Guild wars keeps getting better

I'm a late comer to the GW universe. I only started Prophecies two months ago. I am not the fastest leveller either - sixty days in and I am still working my way through the Crystal Desert with my first character. However the game keeps getting better and better. I have just conquered Elona Reach with my trusty henchmen: mission, bonus and skill captures. I did the mission first where you need to collect three pieces of a crystal. It is considerd a faily difficult mission because there is a 30 minute timer and the area is swarming with patrolling snake creatures called "The forgotten" including plenty healers and elites. It took me three attempts with henchmen. The first two tries I wiped after pulling too many mobs. A particulalry nasty wipe happened when a forgotten sage healer hid behind a wall. This split my henchmen party in two as some of us went behind the wall for the healer and some got stuck outside. On the third attempt with careful pulling and targetting I pulled it off with time to spare. The ability to force henchmen to guard a fixed spot proved invaluable in preventing my henchies from chasing fleeing mobs and aggroing fresh groups. On Monday we went back to capture my first two elite skills (mantra of recovery for mesmer and order of the vampire for necromancer). In general these crystal desert locations have has tougher mobs than I have encountered before level 20 and higher with a mix of nasty skills. I am doing pretty good though with a henchman party using two warriors, two healers and a mage for damage. I'm still using Mesmer skills. Since there is always a mix of mob types I can't afford to specialise too much so I generaly go for a domination loadout that focusses on cusing damage quickly. Empathy, Conjure Phantasm, Phantom Pain, Shatter Delusions, illusion of weakness and ressurection signet are my staples. I usually throw in an interrupt and some other damage spell.