HM/NM Does it really matter?

I was curious, are the drops really any better playing HM? I seem to get the same crappy drops no matter which mode I play in and it seems to be no greens at all either way.

So, does it really matter what mode you play in when farming?

Yes.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_...Hard_Mode_Loot

Personally, this is something that I hope they don't include with GW2.

Honestly, I have been playing HM for awhile now and see little difference. There are some greens that I am beginning to wonder if they even drop anymore.

Thank you Nightow.

I don't know how you guys play if you don't notice any difference.
Drops in HM are infinitely better than in NM. In NM I hardly get any drops at all, rarely max items, and never, ever, gold drops.
In HM it's about the same as it was before drops were adjusted.

yes there is a difference
in places you won't usually find a gold you can get gold weapons
like i got a perfect sundering axe outside astralarium while trapping in HM

For GREENS it doesn't matter they are not in the loot code difference of NM/HM as are most rares like ectoes as well. Only common drops, resources, blue, purple and GOLD drops are effected by HM for the most part and how many drops you get and what kind determined by the SIZE of your GROUP. I get good drops in zones that have a max size of the group of FOUR by bringing along my 3 heroes. But, if I goto a zone that has 6 or 8 as max group size then my drops go DOWN because I am not at maximum group size for the loot code of HM.

I get GREEN drops all the time now as I know what size to build my group and just repeat the area until I get the green(s) I want. One spot I got FIVE GREENS in 45 minutes. Just me and my 3 heroes. It's just that some greens are so deep into an area that it's not worth it to continue to farm them since it could take all your playtime just to farm it once. Some places you can farm in just a few minutes and rince and repeat until you get the green item. I do get more gold drops in HM than in NM though.

So, good hunting.

And that's exactly why I hope we don't see the same thing happening in GW2.

But, you can't get the all elusive r7 inscribeable item in HM. That's why they are sooooooooooooooo RARE cause a gold drop in NM is very rare, but, they do happen and I've found a place where r7 blues and purples are dropping at least. <grin>

I guess I just have a really unlucky character. :/

Thanks for the replies.

Do you solo or party in HM? If you want the decent drops in HM, you can't party up. Partying up in HM is always a waste of time if you're just looking to get loot.

I look at it this way, based on my experience with both modes. HM is worthwhile if:

1. You can solo the HM area as quickly, or almost as quickly as you can the same NM area. You probably won't really get any more as far as gold, merch, equips, and runes goes, but you WILL get tomes and lockpicks on occasion which will help bump up the average value of each run over time.

2. You are specifically looking for max gold weapons - especially weapons of a certain type that drop in that area - and you are very, very patient. This also applies to looking for tomes or lockpicks. I solo in HM a lot when it's a waste of time lootwise just because I want the lockpicks to work on Lucky or TH or Wisdom. I also like to solo HM a few times before going into FoW so I have lockpicks built up for it.

3. You just like vanquishing.

There are areas I don't waste my time on HM because I can do them, but the skill changes in HM for the MOBs make it so that it takes MUCH longer than NM (monk-heavy areas, especially). In other words, I can run the same NM area, say, three times in the time it takes me to run the HM version, and the HM version only averages about twice the plat for me.

False, but more importantly: Offtopic.

NM was difficult because we had Blood Magic Warriors, Flare Necros, Smiting Monks and Mending Eles.
I remember one of my first PvP matches, when I tried HA. Someone in my party asked PvP chars to quit our group, because they "don't have enough skills"...

Oh and HM gives better drops, but it depends of your luck I guess.
I just started GWEN with one of my chars and my boyfriend in NM, and the first Destroyer we killed dropped a Destroyer Core for him...

There was cluelessness to be sure, but there's also been immense power creep since then. Check how many of your builds do not contain (and would work without!) pve skills and all factions/nightfall/gwen skills.

Definately better treasure in Hard Mode. The low level areas I am just learning to vanquish are netting me more gold per drop than stuff did in the end of nightfall, and usually get at least one "gold" item per zone if not a few, followed by way more puples and blues.

I made 5k vanquishing the Plains of Jarin last nite (not counting vanquisher reward).....thats not gonna happen in NM. (In normal mode, lucky if the hardest areas net you 3K)

A little off-topic, but vanquishing just may be my favoritest thing to do yet in GW- I am even kind of past the point where the treasure even matters, I think the challenge is fun.

Actually that's not so about NM not netting you great profits. IF you know where to farm and what to farm you can make just as much in a normal mode area as you can in a hard mode one. I have this one spot that I can make as much as 15k in an hour in normal mode and it's not in UW or FOW or any deep hard elite areas either. Four little spawn spots and a heap load of income from them doing them over n over in an hours time. I'm not even soloing it either I bring my 3 heroes along as well so we can kill faster an increase the drop rates of that which I am farming for. Most people don't experiment or try out new things. They also expect it to be posted online to make it easy for them, but, not everything good and great especially where profit is concerned is posted online. Everyone would just swamp to the spots and cause prices to change.

Yeah, vanquishing is fun, but what I do right now is H/H all the Tyria missions in hardmode. To make things interesting I've decided I must do both the mission and the bonus at the same time, and without resorting to cheese (exploits, running, consumables).
Most missions are still very easy, but some - like Aurora Glade - provide really interesting challenges.

Nice to hear that some people seem to be enjoying it.
I guess it wasn't a waste of time making it then ...

Yeah i like vanguish just for fun h/h i dont care title drops etc just wanna vanguish and kill those mobs but yeah Hm gives more maxed stuff and more loot but that doesnt mean you cant faind better stuff in nm ..

There is no comparison HM drops are way better... Normal mode drops are almost worthless.

Not right imo. When our guild goes fow clearout and we play NM we get way better drops than HM. Probably related to the fact that there are more people doing it in HM than in NM.