Guild Wars 2 Diary #13 : Tips for Triskell Quay

I left you last week on something of a cliff hanger. After choosing between using untested techs or heading into the Lychcroft Mere ourselves, we chose to take our chances in the Mere. After fighting countless undead Risen and rescuing both soldiers and children, we then had to choose between rescuing a small town from a Risen invasion or investigating elsewhere to prevent further attacks. Triskell Quay will be destroyed if we don’t get there quickly, but focusing our attention there could cause trouble for us later on. So you’ve had a week to decide? Which did you feel was the better option? Personally, I decided to save Triskell Quay.

Saving Triskell Quay

You’ve got a short journey to make before you actually arrive at Triskell Quay, and you might come across an event or two along the way. There’s a way-point not far from the village, so if you’ve already explored the Kessex Hills, you won’t have much trouble getting to the green story marker without distraction, but, as always, you might as well do something if you come across it. When you arrive and begin the instance, a short cut scene will play showing the village on fire. The Risen are everywhere, and you’ll need to kill them all if you want to save the day.

Guild Wars 2 Gameplay walkthrough Episode #13

This mission is about pure action, so I have to warn against progressing too quickly through the story if you’re anything below levels 23-24. I started at level 20 and it just wasn’t worth it. It’s doable, I’d even go as far as to say it’s easy, but it took forty minutes to do something that should have taken a quarter of that time, time that could have been spent just leveling up.  I’d also warn against getting too complacent. The first 4 minutes of this level lets you fight the Risen one on one (or even alongside allies) and it’s easy to think the whole mission is going to be like that. It isn’t.

Tips for Triskell Quay

My biggest tip for Triskell Quay is “heal the NPCs.” They’re going to end up falling in battle, and the more you have on your side, the less likely the big groups are to attack you. This goes double for Hiroki, who will die often. Not only does this give enemy Risen something to aim at, it’ll also add a little to the damage you’re doing and you gain a little experience (more than for an individual enemy) for each ally revived. It’s a small victory at this point, but a victory nonetheless.

The first area of the village contains only around five Risens and you’ll only need to fight them individually and with help from NPCs. Use this area to reacquaint yourself with the various types of Risen and to get yourself used to how much damage you’re doing to these high level enemies. The mission in Lychcroft Mere had you fighting levels 21-22. The group attacking Triskell Quay is levels 23-24, and it makes a lot of difference. These enemies in Guild Wars 2 will do more damage, but they’ll also be able to TAKE more damage. Be careful, and be prepared to heal if you can.

Once the top area is done, you need to progress down towards the bottom of the village, towards the sea. As you move down, you’ll come cross both large groups of Risen and small, one on one battles. Try not to get involved in the one on one battles, because once the Risen targets you, you’ll have to deal with them as well as the larger groups. Your first big group will be on the steps towards the harbor. They contain several varieties of bigger Risen, including giant-like attackers and minotaur-like brutes. Both can do big damage and getting yourself surrounded by these is a definite no-no. As your allies fall, more of the Risen will target you, so you better act fast!

By the Seaside

The last part of this quest is going to hurt. At the end of the beach you’ll find a ton of enemies and you’re going to die multiple times. If you’re level 24, this is probably still going to happen. If you’re level 20, this is going to be all that happens. Who said Guild Wars 2 would be easy? If you’ve taken my advice and brought along some NPCs, you’ve probably bought yourself a few minutes, and for higher leveled players, that might be enough. Act quickly, kill enemies that are on the outside of the group and try not to accidentally hit enemies you’re not aiming for. The more you can kill now, the easier it will be later.

One by one, the NPCs will be knocked out and you’ll find four of five level 24 brutes surrounding you. A single hit was costing more than a quarter of my life, so do the damage you can do and prepare to target the weakest if you get knocked down. You can get back to the battle fairly quickly if you’re killed, but obviously the more damage you can do in a single life, the better. If you struggle, just keep at it: I ended up losing all my armor and found myself fighting these things in boxer shorts. Stay focused and do as much damage each life as you can and you’ll eventually win.

Once all the enemies are killed, take a breather. You’ve done something quite difficult in Guild Wars 2, especially if you’re of a lower level. Revive any knocked down NPCs and you’ll be rewarded with a couple of hundred XP. Next, go speak with the captain. He’ll tell you about the appearance of a soldier who had been considered AWOL. The Risen wasn’t attacking him and he disappeared once the assault really took off. The Captain tells us that this AWOL soldier was thought to be spending time with a female pirate and he tells us the boat that she serves on. I suppose that gives us something to go when we try to pick up the trail next week.

Conclusion – Another Decision in Guild Wars 2

Not that the hope stays with us for very long. We report back to Logan Thackery and are told that the female pirate – our only lead – has been killed by Risen. That doesn’t mean we don’t have choices. We can either infiltrate the pirates and find out what they know, or go directly to the source and use a necromancer to help us speak with the dead pirate. The former will be difficult and risky, but the latter has odd moral implications. Should the dead stay dead, even in a crisis?

What would you do? Join me in next week's Guild Wars 2 walkthrough and we’ll be making our choice and deal with the consequences!

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