Kudos to Anet on HardMode

I did one Kudos post before thanking Anet for the storage updates and other little add-ons over the last few months.

But before anyone starts pointing out issues with Hard Mode (HM as its come to be known when PUGing), Id like to say thanks to Anet for adding this.

HM has completely re-invigorated the game.

You have people actively trying to PUG in Prophecies. It almost brings a tear to your eye to see it.

The best part is that HM doesn’t add more mobs to an area or make creatures over-powered. Their AI has actually been boosted, along with skills changes and lvl increases.

This is how the game should have become harder. I love the way that the chars are now formidable.

It also panders to the "anti AI" players, because trying to use AI in hard mode is just a bad idea. From my experience over the weekend, all the PUGs I joined who tried to use AI failed miserably.

Which is a good thing because you now have two sides to GWs in my view. You have the first part (normal mode), which you can complete using AI if you want to, and then you have the second part (hard mode), which you need to focus more on PUGing to complete.

Hardmode re-introduces the need for PUGs (I recognise I could be wrong, and I’m sure someone will complete HM just using AI).

So Kudus to Anet!

Hardmode has brought back PUGing and re-invigorated old areas.

Hurray.

More people who adore Hard mode.

I'm not the only one after all.

big thumbs up Anet!! Enjoying every minute in hardmode, gives me enough stuff to do Graci

" bit off topic, but i loved everything in the update that came with hard mode, like acces scrolls and such "

No, you're not the only one enjoying HM

I had huge fun with my best friend vanquishing 12 Canthan areas this weekend (we were so busy with that we didn't farm any LB or sunspear points, fancy that ;p)
God knows I scolded my friend for having his Goren rush off to the far end of the map, or our lovely Tahlkora who is tank-aholic or screaming 'run away' when Olias dies with 10 Jagged horrors XD
But when you vanquish an area you really feel like you have achieved something. I also got 2 masters in HM : Minister Cho's Estate and Zen Daijun. took me 8 hours to find decent PUG's to get through this mission (we couldn't hero-way this one, not enough firepower to kill the monk boss at the end) but we did succeed
I love every aspect of the update, yeah, even those breaking picklocks, because, well, clearing an area nets you enough gold to rebuy the ones you used

Hard Mode is indeed great! The challenge is refreshing and breaths new life into old areas. Taking D'Alessio Seaboard as an example... me and a few guildies had to rethink our build after failing three times at the first meeting with Confessor Dorian. After discussing how to counter the multiple earthquakes, we found a solution and succeeded in finishing the mission. Increased loot drops and lockpickable chests are a great motivation aswell. Farming have been a main income of gold for to long now and its refreshing to know that i can gain the same amount by playing the game normally again.

Kudos to Anet!

Please lock the thread - we already have one on HM.

Maybe the hard mode feedback thread should be pinned to the top of sub-forum for a while, mods?

Hard mode is good for farming LB points and beyond that I am back again to normal mode cause hard mode exposes too many players in the sense that their shortcomings are even more obvious...Hard mode is too frustrating for me and it's not because hard mode is technically too hard....I'll get back to it in a month or two...perhaps there will have been a significant learning curve by then.

Fvck you A-Net.

Hard Mode is the bane of my GW life now.
Not only because it locks away the only possibility of many items (at least at max damage) where I could never possibly reach it... nor because it has likewise locked away the only capable PuGs away from Normal Mode.... but because the new surge in activity made me lag-death so frequently (in Normal Mode, I might add) that I couldn't play all weekend.

I have nothing but resentment for the whole project.... and an especially unpleasant glare for all of those who support it.

After playing HM all weekend I don't think I could be more frustrated! But in the end I am lovin it! I was getting bored of GW and this has brought in a new challenge for me and friends. We are determined to finish everything in HM before the second expansion to GW3.

Er.... Complete the game and then you can get into Hardmode. Jesus dude!

You only need to complete the campaign on one lvl20 and then all your lvl20s can use HM on that campaign. How much easier do you want Anet to make it to access?

Plus the golds havent all been sucked up and put into HM. They do still exist in NM ya know!!!!

I saw lots of people, including myself, asking for normal mode over the weekend and I found PUGs. But there wasnt a staggering number of PUGs before this weekend! HM has actually brought them out and helped people play in PUGs.

Your still welcome to use henches!!!

Oh my dear god!!

Theres actual activity in the game? Thats awfull that is! How dare Anet introduce something that makes people want to play the game.

Shall we all leave the game, and give you a day to yourself, so the servers arent too busy for you?

Grow up!! HM had existed for 48 hours, and you honestly didnt think it would cause some lag for the odd player?

It makes me laugh when players complain that adding new patches, addons or campaigns, causes Lag!! Ofcourse it does. Its only been 48 hours FCS!! Give it time to settle down.

Why did you post that in a pro-HM thread?




Anet ignore this selfish player. We all love you for adding HardMode.

1. You are actually breaking forum rules by opening a duplicate thread. As I pointed out, we have a thread on feedback for HM.

2. Do not be so arrogant as to say whether people can make positive/negative comments about a game feature. This is an open forum, and it is not a good idea for people to post mindless praise/rant threads. It is always best to have an open thread for discussion.

So I suggest you ask an admin to close the thread, as you opened it in ignorance, and redirect to the following discussion.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10145570

I know HOW to get to Hard Mode... though admittedly in Nightfall that is proving more difficult for me than you might imagine (I'm having to grind Nightfallen Jahai every day to get Lightbringer Points just to up my title enough to survive the other areas). And no, I haven't managed it with ANY characters yet.
The point is that I can't survive IN Hard Mode... No matter what I might WANT to do, it is far too hard for the likes of me... and all it gets me is frustration and failure.
It isn't about the golds; but about the titles. I need certain titles to prove I am competant and not a "n00b", as people very frequently like to call me.


While my Heroes are practically micro-managed almost to perfection... the henchies... are not. I need to have a Guildwiki window open constantly to even remind myself of their particular skill-sets for specific selection.... and even then the AI is annoyingly incapable in certain situations.

And lucky you for seeing those PuGs I'm sure. I couldn't get a group in Normal Mode Gate of Madness mission because everyone there was doing Hard Mode LB Farming.... except for the few who were doing the Mission itself in Hard Mode. ¬_¬ ... I tried with heroes and henchies... fought through mobs for ages... only to get wiped by Shiro... Typical. Sometimes I actually need human meatbag help, much as I hate to admit it.


It is partially the fact that a weekend event I REALLY needed happened at the same time as the release of Hard Mode... meaning serious server-spike... and twice as much grinding I'll have to do now that the weekend is over and activity has softened again.

But more importantly, the GW servers can't handle that kind of influx. I can't hold it against the people for actually coming online.... but I can hold it against A-Net for trying to put all their eggs in one basket in one swoop and ending up smashing a few as a result. It is downright ridiculous. They should either space their events out better or get more servers.


Because I represent the other side of the argument... to oppose your entirely biased view here. Show A-Net one side of the story alone and they'll think everyone approves... and that is definitely not the case.
Or would you sooner I start a separate thread opposing Hard Mode, get THAT flooded with pro Hard-Mode sentiment, locked and cast away into oblivion? THAT is what happens to certain views here...



Woe betide me for ever disapproving of something. ¬_¬

And no... we don't all love A-Net for it.
Not that I express utter hate based on this one thing, but it is NOT a universally approved addition to Guild Wars... make NO mistake on that. Both sides deserve representation here...

On the first paragraph. Creatures are actually overpowered by boosting their output to nearly two times more damage (for melee at least). Now we didnt discuss issues on ignoring game mechanics as movement speed, activation speed and skill recharge besides their ever overflowing pool of energy. Mobs have become IMBA. And to my and many others opinion AI is still not "smart" (i will come back to this).

Chars are formidable, but other lvl 26 mobs have become deadly, 3-4 hits is a guaranteed and sometimes unpreventable death. With skills as corrupt enchantment in HM it's quite difficult to prot effectively. Each 5 seconds an enchant is removed and converted to substantial damage. I can deal with this but it aint easy with henchies and heroes. Its not the smart usage of these skills that HM became more difficult, but by sheer spam increase that it becomes extremely difficult. I attack both the cleric and the warlocks at the same time in order to kill the warlock and keep the clerics busy.

To finalize if u can use AI or not in HM, I say yes. U take a frost build, and you will have an easy time anywhere. it requires 2 players and 6 heroes. u put the spirits in the back and the AI is not smart enought to utterly wipe your build because they dont know how to deal with these spirits or to consider the impact on their attacks/spells. This is why the AI is still normal mode, and it is indeed just gimmick mode and not hard mode.

This is a typicall example of a generic, but to my opinion a "wrong" approach or reaction to hardmode. Instead it should have induced how to beat a monk not by sheer firepower, but by including skills that will detroy the monks effectiveness, diversion, shame, mark of subversion, E-denial (which only seems to work on players but not mobs), basic interupts, daze (BHA, headbutt-->plague touch, whatever) etc.

I finished nightfall with rank 2 LB with ease, and farm hard mode without much difficulty, using all heros + hench, So I highy doubt your heroes are micro managed to perfection.

If your finding NF difficult, your obviously doing something wrong.

Kudos to Anet for HM and seperating the noobs from the people that actually know how to play the game.

/signed.
The funniest thing about hard mode is that it is opitionnal. I don't think I will try to complete Vainquishing titles but seriusly, I love it.
Still able to do it with henchies, with well-synergised builds, excepted for Realm of Torment or Fire Island, but it is reaaaally fun!

I beat Nightfall 2 days after it came out on my dervish with NO rank in lightbringer. Did the same on my ASSASSIN about 2 weeks after that. So please do not complain about the difficulty of normal.....as for getting groups...i guess you are just having bad luck because i have always been able to get a pug with nice people

I would also like to add that HARD MODE ROCKS!!!!!

Had you failed to notice the part where I mentioned what was wrong was wrong with ME?

And ok... so my description was a rather inaccurate verbal burst...
What I meant to say was that I actually have effective and synergised builds on my heroes... NOT that I spend my entire time controlling all three of them at once in perfect time.

No... the weak cornerstone in the entire set-up is myself.

I find it difficult to cope with rubberbanding for one thing... and frequently mis-time my skills through a combination of weak reflexes and simple lag. The more stressed I get, the worse my play-style becomes.

But you try to make it sound as though I'm failing through lack of effort. Let me assure you I try my damnedest to succeed... but it just doesn't pay off for everyone.


Well congratulations on having a NASA computer, 100mbit connection, viper reflexes, total awareness of your surroundings, and nigh-on-telepathic synergy with other people. But for the record... not everyone has that... and just because you don't find it hard doesn't mean there aren't countless people struggling just to try and keep up for whatever reason.
Perhaps when you're done you'd like to go to Ethiopia and eat chocolate-bars in front of starving children.

Takeko Nakano, this thread was opened to thank ANet for adding Hard Mode.. i dont really see any connection between this one and the one you linked. Leave thread closing decisions to moderators?

Frankly i am really not impressed with the GW community. Coming to these forums is a real dread these days with all the unnecessary negativity.. and in an attempt to do something positive and thank ANet for giving us a huge update for FREE someone comes along and spoil it out of spite.

Sorry for going off topic, but i had to get it off my chest.

Spite?
Hardly.
We just all have our personal bugbears that like to rear their nasty heads from time to time. One of my major ones is that Guild Wars is a highly elitist institution. And no matter how "optional" people might claim Hard Mode to be.... it now sections off well over half the entire game as unachievable for people like myself... as well as furthering the elitist attitude of the populace.

And negativity is never unnecessary.
Take away our ability to offer alternative views and you end up with a Big Brother community with enforced compliance and drone members.
Negativity is what gets problems identified, solutions put forward and things changed for the better.

What??? They made every monster overpowered. Where are you playing Hard Mode at to not see this?

That aside, I'll give Hard Mode a "meh...it's alright". It's made me rethink my herohench team, that's for sure, and rethinking is always a little refreshing.

yea fish I agree and it was so funny last night when I tried an O L D school farm spot at the gates of kryta where a mergoyle power blocked my earth ele tank so I had to unflag my henchys to res me so I could get to the lightning drakes which owned me /no sarcasm im enjoying it

oh noes I just remembered I gave away a 20% vs charr bow string the other day I could have got a few gp for now I bet

Err, I dunno - maybe the fact it's about feedback on HM so if people want to say thanks they can say it there?

*cough* for your information I had Norgu with Diversion, Power Block etc. The monk boss itself wasn't a problem but the fact that we couldn't kill any of the mob around him, which had 2 Rt's and 3 ele afflicted...

You enjoy getting your arse handed to you in-game?

... Is that entirely normal?

I hate it.
I hate that feeling that I'm putting time and effort into it and getting nothing out because I keep dying. I realised long ago that if I can't do something then I'm better off not wasting my time on it....

The problem is now that Hard Mode is half of the entirety of PvE (and DOES contain things that I cannot get in Normal Mode) .... and then there are the Elite Missions on the side that I can't hope to do even in Normal Mode... Which means essentially that the majority of Guild Wars falls into the category of things I can't do no matter how hard I try.... and thus probably shouldn't bother with.
It is honestly a miracle that I haven't totally given up on it yet.

No. That was just something unexpected first go in an area. Did some 4 man hard mode with my heros in fow last night. After I learn the tricks to whatever it's a pushover.

Heh, yeah, 'cause halving cast and recharge time for all skills and boosting movement and attack speed by 50% is so insignificant a change that it can hardly be described as "overpowered"!

The past two years, almost all of the focus has been on skill balancing, trying to perfect it with minute changes in skills. Hard Mode completely throws all of this work out the window by effectively doubling the potential of every single skill in the game for mobs. Seems rather counter-productive and lazy to me.

I wish I knew how you did it....
As the only parts of the game I find a pushover are the areas before you reach level 20... with a level 20 character.
I can still get party-wiped in Normal Mode Bukdek Byway if I'm not concentrating.... and that is with an AI party that can rip Nightfallen Jahai to pieces when I AM concentrating..... and not getting server-lagged.


Did I mention that server-lag is my account's second most prominant cause of death? My average ping is over 1000.
[The first is death-levelling Charr with my warrior in Pre-Searing.]

-_-;

But then I can hardly blame lag for all of it.
I can also blame my dyspraxia for giving me lousy reflexes...

SotiCoto your basing you're entire view of HM from the perspective of NightFall. Im not surprised you dislike it.

NightFall (or more accurately ROT in NightFall) is an extremely frustrating place. I agree about that and I dislike it to high-heaven.

But thats only 5% of the entire game. There are two other campaigns which exist, which dont have frustratingly hard content like NF.

HM in those games is fun. But I think your slightly over-exagerating to say that NF is impossible to complete. It may be tough and it may be frustrating, but it can be done.

I was close to crying at how frustrated I was with NF when I played it after prophercies and factions. And I do have a big flashy title (which Ok I like to show off as people keep telling me), so that just shows that titles mean nothing.

You must only be about 3 missions away from completing NF if your in the ROT?

Once you get past that, your ready to play HM. My advice (if your finding NF too hard) is to get away from it and play factions or Prophercies.

If you havent already played those games, and you jumped head-first into NF, then you chose the wrong way to experience the game.

You just picked the harder of all 3 games, to start on. Im not surprised you feel isolated. And NF is the worst of all 3 games to get a PUG in. If you travelled over to Prophercies and factions, I expect you'd have an easier time finding PUGs for normal modes and/or you could hench your way through the game alot easier.

I wish you luck with NF.

I actually enjoyed Nightfall - I didn't mind the frustrating aspects of it, because it was still doable.

However, I think Hard Mode in Prophecies (I don't know about Factions) is still unbalanced in early areas and needs refining. I'm sure Nightfall is very, very difficult in HM.

-_-;

The only real mistake which could be counted as "diving right in" I did was making my primary character (my first and most played) an Assassin.

I'll have you know that he has Protector of Cantha, Protector of Tyria, Canthan Grandmaster Cartographer (and Tyrian Cartographer, well on its way up), Canthan Elite Skill Hunter... ALMOST Tyrian Elite Skill Hunter (just the Hell's Precipice skills to go)...
... And has reached the Gate of Madness in NF and got totally pwned by Shiro once there already (annoying me rather since I prepared my entire team build around beating him).

What frustrates me is that NONE of that was too easy for me.
Every single one of those titles WAS a challenge for me and I could still have been entertained doing it if they were easier [though admittedly, my progress toward getting the surprisingly rare Legendary Defender of Ascalon title is easy as pie, as being a stubborn bastard is my one strength]. I have tried going into the Underworld.... not to get ectoplasm (I don't kid myself into thinking I could get a single one)... but just to see how long I could survive before my inevitable death. I couldn't even kill ONE ENEMY (though admittedly the first enemy I came across was a BA).

... And now.... as if all my straining at something that many people said was "too easy" wasn't enough...... the entirety of Hard Mode has been added, consisting of the same crap I've already done but giving the enemies cheats.... and several titles have been linked into it... titles that other people will be able to get but I know I won't.
It cheapens every day of solid gaming I have been through in order to get what I have managed so far... Even my Canthan Grandmaster Cartographer title I only wear now because it is physically long and stretches my text box. And by the time I get "Kind of a Big Deal" by the original means (3 protector, 2 gmc)... EVERYONE will have it through different routes... and it will mean absolutely NOTHING.



You know what?
The Realm of Torment isn't all that bad.... relatively speaking.
I know if I grind Nightfallen Jahai enough for Lightbringer Points that I'll get my rank high enough to be fairly toughened against the Torment Creatures.... I'm almost at Rank 5 now, and given how quick that was [and not over the weekend either, where I couldn't play due to the monumental lag] I'll be at Rank 6 before too long as well, giving me -6 damage reduction, +30% damage and serious AoE spread on Lightbringer's Gaze.

But I will not be able to manage in Hard Mode.
I've tried it in Minister Cho's Estate... and it scared the hell out of me. I know how to handle enemies with clever skill-bars... but I can't cope with enemies that run faster, hit harder and have more health. It is just obscene. If I wanted to fight enemies like that, I'd just take on normal mode with a -60% Death Penalty.

1. My computer is 1 year old and I have bargain basement DSL (256kb dl/128kb ul) I think you were right on the viper reflexes and total awareness of my surroundings...but i wish i had nigh-on-telepathic synergy

2. If you come into a thank you thread not to thank but to randomly flame people who actually like the feature then expect to get flamed back.

3. I realize that there are people out there who have trouble with it....because I am in a helpful guild where people are constantly asking and recieving help.

4. The point of my post was to point out that lightbringer is not a requirement to finish nightfall and not a personal attack on you at all....as i think you took it based on your reply.

5. Sit down take a few deep breaths and try not to get too angry with people who you dont even know....cause teh internets is serious business

Ouch at being a Sin. I feel your pain. Since the introduced Factions, ive seen maybe 2 decent Assassin players. All the rest (from my perspective) have been awfull.

Only because most sings think their warriors and hurl themselves into Agro and die within seconds and you stand there thinking "why did we bring a Sin"!

I can't imagine its been easy taking one through all 3 campaigns, or persuading people to add you to groups.

Unfortunately thats the stigmata of Sins. Because 95% of players cant use them properly, they have a bad name. But Kudos to you for striving foward and using one.

I would say "maybe start a new char and take them into hardmode", but I expect this Sin is your main char and you have pride for it like I do my Ele.

I wish you luck with getting him through to the end of NF and getting into HM.

But im sure HM couldnt be that hard for a Sin. Your distruption skills would come in handy for preventing the numerious mesma degen skills in HM?

(You can tell I have no experience with Sin skills, my knowledge goes as far as Ele's, Rits, Rangers and Necros)!

Besides HM will probably get a nerf within the next few days, after Anet has a chance to see how it plays out. At the minute it is slightly over-powered, but you have to expect that from something new like this.

Meh... Half-right isn't bad.
Now let me mention that there aren't many things in life that phase me... but when it comes to the interaction of my Dyspraxia (genetically inferior hand-eye coordination, essentially) and Guild Wars... I get REALLY bugged.

When one has got used to 90% of anything they say, regardless of intent, causing a flame-war.... one starts to become far less caring of whether one is actually being an arsehole or not. When you'd gone through as many phases of desperately trying to be polite and failing inexplicably as I have... you probably wouldn't even try any more either.

And I've had enough bad luck with guilds that I turned Ronin... and when that resulted in my getting spammed by recruiters, I made my own solo-guild. Did I mention I don't have ANY friends who play Guild Wars? [Did I mention I don't have friends full stop, though it doesn't cause me any trouble anywhere else?]

What you basically expressed was that you could do it without Lightbringer ranks.... and essentially implied that I am sub-par for needing them. Whether you intended it that way or not.... well... I honestly don't care as people take me out of context all the bloody time.

I think I'm going to have to come up with a whole new lexicon for my own personal forms of expression.... Angry is what I get when I get wiped by enemies that I should theoretically be able to wipe myself without trouble. What I'm getting here is less "angry" and more a combination of disbelief that other people have it so differently and tedium that everyone else is so set on making life more difficult for both themselves and every other person who ever wanted to get somewhere.

On the general topic, I want to correct my previous position on HM in the other thread. There I was generally positive. After a weekend I have to revise my opinion to highly enthusiastic. Some guild mates and I spent an hour on the rescuing Koss quest in Elona last night in HM and regularly found ourselves napping in black and white in the fortress mostly because of the infuriating priest who kites as if he were a human player. To succeed required careful analysis of the Kournan builds, some innovative strategies and distractions and good timing. GW hasn't been this much fun in months. So well done. I even enjoy knowing that some of the quests my not even be completable in their current state.

I recognize that that kind of experience isn't fun for some players, but then there is an alternative to HM, isn't there.

PS Kudos on the new, most excellent 15K Knight's Armor. My only complaint is that I didn't receive a token to exchange for it as a reward for being a diligent player for nearly two years. A bug perhaps?

I'm all for the current Hardmode additions.

But what I'm wondering if whether or not the gimping of Henchmen/Hero AI is a part of Hard mode.If so,I'm agaisnt it.I'm all for buffing the enemys ability to fight me(Whether it be Faster movement,Attack speed,or Cast speed or High armor/HP.),but not for gimping my ability to fight them.

But all in all its been a pretty positive experience.

The mobs are a lot smarter. As an ele, I had a charr Mesmer focus on me and the monk with Backfire and chaos storms. I've switched to Air Spike / Earth wards (from fire ele) due to HM scatter from AOE.

I love HM, the challenges, and the evolution my this has forced me to do with my character, my builds, my hero builds are getting much more research / trial / error then before. It's making me a better player.

@OP -> I agree with what you've said about HM.

Hard mode is fantastic. Its challenging, the stronger mobs really force you to think about skill selection, and when you finally beat a mission or area, it feels like something has been accomplished. Going through Old Ascalon again for the first time in a long time with all of the level 20+ mobs was a blast.

I also like the farming changes. I do quite a bit of solo farming, and this update has made it EASIER to do my runs. No more scattering in AoE, no more drop reducing from rezoning into an area a lot, its like solo farming use to be when the game first came out. Who cares if the white drops aren't as good, farming green weapons is quite a bit easier now, I'm getting more gold runes now than I ever was before, and the runs are much, much quicker now since none of the mobs run from AoE. Anyone complaining about any 'farming nerfs' really should be slapped.

Coming to these forums lately has been a real drag. Its the same few people going to every thread complaining about dumb stuff. Hard mode is great, and every time I see a group of people talking about in an outpost ingame, its the same positive comments. The naysayers need to realize that, however vocal you might be on the forums, you are the minority. The problem isn't with the game, its a problem on the player's part.

You shouldn't be punished for rolling something that looks appealing to you. The fact that other classes are excluded based on the PvE mechanics is, in my opinion, a much larger problem than anything else present in Guild Wars.

I can't imagine that it is. Dunkoro in particular, even set to passive, is positively suicidal in the early Tyrian missions. I'm forced to flag him constantly. One small benefit for me: my flagging skills have improved significantly in the last three days.