To update my progress in Guild Wars, I earned the Protector of Elona title for my Elementalist three weeks ago.

Like the Protector title for Factions, it required getting Master’s rankings in every mission of the campaign. I feel it’s easier to do this in Nightfall compared to Factions. Most Factions missions required completing missions within strict time limits and it was often not possible to do that with henchmen.

The introduction of Heroes in Nightfall has made the game a lot easier for players who play exclusively with NPCs. One of the biggest advantages of Heroes is customisation and in particular, skillbar customisation. This allows the solo player to create team builds to complement skills. To give a simple example, I played as a Fire Elementalist so I configured Zhed, the Elementalist Hero, as a Water Elementalist who would slow down foes to allow me to maximise the damage from my AoE spells.

But the problem with Heroes is they’re a little too good. It’s hard to form a PUG let alone a Master’s group in Nightfall because most players seem content to play with Heroes and henchmen.

Thankfully, you can earn the Master’s ranking in every Nightfall mission without other players and I duly did this. I could’ve blundered about trying to figure out the optimum strategy on my own but I chose instead to rely on the Guild Wars wiki for tips and advice.

Predictably, I found the timed missions were the hardest and of these, Grand Court of Sebelkeh and Ruins of Morah proved particularly vexing. I actually tried these two missions with PUGs but found to my chagrin I was less successful than my attempts with NPCs. I then decided to go exclusively with NPCs and earned Master’s after several attempts.

The Protector title was mine.

Death stalks Elona

After taking a break from the game, I then set about completing the third campaign for the third time. Three times may seem excessive but I was keen on obtaining several Nightfall-specific skills for my first Guild Wars character, the Necromancer.

I’ve mentioned how much I enjoy playing around with skills in Guild Wars because they can dramatically alter your play style and game experience. You could say I lust after skills the way other players lust after high-end weapons or armour. When I first started playing the game, I would usually get every skill that was available but I’m pickier these days. My skillbars generally don’t change that much and I don’t bother getting new skills unless they’re superior in some way to the skills on my standard skillbars.

So anyway, Necro in Nightfall. I was very clinical about it, opting to take the primary quests only for the most part. I confess I was a little impatient to get to the end of the campaign and I ended up having to replay a few missions because of that.

(The Realm of Torment usually rewards the “Gogogogogo” mindset with a party wipe.)

Still, I finished the campaign earlier today and I’ve managed to capture most of the skills I wanted for my Necro.

Time to take another break from Guild Wars.