Chapter 4: Winding Down(August 11th,
2005 to September 15th, 2005)
Character Barrage
August began a slow decline from the number of hours a week I played the
game. I had done so much so fast that I was starting to tire of doing the same
missions again and again. From my deleted Mesmer I created another Ranger and
once again I used the same name. This would be the third incarnation of that
name. But by the very next day it would turn into a fourth incarnation as I
deleted the Ranger and re-created my Mesmer. I had a foolish notion of
recapturing the fun I had going over the wall. That wouldn't happen as the
"moment" had already passed. I quickly became bored with the Mesmer and stopped
playing her altogether. It would take a few more weeks before I got around to
deleting her.
On August 6th, from the ashes of my deleted Warrior I once again made a Ranger.
If you've lost track, I had my Elementalist, my Monk, the pre-searing Mesmer I
stopped using, and now this newest Ranger. I actually played this latest Ranger.
I tried to revive my interest in the game and went through the missions and
really tried my best to enjoy them. I even bought a set of 15K Druids for her. I
reached Thunderhead Keep with her and finally decided it was about time I
henched the mission. During the mission I stumbled on a trick that caused the
king to wander down the stairs and get stuck there. This meant that I only had
to defend one side of the fort and only face half of the enemies! I would
finally be able to hench Thunderhead Keep! But it wasn't meant to be. The
Mursaat that started grouping up at the top of the stairs inched over just
enough to aggro the king. Soon enough I had 10 or more Mursaat ripping the king
to shreds and ending the mission. I eventually gave up trying to hench the
mission and just beat it with a PUG. Oh well.
Loose Ends
Some of the wildest and most memorable times that occur in
any online game usually occur within the first few months of it coming out. I
missed the first month and a half or so but I still witnessed some amazing
things. There have been so many changes to the game over the years it is amazing
how many little things were changed...just about everywhere during that time.
From refund points to material traders, the game has evolved so much. Even the
people have changed a great deal. You just don't see the dance parties and "hang
out" places anymore. Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight back then to take
screen shots of everything. Here are just a couple of minor things I found:
One noteworthy thing I accomplished was that I was able to
hench Hell's Precipice with my Monk. Hell's Precipice was becoming my Monk's
favorite place to idle and on occasion I would do the mission out of boredom. It
didn't take long before I was able to hench the mission with any of my
characters. All it took was the right target calling and the mission was very
easy.
Sometime before the end of August I finally deleted my
unused pre-searing Mesmer. I then recreated her into her original incarnation, a
Necromancer. The only change I made was her hair color. This was the fifth and
final incarnation of the name that I kept using. I still have this Necromancer
to this day, although I never got around to even using her until 2006.
Sorrow's Furnace
By the time September came around I was doing little more
than idling around various towns and talking to random people. I was bored.
Sorrow's Furnace was going to be a way to regain interest in the game by
exploring new areas, fighting new monsters, farming new bosses, and completing
new quests. When the day finally came I quickly logged on to my Monk and mapped
over to the Granite Citadel. Rumors had been flying for days that the entrance
to Sorrow's Furnace would be near the Granite Citadel, especially around some
areas in Tasca's Demise. I left out of the northern exit and began to search
every inch of Tasca's Demise. The only thing of note I came across were the new
locked chests. This officially ended my Monk's days of chest farming. Besides
chests, I couldn't find anything that led to Sorrow's Furnace.
I decided to search for it online and I came across something about some titan
quests. Well, as long as it is new content then I am up for it. I went over to
Droknar's Forge and picked up Defend Droknars from Glint. I returned to the
Granite Citadel to stock up on henchmen before venturing out into the snow to
stop the titans before they reached the forge. Some of the titans packed quite a
punch but in the end I really had no problems. The titan quest in Ascalon though
proved to be much more of a challenge. I joined a PUG for that one and only by
exploiting a bug that allowed us to finish the quest even with the king dead did
we manage to finish. For North Kryta Province I ended up having to join a PUG
and travel from the Temple of the Ages in order to beat it. For some reason I
never bothered to Defend Denravi until just about a month ago. I still haven't
completed the Titan Source. Maybe I'll do that some day...
After a several hour delay I finally figured out where
Sorrow's Furnace actually was. I returned yet again to the Granite Citadel and
this time left out of the southern exit. After first arriving in Grenth's
Footprint I noticed something quite interesting. The new Stone Summit monk, the
Priest of Sorrows, can resurrect! This would prove to be quite annoying since up
until now I never really bothered much with interrupts and the henchmen
certainly were not known for interrupting. The rest of the zone unfortunately
was filled with the usual Stone Summit pushovers. After a pit stop at the
Deldrimor War Camp, I finally brushed aside the remaining Stone Summit and at
long last entered Sorrow's Furnace.
The first time I entered I did so without any NPC. My goal
was simply to explore. I was pleased to see that almost every enemy inside was
new. I was also excited about the new green items I had been hearing about.
While my luck with finding greens was non-existant, I still had a good time.
After I explored everything I could I went back outside and picked up each NPC
one at a time and henched their quests. The Galen Trask one was easy enough to
complete. The Kilroy one was quite hectic trying to keep up with that crazy
dwarf! Orozar provided a challenge with the large number of enemies that had to
be fended off. The Alkar one I just couldn't beat with henchies. Since you
couldn't flag them back then, I was unable to run back and forth to gather the
artifacts and protect Orozar at the same time. I never bothered trying to find a
PUG for Orozar and as such I did not move on to complete the last quest of the
furnace.
One of the things I tried doing after arriving in Sorrow's Furnace was create a
map by taking screenshots of the compass. For several days I had been unable to
find a single map anywhere online so each day I would add on a little more to my
map and post it online. Finally after probably a week or so more maps started
appearing online and because they were more complete and professional looking
than my map I stopped working on mine. Sorrow's Furnace revived my interest in
the game as I hoped it would but even Kilroy's antics could not sustain that
interest for very long. After only about two weeks after the release, I lost
interest in Guild Wars altogether and moved on to other things.
August began a slow decline from the number of hours a week I played the
game. I had done so much so fast that I was starting to tire of doing the same
missions again and again. From my deleted Mesmer I created another Ranger and
once again I used the same name. This would be the third incarnation of that
name. But by the very next day it would turn into a fourth incarnation as I
deleted the Ranger and re-created my Mesmer. I had a foolish notion of
recapturing the fun I had going over the wall. That wouldn't happen as the
"moment" had already passed. I quickly became bored with the Mesmer and stopped
playing her altogether. It would take a few more weeks before I got around to
deleting her.
On August 6th, from the ashes of my deleted Warrior I once again made a Ranger.
If you've lost track, I had my Elementalist, my Monk, the pre-searing Mesmer I
stopped using, and now this newest Ranger. I actually played this latest Ranger.
I tried to revive my interest in the game and went through the missions and
really tried my best to enjoy them. I even bought a set of 15K Druids for her. I
reached Thunderhead Keep with her and finally decided it was about time I
henched the mission. During the mission I stumbled on a trick that caused the
king to wander down the stairs and get stuck there. This meant that I only had
to defend one side of the fort and only face half of the enemies! I would
finally be able to hench Thunderhead Keep! But it wasn't meant to be. The
Mursaat that started grouping up at the top of the stairs inched over just
enough to aggro the king. Soon enough I had 10 or more Mursaat ripping the king
to shreds and ending the mission. I eventually gave up trying to hench the
mission and just beat it with a PUG. Oh well.
I decided to search for it online and I came across something about some titan
quests. Well, as long as it is new content then I am up for it. I went over to
Droknar's Forge and picked up Defend Droknars from Glint. I returned to the
Granite Citadel to stock up on henchmen before venturing out into the snow to
stop the titans before they reached the forge. Some of the titans packed quite a
punch but in the end I really had no problems. The titan quest in Ascalon though
proved to be much more of a challenge. I joined a PUG for that one and only by
exploiting a bug that allowed us to finish the quest even with the king dead did
we manage to finish. For North Kryta Province I ended up having to join a PUG
and travel from the Temple of the Ages in order to beat it. For some reason I
never bothered to Defend Denravi until just about a month ago. I still haven't
completed the Titan Source. Maybe I'll do that some day...
After a several hour delay I finally figured out where
Sorrow's Furnace actually was. I returned yet again to the Granite Citadel and
this time left out of the southern exit. After first arriving in Grenth's
Footprint I noticed something quite interesting. The new Stone Summit monk, the
Priest of Sorrows, can resurrect! This would prove to be quite annoying since up
until now I never really bothered much with interrupts and the henchmen
certainly were not known for interrupting. The rest of the zone unfortunately
was filled with the usual Stone Summit pushovers. After a pit stop at the
Deldrimor War Camp, I finally brushed aside the remaining Stone Summit and at
long last entered Sorrow's Furnace. 
The first time I entered I did so without any NPC. My goal
was simply to explore. I was pleased to see that almost every enemy inside was
new. I was also excited about the new green items I had been hearing about.
While my luck with finding greens was non-existant, I still had a good time.
After I explored everything I could I went back outside and picked up each NPC
one at a time and henched their quests. The Galen Trask one was easy enough to
complete. The Kilroy one was quite hectic trying to keep up with that crazy
dwarf! Orozar provided a challenge with the large number of enemies that had to
be fended off. The Alkar one I just couldn't beat with henchies. Since you
couldn't flag them back then, I was unable to run back and forth to gather the
artifacts and protect Orozar at the same time. I never bothered trying to find a
PUG for Orozar and as such I did not move on to complete the last quest of the
furnace.
One of the things I tried doing after arriving in Sorrow's Furnace was create a
map by taking screenshots of the compass. For several days I had been unable to
find a single map anywhere online so each day I would add on a little more to my
map and post it online. Finally after probably a week or so more maps started
appearing online and because they were more complete and professional looking
than my map I stopped working on mine. Sorrow's Furnace revived my interest in
the game as I hoped it would but even Kilroy's antics could not sustain that
interest for very long. After only about two weeks after the release, I lost
interest in Guild Wars altogether and moved on to other things. 