Do you still play NM?

I play normal mode for Carto (if I already VQ'd and missed some spots) and Protector titles (obviously the latter) but if I haven't already VQ'd an area then I just VQ + Explore at the same time. The only problem with NM is that I find it mind-numbingly easy and I would much rather just have some sort of a challenge in HM. I also do some dungeons in NM when I'm bored because its fun and still worth the effort.

I still play in NM, though I am in HM more frequently now - high on my list of priorities at this moment is vanquishing, and I was doing as many of the ZB's and ZM's in HM as I could because I was saving up for my heavy pack.

My husband and best friend still have to get through EotN & NF, so I do those with them in NM. Anything like FoW/UW/DoA is all NM for me, and actually, I haven't even attempted DoA yet, or tried doing the actual quests in UW.

There are still a few things I'm doing in NM for myself as well... I realized the other day that I'm at the point where if I did 2 NM books of Hero's Handbook, Master Dungeon Guide, Shiro's Return & Flameseeker Prophecies... plus 2 HM books of same plus YHoT and Nightfall... and turn them all in at once (in the correct order so I don't cross the magical rank in EotN stuff where I can't turn in NM books for title points)... then I can max all of my title ranks, get my Kurzick to 4, AND get enough XP in one shot to get Survivor. So I've been working on filling those books.

So yeah, mixed bag for me between NM & HM.

I NM for easy skill caps, and with my new baby sin. Oh, and whenever there's new content (WiK, etc). That's about it.

I play whatever I remember to click, unless I'm doing Vaettirs I always remember to click hardmode for Vaettirs, but that's besides the point. Honestly the only difference at this point is the little red helmet. With 7 heroes the difficulty curve has gone right out the window. Only the elite areas still hold their luster and even those have been gone over.

I don't think this is ANet deliberately sabotaging the game as one person suggested, but I think it is more likely that the game has gone from the phase of the designers saying "this is what I want in this game." to the designers saying." Ok lets give the players what they want in this game." They haven't abandoned the game or sabotaged it, as evidenced by the continued skill and balance updates.

It's just the life cycle of a game like this. Blizzard did the same thing with Diablo 2. After it's initial run, when people still played it but other, more advanced offerings were on the market, they started introducing ridiculous power creep because screw it. The players wanted it and since they weren't selling any new copies there was no harm in it.

Whatever you play HM or NM and however you play it, some odd build or a metabuild, the fact is you still play because the game offers you something you want. I don't see the point in drawing distinctions between different brands of fun, as some have. Some people, myself included like to win with as few complications as possible. The journey isn't important it's the destination. Those are your meta build players. The ones who like to blow through content. Other people like to try new things, experiment, no matter how long it takes. To them the journey is more important than the goal. Those are your non meta players. It isn't until you start looking down your nose at one group or the other that you start to become "elitist."

Good stuff. People looking down on others in a game is freaking absurd.

The Domain of Anguish is usually the only place I do anything in Normal Mode.

Unless, of course, I'm helping someone in a mission or anything and that person doesn't have access to Hard Mode yet, or needs it in Normal Mode for some reason.

I still play a fair bit of NM for build testing and to try and solo missions or areas.

I quite enjoy seeing if I can clear something with minimalistic assistance and personally enjoy it more than HM, which in my opinion is one of the biggest cons ever pulled in MMO history.

I'm just suprised so many actually fell for it.

Then again, people being insulted when you want them to run a meta build is absurd. Why should a group double the time it takes to do anything because some prissy monk just won't run something that actually works?

I admit, this doesn't affect me because I'd rather play with heroes than other people in all but the most unusual circumstance, but there is a reason for that....

Meanwhile, on topic, I do (or did*) a lot of stuff in NM. For example, I use an SoS build to solo farm the items for the Traveler in NM.
I do most of the WiK/HotN stuff in NM since there's no extra reward for doing HM. I've tried doing it in HM for the better drops and chests, but there's so few drops and chests that it's not worth the bother.
Also, like others, I normally use NM when taking an alt to a new area.

*I say "did" because I've gotten to the point where there's not much to do, again.

Note, I'm not referring to the daily wanted quests in the WiK, just the primary "storyline" quests.

Sure there is, come up with a new team makeup/build

At least thats what I always end up doing when theres no new content. Personally making new build/makeups is half the game to me

Actually, this thread has got me thinking about doing FoW in HM with a 7-hero team.

i play both mods. thought i prefer nm only for the fac my heros seem to be smarter and it lets me run off to do other things. and i wouldnt be mad if i died out of a zone in nm then if i did in hm. plus for some Zaishen things like in eotn you get the same points title wise in nm/hm so why do hm unless i want more coins then its hm. And capping skills which im doing for survivor is soooooooooooooooooooo much easer in nm. xD ^ and like others said you need nm mission to go with hm ones to get the one mission title.

I'm about the same. All I really do anymore is elite areas (which I'm having a very fun time with using my 7 heroes), some I do in NM and others I do in HM. Lately I've spent almost all of my time in DoA, which I'm getting pretty comfy with in NM. There, my build works in HM but the area effects are just insane. I may not get to the point where I do DoA in HM regularly just because it's more annoying than necessarily difficult.

But most other things I do in HM unless I have some need to do it in NM. I don't think NM is for chumps though. Lets you get an entry level into content and complete tougher content without the sometimes unnecessary disadvantages you have in HM.

Maybe they don't have all of the skills required for it. Maybe they don't like the build. Maybe they know that they, personally, cannot run the meta build very efficiently but have other builds they can run better.

Meta builds are not the only things that work. And while heroes are computer programs, humans aren't.

Some areas are more fun in NM.

That's true, and to be fair, I personally don't really care as long as they're running something which actually works reasonably well. And you can take a reasonable stab at that from the build ping.

But if you're expecting to do "high-end" content, it's a reasonable expectation that you can run the meta and play it fairly well. Most people doing that content are farming it, so faster will always be better for them because they've done it 5000 times already.

Which is precisely why heroes > humans.... unless they're melee.

I am sorta particular about my heroes, in an aesthetic sense. I don't give them secondary professions because imo it just feels ugly. As you can imagine, this has a rather limiting effect on the builds I can create for them. Some bars are easily adopted while others (e.g. Sabway) I have never tried. And I'm okay with that.

i do alot HM lately, but thats only if i do Z quests, vqs and/or wanteds
i enjoy NM dungeons, and i wish we'd have more content like WiK which i could do NM, as i dont have much to do for fun (not to get everything there is)

so yea, i do NM, although i wish i could do more new stuff in NM

I play NM for:
Killing Mallyx himself/WiK/HotN anything that doesn't give increased rewards in HM.
Farming for items for Nick (usually)
Skill Capping (almost done with this)
Protector Titles (done a long time ago)
Dungeons for Legendary Master of the North (ditto)
Farming for items for Nick
Filling in little tiny areas I didn't map while VQing.

Will play it again if I ever feel the need to start a new character ^^

I just did the deep nm with 3 guildies and 8 heroes. None of us were hardcore deep experts and 2 of them needed it for the HoM (meaning they had no knowledge of the deep). I have myself made a few HM trips where i let other people lead so I didnt remember all the details. But with some wiki reading we actually made it. It was very satisfying and relaxed, and with the people we had available HM would have been too hard. we used no cons except for a load of clovers and summon stones.
Apart from that I almost always farm lots of nicky stuff, thats always in nm.