A progressive blog of my antics in the world of Guild Wars Shepherd Brandon             Character: Shepherd Brandon Type: Monk Player: Mike Brandon Guild: OGC Weapon: Staff of the Forgotten Health 560 (480 base) Energy 58 (35 base) Divine Favour 12 [1 from bonus] Healing Prayers 13 [2 from bonus] Smiting Prayers 8 [1 from bonus] Restoration Magic 2 Build Titles Protector of Elona (1), Protector of Tyria (1), Sunspear Castellan (8), Brave Lightbringer (3), Elonian Explorer (60%), Tyrian Explorer (60%) 24   September 2007      September 2007 th   A lot has happened in the past 6 weeks (in Guild Wars anyway!), after shutting myself off from the world to complete my Masters thesis, my only break was with Guild Wars, and after completing it I have been quite ill once again confining me to a mostly virtual existence. My last entry on the 8 th August saw me with some modest Guild Wars progress, 6 weeks on and I've achieved protector status for Elona and Tyria and am half way there for Cantha. It has to be remarked how much the game changes once you have achieved some of the higher titles, the usual attack and rejection and calls of 'noob' can now be offset with some form of proof of being better than the idiots that dish out those kinda insults. I also managed to solo some very tough missions, as well as being the most valuable player in several other tricky ones. As such I am now oozing Guild Wars confidence, at least as a utility player anyhow. I still avoid being a 'task' monk whereby you play up to somebody else's wishes and perform much better with a supposed worse but much more enjoyable build. Of course much has changed for my character, the first marked difference was purging myself of superior and major runes allowing for a huge leap in health. I now go into battle with 560 health, almost 28% higher than when I last reported, and I now sport an extra 10 energy points. The leap in health has proven much more useful than some extra attribute points, I can drop a lot more healing if I am actually alive! I also experimented with some different weapons, not wishing to confine myself to the hourglass staff. My first port of call was a holy damage weapon that combined with Byzzr's Benediction made for a slightly different but probably worse set-up to the Hourglass. At least I was dealing holy damage though which is still my key aim in weapon-life. However completing Nightfall saw me leaping for joy with a Staff of the Forgotten, it does everything I could want, with one slightly annoying exception, it doing fire over holy damage /:-( . Still another marked improvement that has seen the core of my character become much more effective. As for the build however, the brief foray into Eye of the North saw me jig a few skills around only to see them locked off after the preview weekend ended. Consequently I still haven't got the expansion, preferring to wait until I've finished the main missions on Factions but it is annoying and I may have to give in soon. That said my current build has done my very well, even in PvP which I'll comment on later. Even with my improved energy it quickly runs down in a large combat so I feel I have quite enough on the healing front, and can easily tank just about anyone into being invincible, within reason. So the choice is swapping my smite slots or some rarer use skills such as hex removal or leaving them as they are. I have a non-smite support build but I find it somewhat counter-productive, quickly dropping to zero energy when trying to protect AND heal, and also being somewhat boring, leaving me out of combat and very vulnerable. Thus my justification of smite, plus Bane Signet never ceases to be useful, either in get-aways or simply damage prevention and causing stings to energy recharging casters. I have also grown to love Divine Healing (except in PvP!), the rare joy of running into a losing battle and dropping over 250 health on the entire party is the ultimate monk rush, and sometimes leaves other players being a little confused as to what exactly happened. The only actual skill change in use from last time here is Flesh of my Flesh as recommended by our Guild leader. At first I was not quite sure but it soon becomes apparent that losing half your health is not a real problem for a monk, and a cheap, quick and instantly recharged resurrection spell that can resurrect someone with 280 health is extremely useful. Although a little more thought is required over standard resurrects, it is possible to dump Healing Breeze on myself and resurrect an entire party in about 20-30 seconds in almost fighting fit condition, and with a little nerve that can cross into combat to keep momentum going. The only problem I have with the build is no hex or condition removal, but after trying this it makes for a boring and somewhat confusing build, better saved for either an NPC or dedicated protection set-up. Consequently Tahlkora is almost always by my side with an opposite monk build to myself. Its worth a note here that I've tried to explain and several occasions that monks players are likely to have the best monk heroes, but people often won't have it, preferring to use their own, and consequently leaving a hole in the dual monk role, or just being a plain burden. This edition..... Anyway, enough rubbish about my set-up and on to some reports on my recent adventures, firstly on completing Nightfall, with a special focus on the battle with Shiro Tagachi, Some commentary on battles inside Sorrow's Furnace, memories of defeating Glint and the Doppleganger, and finally a round-up including my solo battle with a titan, PvP, Invincimonk, and the overlooked uses of a monk as well as a comment on the Arm's of Inasnity! Nightfall Averted – no thanks to Shiro! My most recent and probably most major Guild Wars achievement so far is obtaining the Protector of Elona title. Avoiding any spoilers or repeating what players already know, I'm sure it has to be appreciated how much more difficult the NF missions are to master than Prophecies. Grand Court of Sebelkhe, Jennur's Horde and Ruins of Morah causing me the most headaches, Although Jennur's Horde saw my finest hour as a monk, the others I relied on our Guild Leader and others to get through. Possibly the most terrifying of all however was the battle against Shiro Tagachi at the Gate of Madness. Although with preparation the battle is supposedly much more manageable I bumbled in unaware of what was to come, consequently for the final part I could really have used some different skills, Still the beauty of the limit means tactics, improvisations and general screaming take place. Here's how it went down.... After fighting my way through the missions and then managing to seal all the portals and kill the winged guy form Prophecies, I was tearing Shiro into pieces, right until he was about to die and that Impossible Odds or whatever its called happened. When the first 3 died I didn't know what was going on and panic erupted along with a Benny Hill- esque chase around the shrines as I tried desperately to not lose an hours work. It really wasn't funny, I tried everything possible but no matter what it was seemingly impossible to make him drop dead, the life bar below typical of what whittled him to at least a dozen times. However seemingly by utter chance I fled through the initial gate with most of my party intact and consequently this is where I beat him, in general thanks to his inability to make it past the initial fighters which I was 'tanking' up with healing and protection, whilst the rest managed to do more damage than he was getting back. That said he still survived a number of times meaning a withdrawal even further back but eventually he dropped, with a shout of 'Have that, ya bastard' and a much needed toilet break. For the benefit of those who have yet to face him here is the compass to show where I managed to drop him, the party I used and my skill bar. I managed to beat him on the first try and there was really nothing special about how I played, just a normal player who did not see it coming. . . < As can be seen, the party has been flagged back allowing Devona and Gehraz to rush and block Shiro's advance. This meant the monks have only 2 healing targets and the rest of the party can get on with damage dealing. My skill bar is particularly not-set-up for dealing with Shiro, my smiting was somewhat useless Although reversal of Damage probably helped tip him over the edge at the end of offset is life gaining a lot. Somehow I managed to avoid getting killed Although my heroes were reporting 60% death penalties! I would probably recommend taking a more useful hero and taking a healer henchman, using a monk hero for the more circumstantial spells. Also Odurra was seemingly useless, as was Aidan, better off with Elementalists or Necromancers that can do some real damage. Kicking Abaddon's teeth in The final battle in Nightfall is fairly exhilarating, with an epic soundtrack and constant threat of death and the need to keep moving. Completing this with heroes and henchmen would be an impressive feat but thankfully there are no shortage of players to help you. For once I was confined to simply keep healing, and there was some nervy moments, Although I must admit I did get a sly dig in at Abaddon himself :D . I also felt a bit sorry for the old chap, all the rest of the agents of Abaddon had been horrible monsters etc, here was a guy sat-off and trying his best to flail you off, and probably regretting the decision to defend himself with Graven Monolith's instead of something nastier (like those bloody Arms of Insanity... more later). Still, he was defeated allowing for a nice endgame entourage and most importantly a chance to meet the most potent weapon crafters in the game. . . .wait there's no Xunlai Chest . . . I haven't any money . . . . I'll have to do it again? AHHHHHRRR. Luckily there's some of those friendly Snakes which I certainly haven't forgotten (sorry if my comedic genius splits your sides), and they give you a shiny new weapon :D . This is certainly one of the most rewarding Guildwars moments, in terms of enjoyment and actual game reward, so what adre you waiting for?    < Here I am making my 'brave' advance to get some damage in! There was no fleeing, screaming immediately after I promise! It is quite a nervy approach though, you have to get in to heal your team mates but there's a lot lying around to make it a painful experience.   \/  What can I say? Sorrows Furnace . . or damn you Stunties! Recently I have been returning to Tyria's Southern Shiverpeaks with fellow Guild member Simon (known in the games as Ediffin Crea), to tackle the huge and visually impressive underground Labyrinth known as Sorrow's Furnace. This is the heart the Stone Summit's future and so you take on some special operations missions inside the furnace in an attempt to cause the Stoners some problems. Its not easy either, not only is the place huge, the missions are tough and so are the enemies. At present we have battled up to the final assault, which petered out at the places entrance! As far as Tyria is concerned this is probably one of the most iconic challenges of the Prophecies campaign, and although the general drops are not as lucrative as the Ring of Fire, Simon at least has made off with several gold drawing green items.   <  The exterior is just the warm-up for the inch- by-inch nature of Sorrows Furnace    \/ You must also rescue this Dwarf!   < The origin of Molenin whom later resurfaces in Factions, as the plight of the 'moletariat' continues. He offers rewards in Sorrows Furnace for bringing items to help liberate his people, however a rival Stone Summit collector asks for Dredge Manifesto's to bring Molenin's people down! Glint V Monk V Monk – go figure! Supposedly one of the games toughest challenges is the battle against Glint at the end of the Dragon's Den mission. It isn't compulsory and I recall being with an all human party that was levelled by her on my first time through. After reading through some forum comments I read that beating Glint solo is quite a challenge, more so for a Monk. So I took it upon myself to take her down using nothing but Henchmen! After a close battle that almost went horribly wrong, (and it did on the first 2 attempts!) she finally went down for one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in all of Guild Wars!   < Glint certainly demands respect   \/  The build that won the day Another infamous battle in Prophecies which also caused a monk headache is the battle to ascend against the Doppleganger. I had to call in some local help, and along with two other people we managed to concoct a build that eventually got through, thanks to some Mesmer influence (note as with facing Glint). Kudos to the players that helped, I went in, got murdered, came out, they suggested ways to re-jig the build and in I went again until eventually victory was mine! The build I eventually won through with can be seen to the right > Other Musings To conclude this instalment of Shepherd Brandon's adventures in the World of Guild Wars (see what I did there?), I'll have a quick look at some other strange and interesting but most probably boring self-indulgent events. Battling the Titan During one of the missions in the Realm of Torment to defeat a Titan a battle of attrition ensued, resulting in a party complete with 60% death penalty. Following the claim of the reward I was loathed to see that the follow was against two of the retched beasts nearby. Never one to back down, I never-the-less went in and after a somewhat long struggle I was reduced to being the sole survivor with a -36% d.p. however alone I brought the beast down! How you might ask. . .a random glitch made the remaining titan stop moving or doing anything! Consequently I made the most of the situation and after a while of monk bashing, the thing was brought down! PvP One thing I have started really enjoying is what Guild Wars is really all about, Player versus Player. Mainly through the medium of Faction battles from the Guild Hall I've been having some extremely fun experiences. Though not in hero battles. . .  Anyway, some of the key moments of hilarity have been killing several assassins who shadow stepped, weren't prepared for Bane Signet and could not recover. I have also brought down Rangers in comedy ways, once in Random Arenas, seeing a lone monk a ranger braved lava to attack, cue one Bane Signet later and the Ranger was burning in her own embarrassment. Similarly in Alliance Battles, I managed to best a Ranger simply in a straight off fight, with our team already defeated the opposition actually watched and laughed as the Ranger ran for his life from the Monk! Invincimonk Just a quick one, I recently invested in making an Invincimonk. You've all heard of them, 55 health and an apparently un-killable build. Unfortunately its not quite so straight forward and in general its quite useless. However in the right areas it can go off quite well and literally live up to its reputation as everything drops dead trying to kill you! Here is my Invincimonk build; Other uses of a Monk What I find to be vastly overlooked is the use of a monk for luring. I typically use a bow, quickly load of some protection and life gain and then bring the enemy forwards. Best of all the enemy often pursue right into the front line of the party as I slip to the back to get on with the job. Its quick, generally safe and very effective. Next time you need to lure, don't overlook the ability of your monks! Damn You Arm of Insanity! A final note for this time . . . those bloody Arm's of Insanity in the Realm of Torment, Their combination of fleeing before casting Call to Torment along with using Troll Unguent immediately before typically means that unlike their other demonic counterparts they manage to multiply and heal-up before just one more hit sees them multiplying again! Once just 3 of the buggers quickly became almost twenty! AHHHRRRRRR What Next? Before my next err, Guild-blog ? , I intend to continue on the Protector route, and hopefully be able to report a successful Canthan campaign. Then the adventures can go deep into the Eye of the North, or rather the Shiverpeaks to be fan-boy technical. I'm also looking at becoming a Treasure Hunter and also giving the hero battles some thought, all to be reported next time!       BYE! Commentary 8-8-07 Build Commentary The general aim of this build is to closely support the main battle line, as such Vigorous Spirit & Reversal of Damage function as combat aids, as opposed to direct healing, so I suspect my subjects to work a bit! Word of Healing is the pull out spell, healing for almost 200 health when critical, this makes up for a series of healing prayers, and requires a bit of trust from my allies. Healing Breeze of course is the classic and serves as a response to Health degeneration or when a character is luring or facing some sore of environmental obstacle. Divine Healing is a rarely used spell but has managed to hold a place on the build recently as, given the usual necessity for my character to run close to the main fighting, a battle that is 50/50 can quickly be turned around when all combatants suddenly return to max. health. Its a tricky spell to use but has turned then tide in a parties favour many times now. It is also a good response to hard area damage effects, however it is susceptible to interrupts. The direct smiting has less of a presence on this build than previously however these particular spells have a key role and have been distinctly pivotal in many missions (including all human parties), as well as making the build a bit more fun to play as. In particular, close combat in with powerful enemies can be turn with Bane Signet, as it has a knock-down effect it can also serve as an interrupt and in many cases, it is better to drop this than a healing spell. Smite is probably the least tandem skill on the build, however it serves a dual purpose. Firstly it allows me to fight back and even beat opponents with high armour, a common occurrence when the battle-line is swarmed and as a monk, I become a prime target. Also, in combats between enemies with high armour and healing abilities, its drop 50ish damage nature can help whittle the enemy down fairly quickly, and push an enemy health bar to zero when it is managing to sustain itself. Again, this has proven so useful that it has forced its way onto the build, which, like Divine Healing seems less obvious on paper, it makes its presence felt in 'real' action. The build of course is constantly evolving, I have ridden myself of enchantment skills, as my Monk takes on more of a frantic skills using style and so I require the maximum amount of energy regeneration. Reversal of Damage is up for review mostly, as it is far less useful than it was earlier in the game. Now I can destroy weaker enemies myself easily enough, and against high armour opponents this spell has little effect, its main use is combining a quick heal (+48) with a saver from damage, however I am looking for a skill that can deliver much more now. Resurrection has replaced Restore Life, which quite frankly was awful for mid- combat raises, and Resurrection works well with Word of Healing, combining to make a dead player one with typically 80%+ energy in a few seconds, ready to fight. However the zero energy starter is a concern so I am still looking at trying this out. I am also open to switching Smite with a more powerful spell, however Smiting is on the Build to stay, for two reasons. Firstly, whenever I have replaced them with healing spells, I have not had the energy to sue the extra skills, and they have been notably missing as enemies have attacked and I have not been able to use Bane Signet to escape, or Smite to deal a killing blow. Most importantly however, Smiting is fun, intense combats are great when on healing duty but for skirmishes and exploring, having no smite is pretty boring, an having invested in the entire Guild Wars package, I'm not going to approach it as a job!