Talk:Nolani Academy

HM

keeping ruick alive after the second cut seen seams impossible are they going to make it so in hm he dost range in and argo everything? --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.165.112.222 (talk).

Nope, don't think so. You just need to better protect him. -- ab.er.rant 01:38, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

mmm such grate input that you added. i am guessing you haven't tried doing this mission in hard mode. yea thats what i thought. so dont talk or comment if you dont have something productive to ad n00b --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.165.112.222 (talk).75.165.112.222}}

Same could be said by your great comment here actually.. And keeping Rurik alive isn't that hard after the final cut scene, just make sure you stick with him wherever he goes and have a decent Healer in your team. Tribio talk 08:23, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Um ... isn't calling someone a "n00b" a violations of Guild_Wars_Wiki:No_personal_attacks? Auntmousie 01:49, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I want to ask smth...what valuable items are usually dropped when u open the gate and kill the charr in the gateway??? Skill tomes? Golds? In other words...is nolani academy good for hm farming????Lord Vallern 14:22, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Don't bother keeping him alive just do the alternate strategy mentioned in the main article. Faster and 100% easier.

Except that you MUST keep him alive, or the mission fails.... --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:75.70.154.90 (talk).

The whole point of the alternate strategy is that you don't need to keep Rurik alive - he never gets anywhere near a foe. — snograt 09:00, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Opening the Gate

Opening the gate sure can be useful if you:

a. want to beat the mission fast

b. want to have some fun

c. have a good healer

d. hide behind rurik

e. aren't planning to do bonus

I love opening the gate, especially during events. Using Cyclone Axe, Hundred Blades, or Barrage will make them go down fast and easy. Bisurge 00:55, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Ya, placing some AoE spells while they rush in is pretty fun to do. — ク Eloc 貢 01:23, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Here's another thing. This is a perfect place in Hard Mode for a group of 4 trappers to farm. Be sure to spread out though, and don't put them all at the gate as they will come in groups of 4-5 at a time. If you make the whole isle filled with traps, the first group dies with the first set, second with the second, third with third, etc. Bisurge 04:45, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Using a farming build here is also very useful. It gives event drops, and it's an easy shot at let's say Victory Tokens. It's also a very good place to level until around 12 or 13. Bisurge 04:44, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It is possible to solo monk this in HM with this build. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.242.174.254 (talk).

Opening the gate is good if you plan not doing bonus and want to go fast. Raced the clock and by opening the gate and using the alt route after getting south of the wall I did it in 4 minutes, no running skills used. My party was of me and 3 heroes, all lvl 20, R, Mo, W, E (no secondary professions used).Ironyfist 23:20, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Alternate route for hm

so after the first cutseen its use full to go right and ignore rurik completely i was just wondering why this wasn't talked about, and why there isn't a map that indicates the route .75.165.110.13 02:42, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

I did this and after a while the second cutscene just started ~~Brodly 17:25, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Tried this last night in Hard Mode. The right path is much easier. There is one small mob of Charr near the end, gathered around two Ascalonian prisoners. Once these are cleared, the path to Bonfaaz Burntfur is open. Killing him will start the second cutscene. I will get a screen shot of the path and add the alternate approach into the walkthrough. Mllepandora 18:56, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Strategy & screenshot of alternate path added. Please let me know if I did it wrong/right/whatever. Mllepandora 21:25, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Maybe note the approx amount of time before Rurik gets to Stormcaller. It is noted that you must do this quickly, but a bit more info would be nice. The decline 10:19, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Put it this way, I accidentally ran back to the original gate, thinking it was the proper path, then realized I had to go the other way and still had plenty of time to kill the boss. The only IMS skill Ibrought was "Fall Back!" with a 9 second duration / 20 sec cooldown.06:17, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Bonus bugg

I happened to me one time, that there was no way to the tome - so that was impossible to gain bonus in this mission... Anyone knows what to do with that? --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.132.151.253 (talk • contribs) at 09:47, 5 December 2008 (UTC).

Wow, that has to be annoying to not find the bonus path mid-mission. I've never heard of this happening. As sad as it sounds, you'd probably have to restart the mission. 76.30.79.54 06:46, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Alternate HM route - Interesting Glitch

I just ran this mish with H/H in HM and used the alternate HM route. I encountered a curious glitch which did not impact the outcome of the mission. (I received credit for the mish, bonus, and full zmish).

I very quickly ran and arrived at Bonfaaz Burntfur. After killing him, he dropped a couple items, the +XP annotation occurred, and then the shield animation showing the two swords crossing. Then, suddenly, I was transported out of the final cutscene and was standing with Rurik at Stormcaller (as if I had just watched the second cutscene). I quickly checked the quest log and the map to confirm I'd received credit for completing the mission. Then, because I had seen a gold drop, I decided to see if I could get to where Burntfur's corpse lay. I defended Rurik (successfully) until he reached his stopping point. I picked up my drops and noted also that the king and his entourage was poised ready at the door (presumably for the final cutscene).

Because there appeared no other way out of the mission, I mapped. I realize this isn't earth shattering, but thought I'd share the curiosity. --ZeeWabbit 23:20, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

I would guess that, since the game keeps runing on the backround while cutscenes are playing, Rurik was still able to reach stormcaller and triggered that cutscene while you were still seeing the last one, breaking the script that ports you out of the mission after the last cutscene is played (i think the stormcaller cutscene is shorter, so it would be possible for it to finish before the last one and triggering the "port here" part of the mission). Would be interesting to see if this can happend in other run-able missions too.--Fighterdoken 23:29, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

I just had the same exact thing happen, except that while I got credit for the zmiss, the bonus, and got an entry in Young Heroes of Tyria, the quest log for the mission itself still had "Defend Prince Rurik on the way back to the capital city of Rin" as unfulfilled. I even tried running around and killing everything outside the academy and tried interacting with Adelbern and the rest of the NPCs to no avail (before I realized I had the zmiss/YHoT, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered). Like you said, not earth shattering (I was only doing it for the zmiss/YHoT), but I thought it was strange that I managed to get the zmiss w/o getting the mission. 69.117.242.161 04:31, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Same thing just happened to me, and I was able to use the glitch to explore the area behind Adelbern. Not sure if that area is available normally around the side of the castle, but it was pretty funny. Lysander 02:45, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

This happened to me as well; I was really freaked out at first. I skipped the end cutscene so I thought the mission didn't credit and went back and killed the charr with Rurik the regular way. Strangely enough, Bonfaaz had resurrected, when I got to the destination, and killing him again ended the mission properly. 67.246.60.56 09:37, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Gate opening/Disappearing Charr bug

I was doing the mish for the Zaishen mission reward, completed the bonus and failed. Instead of repeating the whole mission I opted to open the gate and save some time.

Interestingly enough, two groups rushed the gate, the rest ran the opposite way and 'disappeared.' while fighting those, two groups of rangers that initially ran the other way returned at around 15 second intervals, giving enough of a window to dispatch the group. Since the boss was still missing and I couldn't trigger the escorting Rurik to Rin leg of the mission, I opted to clear out the two stationary groups outside of the castle. While fighting the rangers on the eastern ledge, I noticed that the missing boss group and an additional group were fighting Warmaster Casana and the Ascalon Ranger on the upper ledges along the intended path to the mission.

I returned to the castle and camped just outside the back entrance, and the two groups eventually made their way there and were defeated, triggering the next part of the mission.

The disappearance bug seems to be a pathfinding issue, the open gate doesn't register with some of the groups, causing them to take the long way to the castle. In HM the trip took the two missing groups around 3.5 - 4.5 minutes. In NM, between the slower running speed, and having to fight any devourer popups, the trip may be longer than most players are willing to wait.

Is it worth updating the bug entry to reflect these findings? Or set up a second bug entry? 71.198.133.124

I already noted this Bug ages ago, I was farming it for fun, but ya apparantly theres a rare chance that if you choose to leave through the front gate, most of them just vanish. --Necroflare715 14:41, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

'To whom it might concern', this just happened to me in HM with 2 other people & a hero. We were expecting to DwG the charr groups but instead the smart cats found their way through the back door. Unexpected. Markus Clouser 01:16, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Why is this behavior assumed to be a bug? Maybe the Charr are just a little more intelligent than you give them credit for (they are winning the war after all). And, specifically, what do you think those two Charr scouts are looking for if not a back entrance? If you open the gate before killing those two scouts then you are inviting the possibility of the crafty Charr choosing a rear rather than frontal assault (their primary aim is to kill Rurik and not the players after all). What they choose to do may also even depend on whether they can see the players waiting for them behind the open door (I usually wait to one side, out of sight, and I have not experienced this "problem"). At any rate stop assuming that mobs' behavior is (or should be) 100% predictable (and dumb). K A 217.135.134.142 00:31, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

I triggered this bug/feature repeatedly tonight with a group of heroes. Similar to the experience of topic starter 71.198..., on one attempt I found a missing Flame Wielder up on the ledge fighting Casana and his companion Ranger NPC. However, after the Flame Wielder defeated them, he didn't seem to have much interest in coming back around the back way. Very few of my missing charr groups on any of my attempts came through the back, but I admittedly was a little too impatient to wait for them.

I am inclined to believe this *is* a bug -- one caused by getting the charr groups furthest from the Academy off-radar before they can all rush the building. On my failed attempts, I had clicked the lever and then quickly ran down the slope to hide around the corner of the entrance corridor. The times when I stayed on the ledge near the lever and fought, and also when I waited for all the charr to come to the door before going down the slope to fight behind the corner, the mission successfully updated to continue. --MVLM 07:47, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Hard Mode - Impossible Mission is Impossible?

...with heroes that is. Anyone actually done it with 3 heroes? You just get gank-slaughtered by a massive group of Charr that Rurik aggroes after the Stormcaller cutscene. Therefore this mission seems impossible to me due to a flaw in the game design. Then again, none of the Prophecies missions were ever designed with Hard Mode in mind, so perhaps this isn't surprising. I certainly think this part could do with a rebalance. Astralphoenix777 00:06, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

The first time i did it (with henchmen), i used the dumb route through the golems. I left a couple alive so Rurik could battle them, and that gave me time to move ahead and clear the "mob" of charrs with longbow-pulling. By the time the cutscene triggered, there were only a few charrs left which could be avoided or killed quickly.

The second time i did it (with heroes), i used the "smart" route. Just leave captain suicide alone and take the right (empty) path. Keep running and just go kill the finnal boss. You should be able to do it before Rurik even reaches the Stormcaller.--Fighterdoken 00:13, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I just read about this technique a few minutes ago and attempted to do it that way. Unfortunately my heroes got bodyblocked by Charr while trying to save Rurik when you kill the first boss and the gate opens, and Captain Suicide got killed right at the start of the mission by the 2 Charr Bladestorms (lol). I never even reached the first cutscene. Moral of the story: I can't be bothered to waste any more time on this crappily-designed mission tonight, so I'll attempt it tomorrow with a friend and see if that helps. Mind you, even if this method does work, it sucks that you have to use what is basically an exploit to complete the mission. I don't think ANet has taken enough care rebalancing some of these missions for Hard Mode. The bonuses on Thirsty River and Dunes of Despair, and the masters on Eternal Grove are all practically impossible without human monks on HM as well, but this takes the cake since it's the actual mission that's virtually impossible. Astralphoenix777 00:42, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Uh... Why would Rurik die in the path to the first cutscene? You are supposed to go around the base and clear the path "before"...

And again, you don't need to use the "cheat" on hard mode, henchmen, pulling, and "not killing everything" is enough for it.--Fighterdoken 07:39, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

What happens with the fight outside the gate is that as soon as you aggro the boss group, the gate will open and the other two groups of Charr will immediately run inside. If you don't act quickly, this will result in Rurik dying. The solution is to kill at least one of the non-boss groups before taking out the boss. -- Hong 08:55, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah I'm not complaining, it was my fault that Rurik died here. I was too busy trying to micro-manage my heroes around the bodyblocking to prevent him from dying, but I should've taken out the enemies first instead of trying to rush through the mission (I was getting fed up with it at this point). Astralphoenix777 11:44, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

I found that the trick is just not to add your own aggro to Rurik's. Running ahead of Captain Suicide can lead to you fighting one group while he changes direction and charges another. Instead, just follow him tightly. I had to hero-micro a PS onto him once or twice but there really weren't many aggro problems when I took that approach. — 130.58 (talk) 08:10, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Right. I've done this mission in HM a few times now, for the book; all but one were with H/H, and I've yet to have problems with the end. Rurik does a smashing job of aggroing the Charr on his own; you do not need to help him in this respect. Just follow him and attack anything he attacks. Needless to say, bringing an MM to provide extra bodies to distract the Charr is recommended. -- Hong 08:55, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Curious, because every time I've attempted this, Rurik runs down the hill after using Stormcaller and aggroes a huge group of Charr (~12, including 1-2 bosses), and either gets himself killed or causes a party wipe because of the overwhelming numbers (in either case failing the mission). The thing is, they appear to be 1 large group, so you can't run forward and aggro them yourself because you just get ganked anyway. I'll make another attempt tonight though. Astralphoenix777 11:44, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Only my assassin caster has been able to do this mission with heroes with the hard path, I used echo-vanguard sins, pain inverter, assassins promise, with ele hero with echo metero showers, 1 mm, and monk hero, I was controlling 5 vanguard sins at the same time, I have max ranks in eotn tiles that helped, I didn't know about the alternate path then, I will try the alternate path with all my characters and let you know115.64.157.4 08:58, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Alternate way works, tested on derv and war with subway heroes115.64.157.4 11:26, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

I used to hate this mission in HM. After stormcaller pull out a long or flatbow and start pulling mobs to storm caller before rurik comes running down. I was able to kill 1 and have another pulled to that spot when rurik came down. By then its easy. Charr do not have condition removal here so take blind and daze. Justice 20:04, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Alternate Route HM - Praise

The alternate route in Hard Mode is an excellent piece of advice, it makes the mission so much easier and faster to complete (and less risky of having Rurik spiked at the end mob, wasting half an hour worth of time). I did it using this method yesterday for the Zaishen Mission and I'm impressed indeed - I had to work more for the bonus objective than on the mission objective itself. My party was composed of a Monk (me) and 3 Necromancer heroes, running a typical Discord build.--Sensei 11:41, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

The alternate way rocks, 1st I did it with my derv, I forgot to bring skill that will boost attack speed, my heroes were busy killing the 2 char at the bottom of the stair while I was practically soloing the Char ele Boss, it was taking too long, he was 10% of health, then Rurik blowed the horn, lol, the 2nd cut scene started, I thought it was over, I went to the bottom of the stair thinking I have to kill them hard way, but surprisingly then I got the last endgame scene, apparently the minions did the job, they killed the Char Boss while we were teleported to Rurik, got lucky,my party was me A)B derv with 3 subway necro, note my mm uses Aura of the Lich and two of my necros have splinter weapon. I did the same thing with warrior, this time I used speed boost and attack boost with conditions and high damage, I killed the Boss before Rurik blows the horn. I also used three subway necros. I am too lazy to call targets in Discordway, I like my heroes play their own, subway doesn't need supervision. I will try with my para next time115.64.157.4 11:25, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Well when storm caller is used all the char max helth is reduced... what was left of the minions probably only had to sneeze on the boss to finish him 65.6.156.101 11:29, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

It's Sabway not Subway LOL --Necroflare715 15:00, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Either way, I don't know what everyone's complaining about. I did this on my first try, and only like 2 deaths. O.o →[ »Halogod (talk)« ]← 06:25, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Seconded a hundred times over. Failed twice due to Prince Halfwit aggroing a dozen+ Charr and bosses, came here looking for advice, tried the alternate route, and not only was it embarrassingly easy, but also vastly quicker. --Beliandra 10:40, 26 August 2011 (UTC)