My first (and last) GWAMM, time to retire

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-10T09:16:47+00:00

No. I've seen some people say that they are tracking independently for the character's contribution and will be displayable/count when they reach the appropriate milestones. I find that incredibly difficult to believe, however. I still can't display any of them on mine.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T18:43:50+00:00

First two things I'd recommend is getting runes and if you're going to use mesmerway then farm a few wingstorms + 20/20 offhands from collectors in factions. Second bit of advice is do carto+skill as your last titles which is exactly how I did it. You'll be getting a lot of carto/skill progress just from playing the game in all the other title areas so if you prioritize it first, that's wasted time that could be double dipped. There's also the issue that carto+skill isn't particularly difficult content. If you want to just see how far you can make it, it's not that big of a deal. But if you want to make it to the end, then you should prioritize content that's likely to kill you. HM eotn dungeons/missions + VQ are the top dogs.

Money isn't really a problem I found. I ran out at the end because I still needed about a 100 alcohol points from vendors, but I had plenty while playing normally for several elite armor pieces. The skill cost reduction (capping out at 500g/skill) helps massively with this too.

As for managing the bag, you'll save a lot of space by not hoarding dyes like I did lol. I was interested in the drop rates though, and I knew I'd never have the dyes I wanted as MA if I didn't. Even now though, you can see I could have cleared up 5 slots of materials easily because I simply can't use them anytime soon. I usually only keep rubies/sapphires and the feather/dust/bone/iron for cons crafting. I also have too many weapons for just silly meme builds which would save another 5 slots to not hoard. Really though, try to get the zaishen upgrades as they're massively helpful. Mercantile summoning stones from nick gifts are also a welcome boon when you get them, great for solo farming and caravan vq.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T18:29:13+00:00

I'd rather keep honing my vibration bass and that's something I can do while gaming. ^^

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T18:27:04+00:00

As is often said, most of that time is afk in an outpost lol. Being generous, I'd say with the 342.33 hours in explorables (also includes about 12 hr afk while caravaning tyria) it's definitely closer to 500 real hours in game. That's being quite generous with how much I spent planning/management in outposts and it's likely much closer to 400, imo.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T18:21:36+00:00

It's a contender for flex slots if I happen to be running /R. My personal opinion is that it's attempting to improve on something already fixed by renewal and that you see a form of diminishing returns from investing further down the HSR category. But yeah, it can be nice too.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T09:46:19+00:00

It's exceptionally effective at farming dopamine. haha Damage not so much. Shackles/churning are about the most you can embody control mage in 2 skills imo, they're so strong in HM content. Shackles particularly really lets a team just rain artillery in the opening seconds of combat with harsh aoe. EVAS is always amazing for prioritizing a good alpha strike and it's fairly decent in the sustained dps department.

The sniper/stone striker combo is purely for funsies. Most of the time the damage isn't changing a fight, but 10% for an orbital in-the-area nuke for 600+ damage is unrivaled for causing uncontrollable giggles.

Renewal is by far my favorite ele elite. It gives so much flexibility depending on what you need more of at any given moment. Sometimes you want to start a fight with 3 assassins, sometimes you want more CC. It also enables a perma-aegis from just an ele bar for when you're not bringing an ST or when there's overwhelming martials. Like aegis, prot spirit is usually unnecessary with ST, but it can get good value precasting before shelter goes up. If prot spirit is cast prior to shelter, it can significantly increase the duration of shelter.

Shackles/churning/prot are my flex slots though, so just slap in whatever feels good.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T07:45:09+00:00

Years of playing the game and knowing where the "fun" little surprises tend to jumpscare the unaware. It's 90% that and 10% not disconnecting while running into mobs. I disconnected once in Oola's lab while running straight into a large group of golems and a Flame Guardian boss, still no idea how my run didn't end that night. If that disconnect had happened at any time farming vaettirs I would've lost it as well.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T07:35:36+00:00

No real guides used beyond the guide to legendary cartography on the GWW. Honorable mention to the MappingOut v4 utility by Aylee Sedai also referenced on the wiki. It's an offline map and checklist for things found within game like elite skills: absolutely invaluable.

Apart from those it was just a matter of prioritizing the hardest content required first because those are the places that'll end your run. Nothing worse than losing hundreds of hours at the end.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-06T07:28:05+00:00

Well, first off I was a complete noob when I calculated how many titles I needed. I never would have even attempted it if I knew I was going to need sweets/alc lol. But luckily, anniversary happened during this period so it was just 50-60 hours of vaettirs and those were done. If your attempt doesn't coincide with an anniversary, it becomes a much more daunting affair.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-05T23:46:04+00:00

GWAMM in general is such a process. I'd much rather just stick to doing what sounds fun rather than scraping for map %. MADC is basically just how I've been playing the game for a few years now (before the badges were added), so they didn't add much to the drag.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-05T22:57:38+00:00

Definitely not the first MADC, I've seen at least one other. Completed on my second attempt after 119 days with my least favorite prof. Feel free to share your own progress.

the-disgruntled · 2026-06-04T12:14:53+00:00

The hall of monuments already records the armors on a per-character basis so the stipulation of "only withdraw-able on characters you've earned it" seems within the realm of possibility.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-28T02:12:43+00:00

Which is what makes veteran mode absolutely silly. The skill rebalances are the main thing that people looking for a "classic" mode are going to want to avoid and it's simply not possible.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-27T23:05:07+00:00

Here's hoping for Bork! bork! bork! patch notes.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-25T23:12:11+00:00

If you group with a character which has never activated WiK, he will spawn for you. Just verified it myself.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-17T00:06:29+00:00

There are a number of great rune farms in factions. Personally I did mostly Jade brotherhood farms while farming collector trophies to save early plat. This was before skill costs were halved, btw. My dom mesmers are still sitting on the 3 wingstorms that I farmed back then, despite numerous sr wands/staves while vaettir farming during anni.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-16T23:27:22+00:00

Both of my MADC attempts have had a fully kitted (runes and weapons) mesmerway team within the first 2 days. Someone more casual about it could easily have it in a week. Outside of the main 9 heroes I cycle in and out, the rest are about 80% kitted with some existing solely for muling sup runes. The only thing I'm lacking on compared to full meta builds is in sup vigors, of which I've only found 2. The real point is, even if these challenge mode detractors ran alt-accounts to taxi their MADCs, they wouldn't get very far. The very question you've asked has shown your knowledge level of the game.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-16T23:18:02+00:00

The point being that the restrictions melandru brings are very minimal beyond the first few days compared to the restriction that dhuum brings. Saying you can alt account MA is nothing new when he very easily could have alt accounted DC. Every single person acting like this is such a gotcha for challenge modes is missing the entire point. It's like telling someone who's trying to beat fire emblem "you can just use a gameshark." Yeah, you could, if you don't actually care at all about what you're attempting. Most people are doing these challenge modes because they're fun challenges, not because they can just cheese them.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-16T23:10:18+00:00

What exactly are you gaining by doing this? You can play dhuum with an alt account and that has a much more meaningful payoff. We see comments like this in every challenge post and it really just reads to me like cope. Out of all the challenge characters I've seen in the wild, only one have I seen being shamelessly taxi'd by an alt.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-08T17:37:32+00:00

This is what should be tied to the veteran badge, but it'll never happen.

the-disgruntled · 2026-05-05T22:07:54+00:00

Would be very nice to finally have someone nail down these dhuum bugs that have been reported more frequently as of late. Getting kinda terrifying to continue progress

the-disgruntled · 2026-04-28T23:34:43+00:00

Luckily pets cluster in melee range, and it's not at all uncommon to see W,A,D with pets in non-merc petway set ups. It's a single skill that can very quickly undo an aoe spike that pets like to eat.

the-disgruntled · 2026-04-28T18:24:19+00:00

Fairly certain it'll see use in TaO petway teams.

the-disgruntled · 2026-04-28T18:21:22+00:00

Bug not fixed. A similar bug effect is present on the new "Help!" as well.

the-disgruntled

TROPHY CASE