No way to hench that mission at the end. And you'd be darn lucky to PUG the bonus without someone screwing it up. (They always attune the third portal after I thin out the mobs!!)

Makes me wish I wasn't the only one in my guild, lol. Which I started just for PVE people. I guess I need to start recruiting.

The henchmen don't really do their jobs very well, however sadly they are better than most players. The only problem is some missions have objectives or terrain that completely screws over henchmen AI.

That's unfortunately true for some missions and situations out there. Particularly the Aurora Glade mission comes to mind. This one is actually quite hard to do with henchies since it requires the group to split up and to set tasks to do sucessfully (one runner, the other players mop up the baddies). There's no way to tell Reyna "you run!", unfortunately.

Also, it's sometimes hard to keep the henchies from running into the Mursaat Wards and getting their energy zapped. Which is particularly bad if Mhenlo and Lina do it since this basically means you will have to do the battle without a healer. It's ok with just one ward, but the end of Abbadon's Mouth is a bit tricky to do with henchies.

I just wish ANet would program some special behavior into their AI, so they can deal with these special situations better. It would be nice if you actually could do ALL missions with henchies in a reliable way, including Aurora Glade.

Well, or maybe ANet just made the henchies to be as good as an average human - the average human monk rushes into Mursaat Wards, too...

Very funny
This would be really cool

My only two problems with Henchies:

1. They never seem to adapt or change their skills. Orion will always be a Pyromancer, Aidan will never have a pet, lay a trap or shoot poison, Eve will never summon minions from corpses etc.

2. They always get the better drops in SF

Other than that, Henchies are brilliant, especially from Level 20 onwards. With my Monk character and a little consideration with the henchies reliably consistent playing style, I was able to hench my way through Thunderhead Keep, RoF, Abbadon's Mouth and most of Hell's precipice successfully and easily.

PUG teams, particularly on these later missions, seem to descend into chaos pretty quickly, end up more frustrated, and more prone to mistakes each time they play them. Some PUGs have been so poor and incohesive that even the first mobs have decimated the team.

Final result - you may curse them, you may call them dumb, you may say that their AI is pretty crappy, but the success rate of completing missions with Henchies is much higher than several PUG teams!

I have been studying this problem for along time.. because I agree that its better to go on your own and play with henchies in GW Missions ..

But I dont think its not about the henchies.. hear me out..

What seems to be the problem is that its easier and more fun to play the PvE by yourself! with no other human interaction. Which is pretty sad really consider what the game is supposed to be about.

Dont get me wrong, everyone likes to play on their own for a while.. but the Guildwars system has got something terribly wrong when people rather play on their own than with other people..

What is the problem?

Well, I've been looking at other games where you can have teams of other human players, so I dug out City of Heroes (CoH) and played it all day..,

CoH is very easy to solo in!.. very easy indeed... the levels or missions, automatically adjust (on the fly) the level AND the amount of mobs according to the party size and the party level! so if your on your own.. then the mission adjusts so its possible to do it.

And yet.. whenever I play CoH I always look to join a team, and people are forever sending private messages to people inviting them into teams.. because everyone wants to team!.. only half an hour after logging in I was in a large team..

now, in a game where Soloing is so easy (and fun) why does everyone WANT to team with humans.. and why is the opposite true with GW, I personally never play missions with peeps.. even Guildmembers .. why?

I dont think its because the henchies have better bed side manners.. I think its because all the levels in GW are set.. the same amount of baddies.. the same level.. they even spawn in the same places.. every single time! This 'predictability' of the quest means that if you throw un-predictable people in it makes it SO much more frustrating... and its hard work!.. it really is hardwork to lead people.. Especially when ANYONE can give out directions on the map.

After 10 hours of playing we had LOADS other people joining and leaving as they please.. noone gets stressed when someone leaves... its no problem, in the MIDDLE of a mission you can invite more people, if someone goes to dinner they go.... they may even come back into the same team..

however in GW, once you enter a mission in GW, your stuck with the party you have... that sucks! no.. it REALLY sucks! and its this which makes the PvE on Guildwars short lived and eventually gets hideously boring... if it wasnt for Faction and PVP, this game would be on the shelf along with Sacred, Diablo, NWN and all the rest.

p.s.
I know CoH is not the game to be comparing GW too, and dont want flames about that.. I was just comparing the different ways in which TEAMS are handled in the game system.

one big problem I had/have with PUGs - those leaving and even worse, going AFK

the former you know and deal with accordingly
the latter, well our team was down and one &(*@& was obviously big time AFK near the beginning of the zone, we're doing a quest, 2 golds are on the ground for others.. one for me and another guy, after our party got wiped sans him we were all stuck..

I stuck it out as the last guy waiting, it hit an hour or so and I gave up..
I'm reaching 500hrs and my gold count I'm lucky if I'm passed 5 and nothing good
That was annoying - can't finish mission, get the loot, or continue on with group

I like the henches for the most part. It's much easier to focus fire when calling targets. My only problem currently is Mhenlo and Lina. I don't know how many times they have been the last two alive in the group and refuse to rez someone. They only rez if they have the time, it's second priority for them. Their first priority is to fight back if a mob is attacking them, but of course if they are the last ones left then they are sure to die. The code should be changed to at least have them attempt to rez a human player if the hench monk is the last one alive in the group.

oooh. those people who leave AFK unannounced are called, leeches. It's such a pet peeve of mine. This is just about the ONLY thing that will make me quit a mission.

If I see one green dot standing at the zone point I bring it to everyone's attention. I usually give the person 1 or 2 minutes to show their ass. I'll warn everyone, "sry. I can't stand leeches. FYI - I'm going to bail in 2 minutes if this person doesn't show. I'll be in district 1 and you can join me to start over, if you want." I don't care if we've made it through 75% through the Thunderhead Keep mission - I'll start over if there's a leech on the team.

More than once my announcement caused them to "magically" get back to their keyboard. Once or twice the person had the audacity to PM each of us after we left him there cursing us out for not doing the mission - and he even admitted he was leeching! I put him on my ignore list then PMed him with my insults.

I agree. I myself use the henchmen all the time. If I had to guess I would say about 96% of the time with henchmen and the other 4% with family and friends! I love henchmen. I get all kinds of greens with them.

man i luv henchies 2 =) man i even got a chance 2 beat Glint with them =) only me n 7 henchs



man the img is 2 big for imageshack >.<

dude thats is like so untrue. stefan once left us because he had to "go cap "bulls charge" with his guild"

and alesia once fell asleep on her keyboard and let us all die.

and then lina once wouldnt join our group because "it sucked"

these hench are evil

Playing with henchies is what got my first two characters mostly through the game. What everyone said in the posts above is true; henchies are great for the most part once you learn how to play with them (to control their actions). And playing with the wrong people is frustrating and aggravating. But lately I have been getting better at finding or forming decent groups of people, and the game is simply very enjoyable with at least a few human strangers in it. If one or two in the group does not play like the rest of us want to play, I simply ask them to consider more teamwork, or to please map back and leave the group. (I've done a lot of quests and missions lacking 1 or 2 players, maybe not the real hard missions, but otherwise its normally no problem with a team that works together).

I think now that the best combo is part henchy part human group. Humans for the diversity, the converations and jokes underway (ever try joking with Little Thom or Stefan? No sense of humor at all!), and henchies to fill in the profession gaps (can't find a healer? Take Alesia) and to keep from having "too many cooks in the kitchen".

Totally agree. Henchies are reliable, if not inspiring and whilst they do the odd stupid thing that's better than having people who only do the odd sensible thing!

I've played the whole game with henchies without skipping any missions or being run anywhere and I just need to complete Thirsty River to ascend.

(I've also re-done some of it with people just to ensure my view is fair and balanced!)

It would be nice to have some directive ability a la Baldur's Gate.

I've now beat all missions in the game, in order, with henchies. Twice. Nearly all with bonus.

Except Aurora Glade. I could probably do it with one of my ascended avatars + henches, but that wouldn't be fair.

Hardest was Ring of Fire, until I learned not to listen to the vizier. Those lava lakes with lava imps throwing meteor shower were death to henches.