Is it just me or has this difficulty level of the desert been raised?

I mean seriously, I've traversed the entire thing with four different characters, first time was hard but I got the hang of it after a while, the other times were a breeze cause I took it slow and aggroed responsibly.

But now, I can't step outside without the henchies literally running off to attack something on the radar (not in the aggro radius) as if they were killroy stonekin. On top of that, certain important places have the roads that were once dotted with hydras, but swarming with them. And everyone knows how the henchies 'pull'. (actually I've been seeing Alesia more gung ho than ever, charging in as if she was a warrior while the warriors don't seem to be doing anything other than having a coffee)

Really, is this an actual issue as I've NEVER seen them this erratic in my time playing the game? Or do they really have personalities and hate me for some godforsaken reason. And I don't mean just hate, I mean the kind of loathing that they let you tank (we all know how well an unprotected Elementalist does in that situation) and as soon as you die, Alesia halts all healing of the party to res you, letting the team members die or herself die which then results in the former and as soon as you res, the rest of the team is at death's door, seconds later you following them into the abyss.

yes. more hydra patrols. more agile hencheman.

Liiiiina. And you think it's harder, that girl was a blessing to the desert

indeed. Lina has made the desert bearable. getting out of Amnoon Oasis was almost impossible without her.

i think both lina and alesia are good healers except alesia doesnt have prot skills

I just redid the Deserts with my new character, a Necro/Monk.

Not enjoying the ability to run through it (Man, even my Elementalist could run it with their gimpy slow to cast spell boost spells ) I had to fight.

I did fine except for, oddly enough, getting to Dunes of Despair. Those Sand Elementals wrecked some shop on my henchmen. Hydras were...well, Hydras. They sometimes clump up, but for the most part they behaved for me (They don't do too well being diseased or being tricked into killing my Bone Horrors)

To be honest though, I don't think Hydras have either gotten tougher or lightened up, I still hate those jerks. I helped a friend of mine do her 15 Attribute quest with my Ranger. I brought all the interupt skills I could carry to get some good old fashioned revenge.

Good times.

hydras are pushovers the only irritating mobs i can think up are sand eles >.< ooops you got owned by a sand ele i hate them ugh.

but lina is the best henchies there is ^^ AEGIS!!!!
i use this team in the desert.

lina
alesia
claude
lil thom
orion

i think that thats the most balanced team you get in the desert

Pay a RUNNER to get you through it.

And if it's harder now, it's my fault... I've been farming there too much. I sorry :/

OMG Those Elementals SUCK! My friend and I (E/Mo & E/Me) had like a 60 DP by the time we got to Dunes, but at least we made it. Between them, the giants, and the hydra, it's such a pain in the ass. Probably would have been a little easier if I had equipped some mesmer skills, but we wound up figuring that if he ran out and aggro'd while I stayed back, then kept healing through the damage, I could get off my meteor shower & firestorm without interruption.
But then we decided to take some portal along the way, and we got cornered in by at least 3 hydra and killed on the pad. Bah, it was such a pain