Guild Wars 2

If I had to pick something that comes up more than anything else in this sub-forum, it’s dungeon difficulty, rewards, or some combination of the two.

There’s an obvious reason for this – we all have different opinions on how difficult we like our game. And even throwing opinions out, sometimes I like to do something face-melting, other days I’m looking for a nice, relaxed run.

Simply put, there is no content difficulty level that will satisfy both of these groups. Single difficulty mode either completely alienates one side, or does a mediocre job for all.

I’m not posting this think that Robert and his team aren’t painfully aware of this issue. I’m posting it to hear if others agree, and if you want this split to be prioritized.

So, what do others think? Hard mode, more rewards? And for those who hate hard content, please bear in mind that adding hard mode allows normal mode to be bumped down a bit.

Thanks for reading.

ANet implemented hard mode in GW1 due to the meta making much of the game too easy for some players. From posts in this forum and elsewhere, some of the dungeon players that are still around have mastered the current dungeons and think they’re too easy. My questions are, how big is this demographic? what would it take in the way of rewards for players to utilize a hard dungeon option? and would that mean ANEt would tweak down the normal dungeons a touch to accommodate those looking for a less edge-of-the-seat experience?

I’ve been a proponent of a harder/easier mode for a while, especially since the implemented easier dungeons, story, offer nothing to entice people to revisit beyond being nice to guild members. However, with resources always at a premium, the question becomes, “Would enough people use the hard mode to warrant the effort?” Like you, I’m interested in the answer.

Rewards must scale with difficulty then. If you choose to run a dungeon on infantile mode then you get less tokens, gold, etc.

Whatever hard mode they do implement, it should not come with greater rewards, or at least not significantly greater. If people WANT to play harder dungeons, then they can be allowed to do so, but they don’t deserve extra candy for playing the way they enjoy to play. If they’re unwilling to play hard mode content for the same rewards as everyone else then they clearly don’t enjoy playing hard mode content enough that anyone should care what they want.

That said, I imagine hard mode will take more time, and likely result in more deaths, so here are two concessions I would be ok with in the name of balance:

1. There would be more anvils placed around the dungeons. Any anvils that are placed in such a way that you have to fight your way to them (ie not at the entrance) would be free. Die all you like.

2. There would be slightly higher rewards, just slightly, based on the estimated time difference. If the dungeon takes a good party twice as long to complete as a good party in the regular mode, it can have at least 50% more gold/loot drop over the course of it. If, once it goes live, people figure out how to farm any one of these dungeons at a faster pace, the devs need to be willing and able to pull the plug on this at a moment’s notice and drop it back to standard levels. If hard mode takes more time, more rewards, if you figure out how to do it in the same time, same rewards.

3. Absolutely NO “unique” prizes that can only be earned through a hard mode. None.

I believe hard content should be rewarded.

But if you already beat the hard content and it became easy afterward. Should you be rewarded everytime you do it again? Remember those are actually easy content now for you.

Ayrilana.1396:

Rewards must scale with difficulty then. If you choose to run a dungeon on infantile mode then you get less tokens, gold, etc.

I agree with this. I think there should be a Hard Mode, but I think both modes should get the same number of tokens so everyone looking to gear up has the same opportunities and we won’t hear any complaints. However, there should be a zone buff when entering Hard Mode dungeons that give you an extra +30%MF/XP to reward players for the added challenge.

I think all current dungeons as they are should be left as “Normal”, with Hard Mode being around the difficulty of Fractal 48 at the minimum.