0 Death Ironman-GWAMM

    Hi everybody!

    I have been playing on and off GW for 15 years although I have had a 5 year break. Done every sort of thing I could think about during the era when Guild Wars was populated. At this moment my friend gave me as a present GW of all expansions to relive my favourite gaming experience of all time. I have seen these threads about Ironman, Hardcore Ironman, deathless Ironman etc.

    SO... I am going to give it a go for Deathless Iron-GWAMM!

    Rules
    1. Deathless, AKA death = delete
    2. Prophecies wasn't my top choice to start with, so I will start with my favourites, order follows: Factions-Nightfall-Prophecies-EotN
    3. No partying with other players (except with other Ironman characters)
    4. No player to player trading (except with other Ironman characters)
    5. Weapons/Armor:
      • May only be obtained from drops, rewards, collectors, or armor smiths.
    6. Allowing Material storage because I have brand-new account with all expansions
    7. May use Rune Trader, Material Trader, Rare Material Trader
    8. Skills:
      • May only be obtained from skill quests or utilizing Signets of Capture.
      • Sig. Caps must be purchased with the player’s own earned gold.
      • Not allowed to PvP farm for skills
      • A player’s first Sig. Cap. must be obtained from the quest 'Malaquire’s Test.'
    9. Heroes:
      • No mercenary heroes.
      • May not use M.O.X. until obtained in EotN quest-line.
      • May not travel to EotN before completed all other expansions
    10. Consumables
      • Personal:
        1. Must be obtained by the player’s drops for use
        2. Alcohol, party, sweet titles must be completed by the players own drops
        3. Must find/purchase player’s own lockpicks/keys.
      • Party-wide:
        1. No use until obtained in EotN
        2. Must craft using players own resources
    11. Miscellaneous / Other
      • No /bonus items
      • No Zaishen Menagerie I actually used this because I needed to put my Black Moa Bird in there to tame 1 Tiger in Zen Daijun to finish VQ
      • May only use Deldrimor Talisman, Amulet of the Mists after EotN Completion
      • Book of Secrets may be used as this was available on Nightfall release.
    12. Have fun!


    I want to take this slow and easy, enjoy the time. Also due to my workload I wont be online except during evenings and weekends after 5pm EET. Also I dont have any of my old friends playing GW anymore, if there are any of you Ironman challengers out there, it would be nice to meet up online or best possible scenario join a guild!

    Any questions, comments or tips-and-tricks are more than welcome! My whole idea is to relive the fantastic world of GW and also put on a challenge for myself with deathless Iron-GWAMM, I hope it works out well and I definitely would love some feedback in-game if anyone interested to add or on this thread :)

    IGN: Iron Try Hard

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    Edited once, last by Stinky Smurf (January 18, 2024 at 6:36 AM).

    I have had this account for awhile but almost untouched. Simply because I got the account gifted a while back but haven't had the motivation to start playing again, until I heard about these challenges many people are going for.

    Why did I start with this? well... I got inspired by Purely and you PyroLobster ! So I wanted to do something similar. I dont have much free time due to work so I am going to take this slow and steady.

    I am going to use storage because I dont have anything on this account, this gives me a little bit of more freedom because im going for deathless mode or AKA Hardcore.


    Although this quest was a painful one with huge amount of mobs all around, called The Captured son. My first challenge. (forgot to screenshot the huge amount of mobs needed to be defeated)


    Made it to Kaineng City, no death yet but a very very long way to go for DEATHLESS IRON-GWAMM.

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    Edited once, last by Stinky Smurf (December 28, 2023 at 9:52 PM).

    Quote from BellatriX

    PyroLobster How about if shit happens and I am in trouble, I could just exit game or transfer to an outpost so I am out of danger, does that work as well? In case I know that I messed up and probably going to end up dead :)

    Mapping to guild hall always works well to get out of dodge. Purely's suggestion of doing test runs on another character is great, I did this on occasion when I was a bit worried about the content and was very glad I did.

    One thing I found extremely helpful was to do lots of side quest early on for gold and xp and not race through campaigns. Being a few levels under foes + no gear/cons and non optimized builds is nasty. There seemed to be a hurdle to get over where the real survivor danger was when you wanted to start doing HM but you weren't ready. Taking your time and making slow incremental progress on gear, runes, builds was the way to get over that hump.

    Other tips:

    Be really careful when skill capping early on. Bosses hurt like the old days on ironman.

    Do event quests

    Make a plan of priorities. Heros, skill unlocks, collector locations ect.

    Combine activities, Zaishen bounties for skill caps, missions, vanquishes. Where possible get carto when you do missions the first time.

    Which 30 titles you going for?

    IGN: Pyro Loves Lobsters

    Allright thanks for your help and tips. Thanks for the guild invite!

    I am doing almost all side quests for XP and gold, Im trying to be extra careful, although I am far away from what you guys achieved, and just started :angel:

    About which titles, well I think it will happen during the progress of gameplay. Where I am, what Im doing, situations coming up such in any sort. Many of these below I will just combine with the current style im playing and what I am doing :)

    Titles
    1. Survivor (1)
    2. Protector (3)
    3. Guardian (3)
    4. Cartographer (3)
    5. Vanquisher (3)
    6. Sunspear & Lightbringer (2)
    7. Skill Hunter (3)
    8. Reputation Ranks EotN (4)
    9. Kurzick + Luxon (2)
    10. Master of the North (1)

    The Rest I do not know yet. I take it along the way

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    So I finished Factions now as 0 death, it was some though moments but made it! I gave this challenge a thought and made a conclusion to continue in NF campaign instead of Prophecies, due to the fact that this challenge is big for me as 0 death Iron-GWAMM and I need to gear up my new heroes. I finished Factions and I have around 500g on me, full 70AR gear but honestly everything went for skills, and to be thinking about skills for my heroes it is going to cost me a lot, whish me luck!

    I really wanted to get my Divine Halo so I did this repeatable quest in LA to get it. It was either this or wait 1 whole year to get it, was not in my rules. But during my progress towards my goals, things can change a little bit :)


     Reached first rank of survivor, small step!


    I finally finished Factions. Shiro was harder than I thought so I remade my build according to what I would believe work, I have not researched anything on the internet. I want to see how far I can go with my noob talents. I tried 5 times and on my 6th try I managed to beat him AND get masters! What I realized was that warriors against Shiro is OP because of their special skill they get + empathy :)

    Some drops so far what I gathered, nothing great and really nothing to use except the green bow I got from the amulet after beating Shiro. Happy so far :)


    Happy to have captured Black Moa!


    Although hardest of them all was masters in Eternal Grove mission with henchies and alone so I had to start working on my SoS build, even then took me 8 attempts to complete...

    UPDATE!

    • Finished Nightfall
    • R2 Survivor
    • Upgrading hero builds
    • Solo farming for cash
    • Tried some Hm Vanquish but didnt turn out so well

    Next up is completing prophecies and we will see what happens, still going strong, no death yet! :shy:



    This was the last time I have my heroes on "attack" mode, Zhed goes AWOL ...


    My hero team Comp at the moment, been upgrading time after time spending my money on them! Everything except armor runes, I need to capture the runes to get them... The grind continues!


    I got my first ecto from SoS UW farm!! Happy! Selling to rare material trader for some extra cash to my beloved heroes :shy:


    After NF I wanted to do some Zaishen Vanquish, but it didnt turn out so well... I'm getting back there when I have maintained to get some better hero builds. Although Mages and mesmers are a PAIN during HM!


    Some more more ecto farm! Got a nice 3 ectos in 1 run, had some good streaks :)

    Update!

    • Still deathless
    • Finished Prophecies, started some EotN campaign
    • Doing Daily Zaishen VQ & missions, combining with Skill Hunter title
    • Some near death at Zen Daijun Hm mission, afflicions can be tough!
    • Finished R3 survivor, currently at 1,7mil XP deathless
    • 4 maxed titles



    I was in dire need of some cash so I thought to do some feather farming (of course selling everything to trader), did not get as much cash as I thought, maybe like 30k in 1 hour farming, including the runes and items i got

    Some of the loot I got that was worth saving, Prodigy's is going for my beloved Norgu, my man! Do not know if any of the weapons are worth anything but any Ironman player can trader me =)

    This also dropped for me when I was farming weekly Gifts of the Traveler :) Sold it to the trader for cash, need to upgrade my heroes!

    Everytime I have been outside in a zone/mission I always check what elite skills I can capture so I always bring with me 1 or 2 capture signets. It is going to be worth the time consuming it in the end while doing cartographer/other titles along the way!


    This is typical of Olias, arriving to the battle when it has just ended, I "love" MM heroes, espcially Olias since he thinks it is the highest priority to heal the minions and put Death Nova on minions when the team is in deep shit. You have one more warning Olias


    Here we go again with Olias minding his own business while we hard working middle-class people trying to make a living, he likes to sit back and watch the show. After this Vanquish I am done with you, I am switching you for Sousuke, I bet he is going to enjoy coming back to my glorious 0 death Ironman-GWAMM.


    Bye bye now Olias, do not take this personally, but I think you should return to your old clan The White Mantle where you came from or go back to your Lord of Grenth and give him a kiss from me.


    Have to say.... This was really painful to vanquish.... I seriously wandered everywhere for just a mob or 2, 1h30min for this vanquish ;(


    This is it for this session, I hope this motivates anybody also striving for this kind of challenge, nr #1 rule, no death!

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

  • Stinky Smurf January 17, 2024 at 10:41 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Deathless Iron-GWAMM Returning Player” to “0 Death Ironman-GWAMM”.

    Update on my progress:

    • Still deathless
    • EotN Campaign been slow --> been doing alot of Vanquishes and Hm content
    • Some very close call deaths...
    • Still at 4 titles but almost lightbringer and sunspear maxed
    • Upgrading heroes and new team composition 8-man
    • Taking a small break for holiday


    I went for the classic 8man team from ToA down to Ascalon. Honestly didn't do it on purpose, I just had a lot of alcoholic beverages and good Drum & Bass music on while wife was away. Seriously... that is required to do long 8 hour vanquish in 1 go :/

    And the picture on the right explains my mood when she found out my no-life grinding...


    I thought also that the charr cannot beat me. Unfortunately for me, wiped my idiotic team. I thought I was a goner but luckily Gwen is my pimp who was the only one that survived. GOTTA HAVE THEM RESS SCROLLS, although I forgot about them :)


    Bested those damn charrs, after a few tries! I am not that easily defeated....

    Vanquishing continues.... down 2 bottles of wine, but hey... Couldn't get through without my survival package.

    This was a big set back for me, 4-man team and the Storm Riders. BIG NO NO. Went to EotN for some missions and here we go again with another near death experience. Although this picture looked safe, because my first time I did not take screenshot because of the fact that my whole team was dead and I was a second from being rolled over dead. I heard the ball rolling behind me wondering what kind of noise is that, just to see my crew dead flat on the ground. Luckily no beverages this time, otherwise my reaction time would be like my grandmas :)


    And another one of my greatest failures as being a team leader. This was in Reed Bog, seriously dangerous place if you are not on point with your surroundings.... And of course I forgot about my ress scrolls :)


    I changed my hero composition for a semi-Discordway, BUT Without Death Nova because I realised that was the reason Olias got on my nerves. He got invited back due to the fact that I didn't listen to him crying "I can't help it, its that Death Nova triggering me". Happy me happy him. PS, Discord.... is amazing.


    Finally to say the least... I bought 2 set Primeval armor, looking slick right? Now some rest for a few days :)

    UPDATE ON PROGRESS!


    Died at Dragon's Lair. Came back from my holiday to do more Hm content and died to something really silly that I did not pay attention to. Unfocused, irresponsible and simply stupidity got me dead, what a shame... But, I am not done yet with my challenge, I will not give up! So I am going to make a new character and here is where you lads need to help me with decisions.

    I was thinking about making a Necro and I will start with the correct order prophecies-factions-nightfall-EotN.

    So below are questions that I need help with and my goal is 0 Death Ironman-GWAMM

    1. Should I clean up and trash everything I have stored in my storage so I can use it with my fresh character or not?
    2. If I dont clean it, I will only use my Inventory throughout the whole process, tedious but questionable, what do you think?
    3. When I get to Nightfall, can my heroes automatically use the skills I have captured on my ranger? Should I let them use the skills or how can I organise myself that they use what I have captured? I think its also tedious with controlling every skills for my heroes
    4. I am going for 0 death GWAMM and quite questionable about if I can even call it Ironman because I allready made a character, I dont know what way I really want to go

    Thanks in advance!

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    If you really want it to still feel as close to ironman as possible then no storage bank. As far as heroes go, if you capture skills along the way and just make sure to unlock everything you can on the new character then by the time you get heroes they should be pretty close to being able to run the builds already. Good luck in the next attempt, can't wait to watch the progress!

    It depends on what type of challenge you want to do. If you wanna have Ironman account then since it’s fresh account you can use what you unlocked on other charts. If you want highest lvl of challenge you should start in order and from 0. Take care my friend and make sure to enjoy the process

    We will see, I am going for prophecies --> in order, During my progress I will see what I decide it to be, first priority as always is 0 death GWAMM, and after these rules are set to me I will see what to go for.

    Send me an invite to the guild Baklawa :)

    IGN: Deathless Iron King

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    Edited once, last by Stinky Smurf (February 7, 2024 at 8:56 PM).

    I saw that, I was thinking about making Ranger again. However I chose Necromancer this time, I dont feel the same love as I did with my ranger, but I guess it will pop up again during my journey. Currently running MM because I dont have much else to go with this early in stage at Prophecies :)

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    Quote from Stinky Smurf

    I saw that, I was thinking about making Ranger again. However I chose Necromancer this time, I dont feel the same love as I did with my ranger, but I guess it will pop up again during my journey. Currently running MM because I dont have much else to go with this early in stage at Prophecies :)

    If you don’t enjoy it get back to ranger !

    Use the previous one for farming ;). Rangerway ftw

    Quote from Baklawa
    Quote from Stinky Smurf

    I saw that, I was thinking about making Ranger again. However I chose Necromancer this time, I dont feel the same love as I did with my ranger, but I guess it will pop up again during my journey. Currently running MM because I dont have much else to go with this early in stage at Prophecies :)

    If you don’t enjoy it get back to ranger !

    Use the previous one for farming ;). Rangerway ftw

    I tried Necromancer, and I did not feel the love for it. I was just imagining my ranger all the time, haha. Also I started 1 elementalist what that was the same feeling, missed my good progress ranger.

    Do you think it would be embarrasing for me to just continue with my ranger and try to hit Ironman GWAMM on it with 1 death? I had already around 2,7mil XP and good progress, I mean it sounds ridiculous to flex " 1 death Ironman-GWAMM ", what do you think?

    IGN: Iron Chuck Norris

    Quote from Stinky Smurf
    Quote from Baklawa

    If you don’t enjoy it get back to ranger !

    Use the previous one for farming ;). Rangerway ftw

    I tried Necromancer, and I did not feel the love for it. I was just imagining my ranger all the time, haha. Also I started 1 elementalist what that was the same feeling, missed my good progress ranger.

    Do you think it would be embarrasing for me to just continue with my ranger and try to hit Ironman GWAMM on it with 1 death? I had already around 2,7mil XP and good progress, I mean it sounds ridiculous to flex " 1 death Ironman-GWAMM ", what do you think?

    Remember this game is rly old and it’s all about fun. One death iron GWAMM would be special in its own way if you could push it and not die anymore showing you learned from ur mistakes

    Quote from Stinky Smurf
    Titles
    1. Survivor (1)
    2. Protector (3)
    3. Guardian (3)
    4. Cartographer (3)
    5. Vanquisher (3)
    6. Sunspear & Lightbringer (2)
    7. Skill Hunter (3)
    8. Reputation Ranks EotN (4)
    9. Kurzick + Luxon (2)
    10. Master of the North (1)

    The Rest I do not know yet. I take it along the way

    Why are you going for Kurz and Lux titles? They are a massive P in the A. It would be much easier to get the consumables imo.

    Also, whats the deal of not using Skill merchant for skills? Ok Factions I maybe get it. You have access to all of the skills fairly quickly in the game. But Proph and NF skill traders are much more limited.

    Also, I support continuing with your ranger. You have grown fond of it!

    Lux and kurz titles are quite easy if you do it in the right time (double weeks)

    For example do JQ when its JQ double week. And then donate the pts in when its double faction week. + zaishen combat quest

    That way you only need:

    Reg lux title: 10.000.000

    Donate to guild: 5.000.000

    Double faction week: 2.500.000

    Double JQ pts week: 1.250.000

    So you only need to get 1.250.000 pts in JQ.

    1 game is about 5k pts. So you only need 250 JQ games. Thats about 40 hours of time.

    hmm.. I havent played JQ for years now. But last I remember is long a.. queue times. Is it even possible to play now with bots n stuff

    and also you cannot earn points and store them until double faction week. I currently have cap of 60k Faction that I can store. An Ironman (on fresh acc.) its 25k iirc.