Fort Aspenwood (mission)




 * This is a Competitive Mission entry. For information on the locations, see Fort Aspenwood (Kurzick) and Fort Aspenwood (Luxon). For information on the quests, see Defend Fort Aspenwood (the Kurzick quest) or Fort Aspenwood (quest) (the Luxon quest).

Fort Aspenwood is a Competitive Mission where a randomly chosen team of 8 Kurzicks must defend Master Architect Gunther from the attacking team of 8 Luxons until he is able to complete a super weapon, Gods' Vengeance.

Rewards

 * Kurzicks will receive 2500 faction total if they win, and Luxons will receive 1000 + (300 x the number of gates breached) if they win.
 * Each Kurzick player will gain 15 faction for each percent of progress the siege weapon construction has made, as well as 1000 additional faction if they win. Note that if the percentage is over 100% when the match ends due to someone giving Gunther amber when the progress bar is nearly complete, points will still be rewarded for the extra percentage. This also applies in reverse, if the Luxon team resigns, then the Kurzick reward will be lowered.
 * Each Luxon player will gain 300 faction for each gate that has been breached at least once, as well as 1000 additional faction if they win.


 * Additionally, each team will gain 10 Kurzick/Luxon faction, 10 Balthazar faction, and XP each time an enemy player or NPC has been killed. Pets, spirits, and animated undead don't count for this reward.

General Mechanics
Fort Aspenwood is a base defense/base attack mission, where the Kurzick must defend Master Architect Gunther from the Luxons so he can complete the super weapon, Vengeance of the Gods. The Architect's progress to completing the weapon is tracked as a percentage complete, slowly incrementing over time (approximately 1% per 8 seconds). If this reaches 100% the Kurzick team is victorious. If the Architect is killed before, the Luxon team wins.

Each side is a team of eight players randomly assembled from those waiting in the Fort Aspenwood (Kurzick) and Fort Aspenwood (Luxon) staging areas. Players are resurrected with a 2-3 second lag time and receive no death penalty.

The Fort Aspenwood map is based in Fort Aspenwood and land in front of it. The fort features three layers of defensive walls with doors made of Amber. The first and second walls have two doors, the inner-most layer has only one door. There are five teleporters on the map. Two are used by the Luxons to exit their base, two are used by the Kurzick to exit the fort from behind the second wall, one is used by the Kurzick to travel from the innermost keep to behind the second wall. The Kurzick players spawn in the fort itself, the Luxons on a hill opposite the fort.

The map is divided into Orange and Purple sides. Each side features an inner and outer gate guarded by several Kurzick NPCs; two elementalists on the outer gate, two necromancers and an elementalist on the inner gates. Each side has a Kurzick gatekeeper in the innermost part of the fort who can repair the gates of the side they represent. There are also assorted other defensive Kurzick NPCs throughout the fort. Each Luxon side has a Siege Turtle Commander, a Siege Turtle and four Luxon Warriors that accompany the turtle, attacking players that come close to the turtle. There is also an Amber mine for each side. The innermost gate and the center mine furthest from the fort are Green. The green gate is guarded by Kurzick NPCs; a Juggernaut, two mesmers and an elementalist. The Kurzick gatekeepers and Master Architect Gunther stand behind the green door in the innermost keep. All of the mines are initially held by Luxon NPCs, but may be taken by the Kurzicks during play.

In play the Luxons talk to the commanders to start the siege turtles moving towards to the Kurzick base so they can destroy the gates and get to the Architect. The Kurzicks must claim the amber mines and run amber to the gatekeepers to repair the gates as they are destroyed and defend the fort. The purple and orange amber mines produce Raw Amber Chunks, which allow a gatekeeper to repair a destroyed gate on their side, resurrecting all NPC guardians for the gate. The Raw Amber Chunks can also be brought to the master architect, adding 2% to the progress track. The green amber mine produces Refined Amber Chunks. If brought to one of the gatekeepers, they will repair the green gate if it is destroyed, resurrecting its guard NPCs. If the green gate is intact, the gatekeeper will repair the innermost destroyed gate on his side. If given to the architect, the Refined Amber Chunks adds 4% to the progress track.


 * Mines and strategic points are captured by killing the enemy NPCs at that location (Only the Luxon Commander needs to be killed to capture the purple or orange Luxon outposts).
 * Gates are breached when the NPCs guarding it are killed. The NPCs between the outer and inner gates and the ranger positioned right in the center are not guard NPCs, and do not need to be killed for the gate to fall.
 * Gates are rebuilt when amber is given to its respective Gatekeeper (one for purple, one for orange). They rebuild innermost first, and any Gatekeeper will repair the green gate first if a Raw or Refined Amber Chunk is given.
 * Gate NPCs are resurrected when the gate is rebuilt.
 * Gate locks are used by Kurzicks to take down a gate and to put it back up (providing at least one of the gate's NPCs are alive).
 * Gatekeepers Radik and Poletski cannot respawn once killed, and the gates on their respective sides cannot be repaired if taken down. If both are taken down, even the green gate can't be repaired.
 * Luxon commanders need to be alive for the turtle team to respawn once they are destroyed. Killing the commander does not kill the turtle team. A killed commander will be resurrected if the control point is taken from the Kurzicks by the Luxons.
 * A turtle team will only respawn if the turtle and all of its accompanying warriors are dead.

Preparation
While the teams are randomly assembled, there are several things you can do to prepare for this mission:
 * Talk with others waiting to enter the mission, get an idea of what people are/aren't doing.
 * Choose your skills to be able to fill a role (whether Luxon or Kurzick) in the mission.
 * A flexible build may make a big difference toward your team's success. Being prepared to fill one of several roles, as needed, might turn a loss into a victory. Something as simple as carrying a speed boost that you might not otherwise carry might allow you to contribute in a different manner than planned.
 * Don't bring a Signet of Capture or resurrection skills, as they are useless in this mission.

Mission Objectives
Primary objective is to help Master Architect Gunther to complete the God's Vengeance.
 * Protect Master Architect Gunther until he is able to complete the God's Vengeance.

Secondary to this but key to ensuring the primary objective is fulfilled the following roles should be pursued:
 * Stall or kill siege turtles.
 * Capture/Protect the amber mines.
 * Run amber to Master Architect Gunther to speed the completion of the God's Vengeance. or If a gate has been breached, run amber to the gatekeepers to repair gates.
 * Capture the Luxon command points. (not highly recommended)

Standard Roles
Turtle Staller/Killer
 * This is one of the two most important roles while playing on Kurzicks side. The Siege Turtle team consists of 1 turtle and 4 Luxon Guards.  The best possible thing to do is to stall the turtle.   This can easily be accomplished by having proper healing or via interrupting.  Stalling it via pure healing is easier because protective spirit will reduce siege attack damage to around 50dmg every 10 secs.   The best place to stand is near the teleporters that teleport Kurzicks out of their base.  The siege turtle team will continuously try to attack the staller and be frozen in its place causing no further damage to npcs and other team players.   If two people each stand near one teleporter, both siege turtle will become "pacified" after breaking just the outer gates.  This tilts the game heavily towards Kurzick's side and winning is virtually assured.
 * The other method of stalling is interrupting. Turtle Interrupter - Sitting on a hill in the keep to keep away from the melee, uses interrupts to keep the siege turtles from firing, while the other party members are killing off the turtle's support. Note that the Siege Turtle's skills can not be disabled, so Distracting Shot does nothing more than interrupt. Be warned that it takes three interrupts to disrupt the turtle, something a single interupter is incapable of most of the time.
 * Killing the turtle is not as preferable because the 4 Luxon Guards can do just as much damage if not dealt with, and the siege turtle team respawns in a short time after it is killed. A common mistake new players make is only killing the siege turtle and leaving the 4 Luxon Guards to cause havoc on the base.  Generally speaking, it is preferable to kill atleast some of the guards before killing the turtle.  Never ever kill both siege turtles at the same time when the green gate has been breached, 8 Luxon Guards will make short work of any players and npcs. However, by the same token, their Siege attacks can deal considerable damage to Gunther, so removing some of the warriors before ending the turtles is recommended. If it gets down to Green and the turtles move all the way up, you can teleport behind them using the portal for a sneak-attack if you wish, avoiding the melee.

Gatekeeper/Healer Your team members. Amber Runner
 * Usually, a monk uses the gate to protect themselves from a direct attack, while keeping the NPCs in front of the gate alive. This is the other most important role in the game.  They greatly slow down the pace of Luxon's assault.  Always give preference to healing NPCs than players (including yourself) when under pressure.  Healing preference is generally in order of:
 * 1) Gatekeepers*
 * 2) Master Gunther
 * 3) Kurzick Juggernaut or Kurzick Elementalist
 * 4) Yourself
 * 5) Any other NPCS
 * Master Gunther is unlikely to die unless the gatekeepers have fallen, however you should still keep an eye on his health bar at all times. The best way to defend a gate is to bond an Elementalist because of its higher damage potential. If the enemy possesses good enchantment stripping, make your stand at the green gate by healing/bonding the Juggernaut.
 * Focus on capturing the mines and taking amber to either Gunther if the gates are up, or a gatekeeper if the gates are down.   Each amber mine is defended by 2 Luxon Longbows.  They only have cripple attacks and do not have any block or any self healing skills. If both inner gates are down, it is recommended to have one amber runner hold onto 1 amber and stand beside a gatekeeper.  When the green gate falls, he should immediately talk to the gatekeeper and repair the green gate.  Speed is key to amber running so equip a run skill. While not required, the humble amber runner can make the difference between victory and defeat. Prioritize repairing gates over giving amber to Gunther, as if all the gates are breached and Gunther killed, it won't matter (much) how much amber you gave him. If the gates are all repaired, feel free to give it to Gunther.

Master Architect Gunther's Bodyguard
 * The gatekeepers can cast healing spells but it will probably not be sufficient to keep Master Gunther alive. If the Luxons manage to breach the green gate and there is no chance of repairing it, everyone's role becomes the Architect's bodyguard, no matter what. Bond and heal Gunther and target Luxons that threaten him the greatest. Gunther sometimes gets drawn out, so be ready to follow him if neccesary.
 * Gunther sometimes suffers from defender AI, and does not move out of the way of enemy nuking, as such, a player being able to heal Gunther can be critical.

Strategies

 * Take and maintain control of at least one amber mine as soon as possible. Try to ensure that Kurzick has at least one amber mine at all times.  Luxon players spawn after death at these mines if they hold them, which makes holding them important defensively.
 * If it seems that there isn't anyone running amber consistently, run amber. Repaired gates and renewed NPCs are critical to the fort defense.  However running amber once the green door has been breached is difficult as the gatekeepers will not accept amber if they are attacking. One player could carry a raw or Refined Amber Chunks as long as needed to immediately repair the green gate.
 * The turtles are mobile siege weapons; stall or destroy them quickly. Degeneration is particularly effective but hexes, high-powered attacks and life-stealing spells are also effective against them. Normal attacks are nearly useless due to the turtle's monster defenses. Killing a Turtle involves killing or disabling any healers that are keeping them alive, first.
 * Try to keep the Luxon warriors from the siege turtle team alive for as long as possible once the siege turtle is killed as this will prevent the next turtle from spawning. There are some places on the map where the warriors can get stuck which can indefinitely stop turtles from spawning.
 * Killing commanders can change the course of the battle, but this is less important than ensuring the current turtles die and the gates are repaired.
 * If you go through a gate using the gate lock ensure you aren't followed by a Luxon player. Remember to close the gate. A common strategy is for Luxon Assassins to wait near the gates to "jump" an unsuspecting player before they can close the gate.
 * Watch for Gatekeepers following you out of the green gate. They are healers, and will try to heal nearby players in need of healing. If the gate is closed while they are out, they will be trapped outside and are easy targets for Luxons to kill. If this happens, open the gate for them (ONLY if this will not allow Luxons to enter) or let your teammates know to help protect/heal them.
 * The green mine is a difficult position to get to but it yields Refined Amber Chunks which are really useful.
 * Amber Chunks disappear quickly after being dropped, so leaving a large pile in the fort for quick repair is not effective.
 * If you are using ranged weapons and/or spells, and the Luxons have breached the outer gate, then use the central hill as a vantage point to pick other players and NPC's off.
 * There are vantage points to the far left and far right of the fort, to access, enter the zone between the inner and outer orange or purple gate (depending on which side) and go up the stairs to your right or left, depending on the side you choose to go up on. (Purple is to the right, Orange to the left)
 * Flanking the Luxon's position can make it easier to kill the turtles. This is most effective when the Luxons have focussed on one gate or are in the green gate zone.
 * Bonders should target Kurzick Elementalists (who have heavy anti-melee) and Kurzick Necromancers, as they can remove all conditions from themselves.

Mission Objectives
Primary Objectives:
 * Primary Objective #1: Destroy guards at orange inner gate & orange outer gate or Destroy guards at purple inner gate & purple outer gate.
 * Primary Objective #2: Destroy guards at green gate.
 * Primary Objective #3: Kill Master Architect Gunther before he is able to complete the Vengeance of the Gods.

Secondary Objectives:
 * Capture the amber mines to prevent Kurzicks from running amber and to obtain closer respawn point.
 * Protect and assist the siege turtles against gate guards.
 * Maintain control of orange & purple command posts to respawn dead siege turtle teams.

Primary Roles
There are 3 primary roles to a successful assault. An elementalist is the best and fastest way to kill NPCs using their powerful AOE attacks. A good build should be able to kill all NPCs at a gate or a resource location in less than 30secs, a dedicated build for only that purpose even in as few as 5-10 seconds.
 * Gate breacher/NPC killer

An enemy monk often hides behind closed gates while he bonds and heals one NPC in front of the gate. You must be able to remove multiple enchantments at once if you want to eliminate that NPC. Since the monk is behind a gate, ranger disrupts and direct attack will not work. Energy denial and general casters can help keep the monk busy with himself.
 * Enchantment remover & Monk shutdown

In this role, your job is to heal the siege turtle and keep it alive. Since the turtle has high damage reduction, you will mostly be encountering degen in the form of hexes and conditions. Plan accordingly. Heal priority should be:
 * Siege Turtle support
 * 1) Siege Turtle
 * 2) Yourself
 * 3) Siege Turtle Guards
 * 4) Your teammates
 * Tip: Siege turtles take a long time to respawn and to continue the assault. A human player respawns in 5 seconds and can be back in the action in as little as 15 seconds.  Always have enough energy reserved to heal the turtle, and don't waste all your energy healing human players.


 * Tip: When escorting the siege turtle, stand very close to it(hug it). Siege turtle's "Carrier Defense" skill will teleport away all melee attackers.  This will make you virtually invulnerable to assassins, warriors, and dervishes.


 * Tip: Always bring a blocking spell (i.e. Guardian, Weapon of Warding) for the turtle to prevent its siege attack from being interrupted.

Strategies

 * Bring a running (speed boost) skill.
 * Beware that all Kurzicks NPCs (excluding Kurzick Assassins) have strong anti-melee skills. It is strongly recommended that you consider this when choosing what character to play.
 * Gain and maintain control of at least one amber mine. Doing so will allow you to resurrect closer to the battle, and will prevent the Kurzicks from repairing damaged gates. Amber can be run from either mine, so try to keep both.
 * Talk to the commanders to order siege turtles to breach the gates. Protect the turtles with hex and condition removal. The turtles will kill most players and NPCs in two siege hits.
 * Retake the commander positions but only when you need to. It may be possible to defeat the Kurzick side with a single set of turtles.
 * If you destroy the NPCs at the gates before the turtle gets there it moves onto the next set of NPCs much faster. Area-of-effect damage is particularly effective for this.
 * Placing traps directly on the base of where Kurzicks are teleported to, and near the gates can severely slow down the speed at which runners can mine Amber. Other viable areas are the stairs in the fort, near the levers and around the pile of amber chunks.
 * Your opponents will be playing defensively so bring enchantment and buff removal.
 * Bonders will often hide and cast Life Bond and Life Barrier on one of the Green Gate NPCs, and keep them healed with Dwayna's Kiss. Bringing Well of the Profane or another mass-enchantment removal such as Gaze of Contempt or Shatter Storm can be invaluable in defeating these foes.
 * Using a speed boost and exiting through green gate while being targeted by the gatekeepers and Gunther will cause them to follow as long as you stay out of their attack range after you start running.
 * While defending mines is important, remember that once inside the fort you will be far more damaging to Kurzicks than outside. If the gatekeepers are attacking they cannot repair gates. Kurzick runners will be far more vulnerable with amber in their hands and when trying to get past turtles and enemy players. Kurzicks will also be under far more pressure with two siege turtles and a group of warriors threatening the green gate.
 * Shadow Stepping is extremely useful for bypassing large groups of Kurzick players, Ranger trap lines and NPCs, quickly accessing high ground, and getting into green if the gate is opened by a Kurzick player. Shadow Step does not work if you would have had to go through an unbroken/unopened gate to get to your target or getting from between outer orange and purple gates to the top of the wall.

Creatures
{|
 * - valign=top width=100%

Behind the green gate

 * 24 Master Architect Gunther1
 * 20 Gatekeeper Poletski1 (Purple)
 * 20 Gatekeeper Radik1 (Orange)

In front of the green gate

 * 28 Kurzick Juggernaut
 * 20 Kurzick Mesmer x2
 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist

Behind the inner orange and purple gates

 * 20 Kurzick Warrior1 x2 (orange)
 * 20 Kurzick Ranger1 x2 (center)
 * 20 Kurzick Necromancer1 (center)
 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist1 (center)
 * 20 Kurzick Assassin1 x2 (purple)

In front of the inner orange and purple gates

 * 20 Kurzick Necromancer x2
 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist

Between the orange gates

 * 20 Kurzick Ranger1
 * 20 Kurzick Assassin1 x2

Between the purple gates

 * 20 Kurzick Warrior1
 * 20 Kurzick Mesmer1 x2

In front of the outer orange and purple gates

 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist x2

Kurzick-controlled amber mines

 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist (refined amber mine only)
 * 20 Kurzick Mine Cleanser x2

Kurzick-controlled command points

 * 20 Kurzick Ranger
 * 20 Kurzick Necromancer

Orange and purple squads

 * 24 Siege Turtle
 * 20 Luxon Warrior x4

Luxon-controlled command points

 * 24 Orange Commander (orange command point only)
 * 24 Purple Commander (purple command point only)
 * 20 Luxon Priest

Luxon-controlled amber mines

 * 20 Luxon Longbow x2
 * 20 Luxon Monk (refined amber mine only)
 * }
 * 1) These NPCs do not respawn.

Bugs

 * A bug known to happen is that a new set of Siege Team (a Siege Turtle and 4 Luxon Warriors) spawns whenever a Luxon command post was retaken by the Luxons even though the previous Siege Team was still alive. Thus, there are 2 Siege Teams (2 Turtles and 8 warriors) attacking the same gate.
 * A gatekeeper NPC can be lured through the gate, on purpose or by accident, and he might not be able to return to his original position. This most often happens when the gatekeepers attempt to heal someone moving out of range.
 * If a siege turtle is very close to a gate when it is repaired, the turtle will stop moving. This is highly exploitable by Kurzicks, as they simply leave the turtle's range and leave it alive, the Luxons will only have 1 turtle able to reach Gunther. However, this means that the gates on that side will be opened repeatedly as the turtle fires on the guards.
 * Sometimes, if a Siege Turtle is close to a gate when it is repaired, it will use Carrier Defense and the gate guards will be teleported behind that gate, making that gate much harder to breach.
 * Often, the Luxon Warriors will become 'stuck' in corners inside the fort and will not attack, only using Healing Signet when taking damage. This is exploitable by Kurzicks, because if the Luxon Warriors do not die, the Siege turtles cannot respawn. This also happens with the Kurzick Res shrine; the AI will not persue a PC past a certain point and will remain stuck until destroyed. Presumably, this was to prevent the warriors from destroying Kurzick PCs as they resurrected; however, there is no such defense against players.
 * It is possible for the Kurzicks to win after the Master Architect dies. There is about a 5 second delay before the game is ended, and if the Vengeance of the Gods reaches 100% during that 5 seconds, the Kurzicks will win.