Curse

freekedoutfish · May 08, 2007, 11:40 AM // 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ewa Kirch

Drops have been really irratic. One mission I will get half a dozen whites, maybe one blue and/or purple. The next I could get 3 or 4 golds drop.

Ive seen that too. The drops always seem to favour one person, one each run. The first person to get a gold drop, seems to get about 5 or 6 more.

While everyone else is lucky to get one.

Im not arguing, because ive had about 10-15 golds in just over 2 weeks

Avarre · May 08, 2007, 11:43 AM // 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

So are you playing Hard Mode?

Yes.

Normal mode is too easy.

Bryant Again · May 08, 2007, 12:29 PM // 12:29

Well, I haven't really been playing Guild Wars a whole lot recently. When I do play Gw, and when I play PvE, yeah I'm in Hard Mode. The only thing I really like about it is having to find the right build for my herohench team, but then I'm able to just cruise through it.

Lonesamurai · May 08, 2007, 12:42 PM // 12:42

Loving it, its revitalised Pve outings for my guild and they are loving it (even to the point of the Gvg team sometimes enjoying hard mode PvE over GvG)

Kas · May 08, 2007, 01:09 PM // 13:09

Most people (guessed) expected hardmode to be something of the following:
Better AI
- instead of the same old and dull: Tank first, wait for aggro, nuke nuke puke.

Randomized Mob Spawns
- instead of the same mobs, at the same place - everytime.

Better Mob Skillsets
- instead of just slapping an Eliteskill onto their Bars

Balanced Mobs
- instead of just the same type of enemies in a group

Some nice difficulty
- instead of cheap*** multipliers on damage.

Once people played hardmode and saw that their expectations basically weren't really met, they gave up on it. Hardmode is suffering from its own Hype at the moment. Most of the hype was built up by the community itself though. HM can't live up to that, HM gets deserted.

Now add in that:
* A large portion of the players are wannabe elitist ***** and hate everyone with a passion. These gods of playing of course refuse to play with other players because in comparison to them, even god would suck. So they're out of the game too.

* Many players have serious difficulties with the normal mode allready and can't deal with the multipliers, thus losing interest in hardmode.

* The few social party players left willing to do hardmode are most likely spread across the globe and don't know of each others existence.

________
Now about those questions:
I played mostly hardmode until I got my titles. I tried Vanquisher and couldn't stand the (to me) dull look of Ascalon. So I gave up on that title. With nothing of interest for me to do, there is no reason I should login. My guild sucks. But I can't leave it so areas like DOA or Urgoz are now completely out of reach for me. Thus, I'm basically just waiting for another game to be released.
Until that happens I'll have a quick look into the game now and then in the vain hope of seeing some sudden wonder of activity in my guild (Which hasn't and won't happen).

revelation · May 08, 2007, 01:17 PM // 13:17

I've been playing Hard Mode for challenge, drops and title... Only thing I do in GW is vanquishing and playing HM missions, I like it very much!

Marth Reynolds · May 08, 2007, 01:42 PM // 13:42

Currently only playing Normal mode to get my characters to a certain town/outpost or with capping skills.

Farming has shifted to Hard moode for me, going for vanquisher on my mesmer starting in cantha and going for Gaurdian on my monk who needs to wait for my mesmer :P

And i agree the smaller the party size the harder it gets in hm, and mesmers just blast trough it, necros probaly as well tough.

Carinae · May 08, 2007, 01:47 PM // 13:47

Someone needs to organize a regular HM event. Like:

In Tyria, every night at 7pm CST and again at 9pm. In Cantha, they start at 8pm CST and again at 10pm. In NF....

Have a posted schedule, where Guru people can meet. If you miss a time, no big deal. At worse, you'll have to wait a week or two for the cycle to repeat.

Tuesday: Aurora Glade + Vizunah
Wednesday: Sanctum Kay + Naphui
Thurs....

icymanipulator · May 08, 2007, 01:52 PM // 13:52

Hard Mode spawned one and only one great thing IMHO and that was lockpicks. I use these more often than I use keys simply because they have the opportunity for multiple use and they work on any chest.

Vanquisher is a pointless grind, and Guardian would have me play missions I both loved and hated for the sake of a title. The drops are only marginally better under the new super secret loot system.

Lockpicks FTW! The rest...meh

Necromonger · May 08, 2007, 01:54 PM // 13:54

Well I must suck

I'm playing normal mode with Characters I'm tryinng to finish campaigns with.

I'm playing HM in certain places, I play almost exclusively with Heroes/Henchies, and in areas in HM I've been wiped out ...

Neo Nugget · May 08, 2007, 01:57 PM // 13:57

i've been mostly doing hard mode solo for the good drops(which seem to be lacking lately).haven't really done the missions or vanquisher yet.

Been doing it on factions because i haven't beaten prophecies, but i have tried hard mode nf, im still looking for bosses to solo there.

Nekretaal · May 08, 2007, 02:01 PM // 14:01

I have Guardian of Cantha. A great PUG helped me complete Raisu Palace, Eternal Grove, Unwaking Waters, and Arborstone in rapid sucession, so that helped a LOT.

I also got a guildie to synch enter into Vizunah square (foreign had 4 players + heroes, local had 2 players plus heroes), so that made that mission a breeze.

PuG's are great. Even one other player means not having to use henchmen. That's a big plus in my book. Most of the PuGs you find are pretty high quality too. And why wouldnt they be? Any player in Hard mode has already beat that campaign, hard mode is almost exactly the same as normal mode in terms of what to expect (just harder), and most of the noobish players are scared off of hard mode.

I have guardian of Cantha, am 18 missions into Guardian of Tyria, am halfway done vanquishing Elona (including all of the desolation), and am 33% done vanquishing Cantha. I am not going to attempt vanquishing Tyria (It's too huge + try beating Rotscale with henchies + huge zerg mobs of stuff like the mergoyles in twin seroent lakes are broken when they are level 25), and I am not going to attempt guardian of Elona (I cant beat that mime, so I'm not going to try any of the missions).

About 80% of my guild is not interested in hard mode at all though. They would rather pvp, or finish the game with their various other characters. It's also impossible to find a PuG for Vanquishing, or mission in Elona, but not that hard to find a PuG for missions in Tryia (Cantha is somehwere in between).

SotiCoto · May 08, 2007, 02:11 PM // 14:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

I said...

"I've got 17/25 in prophercies so far, which shows hard mode its hardly a "scarey" thing. Hard mode isnt even that hard"

...I didnt say...

"Hard mode is a piece of p*ss, how the hell can you say its hard you complete w*ss!"

...if your like easy, you have normal mode. If you like harder, you have hard mode. But I never said Hard Mode wasnt hard, I said it wasnt that hard.

As in not impossible, not mind numbing, not frustrating, not too tough that it cant be done with enough tries.

And Im well aware that i dont set the standard on difficulty ingame, but there are now two options which exist for users now. And neither are that hard, that they cant be done with the right team.

Not impossible... but it IS mind-numbing, is DEFINITELY frustrating... and it is tough enough that the number of times it would take me to succeed would probably result in my giving up from stress long before I reached it.

It is that hard....

.... and here comes the important bit....

....... for me.

Once again you go on about it as though you set the standard... But just because you don't find it hard doesn't mean others don't have far greater difficulty.
And besides.... the only reason I'd want to go into Hard Mode, besides the drops (which I can solo-farm for if I really want).... is to try and get the Guardian / Vanquisher titles.... positive ends for one absolutely epic infuriating grind. It honestly isn't worth the effort involved.

Jetdoc · May 08, 2007, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Yes.

Normal mode is too easy.

Absolutely, in max size groups.

I'm moving my characters solo (i.e. no heroes or henchmen) through normal mode, but then I plan on doing everything else in Hard Mode.

I'm going to start by trying it with just three heroes (i.e. no henchmen) to see how far I can get. From my limited experimentation, I haven't had any problem with just a party of four.

King's Spectre · May 08, 2007, 02:20 PM // 14:20

I love hard mode. It's been a long, long time since the denziens outside of Ascalon City kicked my butt.

I'm really enjoying going for the vanquisher and guardian titles. I'm doing both titles at once, from start to finish, so with the map icons changing it feels like a game of Risk.

Ha-HA! I now own all of Old Ascalon! My armies will be in Yak's Bend in no time!

Kotetsu Rain · May 08, 2007, 02:20 PM // 14:20

If you are playing Hard Mode: Yes I am

Are you doing it for the better drops?
- No..I see the better rewards just for completing harder objectives.

Are you doing it for the hard missions?
- Not really but I\d rather earn my rewards while doing something harder.

Are you doing it for the guardian title?
- Yup I like titles with legendary'' in their name.

Are you doing it for the Vanquisher title?
- No it takes too long

Which campaign are you doing hard mode in?
Nightfall

J snukka · May 08, 2007, 02:26 PM // 14:26

I play hard mode b'c of the lockpicks, better drop rate, hoping to get higher wisdom title and treasure title. pushing for vanquisher and guardian title.

My focus has been in Tyria for guardian and then im going to vanquish Elona.
then I'll do Elona missions in Hard Mode.

Hope i get these title before GWEN. If not owe well, move on and continue with the game, Im not a crazy title grinder.

I love hard mode, doesnt matter to me if AI is smarter. I just appreciate all Anet offers to us.

Miral · May 08, 2007, 02:49 PM // 14:49

unfortunately hardmode is the closest thing to new content we'll see for a few more months, and thats the reason i gave it a try mostly. right now though im playing Ultima Online instead.

Nexus Icon · May 08, 2007, 03:05 PM // 15:05

Completed Guardian of Tyria on Saturday; would have been earlier, but I had an, erm, "Involutary Absence" over the birthday weekend

Then me and my mate Vanquished Snake Dance, Dreadnought's Drift and Lornar's Pass in one marathon session on Sunday. We figure we'll get the hard stuff out of the way first, that way things can only get easier.
Next we're going for Mineral Springs and Ice Dome, followed by Ice Floe.
That should keep us busy for a while

For those curious about how we did it, I was a Backbreaker warrior running Jin with interrupts and Infuriating Heat, Zhed with a pretty standard SF build and Sousuke using an Earth build running Ward against Melee and that other one that prevents KD.
My friend was a ranger with conditions and pet, and was running Dunkoro as heals and Tahlkora as protection. The final hero was Master of Whispers running SS.

And yes, Dreadnought's Drift was a RIGHT bitch. We had to hop in and out a few times just to get the right spawn; the first time we went in, we were faced with a huge mob containing 4 Dolyak Masters. That really wasn't going to happen :E

So Hard Mode?
Liking it so far.
A MUCH better birthday present than minipets.

Gripes?
Percentage chance to retain lockpicks could be a tad more generous.

Chests seem to predominantly drop caster weapons and focii.

Chests still drop grapes and bog standard white tomes with aggravating regularity. If half of my golds are junk anyway, I at least want a guarantee that the 1.5 plat I'm spending on a lockpick will yield a gold. On the bright side, I did see a friend get 2 elite tomes from one chest, which was nice

Player drop-off seems to be plaguing outposts already. People seem to be finishing missions or areas then not bothering to go back. Either that or they're finding Hard Mode too hard and are giving up.

rista blodorn · May 08, 2007, 03:22 PM // 15:22

Yes play it when I can and enjoy it a lot. Problem is that there aren't enough people playing in hard mode and as far as using heros/henchies goes every time I have tried that so far has been a disaster. I'm concerned that in a month or two it will be impossible to find people to play hard mode with at all since I don't/can't stand around waiting and waiting to form up a group and most of the people in my guild/alliance barely know how to get through a normal mission let alone do anything in hard mode even when they do have the access to it (which is not very damn often).