Hard Mode - Thumbs Up/Down? (First Impressions and more)

So, after an hour or so of testing it so far, what do you guys think of hard mode? Too hard, too easy, annoying, fun? List your thoughts!

Great Northern Wall is a lot different with level 20's before the run to the wall. So far I think it's pretty good. AI kite, focus fire, and have decent skills (though the Grawl monks use Healing Hands).

Thumbs Up.

edit: The inherent speed boost seems a little cheesy, especially how much of a speed boost it was, seems to be at least 50%. If I saw an army of char moving twice as fast as me, a 9th skill would materialize; "Oh Snap, Run As Fast As Hell." ^_^

Definite Thumbs Up, it adds a new dimension to the games missions.

In fact, all higher missions should be in hard mode permanently

im kinda neutral....

the chance for getting rare and full damage versions of "low level" weapons is a real draw for me.

and harder versions of the missions is really cool.

but some of the drop changes is kinda...meh.

Alot of fun. DoA in hard mode was good for a laugh. Some of the early missions in hard mode will be fun but I see alot of people pulling their hair out toward the end. It looks like 1 mistake = wipe. It's actually challenging in a strategic way and not a "put 20 mobs side by side and make you tediously pull each one" way. Thumbs up.

Edit: And I agree with above, the first thing i said to my guild is "Early game max weapons that are worth alot are gonna plummet". That will be THE draw at first until it happens.

Thumbs up

the Healing Hands Grawl in North Wall mission was amusing

Hard mode feature:
Doubled monster cast rate
Doubled monster attack rate
Doubled monster move speed

Well I guess I'll share my thoughts since I started it.

The early areas are fun. But the areas later in the game - especially Perdition Rock - feel just like pre-update DoA.

Thumbs down
Hard Mode = DoA everywhere, that's not fun, it's grinding.

I had wondered if I was the only one noticing how fast everything was moving and how fast hexes were triggering. Domination/Curses ftw. I was seeing empathy averaging upwards of 500 damage on meelee opponents.

Mobs still don't use full skillbars, though; from what I've seen so far (which is by no means exhaustive), they just added an elite to whatever they had before. Which often means more than one elite. Areas that you could do before without any trouble are only mild trouble now because the only real threat comes if you are unprepared for what you're facing.

Opinion: Thumbs ehhhh. It's okay. For something that was supposed to be zomg amazing, it's pretty meh. Doesn't really address some of the problems that already existed, potentially creates a couple new ones, update doesn't appear to do everything claimed. It might be better in a few days, but as it is, I'm left feeling kind of 'is that it?' They did exactly what everyone told them not to do: give the monsters cheat abilities, raise their levels, and call it a day.

I just rocked consulate docks with a pug, full human, two monks, one prot one heal, we had an MM, nuker, HB Tank, my Derv tank, and a barrager, it went really well, and actually was a bit of a challenge, my derv tank actually dropped below half health O.O

Still nothing hard...it's at least fun. Thunderhead keep was surprisingly easy, but the bonus didn't trigger for some reason.

Not so sure about smart skill choices for monster.......I've seen Skull Crack, Thunderclap........those arn't the best choices.

It's not what I was expecting. So far it's been nothing terribly impressive and I guess my hard mode must be broken or something because I've had absolutely 0 problem with kiting foes.

I like it. I like it a lot.

Thumbs up.

Thumps Up for sure. Just beat THK with guildies, and it was quite fun. Really enjoying it.

Has anyone gotten any Hard Mode drops?

I've been soloing some areas to see it will drop and haven't received any yet.

at first i hate but then more and more i love it and what sealed the deal was this
"Once you win a campaign with any character on your account, every level 20 character on that same account will have access to Hard mode for that campaign."
that made me so happy
note: one thing alot complained b4 DOA to hard now HM to easy im sorry i think A-net did a great job with this and made it not SO hard but at least fun and accesable

I like it a lot, however it seems to me that the groups forming are rediculously anal about whom they let in. I stood in Great Northern Wall for 20 minutes advertising my Rit and every build I could play, nothing. Finally I got into a group on the condition that I was the lone healer.

Otherwise I love this, now I am heading to Maguuma Jungle for Vanquisher + The Falls.

God, theres this 1 map....where I cant even kill a single enemy T_T

Saoshing trail or whatever beside Seitung harbor, the Mantid swoop down in a killer mob of doom and can heal each other Very well.

Got a Lockpick, used it on one of the new Hard Mode chests and got a gold set of boots with Sup Earth Magic rune on it. I like HM so far, got masters on a few easier missions in Elona. And I can STILL take Shiro in cantha Not masters though xD