Nicholas The Traveler – Thorny Carapaces

I was preparing myself to pass on this week’s scavenger hunt. I only have one character now – TANK. I’m also Guildless in Guild Wars. To better prepare for Guild Wars 2, I’m starting from scratch. I figured that I wouldn’t be able to participate in the fun, not with the majority of Tyria unexplored. But this week, Nicholas is in Krytan territory. I only needed to complete two more missions to get close enough to the action. Since I was planning to complete those missions anyway, I decided to make a run for it. I took my Survivor Ranger into undiscovered territory… undiscovered to TANK anyway.

Nicholas is looking for Thorny Carapaces. He wants 10 of them, to be precise. Once I made it to the Druid’s Overlook, it was a simple fight through the Sage Lands and into Majesty’s Rest. Nicholas was standing there with Yakkington, in a particularly shiny area of an otherwise darkened territory.

Here’s the official message…

Oh, hello! How fare you, friend? All this mud and wind and luggage have left Yakkington’s fur a bit on the untidy side. I know Thorny Carapaces make some really strong brushes that would be sure to clean up my shaggy friend here. If you have 2, that would be even better; these snarls look particularly troublesome.

I’m still having trouble believing the sweet and innocent routine. This man has been all over the game. He’s been in the hot spots of Nightfall and the snowy spots of Prophecies. If the guy can get from here to Cantha, why can’t he get a comb? But OK, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. From what I know of his story, the guy’s had a rough time since the searing. So if his friend needs a cleaning, I can help.

To collect the necessary items, I found myself hanging out by the zone between the Sage Lands and Majesty’s Rest. I’d port back and forth to respawn the enemies. The monster levels were in the teens, hardly a challenge. I’m fine with that. Although, this week’s mission was a bit more tedious than last week’s scavenger hunt. Thorny Carapaces were not dropping as fast as I would have liked. I was targeting enemies with the word “Thorn” in their name, like the Thorn Devourer Drone.

Do you prefer a bit more difficulty to these weekly scavenger hunts? I don’t think that I do. I was watching House, 24 and the evening news. It was very relaxing. I didn’t have to think too hard on the game. That allowed my mind to keep up with the TV shows. If the difficulty is to be increased, then the reward should be a lot better. Once again, it was another dismal week.

• 5 Mysterious Summoning Stones
• 5 Mysterious Summoning Stones
• 10 Bottle Rockets
• 10 Champagne Poppers
• 5 Green Rock Candies

The best part of this week’s journey was how TANK performed. I didn’t have all of the skills that I wanted, I didn’t have all of the pets that I wanted my team to have, my heroes were under equipped and I was somewhat hindered by the lack of a Guild Hall. Despite the challenges, he’s still a survivor… no deaths yet. Rangers are great for PvE. I like having a longbow. I can stay well out of range. I like the armor and I’m really enjoying the Expertise attribute. It gives me plenty of energy to play. I can be quite effective on the battlefield or I can just hang back and be lazy. For this week’s adventure, it was a little bit of both.