Guild Wars 2

So, arrived in the Straits of Devestation for the first time yesterday. Did a few events, killed a lot of Risen, a bit of personal story… then tried to complete the map. Managed everything except…

How in Dwayna’s name am I supposed to get the skill point at the Temple of Balthazar?! Every time I get anywhere near it I get overrun by Veteran Risen. Do I really have to kill them all to get the skill point (can’t see how else to get to it)?!

Not enjoying Orr very much so far to be honest…

Orr is in part a group zone. In order for the temples to be accessible, their meta events have to be successfully completed, which requires a good number of people and coordination.

You can grab the skill point solo (harder for less tanky characters) or with a few friends, but you have to be careful where you proceed. The Veteran Acolytes summon more Risen, so kill them first and try not to aggro others. Sneak around the edge of the altar. If you have invulnerabilities, you can use them while you commune with the SP.

I recommend you use the timers. Something like this one. http://www.gw2state.com/temples.html
Or this one.
http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/us

Guest to a server that has one open and get the points.

Astral Projections.7320:

I recommend you use the timers. Something like this one. http://www.gw2state.com/temples.html
Or this one.
http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/us

Guest to a server that has one open and get the points.

I just farmed events and everytime the temple event started id go along and eventually got it.

Ricky Da Man.5064:

Astral Projections.7320:

I recommend you use the timers. Something like this one. http://www.gw2state.com/temples.html
Or this one.
http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/us

Guest to a server that has one open and get the points.

I just farmed events and everytime the temple event started id go along and eventually got it.

I did it without guesting but I did it with another guildie and before they nerfed the loot drops. There were a lot more people around then. In fact, there were hordes of people in Orr just a few months ago. Now its almost deserted on my server. When I go there I see the occasional person where there used to be crowds. If he is playing solo and on a quiet server where not many people are in Orr, it might be easiest to guest. Or wait till they restructure Orr once again and more people come back.

I know there is a site that tracks open temples across servers. If you can find that (I found it by googling for gw2 open temples when I needed the Arah vendor), get near the Balthazar Temple and guest over to a server that at that moment lists it as open. Stroll on in, get the skill, and skedaddle.

If I recall, all the vets there are acolytes(?) which only fire ranged projectiles. Depending on your class, if you can block/reflect/stealth you can get the point even while they helplessly attack you.

Otherwise guesting is the best option. There are plenty of resources to check temple status, quickest one to see which servers have it open that I’ve found is the one on http://www.gw2bear.com/

Scroll to the bottom left, pick the temple, and it shows which servers have it open. Balthazar is one of the more annoying ones, so there isn’t always one server with it open. If possible, check them during the hours after reset as that’s when people complete all the temples and such for the daily bonus chest.

The easiest way I’ve found of doing this when contested is just to ask a friend to drag the mobs away from you. Takes a minute.

Alternatively Thieves can also stealth you.

Thanks for the help everyone!

I used one of the temple tracker sites, mapped over and capped the skill point. I then mapped back to my own server to find a zerg just leaving to cap the temple… so I helped out, we took Balthazar and then went on to get Lyssa and Dwayna too, so I’ve completed Malchor’s Leap too… just Cursed Shore to go now!

Won’t be sorry to see the back of Orr though… those Risen get a bit tiresome after a while!