Hard Mode The Best & Worst

We have had a few looks at the worst I know, but my Question here is

1. What was your least favorite place in Hard Mode and Why
2. What was your best experience in Hard Mode and why

try to factor in more than one point ie:

game play experience
enjoyment level
drop rates
frustration level (if any)
satisfaction for time spent (as well as amount of time spent)

Please try to avoid issues like bugs, disconnects, Lag and concentrate on the particular area for what it is.


So far my answers would be

1. Least favorite - Hidden City

Although a good percentage of this area has regular Hard Mode foes I found the begining section "annoying" and time consuming. The dijin bunched into the first room can quickly add up to death for heros (we were 2 real people and rest heros), so after the first 45 foes all the heros were -45 to -60 DP for the rest if the area, making for a long run. I have to say that when heros die faster with dp it makes areas with MM foes in the middle much more frustrating and we did more "pull-kill-kill-run-rez-repeat" than I care for in these areas.

The bosses were not anything special and were not a problem, however, they also did not drop anything at all.

I went through 5 chests and although all were gold - there was not even one decent mod or inscription on any of them, and the items were all common skins high req.

The hidden treasure was a purple item...

2. Favorite Area - Tombs

I have always liked tombs and probably played 2-7 times in this area prior to HM.

HM hasn't really changed things the foes are 2 levels higher but the diffciulty level remains about the same and you still have the regular chit chat among the players as always, and time for a few jokes. You need to be a little extra careful, but a good pull and a good MM makes an easy enjoyable ride for the rest.

I have seen more Elite tomes, tomes, req 9 weapons, rare materials drop or come from chests in HM Tombs that any other HM area so far.

Time still runs under an hour in a good group, so for the time it takes the rewards seem very good.

Least Favorite: Probably the Desolation. It was pretty rough for me there, dunno how it'll be now, though.

Favorite Experience: Probably last night in the Reed Bog. A pop up of about 8 Moss Scarabs came and killed my MM's minions. Somehow, we managed without a single wipe. Heroes and henchies are becoming ftw again.

I am slowly vanquishing my way through Elona and have completed 22 areas so far.

Least Favourite:

Definitely Bahdok Caverns.

I am really struggling with this one. Failed it with heroes/hench three times on the Death Penalty kick out, at between 200 and 228 kills after taking about an hour and twenty mins to get that far each time. The groups of corsairs with a monk, an ele, a ranger, a necro and a melee char are horrid. The ele bosses are also pretty tough and can wipe you out in seconds and those pop-up mandrigor groups are just so annoying! I'll get there eventually!

Favourite:

Hmmm... probably the Desolation areas which were tough but not impossible. That balance between an area being damn hard and impossible is very fine indeed!

(I'm not using "most" and "least", cause I haven't played enough to determine).
unfavored:
Doppelganger fight. it's truly disappointing.
The Underworld and the FoW: two of my favorite places, and are almost the same in hm. not a true HM challange.
favored:
Ascalon: that's the real meaning of HM for me. being able to play the low level areas all over again, with difficulty. also true for northern shiverpeaks, kryta, and the jungle.

Least favourite:
I don't have a least favourite place, I have least favourite mobs. It's a tie. Groups of 5 djinn are very very annoying with heroes and hench. I wish they would not stand in AoE damage so much... but oddly enough the groups of 4 aren't really a problem.

The other group is the kournans in the Vabbi area. The groups are large, but normally they're low level so not a problem. In hard mode, they are the most annoying mobs to fight. At a much higher level and able to spam skills that shouldn't be spammed - hex removal, enchantment removal, interrupts, condition removal, and even some stance removal - and with extremely effective paragons and monks... it took a while to find a hero/hench build that would work. But the thing that annoys me the most is the effectiveness of their monks. If dunkoro was that good I'd only need one monk with me.

I haven't tried fighting those large undead groups without the wurms yet, that could be interesting. Even with the wurms though, running into a group with 3+ paragons/monks is annoying because they rez each other so fast.

Most favourite:
The feeling I get when I finally vanquish an area. Or defeat one of those nasty ele/rit bosses.

In general I like hardmode as long as I'm not getting repeatedly demolished by one of the above groups.

Favorite: Old Ascalon. The nostalgia value there is terrific.

Least favorite: Jungle and Desert. Teams of 6 vs. DoA damage levels = not fun anymore.

EDIT: I would just like to add something, about which I am not sure how to feel. I think I'm getting addicted to bonding.

Did this one last night (first try)... it actually went fairly well with myself as a dom mez and Norgu along as an Illusion mez, healer hero and hench, warrior hero and hench, earth ele hench and dervish hench. Backfire and interrupts take the pain away somewhat.

Good luck!

Hey I was the only monk with a bad build in that FoW group, that was a challenge

Favorite: The early Tyrian missions. With only 4 people per group, you get that old "omg, we really might die here" feeling back when facing charr.

Least favorite: Nahpui Quarter. I already dislike that mission on NM, but on hard mode, the respawning it is hell: Bad groups survive just long enough to waste 30 minutes of your time, but not long enough to make it through.

- Xeeron

Least Favourite
Everywhere not big on Hard Mode

Most Favourite
DoA Famine farming in a 4 man party rinse and repeat /resign.

Haven't even tried hardmode yet, I'm in the middle of GW since I've been really busy.

Favorite part of hard mode: probably will be the thing that makes me give up on gw -- think of all the free time I will have!

Least favorite: hmmm...maybe it is the monks that can stand in choking gas and never get interrupted; or the monks that kite around and around and around and heal and kite and heal, etc...etc... while they run over traps without setting them off; or the crawl that do 250+ damage to my ranger in just one hit; or that my warrior heros run from an ignite arrow/dual shot attack; or that my monk heros just stand around and get beat up and die, the concept of kite apparently being reserved solely for the monster monks; or, mostly, the fact that in hard mode it is all about pure damage production.

I have vanquished 14 areas and completed 2 missions in hard mode AND had to do them all with hero/hench. Why? Because as with DOA the demand for human rangers is simply not present. And, hey, if I was not a ranger I would not take one either. I've done most of the areas as a ranger/warrior using a sword/shield; works; is effective; and, keeps the team alive long enough to actually kill of the mobs (except for the dual monk groups -- so far have not cleared a single area where there were dual monks; still working on how to do that.) And, with all that grinding and effort, the most I've garnered out of any area I've vanquished has been 3.5k -- 400+ killed in one area and did not even fill up my inventory.

Oh yeah, one last thing to dislike about Hard Mode is how now in normal mode I can go clear an area and get practically nothing. Im not talking about solo farming here; just going out with a full party and clearing it for the whites (occasional other colors but those were real bonuses) to sell. Sure, that is a slow way to make money but it was a fun way to try out new builds. Now, Hard Mode has taken that fun away.

Good hunting.

I would suggest running a build that is not bad.


Most favorite : The upgraded low level areas.

Least favorite : The upgraded high level areas.

Dude, the next time you pile up 60% DP on your heroes in the first room, think about modifying your strat. Norgu can prevent damage in that place equal to what it would take 2 monks to heal. But I sympathize. My first couple of attempts there were miserable failures.

I thought that was bad until I went to Forum Highlands. I cruised around killing off all the Heket and a bunch of Skree. Then this guy and his retinue wiped, and I mean wiped, my whole party in about 3 seconds. But he's dead now, and we're moving on. And yes, Razah is the man.

Don't have a fav/least fav. Although the beefed up bugs in Plains of Jarin are cool. There's just something about baby termites smapping Cleave that's funny. Bahdok Caverns was the first zone I Vanquished, and I really enjoyed it. Totally hooked me on HM.

Hard mode is a gift from god, and a bitch from Satan.

Some farms are better in hm, whereas, since nm was nerfed... Other farms now suck. (drop rates).

1) dunno
2) The halycon hard mode mo/n farm. (tons of golds to id)

By the time we finished the first room we decided we didn't want to do it again We discussed changing our build and decided not to since we had enough interrupts and were through the really hard part.

I am done with Vanquishing Elona and into Tyria now with some LB farming in between and that one place stands out as the definate worst - all the rest were fun.

I remember that boss in forum highlands a couple rangers can help - perhaps you should have changed your build For this guy and several other bosses we split our group into two and attacked from either side

I did (hence the Razah reference). Mr. Djinn Lord there convinced me it was a good idea to finally unlock my Rit hero.

Sounds like a good plan. Not practical for those of us going with H/H, but there is no shortage of tactics in this game.

Least Favorit:
Posioned Outcrops, this area just way too annoying with those mummys around, and those dervish mummys u cant even target em with spells, VoW of Silence 24/7 ftl, and the insane boss, forgot name, the earth ele boss use sandstorm, i was using 55 spoil to killed him(we fight all the way to him, and i was the 55 spoil, but when we do normal fight i just switch the armors).
Worst Mobs:
Kournans, if u play with hero and henchies, and meet a group with 2 or 3 scribes in it, call it gg man, Meteor followed by a Fireball=bye bye ball uped heros and henchies.
Favorite Area:
the place around Ascalon, very enjoyable, 4 man challenge lvl 22-23 mobs is fun

Most AND least favorite:
First time trying HM, right outside Ascalon, playing my healer. Those 2 scarabs popped out and went right for me, I tried to kite and got caught between the baddies and a wall. Oops.
My heroes avenged me, though, and I got a gold staff drop.
Anyone else manage to die before ever killing a single monster in HM?

Best part ~ Finding a great group of people in Napui Quarter and destroying everything in our wake. We finished Napui, Tahnakai, Sunjiang District and Raisu Palace. My mate and I then hooked up with one of the guys today to do Arborstone in hard mode. This is what makes me love Guild Wars I had a great time adventuring with these guys, had a laugh too

Worst Part~ Finding people for Hard Mode mission. I need 2 more mission in Tyria for my title, and hate playing with a all hero/hench team. Still need to do Riverside Province and Aurora Glade in Tyria. I ended up doing Abbadon's Mouth on my own. It sucked. Not because it was too difficult, but because it was so boring. I pretty much decided to go it alone seeing as the group we formed disbanded before the mission as we couldn't make up a full team. (I know we could have filled the gaps with heroes, but where's the fun in that. Might as well do it with a friend and 3 heroes each). My PUG rule is that the majority has to be humans. And getting owned by Ele spells in Hard Mode, that also sucks, but in a good way.. at least I can try and counter that. Zen Daijun got annoying. First run missed masters by 42 seconds, and just couldn't get a decent group together. About a day later did it in 13 minutes.

Best part: Finding strategies that work (ala, running Razah as a rit lord) and succeeding to vanquish the area.

Worst part: going into an area and getting slaughtered, having to put on the white board a new strategy (thinking this out).

Current ones I'm working on:
a) Spearhead Peak from Granite Citadel. Summit rangers that fire "machine guns" (thinking go from Copperhammer).
b) Bog Ice guys that spam deathly swarm (thinking mantra of frost).
c) Inferno imp bunches and rodgorts invocation (thinking knockdown or mantra of flame).

So far, vanquished 16 areas in Tyria in Hard mode.