Curse

cebalrai · Jan 03, 2008, 12:36 PM // 12:36

What people are saying, is that it's more difficult, without being more fun.

NM isn't all that much fun to experienced/talented players and neither is HM. It's just... a harder version of something that's not too much fun.

The solution would be to give monsters more complex AI, and to a lesser extent, better skill bars. But since AI is still predictable and dumb, HM doesn't come out feeling fresh at all really.

I D E L E T E D I · Jan 03, 2008, 12:50 PM // 12:50

NM is such a joke its a cake walk, i never do anything other than stand around. In HM i at least get to cast a couple of Prot Spirits and Guardian. Seriously though i only play HM, but i find even that way to easy. No one ever dies when i vanquish, and thats even when aggroing 3 groups by accident.
Now the Legendary Guardian Title that is jsut the best title in this game. Some of the missions are acctually challenging such as Eternal Grove and do require you to do some thinking. Completing that title was the most fun i have ever had sadly its over and vanquishing is a pain in the ass

Olim Chill · Jan 03, 2008, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Quote:

Hard Mode has its place

.

It certainly does. If you're done with NM and still enjoy PVE, swtich on HM. To me, it's a natural progression.

If you find HM boring or annoying, there's a good chance that you're just tired of PVE.

Targuil · Jan 03, 2008, 01:24 PM // 13:24

Without HM I wouldn't be playing this game anymore. I play pvp quite much but get bored quick so I have to play pve for a while and then back to pvp.

Jaceb · Jan 03, 2008, 01:43 PM // 13:43

Playing HM is probably the funniest yet most frustrating things i've done

. I've always liked it and i will probably always do. After you play HM for a while and go back to NM you're like "wow... how could this be hard back then.". Area vanquishing isn't that fun but all i do is HM dungeons, the really frustrating ones - i get some wierd kicks from them.

Edit: for the HM stuff, well most if not all games seem to want/implement bigger numbers to make it hard :P. Except i think charr are the most balanced enemies (even with bigger stats/bigger hits). This is a crappy example but (You can guess the game yourself).:

Kael'thas Sunstrider <Lord of the Blood Elves>
Health: 1,700,000
Mana: 1,693,500

:P. So i can only guess how many millions of HP/Mana does Lich King have.. i'm kinda relieved that we dont have bosses like that, that take days to kill. Didn't mean to derail but they just keep on going higher and higher. Wonder what GW2 does.. hmm? :P.

trobinson97 · Jan 03, 2008, 02:28 PM // 14:28

I love HM. It (and the titles it gives) gives me reason to play GW while my 360 is being operated on.

Nightow · Jan 03, 2008, 02:37 PM // 14:37

When I log onto GW, I just want to relax and enjoy some dungeons/quests/missions with friends. HM causes the exact opposite and makes me more frustrated than anything really (life is frustrating enough, I don't need my games to be tyvm) but what really gets me is Anet's decision to put 99% of the decent drops in HM and make HM necessary for titles. If there was an option to do the work for the titles in NM all the way through, I wouldn't mind if it took longer or something but please, don't force me to do something that I don't want to if I just want to get a title.

Here's to hoping GW2 won't be the same!

Frazas · Jan 03, 2008, 03:18 PM // 15:18

Many people complain that HM is only about buffs and no AI improvement. In part that is true, but isn't it exactly the same since the moment you step foot in the world of Guild Wars in Normal Mode? From the first enemy that you slay to the last of a campaign, the difference is that they are buffed (health, elites, attack speed and cast speed, etc) - their AI is still the same. At least in HM the enemies most of the time try and evade AoE spells and such, and also pick better targets. Hard Mode is not perfect but it gets the job done and is up to my expectations - although drops still suck most of the time. If it weren't for Hard Mode I would have stopped playing a long time ago.

Regarding the challenge of Hard Mode, I've been doing most of it either with Heroes/Hench or with a a friend and the girlfriend and 95% of all areas are quite "easy" with a good build (no Ursan here!!), but there are some that were very challenging, namely some areas around Ascalon with only 3 heroes; Joko's Domain, Dzagonur's Bastion, (still undone - today is the day I won't go to bed until that is cleared!!) and that is it. Only Factions to go in HM and Vanquish, but I hate that missions in Factions are timed for bonus rewards... I started yesterday in Marketplace and the Jade groups are also a PAIN!

PS: HM in DoA is a major PAIN!!

Yang Whirlwind · Jan 03, 2008, 03:43 PM // 15:43

I can only agree with what others have already said: HM are what makes me enjoy PvE these days. Drops seems to be about the same here for me as in NM (crap), but the added challenge make me seek out other players, something I haven't done much lately. People keep talking about the spirit of the game moving from multiplayer to single individuals with their hero's,- for me at least HM took it back the other way.

The only thing in never GW history I've enjoyed more was finishing FoW and UW during the holidays with a full guild team! That felt like the "good old days"

pakhavit · Jan 03, 2008, 04:26 PM // 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harrier's haste

"Set the marksmanship to 12 and use bow attacks" ever heard of that? It works really well against enemies in HM

But yeah i agree with ya, HM is only good for Torment Farming, where you get like double gemstones(but they're old, no one cares about them anymore

). Otherwise unless you're going for titles.......it is all pretty pointless, fight STRONGER enemies, only with a slightly higher drop rank.(dropping more gold/grapes instead of all blues for Ex.) And you get like 1k gold for killing 1000 enemies in Hard Mode, sounds like a "bargain" to me!!

Acutally I set to 15 for burning arrow 5 second and use apply posion

bow attack doesn't do a lot damage -___-

Quote:

Originally Posted by idicious

HM's a joke, with or without Ursan. I non UB'd Canthan Guardian in a day, yesterday with 2 friends easily mastered Dzagonur Bastion and Grand Court (4.5 minutes) both on first try.

All it takes is 2 decent players, and it's dmn easy then.

All it take is 1 decent players Cos I hench all mission except eternal groove and hench vanquisher except Majesty rest :P

Ranger with only whirling defend~~

Chaos55 · Jan 03, 2008, 04:35 PM // 16:35

After a few runs in HM, HM becomes like your NM. It just gets easier. There will be a few areas where you might be forced to use consumables or candy canes but if you can make it through without using them, the better it'll be when you do other areas. If you use consumables in EVERY area, I think that defeats the purpose of HM...

Malice Black · Jan 03, 2008, 05:15 PM // 17:15

Meh

That is all.

Diddy bow · Jan 03, 2008, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Hard Mode could've been great, instead they gave enemies an Essence of Celerity and 20 in their attributes. Afterall bigger numbers in a skill based game is always the best way to make the game better.

QFT. Bigger numbers isnt more fun, just forces you to take some lame agies/shelter chaining "Save yourselfs!" build, not really any harder just boring.

Malice Black · Jan 03, 2008, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Hardmode = 1 death, back to outpost.

Sort the men from the boys.

Lord Natural · Jan 03, 2008, 05:44 PM // 17:44

With regards to the missions: Pretty easy if you have an experienced player or two with you. Even easier if you use consumables. Can be a challenge alone with H&H, but almost all of them are still doable.

payne · Jan 03, 2008, 05:50 PM // 17:50

HM = laughable...its not as Hard as "Hard Mode" implys...
boosting monster levels by 2 and saying this is Hard Mode is stupid...things like Mallyx are as easy as they ever were even though he is boosted 2 odd levels...just stupid

things like FoW and UW are no different regardless of NM / HM

certain missions were made harder but that was as they were when they first came out...THK for instance...no-one could do it when it first came out same for Raisu to some extent....but now everyone can do it easily....same goes for HM now everyone can do it...and it is futile - legendary guardian / vanquisher can be bought in the "service" area so the titles are meaningless - the only good thing that has come from it is a tad extra play-ability and a way to max SS,LB,asura etc. - although A.Net would have made it possible to without HM if it hadn't been released!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malice Black

Hardmode = 1 death, back to outpost.

Sort the men from the boys.

OMG so true

peace out