Hm changes discuss...

Hard Mode - Reduce armor level for Hard Mode enemies by 3 and raise maximum health by 20 for each level above 20.

...and where do you get your info?

Gonna need a little bit more info/proof than that, bro

I think he wants to suggest to Anet what they can implement; but it's probably already been sorted. So, what?

20 health for each lvl above 20 seems a bit low to be honest.

But let's just wait untill they release it. I hope this thursday

low?lol? if they are 8 lvls higher thats a 160hp diff, and u call this low????
I want to smoke what ur smoking

160HP from lvl 20 to lvl28 is more than a little low, actually. 2 hits from PI should not be ending a mobs HM advantage.

I would rather them do 25 per level and nerf PI. It needs it anyway.

Assuming this is the HM update ...

Automatic Cracked Armour on targets doesn't seem too hot for player Elementalists, even considering another -20 armour from real Cracked Armour. Especially since YMLAD, FH and EBVAS are all so strong (although PI sucks). With heroes though, there might be a difference.

All this is first looks, before taking into consideration the elite skill update, and before actually having played with the update.

Personally i dont see a need to change armor/hp for foes in hm.
We have to consider that not every players has an uber mighty kick ass build or heros and making adjustments may seem nice to new hm players it would just make hm even easier for players used to hm.
Hm is meant to be hard - what next ? make an easy mode for those who have probs in nm ?
So what if foe is lvl 28 and we are lvl 20 - if we had access to level 30 we`d go thru same armor/hp scaling as foes.
Also it would mean that sc players would get an easy time and make all sc runs possibly quicker and we all know what happens with anet and sc - they try and nerf skills / buff or add foes which inturn affects not only the sc ppl but all non sc ppl.
Hopefully GW2 will be out soon and how are same ppl going to cope there i wonder.

^This change to HM is supposed to make armour-sensitve damage more appealing and armour-ignoring damage less so, not make HM easier (it's easy enough already).

This is the proposed change got to love test krewe leaks. I figure rather than a select few get the info the mass should know as well.

Curious what they plan to do about HM UW which was already tweaked once. Numbers provided here seem like a perfectly reasonable adjustment to me.

Edit: Mobs will probably have a 60AR absolute minimum due to reduction so you don't wind up with 53AR HM Margonite Anur Ki's (for example). It's basically perma cracked armor, not a huge deal at all.

Reducing 3 armor per level is too high that would make the game too easy considering that it stacks with cracked armor.

How much armor do the HM mobs get per level currently? 3 or more? Will this update keep them with the same armor as level 20 foes, or will they continue to have higher armor than normal?

PvX player/ hero builds (which is what most people use or base of) are dominated by armor-ignoring damage skills, and for a reason. The point of this change is to balance the power between professions, because the current HM discriminates some over the others.

This is not going to make HM easier. If anything, it'll make it (slightly) harder, because the loss of armor will not be very relevant to those builds, the new arising armor-sensitive builds will probably be on equal level as of the current builds, and the increase in health will make all the foes last longer, regardless of build.

So why are these changes being made to Hard Mode again? Did people complain that they needed to put MORE TIME into their vanquishes and/or farming regimen?

I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused.

People are complaining they don't see big numbers when they hit people in hard mode... i wish i had a little bit more info to the exponential increase of armor of monster levels but -3 armor for +20 health per level above doesn't sound unreasonable... even thou id make it closer to -2 armor or +25-30 health for the sake of keeping hard mode hard... because currently on a lvl 28 monsters u would have -24 armor with +160 health.... 160 health does not equate to the aid 24 armor would give you in most situations.

Currently the game is dominated by armor-ignoring damage, and HM discriminates some professions over others because of that. This update will help balance things out, which will be especially relevant to the elementalists as they rely the most on armor-sensitive damage; and then an upcomming melee AI update in the near future will also help the melee heros, which have terrible AI.

Those two changes should diversify the hero meta builds, so that finally it isn't all about mesmers, mesmers, mesmers, ritualists, ritualists, necromancers, necromancers and a RoJ monk.

So the best way to get this discrimination worked out is to make HM slightly more difficult so Elementalists and melee folks don't feel left out? My confusion is getting uglier.

Also, I've been using a Dervish hero in my vanquishes for the past month or so. Unlike most people, I make my builds work to my style of play, not what everyone considers the best. After all, you control the heroes. Don't let them control you.

Well, they could simply remove the extra armor level of foes. It would keep the current builds at the same power, and the weaker more viable. But considering that AR was there to make things harder, and it wasn't working out, they opted for a different solution (more HP). Besides, the current builds are so overpowered that toning them down a bit is not only fair, as it might not even be enough.

And honestly, 150-200 more HP won't make the battles much boring. I was afraid they would, like, double the HP of foes or something, and make most battles a chore. As it is, two extra energy surges/ Invoke Lightning/ whatever AoE spike do the work.

Ya, farming builds will suffer, but it is fair that my elementalist (which is my main) can be on the same ground as other professions, and not stuck to gimmicks.

Whenever I play with melee heroes, I see them wasting most of their time running between foes. Casters and ranged heroes are objectively better because their AI is more effective. Sure you can make their builds work, because the melee classes aren't weak, but they still have bad AI. And dervish heroes can't even use the new enchantments correctly.