Talk:Rescue at Minister Cho's Estate (Hard mode)

This quest can be a bitch but

File:User Chieftain Alex Rescue at Cho's.jpg
Build codes:

OwFj0xfzITvlOMMMHM2ixZxgPPA OgNDwcb/OkEtYdreEQga1CaB OACjEqiMJOXzyZ1kZixkmTuhJA OQhkAkB8QGOUI0KAJQeGCIHUGwFD

--File:User Chieftain Alex Chieftain Signature.pngChieftain Alex 09:45, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Yep, this quest was the hardest WoC HM quest, no doubt! I wish I'd thought to look here before I had wasted hours trying to complete it. In the end I used a 3 Rit hero party, with my Ele also taking Rit as secondary (it was a last ditch attempt before I went mad and threw my LT out the window), then I gave the heroes pets to add a little bit of cannon-fodda.

Builds: 
My Ele's Build: OghjwMgsITOb+gfTRbZOVT7ixiA  Hero 1's Build: OAKkYNgsYSmz5E5u5M2yTyZ1k2A 
Hero 2's Build: OAKjYNhMJTiTNbTOgfVPciXM0GA  Hero 3's Build: OAKjYNhMJTiTNbTOgfVPciXM0GA  

Titan Crow 17:25, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

How can you get a 3 rit hero party when there are only 2 rit heros? --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.141.104.244 (talk) at 09:35, 3 July 2012 (UTC).

Nevermind, wipe at first group with conset and MSS. This one is a complete fail. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.141.104.233 (talk) at 09:44, 3 July 2012 (UTC).

As all things Guild Wars this quest is built for the idiots that use trendy builds that they never designed so they can feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, since A-net panders to and rewards thier "mindless player" mentality those of us who actually like our characters are once again left in the cold. If you want to beat this in HM you have to bring all the current Fagway hero builds ........... or just bring a human (or monkey or set an electric toothbrush on the keyboard) with SoS. If you are trying to go thru this quest using fun or original builds forget it............ thats not what Guild Wars is about............ Play on rails or be villified. Guild Wars 2? Ya right lol68.230.154.74 10:17, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Hard missions and places in this game always going to favor the build which they are intended to favor. There are more suitable places for bitching than this wiki I believe. --Kgptzac 05:20, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) I dunno why I never noticed your team earlier, Alex: that's different from the group I took...and I'm considering stealing your idea. This proves (at least, to me) that people can succeed using a wide variety of team builds, as long as they are well-balanced and efficient. User:Vili suggests massive healing plus SoS, you've got interrupts + SoS. I've taken AotL + Nukers + TS Prots as well as SoS, MM, and healz and I'm considering two mesmers + healer for next round. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:53, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm thinking the Oni summon might have helped a little :P --Jyotir Managatim 14:22, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Note to readers: The February 9th, 2012, update lowered the number of foes per group.

@68.230.154.74 LMAO, u do not need fancy special builds made by others, u need common sense, Flag(sperated out a tad to avoid mass AoE), USE a LONGBOW to lure, scuffle back, target sin's who shadow step themself into a dangerous spot, and they go down quickly, from here turn ur attention to A)ritualist(spirit rift spikes nicely on ur heroes) or B)Monk(ROJ is an ass hop)..then target necro's or fire ele's, air invoke ele's arent to dangerous, and also target sins and wars once monk protters are down, the warriors can do decent dmg and put good pressure on ur heroes...or if your a war, just Tank and Spank. --138.217.206.123 18:32, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Well after around 20-40 tries I finally did it in HM. I completed this quest after around 5 tries using the following builds: The Build I used for my sin was: OwFj0xfzITBQ6POMMMHMNMxg7iA The builds on my heroes were: OACjEyiM5MXzyZ1EjxMlmTuhJA , OAhjYgHaIPPV7AiQaO5GmXsxJA , and OANDUshvSbhyBVBoBVVQN1DBEA Yes, they're slightly modified cookie-cutter builds, I know, but it works and I only used one consumable (1 shinng blade ration near the end to eliminate some DP I had). BTW I am pretty much a noob, not really good at pulling, and ran it pretty fast (probably in 30 min). All heroes had a Major Rune of Vigor, and the Rit had vitae and few survivor insign. Basically I just flagged heroes, set up SoS and Bloodsong, then pull closest melee enemy, ebon vanguard assassin support (they stack up damage pretty fast), and just dagger spam away. You'll take out the first enemy really fast, then just focus on monk<other melees<mesmers<necros,rits<rangers last. If you die after the part with the sickened animals, just kill any remaining on the map to lower DP and get minions. --70.45.135.228 21:58, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

NPC aggro

WTF? The last NPC join me as ally when I entered radar range and befor I run to her she was dead. Isn't it a too long ranger, especially for HM? Shan 17:12, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Route

I actually strongly suggest an alternative route for this quest. Taking 2 detours to avoid triggering any peasants;

• For the first peasant, hug the south wall down the hill and approach the menagerie from the south. Lure the sickened animals from outside the gate and the peasant will not turn allied. This ensures a safe first peasant.
• For the second peasant, exit the menagerie in the south (so not the very direct path up north), travel back the mission's path into the wing where the boss would be stationed (the area where you are taught about morale in the mission), clear the area north of that and approch the Foh Wing from the south. Lure the afflicted out of the wing using your height advantage (obviously, bring a bow). The second peasant will not be triggered and this ensures a safe second peasant.
• For the third peasant, travel whatever path you are most comfortable with and clear all of the beach, as well as the islands leading up to the last island. Be sure not to come too close to the last island. If there is no AotL necromancer, the peasant will remain stationary; lure from the beach (wait for the opportune moment where the mob walks into the shallow path towards you and do not lure until your target approaches the big rock on your right.
  • If there is an AotL necromancer, the peasant will run along the minions to heal them; this is a blessing in disguise. Wait till the peasant is on the other side of the island (far away from here original location) and then lure the mob as per default (from the beach, when the mobs are close to the rock). Simply back up slowly, letting the mob travel onto the beach. The peasant will follow. Don't panic, the peasant will not become an ally! The dialogue triggers when approaching her original location, so not her current followed-the-minions location. Simply kill on the beach or break aggro with the afflicted (but not with the minions), the peasant will freeze in place on the beach (trying to make her mind up between healing the wounded afflicted and the wounded minions (she will prioritize the minions)). Approach the island from the west and kill the mob without ever having to worry about the peasant (although you will notice the dialogue as you do this). No longer having to worry about the peasant, it's revenge time.
    

Good luck to everyone! - Infinite - talk 13:05, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Could someone make a map of this and put it on the main article? These tactics are critical for HM and probably make NM a lot easier. --Triplehammer 07:38, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

I went back and made a map of it myself, posted as an alternative. My first time putting up a map, I hope I did it correctly! --Triplehammer 05:55, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks to Infinite for the walkthrough and Triplehammer for the great map. I went with a crap hero party and, although it took a very long time, we made it through on our first try. We weren't able to pull the mobs away from the first peasant without turning her allied, but coming up to the second peasant from the south was a good suggestion. For the third, and without AotL, the key take-away was to stay out of the water at the end at all costs; clearing the NW side and then coming in from the SW using "the big rock on your right" as a landmark. You can get close enough from both sides to see her position on radar, but so long as we stayed out of the water we never triggered her. This is going right up there with vanquishing The Hidden City of Ahdashim as one of the most tedious things I've done in this game. ninestories 03:28, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Tips

I've edited the page and advised players to bring a tank, as most teams fail on the sickened animals zone (third peasant aggroing aside...) If you have some advise to players, please add the info there, as I've seen that lot of people is stuck at this quest. 77.227.254.22 13:29, 16 July 2011 (UTC) IGN: Gryphus Lionheart

I do not think that those tips are in any way required. This quest can be done without any form of dedicated tanking (in fact, with support, even 60 AL targets can bodyblock and "tank" the sickened animals). I think more general tips, such as Weakness, Weapon of Warding and Displacement would be a lot more commonplace to all players and resorting to more solid tanks (like a Shadow Form tank and an Obsidian Flesh Elementalist) should only be done in the most desperate of situations.

I rather discuss this prior to altering your content just like that. - Infinite - talk 13:52, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Did it spiritway on all my characters (even my monk ^^ ) no problem at all, let your pre-armored spirit tank, yawn, boom they're down !

( Player: Owgj8EgnITlTXT+gyEMTVT0gQTA ) ( Rt: OACiAyk8EMPbfzNXmLaHOdmA ) ( Mo: OwUUMuG/QISaEbENg3NaRTfZALfA ) ( Nec: OAhkUsG2hFuUMjdAiQVAagCo00FD ) http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/4922/gwcho.jpg DeoX 20:33, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Yes I suppose spirits + pets are the best way... As an ele I used 2 Rit and 1 Mes heroes. Builds as following: (PC: OghkwYgboIyENIzkc5u43010ZzFD) (Rt 1: OAKjYNgMJPYzHn1bzFtPbOTaDA) (Rt 2: OAKjYZhs4OW7qJzUaO5Gm0mLGA) (Mes: OQJUA0APQrQhQrA5ZIgkAZAWA0GA). Good thing is no consumable needed, as total death from running with these build was 1 from my hero :p though popping a summon stone always helps. Here is a visual overview of the bars and some comments. --Kgptzac 21:01, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Just wanted to clarify that the above builds in fact do NOT work.173.164.197.250 22:35, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

VQ

I vanquished Minister Cho's Estate (Winds of Change) with the quest Rescue at Minister Cho's Estate (Hard mode) active: 350 foes. Mobs are 5 afflicted instead of 6 Scavengers. Without this quest foe count looked like it would be about 400-plus. I got to a little over 200, and the VQ bar was only half full. With this quest, vanquishing is a bit less insane once WoC changes the area.--Guild Free 18:51, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

This Quest.

Sucks. Alot. Incredibly challenging. I liked how the recent quests for WoC have you group a 8-man team and sent you directly to the Shing Jea Islands instead of grouping in Ran Musu Gardens. This quest is the one thing preventing me from doing all the other HM quests, and it's very irritating. I tried running SoS, ST and a Monk with my Panic Mesmer. On my ranger utilizing incendiary arrows, I had SoS with Splinter, an ST, and a Monk. And on my ritualist running SoS, she had a ST rit, N/Rt Healer and a MM. Honestly, I really think it's about how we approach mobs that make us go far - the furthest I've gone was to the second Canthan Peasant, and always do we end up wiping. I hate that section since once we initiate attack, the group behind the initial afflicted aggro due to healing the group that was in front. So not only were we outnumbered, outhealed, and outpowered, but there was no hope after wiping since we would have no possible way to save the peasant after resurrecting. I tried pulling the mob out of the gate, but they always aggroed the Canthan peasant. Could any give me any constructive criticisms on what I am doing wrong? What other approach do people find effective here? 128.119.156.85 15:50, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

I have to agree, when you run only heroes the quest becomes EXTREMELY luck based because I've found that I may wipe in seconds when taking out the first spawn, or get all the way to second peasant. I bet the only surefire way to beat this is to actually team up with players >_> 76.88.127.158 08:20, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Me again. Got to the third peasant, took about and hour and a half. Used Infinite's strategy and Alex's setup (I run a sin as well). I made it through most parts, except about halfway through as I was going to rescue the second peasant, I wiped once, and just kept wiping so I had to pop a powerstone. Once past that, I made it about half way to the third peasant and got stuck in a wipe cycle again, so I had to pop my second and last powerstone. By the time I got to the third peasant I was already in a wipe cycle but had run out of DP removal...I had been just picking everything off as best as I could. Unfortunately, because my group had such high DP we were pretty much KO'D by a single Mesmer at the end. Which leads me to my rant that once again this quest is luck based. That's because both times I ended up in a wipe cycle was because of 2 separate groups that had 2 mesmers, one of which had empathy. There was no problem removing the hex the first time, but within a few seconds I was hexed again. after a while it really just become hopeless and one of the mesmers would drop just because of some other factor that wouldn't have helped the previous time. Either way, the next time I have 2 hours to spare, I'm going to bring 10 fucking powerstones and hope for a good spawn. (forgot to sign) 76.88.127.158 22:30, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely gay...I had only minimal problems all the way til the final group at the final peasant. Turns out I was unlucky and the final group was spawned on top of him. I tried to sneak up and pull but they were in too dumb of a spot to be able to pull w/o turning the peasant into an ally. Bam after over an hour of slow work getting there and I fail the quest on no fault of my own...just bad luck. I don't mind if I fail because I got out classed, but when I have to keep a guy alive who has a group spawned on top of him, that's just dumb (Usaf1a8xx 21:01, 22 October 2011 (UTC))

Finally finished this dumb quest...i died 36 times! This explorable area with WoC still needs additional overhaul. (Usaf1a8xx 23:30, 4 November 2011 (UTC))

Better 3 hero builds needed

Looking around at builds meant to deal with vanquishing Cho's after WoC (which is apparently even harder than the quest), I found some suggestions here and worked out something that at least gets me started. Ritualist #1: OACjEOiMJPXzyJy1betrmOuLGA. Ritualist #2: OACiAyk8gN/mZuzW40694cmA. Necromancer: OAhiYwhMVzINN5MOxJOMV9cxAA. My main is a warrior, and these heroes got me close to the second villager with a less-than-optimal warrior build. Yes, I used the southern approach to the second villager. --Triplehammer 07:35, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Got it done! The three hero builds I listed above did it with just me as a Dragon Slash warrior. Didn't need to use any consumables. The heroes spent most of the mission at 60% DP, as I waged a lengthy battle of attrition, using Pain Inverter to spike down Monks, Mesmers and Elementalists. --Triplehammer 20:49, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

For people that have trouble keeping the third peasant alive

After failing 2 times because of the last peasant dying, I went with 2 rit heroes and flagged to the little island before I came into compass range of the peasant. Set all the spirits, flag your rits a little back so that the spirits take the initial aggro and run towards the little island. The spirits bought me enough time to finally complete this quest. I didn't think of doing this right from the start, so maybe others who struggle with this might find this tip useful.

Fun?

You know what's particularly annoying about this quest in HM? The fact that ArenaNet regularly play their "We do everything to make the game fun" card. Well sorry but no, epic fail on the "fun" in this one.

Stacking the odds so heavily against players who wish to play with their heros does not produce fun. Failing repeatedly after a couple of hours' work is not fun. The stupid NPC whose life you just saved healing the animals who then kill you is not fun. NPCs desperate to die before you get there are not fun, and nor are trigger distances many times greater than agro radius.

This is a 4-man zone, and the HM foe numbers have not been pegged accordingly. High level foes we can cope with, but unsplittable crowds of them doesn't make sense in this game. Yes, it is just about possible to do it with specialist hero lineups as the useful instructions here detail, but is this quest balanced for fun? I don't think so. So much attention is paid to PvP balance every day of the week, but very little to PvE balance. Well here is a classic case of HM foes being utterly unbalanced against a 4-man hero team. Even though it is just about possible to succeed, it needs rebalancing. Hard fights can still be great fun, but this one is not fun because there is no recovery from a dead peasant, just lots of time and effort wasted, and lots of disappointment. Morgaine 13:13, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

PS. I'll go Spiritway too before admitting solo defeat and resorting to a player team or giving up. (Thanks guys for the instructions.) But even though I do finally expect to prevail, it's going to be after considerable suffering, and that's the point that I was trying to make here. GW is meant to be fun, but sometimes it fails to live up to that standard, even if one succeeds in the end. And that's the case here. Morgaine 13:30, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Once you have a decent setup for this area, and you know how your heroes perform best, you feel a sense of achievement (or I certainly did) "wow, that was easy" when you reach the end without using any DP removers + having no deaths at all.. :<

e.g. I realised I was getting the shit spiked out of me because I had dwarven stability immediately getting removed with shatter enchantment every time I aggroed - I slotted escape on my ranger which helped a lot with aggroing + pulling into spirits. As said above I rather liked using EVSS here with the ability to one shot afflicted since it can rather turn the tide of battle. File:User Chieftain Alex Chieftain Signature.pngChieftain Alex 14:53, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Pain and suffering isn't required for a sense of achievement. Almost everything in GW provides us with a very rewarding sense of achievement, which is why we love the game. Everything from doing cute missions, earning titles that require a lot of effort, improving builds for ever and a day, and even making money to afford vanity armor --- it all gives us a sense of achievement while providing enjoyment at the same time. Pain and suffering or disappointment is different, and it's not a required part of the process -- it indicates that game design has FAILED to deliver a sense of achievement while providing fun play at the same time. ArenaNet are always on about this, self-praising their dedication to fun, and usually they're completely right and have managed to make the game a great enjoyment to play. But occasionally something that is not fun slips through and brings back bad memories of corpse runs in EverQuest, a game created with the design motto of "There Shall Be Pain". It's really not the GW way. I expect that ArenaNet didn't mean it to be quite this bad for hero teams. Morgaine 15:40, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I think it's unfair to call this quest unbalanced. It's incredibly hard for the teams that folks typically take to VQ in 4-toon areas — perhaps, it's even impossible with those teams. But, as others have suggested, there are lots of possible teams (and styles of play) that can succeed here. I think what's happened is that the GW community as a whole has gotten used to being able to own 99% of PvE with the same groups (and not just with the oft-used Discordway). ANet challenges us with their own versions of optimized teams...and suddenly, the game became a lot harder (even in NM).

However, I do agree with Morgaine that this quest isn't that much fun: those who are able to defeat the first set of foes easily still spend another 20-40 minutes repeating the same techniques every couple of steps, since the density of foes is that high. And, of course, those who find the first first one horribly difficult are in for a nearly unbearable slogfest to finish. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:03, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Basically the HM quests reminded me how much more difficult the game was before some significant buffs, and I used to consistently find myself at 45% dp throughout vanquishes. In my opinion, as well as being fun, games should be challenging. Ever played stuff like tomb raider where you save the game, then find yourself anihilated by some guy with a flamethrower, you adjust your technique and go back and defeat them? this is just like that. File:User Chieftain Alex Chieftain Signature.pngChieftain Alex 16:08, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I did find it fun to have to figure out a new 4-toon team that could succeed, but that didn't make up for grinding through this to get to the third rescue. It might have been fun for the first character I did this with, but by the third character, it's just bleh. In part, I've resisted starting WoC on other toons because I'm not looking forward to this mission or repeating Cleansing Zen Daijun (same idea in terms of grind: get the first two Zunraas cleansed ...and then painfully heal four more). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:20, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Similar to TEF here. I regret having started WoC on my two mains, both of which have completed pretty much everything else. Sadly they are now forever-doomed to experiencing a very unfriendly Cantha. The non-main characters on those accounts will not be starting WoC. I don't want them to lose the "classic Cantha" that I have learned to love. Morgaine 18:19, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I have an idea for how to bring back the fun without dropping the level of difficulty here:

Limit the enhanced foes to the 3 battle points alone, nowhere else. All the other foes should be low level as before, so that you don't spend hours on pointless and difficult grinding that drops the fun to zero.

You will still have to figure out how to cope with these horribly overpowered foes, and you will fail repeatedly until you master it, but at least failure will not come at the end of hours of very hard work. It would be fun again, Morgaine 13:36, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Just some points:

• You guys do realise that the HM versions of the quests are completely optional, right? You only have to do the NM versions to keep the storyline going. The NM version of this quest, while still tricky, is nowhere near as rage-inducing.
• That said, the overall attitude regarding HM seems to have changed from what it was originally. As I recall, HM was originally intended to be an optional add-on, to let Anet keep the hardcore PvE crowd interested without having to create large amounts of new content. Today, it's viewed more as a seamless continuation of base content: you finish the storylines, then you switch to hard mode and keep playing. There are various reasons why that's happened, but they're not particularly relevant here.
• The difficulty level of HM WoC, and this quest in particular, are significantly ramped up compared to HM everywhere else. That seems to have resulted in a lot of people experiencing what might be called culture shock, on finding that they can't roll through this like in the War in Kryta, for example.
• It's always easier to make an easy challenge harder for yourself, than it is to tone down a hard challenge. If you find yourself rolling through areas by taking overpowered builds, a very simple solution is not to use those builds. By contrast, if you find yourself unable to do something despite using the best builds and tactics possible, you're typically SOL.

With all that in mind, I'm leaning towards the conclusion that Anet made a mistake in making HM WoC this tough. It's inconsistent with how hard mode works elsewhere in the game, and violates people's expectations on what they'll get in new content. -- Hong 14:19, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Couple of points to make back...

• 1 The HM versions are only optional if you intend to never do any of the HM in any of the WoC releases. I discovered that with release #2 that you couldn't do its portion of quests in HM if you hadn't done release #1's HM quests. So while I didn't want to do release 1's HM because the rewards sucked, I did want to do release 2's because it had good HM rewards.
• 2 Only select quests in release #1 were significantly harder. My wife and I were able to go thru most of the content w/o much of a headache. It was just this quest and couple others (Cleansing Haiju Lagoon - where you have to keep the girl alive while she does her ritual in the miasma comes to mind) that were next to impossible. I can't imagine that it was ANET's intent that you use her healing exploit in Cleansing Haiju Lagoon to beat that quest, however no matter what builds you bring you get overwhelmed and destroyed in that quest. However the vast majority of the rest of the quests were fun-hard but easily doable. So I wouldn't say that the WoC content in general was ramped up in HM, just a couple of pain-in-the-@$$ quests.

Anyway that's how I see it. (Usaf1a8xx 15:25, 5 December 2011 (UTC))

You don't think HM WoC was overall increased in difficulty compared to previous content? Just comparing with the War in Kryta, you can easily take on a couple of mobs of Mantle/Peacekeepers simultaneously and win, and even three mobs is survivable with some luck. I've done that a few times when I screwed up a pull. I couldn't imagine doing the same with the WoC afflicted mobs. And the WiK mobs themselves are noticeably harder than a lot of earlier stuff. -- Hong 15:51, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

I agree that a bad mistake has been made, but it's not only that WoC foes are very tough. Tough would be fine if this quest were still fun, but it's not fun, it's an extremely harsh and long grind on every attempt, and many days of disappointment until you find a build that just about works for you. Hours and hours of very hard work are lost repeatedly as you struggle forward only to die (or a peasant dies), because the area is completely overrun by large unsplittable crowds of quite uber foes against which 3 heros and a player have only a small chance of success even with good builds.

It should not be this way. If this extreme level of foe difficulty is desired at the 3 peasants (after all, rescuing them is the whole point of the quest), fine, but filling the zone with this level of foe has no purpose whatsoever other than to create a horrid and very long grind. Morgaine 15:41, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

ANet made a mistake by calling labeling these quests with the Hard Mode tag. ANet also made another mistake by making the relative difficulty of the Rescue significantly harder than the other quests in part I.

In Beyond, there are three levels of difficulty in Beyond, not just two:

1. Normal mode — this is meant to be more difficult than typical Hard mode in the storyline, e.g. WiK mobs are more difficult than most HM Kyrtan VQs would lead you to believe. Players should expect that the 7H teams they take to vQ might not succeed.
2. Hard mode — even in WiK (which lacks the next tier), taking a Beyond quest (regular) but working in HM is more difficult. The easiest place to see this is Cantha Courier Crisis: with the initial quest active, there are 3-4 additional bosses added when you complete it in HM instead of nm. This is entirely optional; it offers no reward other than the satisfaction of completion.
3. Challenge quest (what ANet calls HM quest): this is meant to be the most difficult challenges in the game (outside of perhaps UW and DOA); most players should expect that their standard teams will be insufficient and that they might be forced to learn new tactics. This is also meant to be entirely optional.

Of course, we as a community can ask (demand?) that ANet rebalance Beyond so that all three levels are less difficult, but I don't think we should. I think a reasonable balance is that level (1 – reg/nm) should be doable by anyone who has completed HM titles in all games (i.e. you might be able to succeed using your old teams/tactics, but it's designed for balanced teams). (2 – reg/HM) should be more interesting; it should require balanced teams and better tactics. Maybe 25% of the people who have GWAMM might have a lot of trouble getting this right. (3 – HM/HM) should be very, very difficult. Maybe 50% or more of GWAMMers should find it difficult and maybe some won't succeed at it without help from others.

In that context, I think Rescue (1 – reg/nm) is overly difficult, (2 – reg/HM) is just grindy, and (3 — HM/HM) is only fun for the first rescue or two (the third one is just repeating the same thing over and over again; if you get that far, there's no new challenge). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:11, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Agreed, which is why I suggest that WoC-level foes should appear only at the 3 peasant battle points. All the billion other equally-uber foes in the zone serve no purpose other than providing pain. None of those three levels of difficulty should be fun-optional. Morgaine 16:30, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't agree with that specific suggestion. Part of the challenge (for me) was to pull rather than to draw aggro (especially in such close quarters) and to be able to recover from getting mobbed if I failed. I would far prefer them to (a) decrease the density of foes in tier 1 (maybe 20% fewer foes, but probably mobs of the same size), (b) remove the third peasant (as mentioned above, if you can rescue two, there's no particular joy in reaching the third), and (c) doing nothing else (with an appropriate team/tactics, there's plenty of time to keep the peasants safe, since they drop off the ally list quickly). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:42, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

The problem has nothing to do with pulling. Good pulling is assumed at this level, it's a given, and without it hero teams won't be surviving any of the elite zones. What the issue is here is huge unsplittable crowds of foes that all come as a unit even with the most careful, out-of-agro-range bow pulling because of species affinity. Running them beyond their return point (at which I'm a past master after a decade of some other really horrid MMOs) doesn't split them, it's all or nothing. Even so I've whittled them down using the method of "kill the one that came furthest then back off", but progress is snail's pace done like this, and it's not generally "the GW way".

So no, this is not a problem of pulling, it goes far beyond that. The problem is the sheer crowds of high-level foes between the peasant points. They have no purpose other than to provide extra pain, waste hours instead of minutes time and again, and general disappointment. The fun has been completely lost, and that is a failure of design. Morgaine 17:08, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Hong, no I thought most of the HM WoC stuff wasn't too bad - being able to do most of it w/o wiping. I thought there were several places and even quests in HM throught the rest of GW that provided a challenge...most of it didn't, but there were several places that did. Even WoC had a few places that were quite hard in NM (since there was no point in doing them HM)such as BFLA (pre-nerf) and Temple of of the Intolerable (and they would have SUCKED in HM). (Usaf1a8xx 13:53, 6 December 2011 (UTC))

Worth rescuing?!

A party of 4 have died 36 times for these 3 idiot! Were they really worth rescuing?! --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.129.167.163 (talk) at 21:14, 15 January 2012‎ (UTC).

Sign your comments! Also, add then to the correct parts of the page. Titan Crow 11:58, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

yes, they are worth rescuing. One goes on to found the Research Center for an End to Disease as We Know It (RCEDWKT). The third will hold the Canthan record for Rollerbeetle Racing for over 100 years. (Unfortunately, the second one ends up becoming a petty thief, but you cannot win them all.) – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:41, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, but it's utterly ridiculous that this quest with its huge unsplittable mobs should be in a four-man zone. Congratulations to those of you who managed to finish it in an hour or two (or whatever), but too much depends on luck (does that stupid peasant happen to suddenly aggro a huge mob or not?), and it's just not enjoyable. Guild Wars is a dying game as it is, and doing this thing in HM is just about the kind of experience that is going to convince me to stop playing it forever.--71.185.41.90 22:41, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Any changes?

Is this still crazy hard after the part 3 update? -- Hong 15:25, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

I walked in to check and immediately saw groups of fours instead of five, beyond that no idea--Indigo121 18:11, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, I just did it on my war and, after an initial screwup where I aggroed two mobs at once and wiped, it went quite smoothly. You'll still need a good build and know how to use it (I had a SoH/RoJ monk, an SoS rit and a ST rit), but it's much better than before. One funny thing I noticed is that the afflicted animals take a remarkably long time to kill -- extra health in hard mode + IWAY + Endure Pain will do that. -- Hong 12:00, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Not too bad

→ moved from Talk:Rescue at Minister Cho's Estate

Did it in HM - not too bad

I've just managed to do it with me as an SOS rit with a heal, Koss as a warrior/dervish and Razah and MOW from pvxwiki 7 hero player support team. I've tried this many times with all sorts of teams and got constantly wiped but it wasn't too bad at all so I don't know if they've made it easier. The mobs seem smaller. I went route 2.

We did wipe a few times but some candy canes sorted that out. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.147.123.193 (talk).

Yes, the latest update did make it easier. -- Hong 16:08, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Compare to the NM version I did before WoC 3rd part update, I find this HM version still painfully hard regardless whatever rebalancing ANet did. It's kinda fail consider this quest is only in middle of the entire WoC chain despite it being the spiking anomaly in the difficulty graph. Yet the worse part is: trying to beat this hard quest does not bring fun but pain. If running with other players you get the problem of profession mismatch and people cause wipes from not being extremely careful with aggro. If running with heroes then you get the problem with interaction between hero AI, mob composition, pulling, and Rei Zi's retarded behavoirs--much of it is sheer luck. The mob aggro span and density is also senselessly broad even compare to WiK groups. Anyway, the difficulty balancing for WoC in its entirety is poorly done and this quest is only the manifestation of it. I wouldn't bother with this if not completing these HM WoC quests will unlock the Rt hero... It is a dumb choice for ANet to place the 3rd Rt hero as the reward for this distasteful quest chain, considering how easy it is to unlock all three heroes for other professions; now if it's the 4th Rt or Mes, I can understand... This, along with Polymock and map pieces for the EotN PvE skills, are prerequisites that are needlessly hard to achieve in order to unlock the PvE stuff that everybody should be able to complete. --Kgptzac 21:21, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Did the Rescue 4 times so far in HM, no fails, not really difficult if you don't go in blindly... which I was, at the beginning (first time I did it I needed a bit of time to adjust the tactics to the HM settings). I was lucky (?) not to get the last villager killed while still away from me so, all in all, compared to other quests (Tracking the Corruption, Warning the Angchu, Finding Jinnai and the KC Siege) this one's pretty decent. I also enjoyed the story pretty much, while finding a few quest totally annoying because of the infinite repetition (Vassal States HM would've been just fine as a quest, without adding more groups to be killed, unless the dev team thought to give us all extra incentives to vanquish Silent Surf and Eternal Grove AND not to forget the What Lies in Shadow, which also comes packed to the brim with battalions of Jades). Lastly, from all you've said as examples, I don't find any of them needlessly hard to achieve. Polymock - you like it, you play it; you don't, no harm done, you can live without the summons. The map pieces - well... after doing 1 full trip 'round EotN, I ended up with 10 sets of map pieces - enough for all my toons, so, again, not hard, if you like to play the game. You are right about Zi - playing hard to get. But so was Razah. WoC still needs some adjusting (so that the luck factor has a little less weight, especially in Finding Jinnai and Warning the Angchu, and the repetitive tasks don't continue to infinity and beyond *pokes Vassal States and What Lies in Shadow*). Maybe with less mobs per square feet, the chance of accidental aggro and intentional keyboard smashing diminishes :). Bottom line: Nice story, epic end fight (from my point of view beats all other end-something quests/missions, even BfLA, because of the NPC interaction), fun way of demonstrating GW2's mesmer play-style (?) and the rewards are well worth the 'effort' of playing. Himenoinu 02:15, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

To easy in hard mode TBH, SoS, N/Rt healer, AotL protection MM, me Esurge DPS rupter(mesmer) did it 1 go in HM, on my war, using SoS(with splinter weapon), AotL protetion MM, HB hero healer, me 100B did it in 3 goes(but i was learning to use a longbow for this quest, since its the second 1 to need luring out of all them...MORE WoC quest please...even after line ones like, When kappa attack, etc --138.217.206.123 18:23, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

I attempted this quest back when it came out, last year. For the record, I'm the type who runs heroes for everything, rather than grouping with players. Normal Mode was a beast, even with proper pulling. I found even the first few groups of Hard Mode impossible; I just couldn't pull them apart without numerous deaths. After numerous attempts (and consumables, which I'm normally leery of using) I simply gave up and left Cantha for more fun and reasonable endeavors, like clearing the Domain of Anguish with heroes. The rebalance for this area has actually made it enjoyable. Reducing the enemy group sizes and densities was wonderful, as was the apparent buff to Xei Ri and the quest NPCs. Okay, perhaps a little overkill on the monster nerfs... my heroes apparently killed a group while I was writing this, but I'm strangely okay with that. It looks like I'm going to be able to complete this (without consumables!) with my standard 4-man hero team: a UA Monk, a SoS Ritualist, a ST Ritualist, and myself, a Warrior's Endurance dagger spammer. This is fun, and cathartic. Thank you, Arena Net. Cheez Whiz F T W 06:58, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Suggested 3 hero team

• Bring a SoGM Hero.
• Bring a SoS Hero with Mend Body and Soul and Spirit Light.
• Use the AP Caller Build.
• Bring a Minion Master.

Set up Spirit Walls as you go, wait for the spirits to recharge as needed. Call Targets (Get the Warriors and Assassins first, as they will deal heavy damage),then go for the healers. Then the remaining foes. Take one group at a time. Pull Foes a ways to avoid Over-Aggro. Quickly Jump in to save the Canthans for the quest. Good Luck.

The Alternative route works best with this set-up

(The above suggestion was originally made at 20:21, 19 March 2012 by Thon Ghul on the main article.)

– Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 20:35, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

The extra blocking + damage from SoS, SoGM and MM make the difference in this mission. THough I must say the difficulty is out of proportion to all the other missions. It's not "fun". Hope someone points this out to the Live Team.

Also I'm pretty sure the last peasant triggers from much further away than others. The first two seem to trigger at 1.5-2 aggo circles, but the 3rd seems to trigger at almost radar range... I was very VERY unhappy when that happened after 55 minutes of careful pulling and had to do the whole thing again. Anet really missed the mark with this one.

me55enger 12:40, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Interesting, I noticed on my 2nd time doing it in HM, Zei Ri ( i think it is), actually went up against the group of afflicted by himself, and kept the third peasant alive, while i kept dying over and over...since my heroes had 60% dp. Very interesting -- Thon Ghul|Talk 21:53, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

I had a far easier time running this as a Warrior in HM by dropping the SoS Hero and instead bringing a SoLS Hero with Spirit Light Weapon. The SoS Hero simply could not keep my party alive and I was dying far too early on, often times by the 2nd or 3rd group. Bringing the SoLS Hero on the other hand, I didn't have a single death.

Brakkis 19:42, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Found success with Olias as a minion master/support resto healer with Toxic Chill, Life; Gwen as domination/rupter/support with Psychic Instability, Empathy, Backfire, Spiritual Pain, Shatter Hex; and Dunkoro as primary healer with Blessed Light, "Stand Your Ground!". Bar compression and cover hexes are a necessity. After doing this quest for each profession, found best tactic was the alternative route and taking out any sin first (if any shadow steps to your team and away from any enemy monk) and then the monk (with daze if you're a physical) to eliminate hex removal. Deep wound is also goo against all the warriors. Pull each group of Afflicted to both get any sins to shadow step and get any rits away from its spirits. Lord Flynt 21:55, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

This worked for me, glad i finally checked wiki, was about to throw my computer out the window. Thanks lord flynt 216.147.135.217 14:38, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

Just beat this with a SoS (with mend body/spirit and spirit light), SoGM, EMO, and me as 100B with whirlwind, MoP, and tryptophan. Set Hero flags to different keyboard keys, flagged each rit ahead and set up spirit walls, then flagged them all back and used a longbow to pull the mob. Did this for each mob. Got to where final Peasant was and out of nowhere i triggered it somehow and they started chasing her so my whole team had to rush in without getting spirits ready. Team was almost dead so i threw out a Legionnaire summon quick killed about half of them off and then party wiped. Legionnaire was just enough to suck up enough damage and keep peasant alive while my team ran back. Whole run took about 30 mins, won't be doing this again. --Tidus (talk) 01:57, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Heroway setup for Physical builds

After countless hours attempting this quest in HM, I have finally managed to finish it.

There are many builds and opinions available in the wiki and elsewhere which for me a Warrior were of no use. I settled with a META build.

For those encountering problems with this quest in Hard Mode as a physical, I highly suggest a Hero SpiritWay with adjustments.

Setup:

Hero1: N/Rt - OAhjUwGYoS7ZVBoBbhKgTOSTXMA

Hero2: Rt - OACiAyk84sPbfzNX0e4Z9cmA

Hero3: Rt - OACjEyiM5MXzypjzbyMlmTuhJA

For those playing a Warrior my setup is: OQASEZJT2FRFCFKF7ixk8V3k (Endurance warrior)

Likewise, suggest to have consumables (Apples, Cupcakes, etc) and DP remover Honeycombs/Clover to speedup your progress.

With this setup I finished the quest in less than 25 min.

WarCloud 195.49.61.130 10:17, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

DUDE, I DONT EVEN KNOW IF YOU ARE COMING BACK HERE, BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WORKED FINALLY USING YOUR HERO TEAM !

Mission Status

3 Hero team build: Check

Tengo Support Flares: Check

Consumables: Check

Runes: Check

Weapons: Check

Mission status: Failed...

Failed...

Failed...

Failed...

Failed...

Failed...

/resign
--The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.75.220.48 (talk) at 09:41, 23 February 2019‎ (UTC).

New Bug

I just got a new bug on this one. I had saved the first two peasants and was halfway to the final one and suddenly the mission failed text appeared in the quest log. I am guessing but I think one of the peasants must have kopped it. Ohh well back to the start again.... --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.189.136.35 (talk) at 10:53, 27 October 2019 (UTC).