User:Katy kraft

My Guild Wars Career
Hello. I am not a consistent player of Guild Wars, but when I do play I play often. I got the original game about two months after it was released, and got my W/N (named after my username) to Level 8. However, having done all the Ascalon quests, I was kind of "stuck". So, I stopped playing the game for a while.

When I came back (June 2006), the name was changed to Prophecies, as Factions had been released. Then I learned about things called Missions. LOL. This allowed me to get out of Ascalon and start actually going somewhere in the game. I joined a guild, got a run to Droknar's Forge, then power-leveled up to 15. From there, I did all the missions and quests of Tyria (I literally did every one, one after the other) until I got Ascended and beat the Dragon (Glint). From there, I went to the Ice Caves of Sorrow but got destroyed. At this point I had reached 60% map completion, which was the beginning of one of my biggest goals in the game (Cartographer title, since I am a completionist). But, again I felt like I was stuck.

In January 2007, I finally returned to the game. However, I decided to buy Factions and start that. I created a Rt/Mo. Luckily, it was during the weekend of the New Year's Festival (year of the pig), and there were tons of 5,000 XP quests to do on Shing Jea Island. I did every secondary-profession quest, like the article on here recommends, and was Level 18 before leaving Shing Jea. I was Level 20 before I knew it, but had really no direction as far as my build went. I tried to be a spirit spammer, but with my hench-focused play-style, this got me killed in the missions on the mainland.

It was during this time that I shifted my focus back on my Tyrian warrior. I improved my build by changing to Monk secondary and using an adaption of the Full Vigor Paladin on this site (of course I didn't have Hundred Blades). I beat the first two Southern Shiverpeak missions, and then was graced with the wonderful mission called Thunderhead Keep. It was here that I spent every night for a week trying to beat it with PUGs, to no avail. Finally, after I was about to give up, I tried it with henches following the strategies on GuildWiki and was able to do it (mainly with my Flurry + Vig Spirit + Live Vicariously build). Then I easily dispatched Ember Light Camp with henchies.

From there, I started to shift back and forth between my Tyrian and Canthan characters. The eventual result on my Prophecies character was that I beat the game (beat the last mission), captured Hundred Blades like I wanted to, and continued exploring the map. As of now, I have 75% explored, but I haven't even touched most of the Ring of Fire Islands or the Southern Shiverpeaks. I expect to hit around 85-88% after doing that, and then I will have to start trying hard to reach Cartographer. I could probably get the title for doing Missions + Bonus with a little effort, since I have all but 3 of them. The Dunes, however, does not sound like fun at all, and I don't really have time to screw with that right now.

As far as my Canthan Ritualist goes, I also finished the game with him. I wound up using a Channeler build for most of the game, and was able to progress without much issue. I chose to do the Echovald Forest missions, so I am now going back and doing the Jade Sea ones. I didn't get Master's on very many missions, but that isn't really a goal of mine. My Ritualists main goal isn't exploration either, despite the fact that his current title is Canthan Explorer. Instead, I am focusing on turning him into the ultimate farmer. As a Rt/Me, he can farm the Vermin outside Senji's Corner with no problem at all. I can also farm Jade Brotherhood using my 55 Ritualist build. I expect to be able to farm other 55 locations, such as the Mountain Trolls outside Drok's, but I haven't gotten there yet with him. I also can somewhat farm the Underworld, but I am not good enough to warrant the 1k entry fee. I usually die right in the Chamber by messing up somehow. I eventually reached the point where I took another small break from the game.

I came back in June 2007 because Gamestop had Nightfall for 50% off. I had to jump on that, and so I do. I bought the game and made a Nightfall character, who is a Dervish Elementalist. I just finished the Istan quests and am level 19. I expect to be level 20 in no time at all, now that I am in Kourna. One of my biggest focuses, other than obviously finishing the story line, is getting a decent build together. At the moment, the only E skill I am using is Firestorm. I want to focus more on water magic or earth magic so I can tank better. And whenever I get Searing Flames I plan on making a Burning Dervish. But, I can cap all the Dervish Avatars in Kourna, so I will probably do that to hold me until I get some quality Elementalist skills. Another thing I am dying to get is Restore Condition for my protection monk hero, in addition to other skills to improve my hero builds. My Dunkoro is using a WoH build, my Koss is using one of my W/N builds from my Prophecies character, and Tahlkora has a general Protection build that is currently using the elite skill Shield of Absorption. It works but I really want to make an RC bonder. Plus, I plan on taking out Dunkoro in favor of Acolyte Jin with a Barrage build, whenever I get some Paragon skills. I will probably just unlock the skills I need for the heroes via the Priest of Balthazar.

Speaking of Balthazar, I have started to PvP for the first time. I started a PvP-only Assassin that uses Siphon Strength and a chain of skills to make a 250-300 damage spike that also causes deep wound and poison (and that's without counting critical hits). It totally destroys Elementalists, Mesmers and Ritualists, and I can usually beat Monks and other Assassins after not too long. The Siphon Strength aspect lets me shut down other Sins, and also stop any crazy Dervishes or Warriors that are causing a lot of melee damage. Overall the build works decent in RA, but I just need more practice. Also, it could use a good anti-condition skill, but I don't seem to have room for it right now. We'll see what happens there, but for now the build seems to suit me OK. I will probably look into getting Moebius Strike soon, since that is an awesome skill! I am aiming at getting a Gladiator title with him.

And that's all I have done so far...

History
Kathryn Stardust was born in Istan to a farmer. As a farmer's daughter, she lived comfortably but not as nobility. The most important thing about her childhood was its normalcy. She wasn't too rich or too poor; she didn't receive a great education, but she was educated; and she wasn't trained from birth to be a warrior, though she could handle a sword.

How, then, was this normal girl introduced to the ways of the scythe and the hood? Simply put, she was in the right place at the right time. As she and her father were walking into Kamadan to get some farming supplies on a seemingly ordinary day, they were ambushed by some petty Corsairs. Her father carried a small dagger for occasions such as this, but in the struggle it was thrust from his hands. While the thieves were looting the pockets of her father, Kathryn fetched the dagger and approached them. When they realized she had picked it up, they taunted her, saying that she would never use it. But she did. She stabbed one of the ambushers directly in the throat. The rest of them didn't want to deal with their dead friend, so they ran away with what little loot they had taken from Kathryn's father. This quick act of bravery would have normally gone unnoticed, but her father had quite the big mouth. It wasn't long before everyone in Kamadan knew of her brave acts. Everyone including the First Spear Dehvad of the Sunspears. Considering the lack of sunspears in the time of imminent crisis, it wasn't long before he contacted Kathryn.

After not long at all, Kathryn became a very respected member of the Sunspear recruits, and one of the best Dervishes they have to offer. It was at this point that the events of Nightfall began, and Kathryn rose to the occasion.