http://www.guildwars.com/gameplay/hardmode/
For veteran adventurers seeking new challenges and rewards, Hard mode is sure to provide all of the glory you seek, and more!
Hard mode will become available to any player who completes a campaign in the standard mode. Once you complete a campaign with one character, any other level 20 characters on that account will also gain access to that campaign's Hard mode. (Ascension is not required for these characters.)
Adjusted Difficulty Levels
Hard mode is not for the faint of heart. We've made adjustments to provide you with heartier henchmen and followers (for example, lower level henchmen will become level 20 upon entering a Hard mode area), but the levels of all of your foes, as well as their AI, have been enhanced. The monsters are not only harder to kill, they fight smarter than ever. So, your success in Hard mode will be determined, more than anything else, by your skill at playing the game.
For those of you who may just now be getting your footing in Guild Wars, have no fear. We've also adjusted the difficulty of the regular game as well, providing a somewhat easier play experience during your early adventures, and saving the more difficult challenges and greater rewards for later, after you've become more battle-hardened.
Once you feel up to the challenge of Hard mode, though, here is a sample of what's in store for you:
Increased Title Ranks
- Advance your rank as a Sunspear, gaining powerful new skills tailored to your profession along the way.
- Increase your might against the minions of Abaddon by progressing through the ranks of the Lightbringer title track.
New Titles
- Earn your place as a Guardian of Tyria, Cantha, or Elona by completing all of a campaign's missions in Hard mode.
- Defeat all of the foes in each explorable area to attain the status of a Vanquisher, and track your progress on the World Map.
- Increased Rewards
Greater challenges mean greater rewards.
- You will find a larger number of both rare and uncommon items in your Hard mode adventures.
- You will also acquire more experience points, and even more gold!
New Items
Testing your mettle in Hard mode will also give you the opportunity to find exciting new items.
Double-click on the Elite Tome while in a town or outpost to learn any elite profession skill already unlocked on your account. Double-click on the Non-Elite Tome while in a town or outpost to learn any non-elite profession skill already unlocked on your account. Double-click this Passage Scroll to teleport your party to the Underworld. This item can only be used in the Temple of the Ages, Zin Ku Corridor, or Chantry of Secrets. 
Double-click this Passage Scroll to teleport your party to the Fissure of Woe. This item can only be used in the Temple of the Ages, Zin Ku Corridor, or Chantry of Secrets.Lockpicking
Opening locked chests in Hard mode can be done using lockpicks. Why carry a dozen different keys when a lockpick can do the trick? Lockpicks aren't perfect, though; they may break. However, the ranks you earn in the Treasure Hunter and Lucky title tracks will increase both the chance that the lockpick will work, and that it will remain intact after each use.
