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What have I been up to? Guild Wars mostly.

My poor blog has been neglected this week. Not much to report. My gaming time has mostly been split between Guild Wars and Left 4 Dead.

I am surprised how easily I have slipped back into Guild Wars. I am strictly in single player mode and haven't even applied to rejoin my old guild but playing solo suits my current mood.

Previously I found parts of Nightfall a bit drab. It think that is partly why I quit. But now working my way through Vabbi I am constantly struck by how beautiful everything is. Just tonight I did a quest in a hidden city buried underground and protected by powerful Djinns. Right in the heart of this underground metropolis I came across this treasure trove:



I am even beginning to like my Paragon character. After playing around with his skill bar I have more or less settled on an adrenaline focussed set-up using Focused Anger and For Great Justice to give me constant double rate adrenaline generation. I use the adrenaline for some nasty spear attacks and since I don't need energy for attacking I use what I have to protect my party with "There's nothing to Fear". This build is getting very close to the classic "Imbagon" but I am missing a key skill from factions (Save Yourselves) which gives +100 armour (over 80% damage reduction) to other party members. What I have still works very well.

I have a wide selection of heroes to choose from by now. Tonight I ran with Koss as an axe wielding warrior, Dunkoro as a healing monk and Norgu as an interrupting Mesmer. I have a soft spot for Mesmers although they are reputed to be a bit weak in PVE. They still make great interrupters and can completely shut down a dangerous spellcaster. Throw in the iconic Memser hex Empathy (damage every time the mob attacks) and the disabled caster will kill themselves as they try to attack with their their wand. At first I tried to use the more obvious anti caster hex "Backfire" (damage everytime you use a spell) but it doesn't work well when Norgu is interrupting the spells before backfire causes any damage.

It is amazing how well Guild Wars works as a single player game. You never even have to speak to another human. You can even buy stuff from other players using npc middle men called traders. This system is not as flexible as a full Auction house but it makes it more like a single player game which has its advantages. Sadly traders don't sell everything and some of the exceptions are bizarre. Suffix upgrades for armour (runes) can be bought from a trader for example but Prefix items (insignia) can not. Perhaps this is done deliberately to encourage player intercourse but I just find it a nuisance. If you want one of the non-trader items you must either get it as a rare drop or subject yourself to the unpleasantness of the open outcry trade channel.

Edit: Duh... as Melf_himself kindly pointed out you can buy insignia from the Rune trader. They appear under the "non- alligned runes" tab. I still haven't found a way to buy weapon upgrades from a trader though so my general point is point is still valid. PS. If you know of a trader for weapon upgrades please let me know. I will gladly eat humble pie again.

Comments

Melf_Himself said…
Lol, my captcha is "resub"... what were the odds of that considering the post subject?? :)

Glad to see you're enjoying Guild Wars again. FYI, you can buy insignias from the rune trader... can't remember which button on the trader UI menu to choose exactly, but poke around and you'll find it!
mbp said…
Thank you Melf. You are right the Runes trader also sells insignia, they appear under the "non-alligned" tab. Duh... I should have looked a bit harder.

I still can't find a way to buy weapon upgrades though.
Melf_Himself said…
No, the weapon upgrades are still only obtainable through other players, which pretty much means going to Kamadan district 1 and waiting a while until you find what you're looking for.... it's better now that they have trades on the Party Search feature, but still no substitute for an auction house. Although, if you're looking for something relatively common then it usually only takes a couple of minutes to get a bite.

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