ArenaNet:Skill feedback/Miscellaneous/Faction Henchmen Skillbars

Bathory's Issue -- 01:23, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Discussion Here

Issue

This isn't an emergency, but is still something that needs to be looked at. Guild Wars Factions offers the most henchmen of all the campaigns, yet many of them use the same, exact build from one another - even when they are available in the same outpost. Unlike other henchmen in other campaigns, the batch of Shing Jea henchmen do not recieve Elite skills when used in Hard Mode. Again, this is not a pressing issue, just one that I believe is worth taking the time to fix.

Suggestion

My suggestion is rather lengthy and I have already posted it Here. It lists bars that have skills that can be added to henchmen with fewer skills than others - as well as some complete bar changes to the more worthless or redundant henchman. The over-view of it is that:

• Warrior henchmen had too many copies of "Charge!".
  • Devona is the only non-sword henchman and should be given an elite reflecting this.
  • Eli & Lukas use a wonderful elite that charges their adrenaline - but lack additional adrenal skills to use with it.
• Female ranger henchmen had more skills than their male counterparts. Others had good skills for PvE while others did not.
  • Aidan lacks an interrupt (added Savage Shot to equalize skills) and has a useless preparation with his elite which can be changed for the Factions skill Seeking Arrows, which would make him a better choice than other rangers when planning to fight blocking foes.
  • Daeman lacks a skill to other Rangers, and is found in an area with many other Ranger henchmen - making Favorable Winds a choice that would allow him to interrupt and boost other rangers.
  • Yuun has no elite in hard mode, and his name implies he should have Quick Shot. So give it to him.
• Monk henchmen do not use Blessed Light to it's full effect and needlessly drain their energy.
  • The bars on the page provided are a lot different than the ones they currently use, and with recent (or not so recent) skill changes, should make them more effective when used as a primary healer.
  • Jamei is a monk found in areas with Tai, and therefore should have a differing build. While it's not the most optimal skill she could have - keeping Blessed Light gives her a different angle from which to help the party.
  • Protection henchmen Karl and Gita now have three condition removals. Giving them skills that accent other parts of Protection Prayers would allow their elite to be less redundant.
  • Give Taya Word of Healing when in Hard Mode.
• Necromancer
  • Brutus has Icy Veins but low soul reaping. His build should also be changed to focus more on dealing damage via Death Magic without the use of corpses. Icy Veins works well with other hexes like Rising Bile to damage surrounding opponents on the death of his target.
  • Eve lacked a skill compared to the other three Necromancer NPCs. Giving her another life-stealing skill should only improve her build's flexibility.
  • Su & Sheena had awfully constructed builds, using touch skills and corpse exploitation skills that did more harm to the party than not (especially when they have a minion master). Their elite Lingering Curse is very powerful and should be the center of their new build.
• Mesmer NPCs use Power Leech wrong, yet this is the only elite skill the three henchmen use. The builds suggested accentuate the different skills in their chosen line, Domination or Illusion.
• Elementalist henchman in Faction generally have bad elites, such as Mind Burn or Second Wind. While I and others have suggested changes to these skills and other non-elite skills they carry - the suggested bars for them usually revolve around giving them an elite that does the job they currently try to do more efficiently.
• Assassins using all one bar are not that scary, especially when they seem to focus more on poofing around the battlefield than killing. I've suggested bars that would help Panaku and Emi target different types of enemies to reduce the redundancy, as well as an elite for Mai.
• Ritualists are one of the most diverse professions, but all three of these henchman use the same exact bar.
• Aeson should focus more on Channeling - as other Luxon Ritualists encountered (Outcast Ritualist) seem to be hell-bent on stealing health. Keeping in line that Ritualists are a support class he should still offer some healing.
• Chiyo has an alternative bar in Vizunah Square that works well with Gai when he is present - giving her this as a permanent bar makes bringing the two of them more sensible as they are offered in the same outposts.