Hard Mode Needs Fixing - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

Spazzer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2006

USA

Team Asshat [Hat]

Mo/E

22 May 2007 at 11:11 - 161

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

Actually if you had read the whole thread before clicking on "reply" you would less look like a troll and more like someone that made a point.
To do Aurora Glade in HM you need :
You.
Three heroes.
Another buddy.
Another three heroes.

I just pissed myself laughing.

It's like you don't even play the game.

The Legg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

RAF Lyneham, UK

We Are Gozu ( Gozu )

N/Me

22 May 2007 at 11:13 - 162

Please people stop asking for hard mode to be reduced in difficulty. As it is now it provides a challenge to players all around the world. If certain players find parts of hard mode too hard to complete using heros/hench then maybe they are just not destined to get the titles. Hard mode is not a required part of the game and I believe any 'dumbing down' of hard mode would be useless.
It is hard for a reason and should be tackled as such. If you cannot complete a certain mission or vanquish a certain area in hard mode then you should go away, think baout it and tackle it from a different angle. Not go crying to anet asking for the difficilty to be toned down. Quite pathetic really.
For those of you without nightfall and the heros it gives I do pity you. Heros do make a huge difference to the success of many things in both hard and normal mode. All I can suggest is actually buying nightfall as the heros you unlock are by far the best addition to guild wars to date.
Hard mode is a great challenge and contrary to what some people believe it can be done with just yourself as well as with a full group of real players. If you simply cannot do a certain mission or area on hard mode my advice is to take a break from it and do something else, come back when you are refreshed. Just dont go whining about it being too difficult to anet and asking for it to be reduced in difficulty.

Spazzer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2006

USA

Team Asshat [Hat]

Mo/E

22 May 2007 at 11:32 - 163

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Legg

If certain players find parts of hard mode too hard to complete using heros/hench then maybe they are just not destined to get the titles.

Wow, just wow. Considering they made Vizunah Square and Unwaking Waters possible to do when your other team is all AI, you just throw that out the window and call everyone else unworthy because they play with full AI. Despiting having reaped benefits yourself. I bet you didn't even notice.

Simply amazing.

I do agree with many people who say "find someone to help you out". I really would like that. Unfortunately, party search is butts and nobody tries to PUG in HM.

glountz

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

W/Mo

22 May 2007 at 11:56 - 164

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spazzer

I just pissed myself laughing.

It's like you don't even play the game.

I just pissed myself laughing.
It's just like you have no skill.

Stop whining.
Find buddies.
Move your ass.
Help yourself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theus

And Lol on the Anti social bit.I'm anti-social because no one plays Hardmode,if rarely ever.

You seem to have affinities with Spazzer.
So, Theus, Spazzer, why don't you take each other's IGN and just play together HM?
If every people whining on this thread would have met to play HM instead trolling forums, this thread would have been closed for a long time.

Brother Andicus

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2005

Scotland

The Illuminati

22 May 2007 at 12:05 - 165

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Legg

Please people stop asking for hard mode to be reduced in difficulty. As it is now it provides a challenge to players all around the world. If certain players find parts of hard mode too hard to complete using heros/hench then maybe they are just not destined to get the titles. Hard mode is not a required part of the game and I believe any 'dumbing down' of hard mode would be useless.
It is hard for a reason and should be tackled as such. If you cannot complete a certain mission or vanquish a certain area in hard mode then you should go away, think baout it and tackle it from a different angle. Not go crying to anet asking for the difficilty to be toned down. Quite pathetic really.
For those of you without nightfall and the heros it gives I do pity you. Heros do make a huge difference to the success of many things in both hard and normal mode. All I can suggest is actually buying nightfall as the heros you unlock are by far the best addition to guild wars to date.
Hard mode is a great challenge and contrary to what some people believe it can be done with just yourself as well as with a full group of real players. If you simply cannot do a certain mission or area on hard mode my advice is to take a break from it and do something else, come back when you are refreshed. Just dont go whining about it being too difficult to anet and asking for it to be reduced in difficulty.

QFT.
I guess when people suck enough that they cant just grind out yet another grindable title, they'd rather whine than improve.

Quote:

If every people whining on this thread would have met to play HM instead trolling forums, this thread would have been closed for a long time.

Nope, they would still suck, and hence would still lose, and hence would still whine.

Perfected Shadow

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2006

Zul'Aman

Umes Uranger U[bot]

22 May 2007 at 12:08 - 166

/signed for IMPROVING the damn rewards. Imo, make the titles account based and give them shiny emotes ;D. I know I can't speak for everyone, but from experience the loot in HM is utter crap.

I wish I could be lvl 30 with 20 in all attributes too...

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

22 May 2007 at 12:39 - 167

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

I just pissed myself laughing.
It's just like you have no skill.

Aurora Glade has a six-person limit...

And since when does PvE take skill?

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

Find buddies.

Oh I have many buddies. They're just on at different hours than I am - I can only get on during school hours. I'm also on the American territory. It's hard to find peoples.

I can't really complain, though. Guild Wars PvE has gotten boring, so I've just kinda stopped playing for the moment.

glountz

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

W/Mo

22 May 2007 at 12:59 - 168

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryant Again

Aurora Glade has a six-person limit...

I know this, but I was speaking in a more general way.
I'm actually "Guardianing" Factions with only one buddy. That's quite doable, excepted for Missions like the Eternal Grove that are quite difficult to do in Masters.
You only have to be 2 + heroes to do most HM missions on whatever continent you want, in order to keep a correct split ability and build synergy.
Nitpicking on a 6 capability is seriously not a valid argument.
I did Aurora Glade, but I must admit we were a full human team. However I'm quite sure it is doable with 2 people only. one runner, and one crippler. Rest= heroes.
We did Dunes of despair in HM (mastered) being only 3 humans. And it requires some coordination.
There is enough people doing HM. In my Alliance, everyone knows that HM missions/areas are not doable with only henchies without frustration.
Every time someone launch a HM mission/area, there is generally... Too much people!
Just take IGNs of people here having trouble finding buddies, and play with them.
Be constructive and stop whining.

Orphan Anthem

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2006

Kinetic Fusion [kF]

22 May 2007 at 13:20 - 169

for me HM is jut another way to spend time and more titles to do. ALTHOUGH hm has given be a reason to finish protector so i can get legendary guardian.

erfweiss

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2006

Cold Black Eyes

W/A

22 May 2007 at 13:55 - 170

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spazzer

Wow, just wow. Considering they made Vizunah Square and Unwaking Waters possible to do when your other team is all AI, you just throw that out the window and call everyone else unworthy because they play with full AI. Despiting having reaped benefits yourself. I bet you didn't even notice.

Simply amazing.

I do agree with many people who say "find someone to help you out". I really would like that. Unfortunately, party search is butts and nobody tries to PUG in HM.

Adapt! It is easy to do some of these zones with Heros/Hench.

My incentive to vanquish in Tyria is based that my alliance is holding an tournament amongst the players to a race to vanquish. Now, I'll admit, I worked with some of the other players for 3 areas. However, I have vanquished 18 other zones with heros and hench alone. I would have had 19 yesterday but ran out of time before finishing the zone (my kids got home from school). That's 21 areas in limited playing time.

I toy with some zones, try to get an idea of what I'm up against and then formulate a strategy to counter it. Sun Tzu at his finest:
"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will win hundred times in hundred battles. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you win one and lose the next. If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will always lose." (Taken from the Art of War, 6th century BC)

Spazzer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2006

USA

Team Asshat [Hat]

Mo/E

22 May 2007 at 14:02 - 171

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

I just pissed myself laughing.

Hi.
Aurora Glade only allows parties of 6, not 8.
There are no Prophecies heroes.

If you actually played the game you would know these things. :=>

Besides, I can be antisocial if I want to be.

Nobody seems to know how to guard north (easier) gate in Eternal Grove. -_-

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

22 May 2007 at 14:17 - 172

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

Nitpicking on a 6 capability is seriously not a valid argument.

What argument is this that I art making? I was just pointing out that what you suggested to Spazz wouldn't work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

Be constructive and stop whining.

Oyoyoyoyoyoyoy! I hope that was directed to someone else, because my post said I didn't care.

Nekretaal

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2007

22 May 2007 at 17:14 - 173

Quote:

Originally Posted by glountz

The answer of many people here is "prot spirit prot spirit everywhere". Actually that's a little true, and monk/rit uber defense is less effective than heavy shutdown.

In HM, you finally understand that the Holy Triad Ele-monk-warr + MM doesn't work. And you start to look for... Mesmers....

No. mesmers are still useless. Mobs are, outside of some areas in propecies, larger than your party and that means that a character with no AoE is a liability.

The king of Hard mode is Pets. Pets dont get DP, and get targeted first by bad enemy AI. The also supply corpses for your necros.

Barrage / Pet / MM / Player character with a copy of protective spirit steamrolls all of PvE and this hasnt changed with hard mode. Sub out the MM for putrid in the Moss scarab zones, and replace with other damage in areas with no corpses.

You want heavy shutdown? Have a tank run out into a mob holding Xinrae's bucket... Thats 15 seconds or more of complete offensive spell shutdown of the entire mob, which is amazing since only spellcasters really threaten you anyways. But heavy shutdown isnt really necessary. Not when Pets provide (enemy spends all its energy trying to kill them instead) shutdown.

Hard mode has nothing to do with intelligent play. I'm 2 areas away from Elona Vanquisher and halfway done in Factions, so I know something about the subject

Mister Overhill

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

Tampa, Florida

Sticks and Stones

R/Rt

22 May 2007 at 19:55 - 174

What I would like to see is color-coded names over each character in a town or outpost, so that it would be obvious which ones are doing hard mode and which aren't. That would save a lot of hassle, especially having to explain to people why they can't join your group.

rista blodorn

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2006

Aura of Shadows

E/R

22 May 2007 at 20:43 - 175

Basic problem with Hard Mode is not enough people doing it, plain and simple. Don't try to make excuses about go find this person or a guild or an alliance or any of that other non-sense. HM suffers from a lack of players. And not being able to find enough other real people means you have 3 options. First, give up. Not an option for me right now, but I am guessing that this will be the option that more and more people are forced to choose over time. Second, try using hero/hench combinations. Some people seem to have a fair amount of success at this. I'm not convinced that this option is viable for a large percentage of the player population and I'm not a fan of it as I continually have to micro-manage the heroes and constantly supervise the hench. I really have no interest in trying to play four characters at the same time, nor do I have the time or the inclination to experiment doing the same area over and over and over trying to get the team build correct. That's not a challenge, that's tedium. So the third option is you stand around in a mission outpost or rotate among several looking for a HM PUG to start up. Which is really fulfilling when you have been trying to get going for an hour and then 20 minutes into the mission you get a party wipe because somebody stumbled into something that they weren't ready for.

I'm not advocating that hard mode be changed or made easier. But considering the effort that ANET probably put into making this thing (regardless of the constant slams that they took the easy way out) I would think they would want more players participating in it so I am hoping that they find more ways to get people into hard mode and keeping them there (don't really think the lock pick event did a whole lot to buff up the participation).

Aera Lure

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

In Baltar's head

Bring Out Your Dead [BOYD], former officer [LBS]

Mo/

23 May 2007 at 00:29 - 176

Quote:

Originally Posted by rista blodorn

'm not advocating that hard mode be changed or made easier. But considering the effort that ANET probably put into making this thing (regardless of the constant slams that they took the easy way out) I would think they would want more players participating in it so I am hoping that they find more ways to get people into hard mode and keeping them there (don't really think the lock pick event did a whole lot to buff up the participation).

The lockpick event as a motivative tool didnt do SQUAT to boost my hard mode participation. I'm too poor at the moment lol. Cant afford to buy lockpicks and have gotten crappy golds I had to merch when I found a lockpick and used it. Rather pointless. Should have sold the lockpicks.

That said, I was already motivated to do hard mode - just need to find players doing it or be more patient with Heroes/hench.

bhavv

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Sep 2006

23 May 2007 at 00:46 - 177

I have been doing HM tyria the last few days and have a few points to mention. Firstly the henchmen throughout the 4-6 party missions are useless. (I have been playing with my guild/alliance to complete them). They need to update henchmen in tyria for HM.

Secondly, hero and hench monk AI needs a serious update, they are simply too slow to keep up with healing, and yes it has been difficult finding human monks that can play builds that dont include Woh/healing breeze.

The Elementalist enemies and bosses are too powerful. I have overcome this by equipping the appropriate mantra based on the mission im playing - Flame vs white mantle savants, Earth vs forgotten arcanists and lightning vs mursaat, coupled up with a life barrier bonder + ward against elements. This pretty much completely negates elemental damage in HM and actually makes it rather easy.

However, it is garanteed that I will not get pug players willing to take a mantra. I did Sanctum Cay today and had and elementalist asking why she needed it and wanted to play her own build/wouldnt ping. Instant kick ftw, completed it easy with 5 alliance members all with mantra of flame and a hero with life barrier.

Unless you have a good guild/alliance, it is impossible to make a decent pug for HM with the people that usually pug having very little knowledge of anything in the game.

Aera Lure

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

In Baltar's head

Bring Out Your Dead [BOYD], former officer [LBS]

Mo/

23 May 2007 at 00:57 - 178

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhavv

However, it is garanteed that I will not get pug players willing to take a mantra. I did Sanctum Cay today and had and elementalist asking why she needed it and wanted to play her own build/wouldnt ping. Instant kick ftw, completed it easy with 5 alliance members all with mantra of flame and a hero with life barrier.

Unless you have a good guild/alliance, it is impossible to make a decent pug for HM with the people that usually pug having very little knowledge of anything in the game.

I would have taken it, but I agree. I suppose that's more on the rare side for a PUG. Way I look at it is there is no "individual" in team, and that's all the more important in hard mode. Normal mode is quite forgiving. You can be a little lazy and get away with almost anything build-wise.

Lifeinthefridge

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

1337land

W/E

23 May 2007 at 03:36 - 179

agreed with op

ogre-mage

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

Earth.

[HaCK]

N/Me

23 May 2007 at 03:40 - 180

Hard Mode doesn't really need fixing. But loot scaling IS destroying the game for me.

savage vapor 33

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Regems Basement

The Malevolent Wolfpack [tMw]

23 May 2007 at 07:55 - 181

Loot Scaling is one of the best updates to the game. Its evening out the game which was inflated for a lot time. Yeah it caused bots, but bots will always take advantage of anything no matter what.

Xyzzy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2007

23 May 2007 at 22:57 - 182

I think the main problem is how they did the code for HM, it just seems hacked together. If you look at some of the early areas you can see this a little more clearly. If you understand how C works and the code they had to add to make it happen. That or if you happen it have a bite reader which pull out the assembly code from the .exe file so you can see the changes in the updates of the client side. If you have a packet reader you also see what it does server side as well.

Ensign

Just Plain Fluffy

Join Date: Dec 2004

Berkeley, CA

Idiot Savants

24 May 2007 at 20:46 - 183

I think the rewards just flopped. Like it or not, the bulk of PvE players play for the rewards. Without the rewards for playing and completing Hard Mode challenges, most players won't bother. Obviously, a title for completing big swaths of content didn't cut it. Who knew?

Hard Mode itself is pretty well implemented and balanced. I was impressed by how the low level zones played in general. I think it'd be really popular endgame gameplay, if it were profitable.

Peace,
-CxE

Calen The Civl

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Rt/

25 May 2007 at 00:18 - 184

It would be some nice variety to allow special higher damage, PvE Hard Mode only weapons to drop in hard mode. For example, instead of just 15-22 damage swords dropping, a special 20-27 damage PvE only sword will drop on rare occasions that only does the extra damage in hard mode. Such gear could provide some more of the idea of rewards that players are looking for without completely messing up what PvE balance there is.

Just an idea to throw out there.

Overall, I dislike the rather "cheesy" difficulty implementation. I would have preferred better mob team builds and skill bars over a Diablo 2-esque level and damage increase.

Kaleban

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

Hot as hell Florida

[Wckd]

Me/

25 May 2007 at 02:51 - 185

I didn't bother to read most of the thread, and have not seen whether Gaile posted in here.

But I did not want to start another thread on the same topic, so I'll just post my thoughts.

ANet. WTF?

Band Aid to fix a .45 slug to the head.

Perhaps its just me, but everytime lately ANet decides to actually "fix" something, they end up screwing up three or four other things that weren't fixed in the process!

Now I know they MUST have talented coders on the team, unless they fired everyone who originally coded GW and are just keeping unpaid interns on staff to "update" things.

A singular example from which to extrapolate. I just did 20 runs in Hard Mode solo on Eshim Mindclouder, a Mesmer boss.

No tome. No green. In total? A scroll of Adventurer's Insight, 25 Wood Planks, a non-max blue Cane, and 26 Plant Fibers. That's including killing 4 or 5 additional mobs before and/or after Eshim dies.

Glider of chaos

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

A/N

25 May 2007 at 10:34 - 186

Just wow. So many "shut up, stop whining, go get a buddy" posts here. Of cause they made me change my opinion. I don't think HM needs any fixing now.

I think HM should be just destroyed and rebuilt from a scratch. I'm saying that HM is too hard. But it's not fun. Once you figure out nice build for the area (btw this build will probably work in many other HM areas) it becomes really repetitive. Just watch your step, aggro 1 group at a time, dispatch them and go for the next. Coordination is nice trait to have here... but everything else is not needed.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

25 May 2007 at 11:29 - 187

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaleban

...Perhaps its just me, but everytime lately ANet decides to actually "fix" something, they end up screwing up three or four other things that weren't fixed in the process!...

Have you ever tried writing a fairly complicated piece of software?

You can change one tiny thing to fix an error, and it has major knock on effects you dont expect. It doesnt matter how skilled a programmer you are, you can predict the unexpected. Programming isnt like clicking your fingers and fixing every little issue.

It really annoys me, when people dont appreciate how hard it is to write softeware and they think its a walk in the park. And im sorry, but who cares whether you got a green drop or not from doing 20 solo runs at a boss.

You are aware that the drop rate on greens is very small!! You could do 100 runs and not get a single drop, and then on the 101st run you do.

Its just bad luck, get over it!!! I played through the whole of NF and didnt get one single green drop, and considering there are dozens of greens in that game, the odds say I should have got atleast 1!

While I got loads of greens in Tryia and the odd few in cantha!

But do you see me winging about it? Nope! Just save up and buy the green from someone, like I did for Ragos!

Not getting greens isnt a side effect of bad programming! If anything its a sign that it works, because greens are meant to be hard to drop and you do realise there is anti-farming code that reduces your drop rate if you re-do an area?

If you're going to re-run an area 20 times, do you not think it will kick in?

And the green drop rate doesnt increase just because its HM! I have guardian of Tyria and from all the HM missions I did there, I only got around 10 golds max! the odd tome and the odd lock-pick. Just get used to it and god forbid anyone play there game purely for fun of missions and quests.

dts720666

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2007

E/Me

15 Jun 2007 at 15:08 - 188

Ok, seriously, is there anti-farming code in HM or not? I know Gaile says there is not, but really, so many people experience it, is it possible that the code is in there and just overlooked by a developer?

I've been farming SS/LB points pretty heavily the last few days. On this run, we kill about 35 Margonites, 40 Awakened, 20 Monoliths, 5 Mandragor, and 3 bosses. The first five runs or so, I had amazing drops. They were So excessively lavish, I thought I was playing a different game. I was playing with a group of 5, and for about 5 runs in a row, I got about 3 gold drops a run, several grapes, a tome or two each run, plus nearly filled my bags to the brim with loot.

Then the drops slowly stopped dropping. At first, it was only 1-2 golds per run, and my bags only half filled.

Last night, it went to 0 golds per run (for 6 runs in a row), and only 4-6 items in my bag when I was done. I didn't even fill my backpack. Also, I generally open 1-2 locked chests per run. On these runs last night, I got nothing but grapes from the chests. I'm of the persuasion that all HM locked chests should drop golds...

Anyway, if anti-farming code is not in place, how come this seems to be a consistent pattern for players who farm?

Patrick Smit

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2006

NiTe

15 Jun 2007 at 16:16 - 189

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

I think the rewards just flopped. Like it or not, the bulk of PvE players play for the rewards. Without the rewards for playing and completing Hard Mode challenges, most players won't bother. Obviously, a title for completing big swaths of content didn't cut it. Who knew?

Hard Mode itself is pretty well implemented and balanced. I was impressed by how the low level zones played in general. I think it'd be really popular endgame gameplay, if it were profitable.

Peace,
-CxE

So Ensign u think that just boosting attributes and damage output is way more balanced then adjusting team composition, and AI? (NOI, just asking what u think)

It is challenging that I agree, but balanced is really something else (IMO), u just hope that u are in time to catch the next "spike". Better teamplay (monks in the back etc.) by enemies would have been much better

klrk

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

The Space Rangers

W/

15 Jun 2007 at 16:21 - 190

thanks to this idiotic loot scaling updates
they made more bot farmer , more scammers
and chase more players away
to tell the truth , who would want to play a hard game ?? ( especially economics in gw , try go in the game and check out the market , its sux now )
well done anet
you killed the game

dargon

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: May 2005

The Seraphim Knights [TSK]

R/

15 Jun 2007 at 16:32 - 191

Klrk, if you really think so, then please, don't let the door hit you on the way out. I may not agree with every change that ANet has made (quite frankly, I hate the aftercast on interrupts that was added many moons ago), but I do understand the reasoning behind it and accept that just because I hate it doesn't mean it wasn't the right right thing to do. Just because you can no longer sell a sup vigor to the merchant for 90 plat or the cost of ecto has dropped to a much more reasonable level doesn't mean the economy is ruined. Prices drop naturally in any market, just look at the cost of LCD tv's today, as opposed to 3 years ago.

Mangione

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2007

15 Jun 2007 at 18:49 - 192

I'm playing HM, but how is supposed to be fun a party of djinn that wipes out your party in a second?

Ok, you adopt different strategies, but is just "hack at them really hard before they hack at you back"

And, while I can understand lvl 24 charr in areas where normally they are 6/7th, I don't see the reason to rise the level of the ring of fire critters (as if they were not strong enough before)...

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Its just bad luck, get over it!!! I played through the whole of NF and didnt get one single green drop, and considering there are dozens of greens in that game, the odds say I should have got atleast 1!

We're on the same ship...

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

15 Jun 2007 at 18:50 - 193

Hard mode could have been really interesting... However it's not. Just arbitrary click a spread sheet adjustments. Play it and see if it's doable - ok it is, next.

Just a game of snow-plow with more snow than in normal mode.

Shit...

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

15 Jun 2007 at 19:38 - 194

Seriously... stop with the pathetic comebacks of 'have you ever tried writing a program'. Writing a program is not my f*cking job. I'm assuming people working at Anet are employed to do such a thing, perhaps its a little cruel of us to ask them to do there job PROPERLY!

Hard mode is just 1 huge shortcut taken by Anet. They said they 'tested it', bullshit. They said they 'were going to pay attention to enemy skillbars', bullshit. They gave Dolyak Masters 'Banish' for christ sake. They upped everythings stats, gave it unbalanced buffs then tried to pass it off as 'improved AI'.

They haven't got a single thing right with Hard Mode. All it did was give people something to do until they got sick of its pathetic rewards. If the didn't even get that far they just farmed it for the improved gold drop rate. I have Leg Vanquisher/Guardian. I decided to go vanquish Tasca's Demise again earlier, what do i get? 83 enemies later i get 249 gold and a bit of experience, whoop-de-doo. I could get more farming some dumb mob for a bit and selling a single gold unid. Was it fun? Apart from getting to see 12 overpowered Stone Summit hit the deck without 1 casualty, not really.

I'll just go right ahead and assume that Gaile, the worlds most useless PR gal' hasn't posted in here? Oh wait course not... its not a dig at minipets.

I have no problems with Hard Mode (except that Ele/Rit bosses are getting really out of hand now), i just have problems with what Anet have been saying they'll deliver and not even coming close. Anyone gonna put money on these new Sunspear skills been a huge pile of wank after all this wait? Extended testing (according to Gaile) means nothing, they're PvE skills, implement the damn things and fix them if they go wrong, having the odd broken 1 is better than none at all.

Kinn

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

Englandshire, England.

The International Association of Mending Wammos

R/

15 Jun 2007 at 23:00 - 195

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

I think the main problem is how they did the code for HM, it just seems hacked together. If you look at some of the early areas you can see this a little more clearly. If you understand how C works and the code they had to add to make it happen. That or if you happen it have a bite reader which pull out the assembly code from the .exe file so you can see the changes in the updates of the client side. If you have a packet reader you also see what it does server side as well.

Actually it's more like this: you know how code is actually just like 1's and 0's right? Well it turns out that HM monsters' AI uses a proportionately larger number of 1's than 0's, compared to their normal mode counterparts. Because 1's are a more awkward shape than a nice smooth 0, they sometimes have a hard time flowing through the network cables. Can you see where I'm going with this? Use a long cable, loop it round lots of times, crease it, tie it in a knot, whatever. Bam! 1's get stuck, more 0's get through in their place and the AI becomes closer to normal mode.

I've made enough dough to buy full sets of FoW armour for all my toons + ~2 mill in petty cash since HM was introduced just by farming using this little trick.

MagicWarrior

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2007

18 Jun 2007 at 20:45 - 196

There is one main reason I will soon no longer be playing Hard Mode: it's too hard for me with a group of henchies/heroes. Perhaps my skill level can be put to question - nevertheless, it's no fun... especially when the drops are so crap when in a hench group (or in general it seems).

On a side note, too bad Vanquisher title isn't also in Normal mode. At least it would give me something to do while going for Cartographer.

Dougal Kronik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2005

Ontario, Canada

Glengarry Fencibles

R/

18 Jun 2007 at 21:24 - 197

It's too bad that HM wasn't the big save for the game that Anet hoped it would be.

Since the game has become more effort than fun recently, especially with the Loot Scaling, many members of my guild only log on to reset their timers.

Players must have rewards for effort, and that is seriously lacking in the game at the moment, both in Normal and Hard Mode. And the items that were supposedly exempt from Loot Scaling don't drop any more often.

Well, hopefully something revolutionary will come with GWEN.