My Guild Wars Mesmer was proclaimed a Legendary Guardian a few days back. I was surprised to learn a server-wide announcement occurred when I earned the title. Now I’m not someone who needs ego-stroking but there’s something very satisfying about having your character’s name displayed to all and sundry, calling attention to the fact you have achieved something.
That said, getting the title wasn’t especially difficult. It may, however, be difficult to summon the enthusiasm to replay some missions. I certainly found the Prophecies missions to be extremely tedious in Normal Mode after beating them in Hard Mode.
Another thing I learnt is that duo-ing Hard Mode missions (i.e. playing in a team comprising two players and six Heroes) is much easier compared to playing with only Heroes and henchmen. To give just one example, I had trouble earning the Master’s for Tahnnakai Temple in Hard Mode when I tried the mission last year as I would frequently miss the time limit when playing with Heroes and henchmen. It took me a few tries before I managed it. I replayed the same mission with a Guildmate a few days ago and beat it handily with minutes to spare.
If you’re going to attempt Hard Mode missions or Vanquishing, I’d strongly recommend getting a playing buddy. It makes things considerably easier.
Tombs
Having achieved one of my in-game goals for 2008, I set about achieving another. I’ve not tried the Elite missions in Guild Wars and I intend to beat as many as possible before Guild Wars 2.
As a first step towards that, I beat Tombs of the Primeval Kings for the first time two days ago. I had made a few abortive attempts with henchmen a long time back but found it too frustrating. There weren’t any flags in those days and that made pulling and aggro management a nightmare. Heroes, praised be their names, and flags have made the game much more accessible for the solo gamer so I retried Tombs and managed to beat it after three tries.
There were a couple of surprises here and there, with the overlapping patrols and siege attacks proving particularly problematic, but on the whole, it’s not too bad. My only complaint is that there wasn’t much in the way of decent rewards in Tombs but that’s typical of the Prophecies campaign.
If you’ve been meaning to try Tombs out but have been put off by the typical PUG’s insistence on specific builds and skillbars, I’d recommend giving Heroes and henchmen a try.
