How many of you are using Hard Mode? are you bothered about it? - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

08 May 2007 at 10:17 - 1

I was wanting to make this a poll, but I dont have permissions to create one when making a new thread!

I just wanted to get an idea of how many of you are bothered about, or playing Hard Mode.

I've done nothing but hard mode in Prophercies since it was introduced, and the number of people doing it has stayed at a consistantly low number.

Id say the ration of HM/NM players in an outpost is usually 1/20 or 1/30. I find this a bit odd concidering how much people raved about Hard Mode since it was announced. Everyone seemed excited.

Perhaps more people are doing hard mode in factions and/or Night Fall. I wouldnt know from not looking.

So are you playing Hard Mode?

If not, why not.

Because your not bothered?
Because your cant yet?
Have you not completed any campaigns?
Is it not what you expected?

If you are playing Hard Mode

Are you doing it for the better drops?
Are you doing it for the hard missions?
Are you doing it for the guardian title?
Are you doing it for the Vanquisher title?
Which campaign are you doing hard mode in?

This is basically to get an idea as to where all the Hard Mode players are, and why players are or arent doing hard mode.

[Edit]

Something else ive actually noticed ALOT ingame. Most times, you stand in an outpost posting "LFG for Hard Mode" and someone will always post "What is Hard Mode?".

"What is hard mode?"

These are players who are at the last missions of a campaign, players who you would expect to be a bit more clued in.

I realise not everyone reads Guru, and not everyone reads guildwiki or the guildwars.com website to see the updates.

But surely people notice little icons on their party bar? or do you only see the hardmode and normal mode icons once you complete a campaign?

I think this is a perfect example of why Hard Mode hasnt kicked off too well. It doesnt seem to be well-known or understood by alot of players. They dont even know it exists.

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

08 May 2007 at 10:22 - 2

I'm playing Hard Mode as much as possible, even if I'm merely capping a skill.
The better drops are nice, but it's mainly because the (now even easier!

) Normal Mode is far too easy, rather dull at times. I kinda wish HM was tactically challenging instead of DoA challenging...
Whatever.

Div

I like yumy food!

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I can eat yumy food

Dead Alley [dR]

Mo/R

08 May 2007 at 10:22 - 3

I play hard mode for the titles and to max stuff like lb/ss. There's no point in doing normal mode because it's not like hard mode's that much harder...

Etta

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Mancland, British Empire

08 May 2007 at 10:24 - 4

You have to be an elite member of the guru to be able to make the pole. As for HM, I'm aimming for the Vanquisher title, if I have time to do it. I also farm in HM. But most of the time I just play in normal mode when I want to get to places or helping any guildies.

SotiCoto

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2007

Drazach Thicket

Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]

08 May 2007 at 10:28 - 5

Hard Mode is for farming.

The idea of actually playing seriously there kinda scares me. I find it more fun when my heroes and I can quite happily slaughter our way through the enemies like the next-to-last battle in any good cheesy kung fu film (the one / two people wailing on a huge hoarde scene).

But I do spend most of my time in Hard Mode now....

Zehlon Reach outside the Astralarium (monk)
Fahranur, the First City (monk)
Kinya Province outside Ran Musu Gardens (necro)
Maishang Hills outside Gyala Hatchery (necro)
Melandru's Hope immediately to the left outside Lutgardis (necro)

=P

Hard Mode is for 55-farming.... not regular play! ^_^

RTSFirebat

The Humanoid Typhoon

Join Date: May 2005

UK

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

R/

08 May 2007 at 10:34 - 6

For skill capping I go in NM.

All other times I play in HM, because I benefit from it more. Being able to get LB/SS points, better drops and of course titles.

I found some areas of HM to be no more difficult then NM, where some areas have been made almost DoA hard.

Hard Mode needs balancing a bit, but its ok.

Rockby Quickfoot

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Raptor Five [Five]

Me/Mo

08 May 2007 at 10:35 - 7

I've been playing Hard Mode almost exclusively since it came out. When it first came out, I started over in Ascalon and did the missions in order. I made it up to Aurora Glade so far, and that one I've only found one group asking for members, and we didn't quite make it.

Since I've been having problems getting a group for Aurora Glade, I went to Cantha and did Minister Cho's Estate with two guildies. Then I got into a fever and vanquished all of Shing Jea island, only area I have left unvanquished there is Haiju Lagoon, which I can't seem to get.

I then went to Elona recently and started vanquishing that. So far I've gotten the Plains of Jarin, the Cliffs of Dohjok, Zehlon Reach, and the First City Fahranur vanquished.

I would like to finish off my Tyria Gaurdian title, but I went around to several different mission outposts and not in a single one of them was there any HM groups looking for more.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

08 May 2007 at 10:39 - 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

Hard Mode is for farming.

The idea of actually playing seriously there kinda scares me.

I've been playing hard mode for 2 weeks now to do missions. Maybe im a minority, but others do exist who are doing missions too.

I think your being a bit narrow-minded to think HM is going to be purely farmed. Alot of people do HM for the challenge in harder missions.

I've got 17/25 in prophercies so far, which shows hard mode its hardly a "scarey" thing. Hard mode isnt even that hard. Myself and a team wiped The last mission in prophercies twice in hard mode easily. It was fun!

The only really hard ones are the 4 man team areas.

The only reason i havent got more missions done is due to the staggering lack of HM PUGs around. It can take an entire day just to form a party and start a mission.

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

08 May 2007 at 10:41 - 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockby Quickfoot

only area I have left unvanquished there is Haiju Lagoon, which I can't seem to get.

Off-topic... but...

Did you remember to hug every wall and corner, specifically the really out of the way ones, to make sure all Oni spawned?

Also, I believe there's spawns of Naga on the beaches - may wanna check them too. ^^ Hope it helped

Sub Frost

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Portugal

R/

08 May 2007 at 10:43 - 10

So far i've been using HM for the better drops and vanquishing Elona, after that ill probably go for Guardian of Tyria,etc...

Just trying to have some fun without rushing to much.

Henchman

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2006

A cave in the Shiverpeaks

Mo/

08 May 2007 at 10:50 - 11

My Quote of the day:
"Hard mode = Farm mode"

I see no reason to be bothered by hard mode. Nobody is forced to play it.

As for me, ofcourse I like hard mode. What is there not to like about something, which you are not required to do? If you don't like it, don't play it.

I for one am not to tempted to do the later missions in hard mode, but doing the
early Ascalon missions, in hard mode was a bit more interesting.
The missions themselves in Prophecies are not that interesting, and are not too much fun a second time around, hard mode or normal mode.

SotiCoto

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2007

Drazach Thicket

Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]

08 May 2007 at 10:51 - 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

I've been playing hard mode for 2 weeks now to do missions. Maybe im a minority, but others do exist who are doing missions too.

I think your being a bit narrow-minded to think HM is going to be purely farmed. Alot of people do HM for the challenge in harder missions.

I've got 17/25 in prophercies so far, which shows hard mode its hardly a "scarey" thing. Hard mode isnt even that hard. Myself and a team wiped The last mission in prophercies twice in hard mode easily. It was fun!

The only really hard ones are the 4 man team areas.

The only reason i havent got more missions done is due to the staggering lack of HM PUGs around. It can take an entire day just to form a party and start a mission.

It was a special sort of sarcasm....
Along the same line as "Trix is for kids" .... It just happens to be the only use I can find for it...

... And last I checked you aren't the official standard for game difficulty. I genuinely happen to find the idea of regular gaming in Hard Mode scary... and I have good reason to... I like things easier: it makes them more entertaining and less stress-inducing. Not only that but the idea of Vanquishing somewhere like Melandru's Hope honestly scares me.... My full AI party, totally competant elsewhere.... has about a 10% success probability against Salke Fur Friend's hoarde... [and I'm not even going to consider [wiki]Mungri Magicbox[/wiki] in Ferndale]...

*Yawns*

That said... there are probably a few areas that a 55 monk could solo-vanquish.... and that amuses me. However, if I wanted to get the Vanquisher titles, it would probably be with my Assassin, since he is the title-collector.

Navaros

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2005

Mo/Me

08 May 2007 at 10:56 - 13

Hard Mode is hard on some missions because Heroes don't use their skills properly (especially monk heroes) and henchmen only have a few really crappy skills. Combined with AI that makes them all unable to escape being massacred constantly.

If there were lots of decent players around to do Hard Mode with then Hard Mode would be pretty easy, but there isn't.

I've been playing Hard Mode solely for the titles, but I can never find a PUG who wants to do anything in Hard Mode. Eventually I might just stop bothering with Hard Mode due to the inablity to ever find a party to do it with. And for those who say "join a Guild", that is no solution. Finding a Guild with people who will regularly do Hard Mode with ya is every bit as hard as finding a PUG who wants to do Hard Mode.

Quote:

I think your being a bit narrow-minded to think HM is going to be purely farmed. Alot of people do HM for the challenge in harder missions.

Not sure where you are getting "a lot" from. In the same post you even said it can take a day just to form a PUG for Hard Mode, which is correct. Therefore "a lot" is definitely something there is not.

It seems the decision has already been made that Hard Mode is going to be purely farmed. There won't magically come a day when a whole bunch of players suddenly all decide together "Let's go PUG in Hard Mode!". Unless perhaps the devs change the game to add further incentives for doing so.

Draikin

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

08 May 2007 at 10:56 - 14

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Id say the ration of HM/NM players in an outpost is usually 1/20 or 1/30. I find this a bit odd concidering how much people raved about Hard Mode since it was announced. Everyone seemed excited.

I've been playing Hard Mode missions since they introduced it to get Legendary Guardian and I think that 1/30 ratio is about right. I don't find it odd though, it just shows that most people who are playing the game don't visit these or other GW forums and just play the game occasionally. To be honest I'm not sure if Hard Mode is actually worth playing instead of Normal Mode except if you're looking for guardian/vanquisher titles or farming. For the casual PvE player the rewards are better but still not good enough.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

08 May 2007 at 11:07 - 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

It was a special sort of sarcasm....

I said...

"I've got 17/25 in prophercies so far, which shows hard mode its hardly a "scarey" thing. Hard mode isnt even that hard"

...I didnt say...

"Hard mode is a piece of p*ss, how the hell can you say its hard you complete w*ss!"

...if your like easy, you have normal mode. If you like harder, you have hard mode. But I never said Hard Mode wasnt hard, I said it wasnt that hard.

As in not impossible, not mind numbing, not frustrating, not too tough that it cant be done with enough tries.

And Im well aware that i dont set the standard on difficulty ingame, but there are now two options which exist for users now. And neither are that hard, that they cant be done with the right team.

cellardweller

Likes naked dance offs

Join Date: Aug 2005

The Older Gamers [TOG]

08 May 2007 at 11:10 - 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

So are you playing Hard Mode?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Are you doing it for the better drops?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Are you doing it for the hard missions?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Are you doing it for the guardian title?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Are you doing it for the Vanquisher title?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Which campaign are you doing hard mode in?

Elona, I figure that by the time I finish, the other campaigns will get inscribable drops.

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

This is basically to get an idea as to where all the Hard Mode players are, and why players are or arent doing hard mode.

This hardmode player certainly isn't pugging though, so you won't see me in LFG anywhere. I imagine this is true for the vast majority of hard mode players, which is probably why you think there aren't any.

bungusmaximus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guild Of Handicrafted Products [MaSS]

W/Mo

08 May 2007 at 11:12 - 17

I most definitely bother, but I have little luck with PUG's. theyre not there at all :P. I only need Gyala Hatchery for canthan guardian and I enjoyed doing the other missions a lot. But Gyala, beats me, never any people there. Player quality of the few people doing HM is overall pretty decent, so at least there is a chance of success after spending 30 minutes to get a team together.

Kakumei

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Grind is subjective

learn this please

08 May 2007 at 11:28 - 18

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

[and I'm not even going to consider [wiki]Mungri Magicbox[/wiki] in Ferndale]...

It's retardedly easy. Give Margrid Broad Head Arrow and you win.

To contribute--I've been doing nothing but Hard Mode since it was released. I don't see the point of doing Soft Mode anymore, and I and two of my friends have been slowly vanquishing Cantha--it's a moderate challenge (Arborstone explorable ARGH) but it's certainly something to do, which the game sorely needed.

AxeMe

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

Atlanta

HEX

W/

08 May 2007 at 11:30 - 19

I probably spend 80% of my game time in hard mode. Why? Better drops, more of a challenge and the chance to add to LB and Sunspear points. I actually find that heroes and henchies are better at HM than most of the people I've bumped into using PUGs. No that could be just my luck of the draw, but since coordination is essential in HM, I have an easier time convincing the heroes and henchies to do right than I do with random players.

Ewa Kirch

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

N/Mo

08 May 2007 at 11:35 - 20

I completed guardian of Tyria over the weekend. Most of the missions I was able to complete with heros/hench. I have really enjoyed hard mode, and the fact that I have had to adjust hero's builds and which hero's I use (Norgu is very usefull in hard mode as Willa the Unpleasant found out!), for different missions. In normal mode a hero mm, and hero searing flames ele will wipe everything in its path without too much effort.

I found PUG's quickly for those missions I couldn't easily do with hero's/hench (Santum Cay and Thirsty River) and used guildies for crystal running missions (Aurora Glade and Bloodstone Fen) as I knew they would follow instructions!

Drops have been really irratic. One mission I will get half a dozen whites, maybe one blue and/or purple. The next I could get 3 or 4 golds drop.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

08 May 2007 at 11:40 - 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ewa Kirch

Drops have been really irratic. One mission I will get half a dozen whites, maybe one blue and/or purple. The next I could get 3 or 4 golds drop.

Ive seen that too. The drops always seem to favour one person, one each run. The first person to get a gold drop, seems to get about 5 or 6 more.

While everyone else is lucky to get one.

Im not arguing, because ive had about 10-15 golds in just over 2 weeks

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

08 May 2007 at 11:43 - 22

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

So are you playing Hard Mode?

Yes.

Normal mode is too easy.

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

08 May 2007 at 12:29 - 23

Well, I haven't really been playing Guild Wars a whole lot recently. When I do play Gw, and when I play PvE, yeah I'm in Hard Mode. The only thing I really like about it is having to find the right build for my herohench team, but then I'm able to just cruise through it.

Lonesamurai

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cheltenham, Glos, UK

Wolf Pack Samurai [WPS]

R/A

08 May 2007 at 12:42 - 24

Loving it, its revitalised Pve outings for my guild and they are loving it (even to the point of the Gvg team sometimes enjoying hard mode PvE over GvG)

Kas

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

08 May 2007 at 13:09 - 25

Most people (guessed) expected hardmode to be something of the following:
Better AI
- instead of the same old and dull: Tank first, wait for aggro, nuke nuke puke.

Randomized Mob Spawns
- instead of the same mobs, at the same place - everytime.

Better Mob Skillsets
- instead of just slapping an Eliteskill onto their Bars

Balanced Mobs
- instead of just the same type of enemies in a group

Some nice difficulty
- instead of cheap*** multipliers on damage.

Once people played hardmode and saw that their expectations basically weren't really met, they gave up on it. Hardmode is suffering from its own Hype at the moment. Most of the hype was built up by the community itself though. HM can't live up to that, HM gets deserted.

Now add in that:
* A large portion of the players are wannabe elitist ***** and hate everyone with a passion. These gods of playing of course refuse to play with other players because in comparison to them, even god would suck. So they're out of the game too.

* Many players have serious difficulties with the normal mode allready and can't deal with the multipliers, thus losing interest in hardmode.

* The few social party players left willing to do hardmode are most likely spread across the globe and don't know of each others existence.

________
Now about those questions:
I played mostly hardmode until I got my titles. I tried Vanquisher and couldn't stand the (to me) dull look of Ascalon. So I gave up on that title. With nothing of interest for me to do, there is no reason I should login. My guild sucks. But I can't leave it so areas like DOA or Urgoz are now completely out of reach for me. Thus, I'm basically just waiting for another game to be released.
Until that happens I'll have a quick look into the game now and then in the vain hope of seeing some sudden wonder of activity in my guild (Which hasn't and won't happen).

revelation

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

08 May 2007 at 13:17 - 26

I've been playing Hard Mode for challenge, drops and title... Only thing I do in GW is vanquishing and playing HM missions, I like it very much!

Marth Reynolds

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

The Netherlands

The Lore Enforcers

Me/A

08 May 2007 at 13:42 - 27

Currently only playing Normal mode to get my characters to a certain town/outpost or with capping skills.

Farming has shifted to Hard moode for me, going for vanquisher on my mesmer starting in cantha and going for Gaurdian on my monk who needs to wait for my mesmer :P

And i agree the smaller the party size the harder it gets in hm, and mesmers just blast trough it, necros probaly as well tough.

Carinae

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

Inside

Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]

08 May 2007 at 13:47 - 28

Someone needs to organize a regular HM event. Like:

In Tyria, every night at 7pm CST and again at 9pm. In Cantha, they start at 8pm CST and again at 10pm. In NF....

Have a posted schedule, where Guru people can meet. If you miss a time, no big deal. At worse, you'll have to wait a week or two for the cycle to repeat.

Tuesday: Aurora Glade + Vizunah
Wednesday: Sanctum Kay + Naphui
Thurs....

icymanipulator

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2007

08 May 2007 at 13:52 - 29

Hard Mode spawned one and only one great thing IMHO and that was lockpicks. I use these more often than I use keys simply because they have the opportunity for multiple use and they work on any chest.

Vanquisher is a pointless grind, and Guardian would have me play missions I both loved and hated for the sake of a title. The drops are only marginally better under the new super secret loot system.

Lockpicks FTW! The rest...meh

Necromonger

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2006

N/Me

08 May 2007 at 13:54 - 30

Well I must suck

I'm playing normal mode with Characters I'm tryinng to finish campaigns with.

I'm playing HM in certain places, I play almost exclusively with Heroes/Henchies, and in areas in HM I've been wiped out ...

Neo Nugget

Site Contributor

Join Date: Jan 2006

R/

08 May 2007 at 13:57 - 31

i've been mostly doing hard mode solo for the good drops(which seem to be lacking lately).haven't really done the missions or vanquisher yet.

Been doing it on factions because i haven't beaten prophecies, but i have tried hard mode nf, im still looking for bosses to solo there.

Nekretaal

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2007

08 May 2007 at 14:01 - 32

I have Guardian of Cantha. A great PUG helped me complete Raisu Palace, Eternal Grove, Unwaking Waters, and Arborstone in rapid sucession, so that helped a LOT.

I also got a guildie to synch enter into Vizunah square (foreign had 4 players + heroes, local had 2 players plus heroes), so that made that mission a breeze.

PuG's are great. Even one other player means not having to use henchmen. That's a big plus in my book. Most of the PuGs you find are pretty high quality too. And why wouldnt they be? Any player in Hard mode has already beat that campaign, hard mode is almost exactly the same as normal mode in terms of what to expect (just harder), and most of the noobish players are scared off of hard mode.

I have guardian of Cantha, am 18 missions into Guardian of Tyria, am halfway done vanquishing Elona (including all of the desolation), and am 33% done vanquishing Cantha. I am not going to attempt vanquishing Tyria (It's too huge + try beating Rotscale with henchies + huge zerg mobs of stuff like the mergoyles in twin seroent lakes are broken when they are level 25), and I am not going to attempt guardian of Elona (I cant beat that mime, so I'm not going to try any of the missions).

About 80% of my guild is not interested in hard mode at all though. They would rather pvp, or finish the game with their various other characters. It's also impossible to find a PuG for Vanquishing, or mission in Elona, but not that hard to find a PuG for missions in Tryia (Cantha is somehwere in between).

SotiCoto

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2007

Drazach Thicket

Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]

08 May 2007 at 14:11 - 33

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

I said...

"I've got 17/25 in prophercies so far, which shows hard mode its hardly a "scarey" thing. Hard mode isnt even that hard"

...I didnt say...

"Hard mode is a piece of p*ss, how the hell can you say its hard you complete w*ss!"

...if your like easy, you have normal mode. If you like harder, you have hard mode. But I never said Hard Mode wasnt hard, I said it wasnt that hard.

As in not impossible, not mind numbing, not frustrating, not too tough that it cant be done with enough tries.

And Im well aware that i dont set the standard on difficulty ingame, but there are now two options which exist for users now. And neither are that hard, that they cant be done with the right team.

Not impossible... but it IS mind-numbing, is DEFINITELY frustrating... and it is tough enough that the number of times it would take me to succeed would probably result in my giving up from stress long before I reached it.

It is that hard....

.... and here comes the important bit....

....... for me.

Once again you go on about it as though you set the standard... But just because you don't find it hard doesn't mean others don't have far greater difficulty.
And besides.... the only reason I'd want to go into Hard Mode, besides the drops (which I can solo-farm for if I really want).... is to try and get the Guardian / Vanquisher titles.... positive ends for one absolutely epic infuriating grind. It honestly isn't worth the effort involved.

Jetdoc

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Jul 2005

The Eyes of Texas [BEVO]

D/A

08 May 2007 at 14:14 - 34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Yes.

Normal mode is too easy.

Absolutely, in max size groups.

I'm moving my characters solo (i.e. no heroes or henchmen) through normal mode, but then I plan on doing everything else in Hard Mode.

I'm going to start by trying it with just three heroes (i.e. no henchmen) to see how far I can get. From my limited experimentation, I haven't had any problem with just a party of four.

King's Spectre

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

Syracuse, NY, USA

The Amazon Basin (AB)

W/

08 May 2007 at 14:20 - 35

I love hard mode. It's been a long, long time since the denziens outside of Ascalon City kicked my butt.

I'm really enjoying going for the vanquisher and guardian titles. I'm doing both titles at once, from start to finish, so with the map icons changing it feels like a game of Risk.

Ha-HA! I now own all of Old Ascalon! My armies will be in Yak's Bend in no time!

Kotetsu Rain

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Utopia

D/

08 May 2007 at 14:20 - 36

If you are playing Hard Mode: Yes I am

Are you doing it for the better drops?
- No..I see the better rewards just for completing harder objectives.

Are you doing it for the hard missions?
- Not really but I\d rather earn my rewards while doing something harder.

Are you doing it for the guardian title?
- Yup I like titles with legendary'' in their name.

Are you doing it for the Vanquisher title?
- No it takes too long

Which campaign are you doing hard mode in?
Nightfall

J snukka

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2005

New York

08 May 2007 at 14:26 - 37

I play hard mode b'c of the lockpicks, better drop rate, hoping to get higher wisdom title and treasure title. pushing for vanquisher and guardian title.

My focus has been in Tyria for guardian and then im going to vanquish Elona.
then I'll do Elona missions in Hard Mode.

Hope i get these title before GWEN. If not owe well, move on and continue with the game, Im not a crazy title grinder.

I love hard mode, doesnt matter to me if AI is smarter. I just appreciate all Anet offers to us.

Miral

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2005

Hell. AKA Phoenix, AZ

The Gear Trick [GEAR]

W/A

08 May 2007 at 14:49 - 38

unfortunately hardmode is the closest thing to new content we'll see for a few more months, and thats the reason i gave it a try mostly. right now though im playing Ultima Online instead.

Nexus Icon

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Natis Ignigena

Me/

08 May 2007 at 15:05 - 39

Completed Guardian of Tyria on Saturday; would have been earlier, but I had an, erm, "Involutary Absence" over the birthday weekend

Then me and my mate Vanquished Snake Dance, Dreadnought's Drift and Lornar's Pass in one marathon session on Sunday. We figure we'll get the hard stuff out of the way first, that way things can only get easier.
Next we're going for Mineral Springs and Ice Dome, followed by Ice Floe.
That should keep us busy for a while

For those curious about how we did it, I was a Backbreaker warrior running Jin with interrupts and Infuriating Heat, Zhed with a pretty standard SF build and Sousuke using an Earth build running Ward against Melee and that other one that prevents KD.
My friend was a ranger with conditions and pet, and was running Dunkoro as heals and Tahlkora as protection. The final hero was Master of Whispers running SS.

And yes, Dreadnought's Drift was a RIGHT bitch. We had to hop in and out a few times just to get the right spawn; the first time we went in, we were faced with a huge mob containing 4 Dolyak Masters. That really wasn't going to happen :E

So Hard Mode?
Liking it so far.
A MUCH better birthday present than minipets.

Gripes?
Percentage chance to retain lockpicks could be a tad more generous.

Chests seem to predominantly drop caster weapons and focii.

Chests still drop grapes and bog standard white tomes with aggravating regularity. If half of my golds are junk anyway, I at least want a guarantee that the 1.5 plat I'm spending on a lockpick will yield a gold. On the bright side, I did see a friend get 2 elite tomes from one chest, which was nice

Player drop-off seems to be plaguing outposts already. People seem to be finishing missions or areas then not bothering to go back. Either that or they're finding Hard Mode too hard and are giving up.

rista blodorn

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2006

Aura of Shadows

E/R

08 May 2007 at 15:22 - 40

Yes play it when I can and enjoy it a lot. Problem is that there aren't enough people playing in hard mode and as far as using heros/henchies goes every time I have tried that so far has been a disaster. I'm concerned that in a month or two it will be impossible to find people to play hard mode with at all since I don't/can't stand around waiting and waiting to form up a group and most of the people in my guild/alliance barely know how to get through a normal mission let alone do anything in hard mode even when they do have the access to it (which is not very damn often).