Effective Use of Henchmen: Part 2
Originally Published by Sonya of Red
The Power of the Henchmen
As stated in the first installment of this three part article, the henchman are a powerful tool. The problem is, this power comes with a price and can, in some cases, lead to sloppy play and bad habits.
In the early game, up too perhaps the desert (ok I'm stretching what is actually the early game), your henchmen can overcome seemingly less than perfect odds. It is for this reason that, again up until the desert missions, I usually never hired all the henchman I could and instead would keep the groups limited to no more than four (after all more experience more drops for me).
This early on power of the henchman is both good and bad. It allows a new player the ability to make mistakes and still succeed. It also allows the experienced player move quicker through missions that are perhaps a little tedious. These are good things. The flip side of this is that it fosters a certain degree of overconfidence for the inexperienced human player. At some point, their large group of henchman goes from being an overwhelming force to a band of unguided misfits. Part of the reason that there are so many complaints about henchman and how it is so hard to complete various missions with them is that many people have trouble transitioning themselves from the role of playing with a group to wielding this group as a weapon.
Let me give an example. When I had first started playing Guild Wars with henchmen I definitely saw myself as part of a team. When a foe would appear I would rush into battle confident that my henchmen teammates would support me. I relied on their power and Alesia's ability to heal, to ram my way through my enemies; I was the hero, a force to be reckoned with. If I had trouble completing a mission then I would just tack on another henchman to my party, after all if four henchmen didn't work then five surely would.
Early on this technique worked very well, and I, with my henchmen team, would run blindly into battle overcoming our opponents by brute force. Nothing good last forever and this technique or should I say lack of technique soon started to fail me.
The first inclination of trouble appeared when I first wandered into the Temple of Ages region. I had been exploring the region just south of it with Alesia and had kind of stumbled into the area by accident. Upon entering and attacking my first foes I was quickly defeated. So, I took on more henchmen (two other aside from Alesia) and went back to that same region, but again was quickly thwarted. At this point I decided that nothing less then a full crew of henchmen was going to win the day. So with my new larger party went to that same region but low and behold was obliterated. Obviously, I thought, this area was not meant for a level 15 and his five level 12 henchmen. See, my brute force method failed me and instead of placing the blame upon myself and my ineffective use of henchmen, I blamed the game. This area was surly an area that only high level characters would dare enter.
So I left the area determined that once I had reached level 20 I would revisit the Temple of Ages region. Fast forward a bit in time and my character has reached level 20 and I decided once again to go back and conquer the area that had thwarted my earlier attempts. With my party of five henchmen I confidently entered the area but was in for a great shock. I made it to the Temple of Ages, but by the skin of my teeth and over the corpses of all my fallen henchmen. You see I hadn't really learned anything. I still saw myself as a kind of battling ram, mowing through all enemies in my path. I made it to the Temple of Ages not because I was a higher level but because I had become a bit more skilled in the use of my ranger. Basically it was a solo effort my henchmen were just food for the fodder.
My problem was to mistake the sheer early on power of the henchmen for skill, my skill. I had relied on their power in the early game to make my way through the game. Later, when I had become a more seasoned player, I started a new character and made my way through most of the early part of the game by myself or with only one henchman. What I had before used three henchmen for, now I used half or none. What quickly became apparent to me was that, with my previous character, I had always gone into the missions with way too much power. Three henchmen to get my level 10 to Piken Square, talk about overpowered.
So yes, the henchman can survive and win the day without you in the early part of the game but in the latter part they will fail without you. After all, a headless chicken might run around and knock down other chickens in its path but you can't call that strategy.
~red
Effective Use of Henchmen: Part 3
As stated in the first installment of this three part article, the henchman are a powerful tool. The problem is, this power comes with a price and can, in some cases, lead to sloppy play and bad habits.
In the early game, up too perhaps the desert (ok I'm stretching what is actually the early game), your henchmen can overcome seemingly less than perfect odds. It is for this reason that, again up until the desert missions, I usually never hired all the henchman I could and instead would keep the groups limited to no more than four (after all more experience more drops for me).
This early on power of the henchman is both good and bad. It allows a new player the ability to make mistakes and still succeed. It also allows the experienced player move quicker through missions that are perhaps a little tedious. These are good things. The flip side of this is that it fosters a certain degree of overconfidence for the inexperienced human player. At some point, their large group of henchman goes from being an overwhelming force to a band of unguided misfits. Part of the reason that there are so many complaints about henchman and how it is so hard to complete various missions with them is that many people have trouble transitioning themselves from the role of playing with a group to wielding this group as a weapon.
Let me give an example. When I had first started playing Guild Wars with henchmen I definitely saw myself as part of a team. When a foe would appear I would rush into battle confident that my henchmen teammates would support me. I relied on their power and Alesia's ability to heal, to ram my way through my enemies; I was the hero, a force to be reckoned with. If I had trouble completing a mission then I would just tack on another henchman to my party, after all if four henchmen didn't work then five surely would.
Early on this technique worked very well, and I, with my henchmen team, would run blindly into battle overcoming our opponents by brute force. Nothing good last forever and this technique or should I say lack of technique soon started to fail me.
The first inclination of trouble appeared when I first wandered into the Temple of Ages region. I had been exploring the region just south of it with Alesia and had kind of stumbled into the area by accident. Upon entering and attacking my first foes I was quickly defeated. So, I took on more henchmen (two other aside from Alesia) and went back to that same region, but again was quickly thwarted. At this point I decided that nothing less then a full crew of henchmen was going to win the day. So with my new larger party went to that same region but low and behold was obliterated. Obviously, I thought, this area was not meant for a level 15 and his five level 12 henchmen. See, my brute force method failed me and instead of placing the blame upon myself and my ineffective use of henchmen, I blamed the game. This area was surly an area that only high level characters would dare enter.
So I left the area determined that once I had reached level 20 I would revisit the Temple of Ages region. Fast forward a bit in time and my character has reached level 20 and I decided once again to go back and conquer the area that had thwarted my earlier attempts. With my party of five henchmen I confidently entered the area but was in for a great shock. I made it to the Temple of Ages, but by the skin of my teeth and over the corpses of all my fallen henchmen. You see I hadn't really learned anything. I still saw myself as a kind of battling ram, mowing through all enemies in my path. I made it to the Temple of Ages not because I was a higher level but because I had become a bit more skilled in the use of my ranger. Basically it was a solo effort my henchmen were just food for the fodder.
My problem was to mistake the sheer early on power of the henchmen for skill, my skill. I had relied on their power in the early game to make my way through the game. Later, when I had become a more seasoned player, I started a new character and made my way through most of the early part of the game by myself or with only one henchman. What I had before used three henchmen for, now I used half or none. What quickly became apparent to me was that, with my previous character, I had always gone into the missions with way too much power. Three henchmen to get my level 10 to Piken Square, talk about overpowered.
So yes, the henchman can survive and win the day without you in the early part of the game but in the latter part they will fail without you. After all, a headless chicken might run around and knock down other chickens in its path but you can't call that strategy.
~red
Effective Use of Henchmen: Part 3
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