My ISP, the comically inept TM Net, is undergoing one of its regular screw-ups. As of writing, I can’t play Guild Wars. I can log in to server, I can mess about in town but the moment I try to travel or enter a mission, I get an err=5 message.

On the occasions when I have been able to play the game, the conditions have been far from ideal. I’ve been experiencing intermittent lag spikes so bad I have time to curse, ALT-TAB to Windows to check whether my modem has been disconnected, ALT-TAB back to the game, curse some more and still have time to pray my character is still alive when the lag spike resolves itself.

The aggravation I’ve been experiencing in Guild Wars isn’t just lag-related either. I simply cannot fathom ArenaNet’s thinking sometimes.

Take the acquisition of elite skills, for instance. Elite skills are captured from bosses who are found in specific locations. ArenaNet, for reasons known only to themselves, have opted to randomly spawn some bosses. This means you might have to revisit an area or replay an entire mission just to get the boss you want. It’s usually not so bad. It might take two or three attempts to get the boss you need.

The boss spawns in the Sunjiang District mission of Factions, however, are just insane. There are 4 bosses who spawn at the end of the mission. That’s 4 boss slots for 8 different bosses. You would think you’d need only two tries at most to get the boss you want.

Wrong.

Some bosses show up much more frequently than others. The Warrior and Ranger bosses are almost always there. This leaves two more slots for the other six bosses. The Necro and the Ritualist are not uncommon but the Assassin, the Elementalist and the Monk are relatively rare. The rarest of the lot? The Mesmer boss.

Guess which one I wanted to cap?

Tha-a-a-at’s right.

It took me over a dozen attempts before I saw the Mesmer boss with each attempt taking a minimum of 18 minutes. That’s way too much grind for a game that tries really hard to eliminate it for the casual player.

Additional Guild Wars Factions observations …

Rangers with Barrage should have no problems getting invites in Cantha as there are a lot of closely-packed foes in most areas I’ve played in so far. Stay at bow-range, wield a bow with an energy-reclaiming Zealous string and fire away. Spamming Barrage can get tedious but there’s no denying the satisfaction that comes from the impressively high damage numbers.

Mesmers will find it difficult to get a place in PUGs as usual. (I’m usually startled when my Mesmer is sent blind invites.) The problem is most PUG players aren’t attentive enough to fully appreciate the Mesmer’s brand of chaos. I’ve played mostly with henchmen and most quests and missions are doable with NPCs.

I haven’t played much of the Assassin class but from what I’ve observed, it reminds me of my old N/W meleemancer: frail but capable of dishing out surprising amounts of pain. (The Assassin bosses certainly shocked me with their hitting power the first time I encountered them.) I think the trick with Assassins is you have to time your hit and run attacks well. Most Assassins I’ve observed in Cantha (and Tyria) are adept at the hitting and not as adept at the running. The real problem with the class right now, though, is that there’s an overabundance of them. It’s understandable everyone wants to try them out — I’ve got one myself — but their numbers are ridiculous.

I’m so glad my graphics card, which has a palette of millions of colours, has sufficient power to render all this blackness.