Talk:The Battle for Lion's Arch

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I did this with 3 people (a Curses Nec, a Monk, and a Barrage ranger) and 3 heroes (a Searing Flames elementalist, another Curses Nec, and a restoration Nec/Ritualist). We died once. Both curses necs had SS and Mark of Pain. The Nec/Ritualist had Splinter Weapon. I also carried Blood Ritual to keep the Monk in power. The mobs bunch up on the stairs so we spent our time on the hill overlooking the stairs. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by HSJ (contribs) 05:01, July 10, 2010.

This is it?
It's an ok mission with some tough fights- tho at a certain point some minions bridged the mob outside the doors and made them wipe LA within half a minute...Apart from that, Anet obviously hasnt learned from any experience in the past when it comes to large scale battles: At least a third of the mission is stop and go / slowmotion at its best.

And what about the great opportunity to turn this whole "War in Kryta" story into a great Prophecies revival? The battle for Lions Arch shouldnt be the end, but the start of the war against the White Mantle: Princess Salma should order a counter offensive and chase the White Mantle thru the Red Desert, The Wilds (all those abandoned missions, outposts and maps noone really bothers with anymore)...we could even fight our way from Beacons Perch down into the Southern Shiverpeaks, follo the Mursaat thru Ice Floe right into their portal at Thunderhead Keep...and where else should and could they be defeated but on their own home turf: The Ring of Fire Isles!!! (not to mention that all this wouldve been perfectly fitting into the story, as it links the Seer and the Bloodstone as well).

But obviously this is just another episode in Disappointment Wars. This. Is. It.


 * Eh, I think Anet is using their game designers for Guild Wars 2 right now, not creating practically a whole new prophecies....... I actually enjoyed the battle, it was difficult yet still fun. WGreg


 * I think you missed some stuff at the end, thackeray and langmar are missing and have you seen Evennia? This isn't it. Gaia [[Image:Gaia sig.png]] 07:41, July 11, 2010 (UTC)

I still can't stand and understand the people who complain about the War. It was a great mini-campaign, with an epic mass confrontation at the end, as well as leaving very obvious openings for more bonus content. (Not to mention it was free like the rest of the game) I guess there's no satisfying the whole fanbase, eh? Kaze 15:41, July 12, 2010 (UTC)

I agree with above--except the fact we (who don't always team up with other humans) had to depend on Alesia again, who continues to be the Worst. Henchman. Ever. (Why can't ANET do something about her, like give her some hex/condition removal, make her stay back, or if she is going to go aggro, give her a sword with 25-50 dmg?). Also, note Thackery is gone from the Eye, too, after this battle; it is, indeed not over yet. I do think they should add more content to this game while also pursuing GW II. GW-Susan 14:10, July 13, 2010 (UTC)


 * It would be nice if ArenaNet would have tried playing through the quest before pushing it to live. It doesn't take very long to notice that the henchmen are the wrong level, just as in the previous quests in this chain.  Quizzical 18:37, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

I Love this quest!
Dont you? i mean how often do you get huge battles like this in GW Without having to go through the Deep an urgoz. Tyseyh talk  18:17, July 12, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ummm... not so much. First of all the strategy - lets open the door and let all those mobs in is a bit like the captain of the titanic saying "Coo... lets have a closer look at that iceberg then". The fact that I've spent weeks earning medals and then discover my only chance of getting anything for them is to bring my monk out of storage because I'm not really a group player but hey monks are popular again. So lets all go and re-do the whole shining blade storyline because it's impossible with hero's & henchies??? (level 10 ffs???). Hmmm the ego-bashing of half a dozen 12 year olds shouting "Monk heal!!!" because they don't know any better... now I remember why I changed characters in the first place. Cyberhythm 21:19, July 12, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well I, for one, enjoyed this quest. I went with my warrior and another warrior with 2 heroes each. We wiped a couple times during the mission but I had a blast being able to let fly with a Scythe and Splinter Weapon. The choke points made it easier to bunch up a lot of mobs with minions and AoE them to death.Jayemji 07:06, July 13, 2010 (UTC)

It's really a fun fight. And despite the L10 Henchies in LA, it's doable alone like I did. Just use Gwen or Norgu with Panic, Mistrust, and possibly Complicate, an AotL MM with Death Nova, a Healer Hero, and Alesia and Orion for hardly noticeable but still minorly useful Heal/Damage support. Kaze 23:37, July 14, 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the tip but I only lasted until the jade cloak appeared. AotL was great and certainly more useful than flesh golem for this battle. Livia seemed to be more useful than master of whispers who insisted on running into the mobs whenever possible (even when switched to avoid combat). I equipped Gwen with panic & mistrust, some signets and some healing skills and then had Vekk throw all the fire AoE skills he could at them. Once that group with the jade cloak arrives though we quickly end up back at Salma. I've tried a splinter barrage build, a trapper build and even a spirit spammer build. Also did an infusion run when I realised my new armor wasn't infused but still no joy. Oh well at least I should get a few wintersday in July drops this weekend :). So far I think I've had about 29 confessors orders from the earlier mobs on this. Even tried it in hard mode so Alesia and Orion would be level 20. Cyberhythm 12:40, July 16, 2010 (UTC)

Revision
I think this particular instance of renamed Heroes is worth noting because Gwen isn't present during the Battle and yet her name is still generalized to Vanguard Mesmer. It's actually relevant to the plot as it's supposed to signify that Gwen stayed behind at Eye of the North to lead the Vanguard in Langmar's absence. Kaze 20:53, July 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * I didn't read this before I posted on AFK's talk about this. I only knew it was notable because Gwen doesn't actually appear here; I hadn't made the connection with Gwen being left in charge at EotN.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael Diablo_the_chicken.gif 21:07, July 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Maybe the note could be expanded to explain this? -- ◄mendel► 22:31, July 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm not in love with, "If Gwen is in the party, her name..." for two reasons: (1) there's a real Gwen (who, we speculate, is busy elsewhere) and (2) the party can have as many as 4 Gwens (why they would want that, I couldn't say). So, the previous language, "the hero's name..." and "if a player adds Gwen" was meant to address that.


 * That is, there's a clonable, hero Gwen who is distinct from the historically heroic (and unique) Gwen. Can we aim at some compromise that would better reflect this? Thanks &mdash;Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 08:04, July 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * "If the hero Gwen..." ? The other Gwen can never be in the party, anyway (only an ally), so I thought the distinction was inherent.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael Diablo_the_chicken.gif 13:46, July 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, some think the distinction is inherent, others do not. (The nuance of party vs ally is not at everyone's fingertips, for example). So, I ask again, is there not some compromise? I would like us to clarify that (a) we speak of the hero and (b) there could be multiple Vanguard Mesmers (instead of just the one implied by the current text). (The text need not include the word, "Hero;" on the other hand, I'm not sure I see the rhetorical harm done if it does.) Thanks. &mdash;Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 15:53, July 24, 2010 (UTC)

Yey, I was useful :3 Kaze 23:43, July 24, 2010 (UTC)

So, what's the trick?
I tried once with henchmen/heroes, did all right until after killing the first two bosses, and then got overwhelmed. By a cursory inspection, it looked to me like I was fighting about 20-30 mobs that came nearly simultaneously. With just me, three heroes, and two henchmen that are so severely underleveled as to basically be useless, there's obviously no hope of beating that kind of brute force head-on.

So I tried again, and again, got the first two bosses, and then got overwhelmed. This time I took a screenshot and counted the red names after I had already thinned the group somewhat. I counted fifty red names. That includes some minions and pets, of course, but I'd say it's about 30 real mobs that come, with significant healing and a lot of resurrecting. What is essentially a party of four has no hope against that straight up without some sort of trick.

There are, of course, other places in the game where mobs have that sort of overwhelming numbers. Protect the Learned is one, and the naive way of pulling it will trigger 39 margonites to come at once. That's obviously hopeless. But there are tricks to pulling it so that you never have to fight more than 16 at a time, which is far more manageable. Similarly, the Battle of Turai's Procession normally has three waves of 24 margonites, which is pretty hopeless in itself. That mission likewise has tricks to pulling it, so that you have to fight a group of 16 once, and other than that, likely never more than about a dozen at a time. That's far more manageable. Both of those give you a party size of eight, with level 20 henchmen available, too. 8 on 16 is manageable in ways that 4 on 16 would never be.

But no, here you run into about 4 on 30 if you do the mission in the naive manner of getting in the path of mobs and waiting for them to come. Some people claim to have beaten the mission. Bringing another player could make it perhaps about 6 on 30, but that's still pretty hopeless. So again I ask, what's the trick to it? Neither wiki offers much help here at the moment. Quizzical 22:02, August 3, 2010 (UTC)