The Jade Quarry
From Guild Wars Wiki
This article is about the competitive mission "The Jade Quarry". For the quests and mission outposts, see The Jade Quarry (disambiguation).| The Jade Quarry | |
|---|---|
| |
| Campaign | Factions |
| Region | The Jade Sea |
| Type | Competitive |
| Party size | 8 |
Contents |
[edit] General mechanics
The Jade Quarry is a resource control arena that is fought between the Luxons and Kurzicks. There are three resource points known as Quarries, where jade is carried from those quarries, and back to the bases of Luxons or Kurzicks. When a faction gains control over a quarry, a Hauler Turtle will arrive if it is controlled by the Luxons, and a Carrier Juggernaut will arrive if it is controlled by the Kurzicks. The role of these two NPCs is to carry jade slabs from their quarry, and successfully return it to their respective bases. The first team to transfer ten jade slabs back to their base will win the match.
Each side consists of a team of eight players that are randomly assembled from those waiting in the Jade Quarry (Kurzick) and the Jade Quarry (Luxon) staging areas.
The map is balanced so that neither side has an advantage over the other. The three quarries are positioned (and colored) as follows: Purple quarry is closest to the Kurzicks, Green quarry is closest to the Luxons, and Yellow quarry is of equal distance from either side. There are a number of guard posts that are situated on the map which may be taken to assist or hinder the passage of players and jade carriers.
Both factions begin on opposite sides of the map, in their respective bases. All players resurrect automatically in their base and do not receive death penalty. Each base has three one way teleporters that are labeled for each quarry. These teleporters will take you to a location that is somewhat close to the quarry that you want to travel to.
[edit] Capturing
Quarries and Guard posts can be controlled by either faction. In order to gain control over one of these areas, all enemy NPCs that are occupying that area will need to be killed. Once control has been gained, allied NPCs will spawn and guard that area. At the start of the match, the quarries will be unclaimed. Gaining control of any of these quarries at the start will require a player to stand on the stone platform of that quarry. Each quarry has five NPCs; a ranger, two mesmers and two air elementalists. Each guard post can have between two to four rangers depending on the location of the guard post when it is controlled.
[edit] Rewards
At the end of the mission, faction is awarded to the respective alliances. Each team will receive 40 faction for each jade slab collected, and the winning team will earn an additional 950 faction.
[edit] Preparation
While the teams are randomly assembled, there are several things you can do to prepare for this mission:
- Talk with others waiting to enter the mission, get an idea of what people are doing.
- Choose skills that are suitable to fill a role in the mission.
- Don't bring a Signet of Capture or resurrection skills, as they are useless in this mission.
[edit] Strategy
- Consider death to be a good form of energy management and a good way to step back and allow you to reassess where you can be of most use and travel there quickly.
- Mobility is important so personal speed buffs are useful.
- The quarry furthest from your base and closest to the opposition is the most difficult to hold and the slowest to obtain jade from. The yellow quarry and your closest quarry are the most important to obtain and hold.
[edit] Attack
Your main focus is to ensure that you have control of the majority of the NPCs on the map, so that they can perform the tasks needed for your team to win. Killing the defending NPCs or killing jade carriers are your most important priorities. It is advised that when playing offensively that you don't attack any opposition players unless they are directly impeding your ability to take a post or kill a carrier. You should also avoid enemy players if you do not have more than one quarry in your control.
- Taking Quarries and Guard Posts
- It is important to be able to quickly turn quarries and guard posts to your side. Area of Effect spells and attacks and Epidemic on health degeneration conditions are particularly effective here. The NPCs do not heal themselves and do not stray far from the point to effectively avoid any area of effect.
- The mesmers at the quarries use spell and attack interrupts, so come prepared.
- Each member of a point can be attacked and killed individually. The other NPCs will not attack unless they're also attacked or aggro-ed.
- If you are unable to take a point due to the number of opposition players there, consider leaving and going to another point which isn't heavily defended and return once they have moved on.
- A longbow or flatbow can be used to attack the quarry NPCs from high ground while leaving them unable to counter-attack. This is particularly effective with Barrage.
- Killing Jade Carriers
- Once an NPC carrier has left a quarry with a jade slab, even if the quarry is taken, the carrier will continue taking the slab to their respective base. Generally, by killing jade carriers, you can prevent the opposition from scoring points.
- If the quarry is taken by your side and the opposition's carrier was on its way towards that quarry, it will turn around and head back to its base - do not kill it. By leaving it alive, the jade carrier will have to 'walk' to the quarry if it is re-captured by the opposition. If it is killed, it will 'spawn' at the quarry with the other NPCs allowing the opposition an advantage.
- If the quarry is still held by the opposition and their jade carrier is killed the carrier will re-spawn at the quarry with another jade slab after a short period of time.
- Slowing the carrier can be an alternative to killing it. Use slowing hexes or crippling skills.
- If taking the quarries proves to be difficult, then taking guard posts on the enemy carrier's route to the base can assist in impairing and killing the carrier.
- Take care when near the enemy carrier as it can activate Carrier's Defense.
[edit] Defense
Defending a quarry or defending a jade carrier is the best time to impede and take out opposition players. It is better to impede a player rather than killing them; taking their energy or slowing them down reduces their ability to fight, whereas if you killed them they will return with full health, energy, and a way to easily start over on a new task when they are resurrected.
- Keeping Quarries and Guard Posts
- Area of effect heals can effectively counter-act area of effect attacks. Also, selecting a single NPC to bond or heal can prevent a quarry from changing sides. Do keep in mind that defensive professions cannot hide that easily, so if an enemy decides to attack you instead, then you need to be prepared.
- Interrupters work well defensively. Having an interrupter can impede an offensive spell-caster from taking a shrine.
- Defensive Binding Rituals used in the center of the map can affect a large portion of the game area, allowing you to help keep your allies safe from harm.
- It isn't really necessary to defend a guard-post because they convert too frequently and easily. Instead, if an enemy player is on their way to take one of these posts, you can either let them take it and then re-take it once they have gone (yielding a full team at the guard-post), or go ahead and attempt to kill the enemy player yourself.
- Helping Jade Carriers
- Ensure that the guard posts en-route of the allied jade carrier are held by your team's NPCs. This will not only prevent the carrier from taking damage, but it will also help protect the carrier from enemies that try to kill it.
- Use condition and hex removal on the jade carrier so it can move without being impeded.
- If your carrier is taking damage, consider snares as a tactic to prevent the enemy from chasing the carrier.
- Speed boosts which can target allies can also be used on the jade carriers. "Charge!" and Windborne Speed are two examples.
[edit] NPC
[edit] Kurzicks (blue)[edit] Blue Base
[edit] Carriers[edit] Caravan Guard points
[edit] Quarries |
[edit] Luxons (Red)[edit] Red Base
[edit] Carriers[edit] Caravan Guard points
[edit] Quarries |
[edit] Notes
- Both teams are affected by players leeching for faction without assisting their team. However, Dishonor mitigates the worst offenders.
- As the mission can be accessed freely on either side by players representing either faction, players may sometimes work to assist the opposition team rather than their own.
- You must be level 20 to play this mission.
- This mission is typically poorly populated and must often be synced for a match to begin. (This is bad for explorers who need to uncover the entire arena. A small percentage can be revealed by replaying the mission cinematic.) Fort Aspenwood has more players.
- Exploring the area is frowned upon by some players of both factions, so be sure to only explore when it wouldn't anger teammates. There is at least 0.4 % for the Cartographer title.
| Missions in the Jade Sea |
|---|
| Boreas Seabed • Gyala Hatchery • The Aurios Mines • The Deep • The Jade Quarry • Unwaking Waters • Zos Shivros Channel |
| Towns and outposts • Explorable areas • Landmarks |
