Hello all! Its Choose your Own Adventure Van Hemlock today. Well, choose your own Adventurer to be more precise. The Tuesday N00b Club has faced trials, tribulations, adversity, drama, and all that stuff, and now, after a three-film epic much like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, only with a much smaller budget and far shabbier production values, we've finished the main stories of Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall, the three Guild Wars 'basic' games, and are now ready to have a crack at Eye of the North.
Eye of the North is a bit different however, and is GW's first, and quite possibly only, true expansion. It has no newbie area, and we're expected to have already got ourselves some suitably equipped, trained and armoured Level 20 characters sorted out during one of the three preceding campaigns. GW:EN is clearly going to make us hit the ground running, rather than the whimsical progression, tutorial and build-up we're more used to so far; Max Level all the way!
Trouble is, I wanted to experience the whole of the story in each, rather than join it 'in progress' from another campaign, so for each one, I made a new character. Now I have three suitable candidates for this next season of hapless weekly jaunts, and I can't decide which one to take forward into the new imminent epic, and that's where you, dear reader, come in.
I'm quite happy with the performance of all three from a technical, gameplay perspective, having gone on enough tours of duty with each to have a fair understanding of how to play each, what skills I like best with them, and what strategies work best for them. None of the three are especially hard work, or painful to play, and in any event, the sheer diversity of playstyles available within each profession, and the open choice of secondary profession, allow for a lot of experimentation and flexibility, whichever I'll end up using.
So all things being equal, I figured I'd let you folks decide for me, saving weeks of self-doubt and second-guessing spoiling the adventures to come. Here then, in Blind Date style, are my three Guild Wars heroes:
Contestant Number One
Unleash your beast with Contestant Number One! Age before beauty, Contestant Number One is a veteran Ranger from picturesque shattered Ascalon. Hero of Tyria, this feisty diminutive marksman likes long walks in the country, rescuing animals, killing animals and is noted for her humanitarian work with displaced refugees. In her spare time, she likes robbing graves and dabbling in Necromancy! Contestant Number One is Ascended and Infused, and loves pets, rarely going anywhere without her little cuddly bear companion. Her worst moment was being duped by an Undead Lich in disguise into unleashing an army of sentient magma on the world, but it's okay! Her finest hour was putting a cork in the Door of Komalie, and hunting down the aforementioned Lich like a dog!
Likes include; Bears, Chain-Healing Monk Henchmen and The Anmoon Oasis.
Dislikes: Prince Rurik, Thirsty River (Mission), and Substitution Of The Letter S With The Letter Z.
This one is my first ever GW character, from Prophecies, just around the time Factions was first released; an achievement in itself, given how often people delete and start again even with eight or more character slots. She's a bit rusty, only seeing real use again in the last few weeks, on catch-up through Elona and Cantha, after nearly a year of being on the bench. Typically, she focuses on Maxed Beastmastery, using a L20 Hearty(?) Black Bear, found in Whitman's Folly, with leftover points in Expertise and Marksmanship, in that order. Her typical build for PvE work is:
Beastmastery, Expertise, Marksmanship.
Its a very old build, and since Factions, a lot of new BM skills have been added to this previously underrepresented attribute, most of which I've yet to try out. Its also perhaps the easiest of the three to play; open fire with the bow, then go crazy spamming out pet buffs and attacks. Secondary is Necromancer, but almost never used. This character has done a bit of pottering about in Nightfall and Factions, but not a lot.
Most of her adventures happened a long time ago, and were not really written about here that much, but some relevant posts can be found from here, to here in the Guild Wars Category, sidebar.
- /age: 161h 28m over 19 months
- /deaths: 331
- XP: 576,366
Contestant Number Two
You'll be mesmerised by Contestant Number Two! All the way from the tropical paradise of Istan, this strapping, sassy Mesmer brings style to the battlefield, in spades! A dedicated and professional career woman, she works extensively to increase her ranks within the Sunspears, and the Order of Whispers. With a commanding presence and dominating manner, the secondary skills of Motivation come naturally to her, and she can often be found at the back of a party, shouting out helpful tips, such as; "Stab Them Before They Stab You!", "Mind that trap!" and "Less slacking, more fighting!" Contestant Number Two was involved intimately in what she refers to as 'that awful unpleasantness with Abaddon', overthrowing not only a crazed despot, but also an evil god, mounting an assault on The Realm of Torment itself to liberate Elona from all manner of black tentacular mayhem and darkness!
Likes: Fashion, The Mehtani Keys, Sunspear Promotion Points.
Dislikes: Mimes, MiXeD cAsE tEaMnAmEz, Norgu.
Possibly my most 'complete' character, and the one I'd call my 'main', if I had to pick one at all. I picked Mesmer mostly because I didn't really understand the subtleties of the class, and that annoyed me a bit. I think I do a lot more now, although much of a Mesmer's work involves reaction times I simply don't have these days. Despite this, there is a lot of flexibility within the class. Mostly, I go with a very Domination Heavy build here, based on damage, somewhat akin to being an Elementalist, I'd imagine, only more tricksey. The Mesmer tends to shine more in Boss fights, rather than against large clumps of foot-soldiers. A typical PvE Overland build:
Domination, Fast Casting.
The builds are typically quite situational, and of my three, is probably the one the needs me to be on the ball the most, with different spells and skills being needed at different times, and against different foes. Done right though, its very versatile and quite powerful. I've recently been experimenting with an Me/A Illusory Weapon build, becoming a surprisingly effective DPS off-tank as a result, so a lot of variety still to explore. This character has the most complete and well-maintained Heroes, having had them from the word go, and has the most pieces of her outrageously overpriced End Game Cosmetic 'Elite' Armour. Secondary was Paragon for a while, and lately, Assassin, but I rarely use anything out of the main profession. She's made significant inroads into Prophecies, and some way into the early Factions stuff.
Her adventures can be found ranging from this post, to this one, and make up the first proper Tuesday N00b Club series, in Nightfall.
- /age: 181h 28m over 7 months
- /deaths: 367
- XP: 970,666
Contestant Number Three
Always in high spirits, Contestant Number Three is a mystical Ritualist from tranquil Shing Jea island, in Cantha. She's a dedicated homemaker, forever stopping to set up a camp of angry spirits while out and about, making her the rock at the centre of any rampaging party of Naga murderers! This fastidious channeler graduated top of her class at the Shing Jea Monastery, and was then instrumental in the unmasking and subsequent defeat of Shiro Takagi's second coming. When not disturbing the rest of long departed ancestors, Contestant Number Three is Weh No Su, and also enjoys the great outdoors, and loves recklessly leaving dangerous and armed traps lying about, and electrocuting anything and everything she can. Shocking!
Likes: Lightning Damage, Koss, The Jade Sea.
Dislikes: Ritualist Hats, Imperial Sanctum (Mission), "No Monk? Alt F4!" PvP Quitters.
My most recent character, and star of the Factions series of the Tuesday Noob Club, this one is a real departure from my usual GW gaming, and is very defensive. This proved not to be quite as limiting as I'd feared, and there's certainly the capacity to be a quite powerful offensive attacker there too. She's typically highly specialised in Channeling and Communing, and mostly based around the two cheap assault spirits, Pain and Bloodsong, and several Lightning AoE time-delayed bursts. Quite similar to the Mesmer, in that I've basically just ploughed into the most 'All-out Damage' of their Attributes and ignored many of the more subtle support-type skills and spells on offer. That kind of thing is best left to NPC AI, we've found. I mostly picked her because I wanted to be one of the two new classes, and Assassin had already gone. In retrospect, I think I got the better end of that bargain! My usual build:
Channeling, Communing, Spawning Power.
A fair mix of fortification, and lightning AoE there, which covers most jobs. The trick with this one is not feeling guilty about not actually opening fire with the staff (auto-attack) the whole time. The spirits do that, and my time is better spent keeping those going! For extreme fortification, the Lightning AoEs can be swapped out with the secondary Ranger Wilderness Survival Traps, although its rare to need to be quite that dug in ever - Thunderhead Keep and similar perhaps. This character is a Luxxon Ally, and has barely even made it to Lion's Arch or Kamadan.
Her recent Factions adventures can be found from here, to here.
Titles:
- /age: 60h 40m over 2 months
- /deaths: 92
- XP: 430,273
So who gets to head North?
Will it be Contestant Number One, the animal lover with the Ferocious Strike? What problems can't be solved by letting an enraged 500lb Bear off it's leash?
Or will it be Contestant Number Two, the dazzling performer with the Energy Surge? Evil cannot win so long as Good looks Fabulous!
Or Contestant Number Three, the shocking spiritualist with the Grasping Urns? Why put effort in Righting Wrongs, when chained ancient long-dead ancestors can do it for you?
The choice, is yours...
The other two will no doubt get to poke around the expansion as well, but only on off-weeks and after the winner has already done those bits first. Only one gets to be a member of the illustrious Tuesday N00b Club!
Voting in the comments below, along with reasons for the choice, if any, and the results will be tallied up next Tuesday, around 7pm UK time. If you're shy, you can use the Contact link on the sidebar instead. In the event of a Tie, (or no-one at all giving a toss!), the other members of the Tuesday N00b Club get the deciding vote... they'll have to actually group with the eventual winner, after all...
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