Hard Mode Indicator

In outposts and mission areas, it would be nice--and probably pretty easy--to alter the party number icon that appears over the leader of a party's head indicating to others whether the party is for easy or hard mode.

While the icon is normally cyan (indicating the number and having the silhouette of a person), It could appear red for teams already in hard mode.

Not a significant change, but might make things easier for everyone.

probly just a red helmet like the hard mode icon would be nice even tho u see weather the party is in hard mode or not in the party panel (p)

/signed

That's a nifty little idea. You can see at a glance if an outpost is dominated by hard mode parties.

I've made 2 or 3 posts myself saying virtually the same thing. So im signed for this.

But i would personally rather a more distinctive icon, like the hard mode helmet. Something you can notice from a distance, and which is displayed above anyone set to HM.

Im just sick of standing in outpost after outpost asking for HM teams and having no one reply.

Im also sick of NM players inviting me and then having to leave their teams.

We need a way to distinguise HM and NM players PLEASE!!! Its a pain in the a*ss!

Outposts are never ever "dominated by hard mode parties". Very few parties are hard mode parties, and most often, none at all.

Finding a party for HM from people standing around in an outpost is like finding a needle in a haystack. It will likely never ever happen, other than perhaps picking up one real player that way once in a blue moon.

There are almost never any HM parties standing around in an outpost.

If there are, then most likely they are friends or a Guild who have co-ordinated together via the friend's list and Guild list and decided to meet there to do hard mode. And once they meet in the outpost, they won't be standing around in the outpost for long. They will be in the mission pretty shortly thereafter. This is because they realize that to do HM one must rely on Heroes to fill out the vast majority of party slots, since there are not ever enough real players standing around in an outpost who are interested in playing hard mode to do so. So they fill up their slots with Heroes and press ENTER MISSION rather than standing around waiting for PUG players.

I know all this from personal experience, having done most of the HM missions. When I bring one or two friends in to do HM, we always ask "Anyone doing HM?" in local to see if we can replace even one real player into a Hero slot. 95% of the time there is no response, because no one in that outpost is interested in doing HM.

Therefore an indicator would be useless. Since there are so few players who ever do hard mode randomly with PUG players because most PUG players in any particular outpost are not interested in hard mode, having an indicator on them would not make any practical difference at all.

What I'm saying is they need to add additional ways to find other hard mode players so players can get together for hard mode PUGs, however implementing an indicator is not the way to do it since that would have zero actual effect on the problem.

A useful solution would have to encompass something like a Global chat channel across the whole continent. That would be the only type of solution that would have a useful effect on being able to find other HM players.

Well im not sure which outposts you have been to, but in Tyria and Factions its alot easier to find HM groups.

I have GOT and GOC because I found it alot easier (or I eventually) found PUGs for HM in those two campaigns. I managed that in about 2 or 3 months of HM being introduced.

Elona on the other hand is near impossible. No one seems to do any HM missions at all, or even tries to find PUGs.

PUG is alot more active in other campaigns then Elona from my experience.

But it would help ALOT if we could atleast spot another HM player from a distance, instead of trying to (as you say) find a needle in a haystack!

Its frustrating, because the HM missions arent hard to do, but you need to find the parties to do them.

I got GOC and GOE and am halfway to GOT and I found that rarely were there ever any HM PUG players standing around in outposts. We always checked first before pressing ENTER MISSION. I had to rely on one or two friends and 6 Heroes to do the vast majority of the HM missions because no one else was present in the outpost who wanted to.

I would say it would not help a lot, at most it would help a tiny bit. Even with an indicator you still would not be finding other HM players, because other HM players spend very, very little time standing around in outposts. And because most players simply don't ever play the HM missions hence HM players are simply not present at all in large or even decent numbers. What good would an indicator do when there are no HM players in an outpost, and when the few HM players there are only stand in the outpost for one or two minutes once they arrive in the outpost? For the most part all the indicator would do is it would show 100% normal mode players in outposts 95%+ of the time.

Ultimately, an indicator would be a half-baked solution that doesn't actually help HM players connect with each other at all for the reasons described in this and my previous post.

Better to implement a totally complete and way more effective solution to this problem like a Global chat channel.

I say character name light red for HM player without party and dark red for HM players in a party, and magenta/purple color for party icons.

I like the idea of HM players having a helmet or a red icon instead of blending right in.

It'd help people immediately identify and apply for HM groups when they enter an area instead of standing around spamming "LFG HM" don't you think?

I think over time, hard mode players will become increasingly prevalent.

don't see the need, never have any problem with joining party, players usually say what they are doing when they advertise looking of group (lfg)

Thats the point... you never do get anyone posting "LFG hard mode", so if they dont post you cant find them.

But isnt doing something, better then doing nothing?

And HM players spend very little time in outposts because they cant find anyone, and because you cant tell who is HM and who is NM.

They also leave very quickly because you get sick of NM players inviting you and screwing up your icon you selected.

If they had icons, and you could enter an outpost and instantly see if a HM person was in there, then it would be a different story.

We could also get a fair idea of how many people are actually doing HM, instead of guessing.

i think just the hole icon near party people and not the red dot on the mini map

/signed

It's a change for the better. And some changes should be implemented, especially if they don't affect those that would not want the changes.

/signed for the original idea.

Perfect, easy, and simple.

I personally have not had an issue when finding a group for hard mode, but I do agree if you are looking around, not seeing anything advertised for LFG and wondering who is working on Hard Mode or Normal mode..this would help.

/signed

/signed
think this is an ace idea...would make it simpler if you are making a HM party without NM players constantly asking to join...

please incorporate this into the game^