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Author: moonmonday
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17 Comments
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This is a fairly simple mission that nonetheless can prove daunting to some people who simply have never played Guild Wars before and aren't really intimately familiar with the system as some of us who have played it longer. Before even tackling this mission, I would recommend that you get your insignia in your chosen profession, which can be done by completing all of the advanced training at the dojo and then doing your advanced training mission. Do all the quests that you can do on Shing Jea Island, and be sure to go to the collectors (why buy, when you can trade?) and get some nice new armor. Once you've got all this done, you should have enough practical experience that the mission itself will be a cake walk.
Now, depending on what your profession is, you will need to prepare differently for this mission. I am going to assume that you'll be doing this mission by yourself, with the assistance of henchmen. By now you should have figured out exactly which combination works best with your play style, and I'd imagine that by this point, most fights will run smoothly due to your ability to manage them. If you're not a direct physical fighter (i.e., Warrior, etc) then you should know how to get them to "tank" for you and take the damage while you administer damage from afar. If you yourself are a "tank", you should by this point know how to "gain aggro" and draw enemies away from your allies. There are many, many approaches to each and every profession, so I recommend testing out your combinations in a suitably easy part of the island and not putting them to the test during a mission, especially if you're going with other human players.
Something very useful to many people that I didn't even know myself until a couple of days ago is that once you call out a target, your henchmen will usually go attack it if you're in range. You don't have to draw aggro yourself, which can be a suicidal rush at best for many magic-users. Some people use shift+ctrl+space after focusing (C will focus on the closest foe, tab will change the focus to others surrounding), others hold ctrl and double-click a foe, some have other ways to do it. It's very useful to send off your henchmen if you're not a physical fighter yourself, but even if you are, it's still great to be prepared for a fight before your foe is. Togo will go over this in the mission for you, but you should know it beforehand and practice it.
Before you embark on the mission, know that there are advantages and disadvantages to using henchmen that I'm not going to go into in detail here. If you're a Monk either as a primary or secondary class, or if you have a human player Monk in your party, have the Monk bring Resurrect. I know some people will scoff at this, but the henchmen only have so many, and there are sometimes unforeseen disasters during missions; Afflicted magic-users can sometimes spring the most ridiculous and unlikely -- yet deadly -- combinations on you, and well, sometimes people also have "off days", as evidenced by my run-through of this mission as my Necromancer/Monk. It seems that every time she goes through a mission, everyone around her has an off day! So do bring Resurrect. You'll be glad you did, and so will the people in your party.
Now that I'm done with the preamble, I'll get to the mission. The thing most important to remember is that Togo and Yijo Tahn must reach the Minister alive. That's all. But that's enough, especially since for all his advice-dispensing, Togo rarely follows it. He will lead you, via Yijo being a cabbagehead, through fundamental skills such as the calling of a target that I outlined earlier. Just humor him, because he genuinely does have some good advice. Stay with him, because sometimes he will fall silent, and nothing else happens unless you're close. Despite his "a lone hero is often a dead hero" speech, he will also often run ahead of the party; this usually isn't a problem since he's so high-level by comparison, but keep an eye on his health and Yijo's too. Even if you're not a healer, you can still leap in when the fight might look a little more serious than usual.
By just following Togo's advice, you should be fine for most of the stage. The first tricky part starts when Yijo spots an Afflicted Moa, and you have to fight some Afflicted animals. Try not to wander too far, because you'll gain aggro (aka "attract the attention of") on several groups. Move very slowly, and try to avoid as many as possible. Go directly from the stairs down into the nearby stairs up onto the immediate bridge. You will probably have to fight more Moa when you descend towards another stairway, but they're not too difficult. Then hurry onto the next bridge and try as hard as you can not to gain aggro of either group on either side. If you have to choose, avoid the group on the right: they're bears, and they're vicious. However, at least if you do get their attention, you'll be able to shoehorn them into a small space if you're on the bridge.
I usually particularly like to squeeze enemies into a small space and restrict their movement, then let them have it with immediate area-affecting skills/spells, but this can be a double-edged sword as a capable enemy can turn it back on you. If you're a Mesmer or a Necromancer, this can still be fairly useful, but if you're an Elementalist, only use Fire Storm or an equivalent spell if you want your foes to scatter. And if you are an Elementalist and have a human Necromancer in your party, make sure it's okay with them before you scatter your opponents; Necromancers have some skills that are extremely useful only when enemies are squeezed together in a pack. The best way to do well on a mission is to have good communication with your teammates and, ideally, to have some basic understanding of their particular "build", that is to say the skills they take and their method of attack or defense.
Now, after the bears, hurry across the bridge but don't get the attention of the approaching party yet. Make sure your energy and health are replenished, and make sure everyone in the party is capable. Now make sure everyone gets off the bridge, or else you'll fall victim to exactly what I outlined before, because the magic-user you're about to face has Breath of Fire, which can finish off a party in no time if they're trapped in a small space. If he casts Breath of Fire, be sure to move outside of the area of effect. Take out the magic-user first, and try to avoid or endure the attacks of the more physical fighters. This is generally a good strategy for most of the rest of the level, especially since some of the magic-users are Ritualists who will use Pain, which will create yet another enemy to attack you. My policy is usually to take out magic-users first, because they can usually cause the most damage to the most people if left unchecked. This isn't a universal, and if you're up against an excellent physical fighter, it's a different story entirely. However, that isn't the case here.
Try to follow Togo and Yijo as closely as possible, because they will usually avoid unnecessary fights. Don't stray from them too far, and especially don't stray from a group if you're doing this with human players; there are few things more annoying than finding yourself somewhere in the mission, only to find that someone wandered off and got himself pasted by enemies you didn't want to fight, or getting marooned because every idiot wants to go his own way. It isn't too serious in this mission, but in later ones it is essential that everyone works together. And most of the time, unless you're extremely good at managing your health and all your skills, you can't just go off entirely on your own with no help and finish a mission.
Once you get to the Minister's chambers, make sure everyone's on the same page, replenished, and take a breather. You don't have to fight any of the other enemies in the level if you don't want to, once you've reached Minister Cho. Talk to him to begin a cutscene, and then back up immediately after, unless you're a Warrior. The Diseased Minister is a tough customer, with Necromancer skills that can make the battle tougher. If you're a Necromancer yourself, exploit the corpses nearby before he can, or else he will animate some minions to come after you. If you're a Mesmer, try to lock him down as much as possible, sapping his energy and depleting his health; also slow down his movements, which will make your group's combinations even more deadly. Rangers should interrupt if possible, or carefully set traps and lure. Animal companions are also another useful party member and can be very good at helping cause damage. Warriors are, as always, good at tanking. Monks should usually stay clear of the fighting and keep the party's health at a maximum -- the Diseased Minister can take off a lot of health with just a swipe. Ritualists will do well to attack and support, especially with the well-placed use of spirits, both to minimize damage to allies and to cause damage to foes. Assassins should use skills well and retreat at their discretion, since they are best used in bursts.
You should have no problem with the Minister if you are careful and have used your learned skills well. The things I've pointed out in my guide should be useful to you in your future missions in the game too, especially if you work with other human players. A little respect goes a long way; please try to be as friendly and accommodating as possible to your fellow players. Being friendly and cultivating pleasant working relationships on this game is very helpful, and sometimes it may just save your life in-game. Being unpleasant, puerile, or downright cruel will garner you hostility. While it may not seem immediately effective, people do talk, and people do have guilds. And Guild Wars does come with an ignore list (press N for Friends and the ignore list) which will allow people to see even your other characters when they're signed on, after they add one to the list. So don't be a jackass, and do your part, whatever it is. Every part of the party is as important as another. No grandstanding allowed.
And enjoy!
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