Guild Wars 2

I was just wandering, now that the Megaservers are being introduced, thus freeing a lot of server space and creating bigger population on existing maps… would Hard Mode be possible?

I see one way it may possibly work, allow me to elaborate with an example:

A level 80 character who fully explores all maps of the game (or PS, all Dungeons, passes a mega hard solo test, w/e) could receive a possibility to enter game in Hard Mode on character screen.

Upon entering Hard Mode Tyria all monsters would be effectively upgraded – mobs to elite, vets to champions, champions to legendary, legendary to Barbara Streissand :P.

On Hard Mode all events would happen as normal, the map would be reset for HM exploration.

Of course, HMT would be held on separate Megaserver than normal maps, so Hard Mode maps would be populated only by people who have HM enabled on their accounts.

And for increased rewards (I don’t really care for rewards myself, but most people need an incentive) we could have +X Magic Find (where X is an arbitrary number chosen by Developers) and/or unique skins having random chance of dropping or maybe for exploring the whole map/finishing event there would drop tokens that could be used to purchase unique Hard Mode skins?

Anyway, that’s my idea, do you think this, or a different setting of Hard Mode could be implemented with Megaserver sometime in the future?
I tried to form my idea so that it would be doable with the game engine and not an overwhelming amount of work, but I’m not a programmer, so what do I know.
And I don’t insist on implementing my idea exactly, just Hard mode in some form?

As for the good sides of HMT (that I see):
- it would provide challenge for experienced players
- it would breathe new life into players who already completed everything, or near everything
- It would be a bucket full of challenge and fun!
- it would create need for other specs than just zerk, with mobs upgraded we would need to operate in parties with different roles to beat the content.

Bad sides (that I see):
- It can create a false disparity between HM players, and regular players (which didn’t happen in GW1, but I see it as a possibility)
- Veteran players could accumulate gold much faster than new players (which could be fought by let’s say Y gold fee for entering Hard Mode)
- It can tin out the population (either normal, or HM maps would take on influx of players leaving other desolate)

I don’t see hard mode ever existing for open world. They would have to totally rework and balance the entire game, which is not worth it.

Besides, who would want a hard mode for open world? Why would you do hearts and dynamic events in hard mode? They would have to intricately redesign all these events to also account for scaling.

The only way I can see Anet introducing hard mode is in dungeons/instances.

Hardmode PS and dungeons (ahahahhahahahhahahaha) maybe, but definitely not for open world. GW1 could do it simply because non-city/outpost zones were instanced.

I don’t see it happening in the open world. In the dungeons however that is a different story. I don’t think it will happen however as it can tend to “Split the playerbase”.

An alternate way of putting HM in would be to downgrade the individual players more so that they are several levels lower than the surrounding mobs while leaving the mobs untouched except that their loot tables would be changed for HM players.

This would allow HM and NM players to play on the same maps and would not have the additional lowering of map populations.

Deleveling individual players would be easier than upleveling all the mobs, creating separate maps and separating out the players more than they are now.

Im with Aidan here Hardmode in Gw2 is just not possible with PvE
at least not in the traditional way it was in Gw1

The only way Hardmode could work is if instead of buffing everything you the player instead gets a handicap
say 50% of all your stats taken away in return for 600% Magic find or something
this could work to some extent BUT in PvE this would be far too easy to abuse simply by organising a zerg of non HM players to help you farm..

I just cant see this happening tbh
there is just no way they can make a Hardmode work effectively without easy ways to abuse it

the only thing that even resembles Hardmode in Gw2 is fractals
why not give that a try on high levels

Astral Projections.7320:

An alternate way of putting HM in would be to downgrade the individual players more while leaving the mobs untouched except that their loot tables would be changed for HM players.

This would allow HM and NM players to play on the same maps and would not have the additional lowering of map populations.

But then normal mode players could boop in and interfere with HM players doing their thing effectively erasing the Hard in Hard Mode.

As for other comments, yeah, I realize the difficulties in implementing it, re-balancing loot tables, event scaling and so on., it certainly would be a lot of work even in most simplistic implementation.

And yes I am doing fractals on high levels, depending on how time allows.

Crazy question, but why have the developers jump through those hoops to implement a system to essentially power down a character for “Hard Mode” when you can just strip down to your briefs and flail at champ mobs with environmental weapons? Or spread out your trait points to a suboptimal build?

Crazy answer: I miss GW1 Hard Mode.

Hard mode would be pointless for open world content because it wouldn’t be hard mode for the majority, it would be zerg mode.

Hard mode is possible now, and I’ll tell you how:

Roll a full condi necro then grab 4 friends and have them do the same…

Enter a dungeon… Hard mode (you’re welcome).

Nevermind if it’s possible. If it was possible to implement a “hard mode” in, for instance, dungeons, then every indication is that we’re talking about foes that move and attack faster with increased attributes across the board. I’ll leave the nightmare mode to the shooters. What this game needs is more cerebral difficulty rather than some trumped up foes to keep us on edge.

Pandaman.4758:

Crazy question, but why have the developers jump through those hoops to implement a system to essentially power down a character for “Hard Mode” when you can just strip down to your briefs and flail at champ mobs with environmental weapons? Or spread out your trait points to a suboptimal build?

More often than not, those who seek challenge in games also want to maximize the effectiveness of their character and then face the challenge. In other words, optimization is part of the challenge. The side effect of this is that challenge has to come from the developer.

This thread made me realise that megaservers makes a lot of things possible that would help the game lore wise.

It’s now much more feasible to make seperate maps for Orr (The corrupted Orr and the cleansed Orr). And keep the population high enough for either maps to work.

The whole goal of megaservers is to increase population. Hard mode zones would spread out the population even more and I just don’t see it ever being implemented unfortunately.

I always looked at MF gear as hard mode, harder fights for greater rewards, but the zerker-only-good-for-trash-mobs players nagged Anet to death till it was removed.

In my opinion hard mode would be extremely easy to implement to current game. All that would be required is a switch that would allow players to individually select which mode they want to play (selection should be possible at all times).

Selecting hard mode would immediately impose higher multipliers for received damage, reduced or perhaps completely removed access to certain boons (i.e. folks with hard mode would receive no regeneration or only half of the regular duration etc.) and potentially some other restrictions which would make open world content more challenging.

On the other side playing in hard mode would increase the chance of getting rares (just like in the original game) and more valuable stuff. This could be perhaps achieved by adding 50% to magic find stat every time a player chooses hard mode.

The only problem I see with implementing hard mode is the current zerging mentality that would promote zerg even more after the potential introduction of hard mode. This means that in order to even think about introducing hard mode there needs to be something done about zerging and that’s another topic.

Place an NPC at the portal into and out of each zone you can speak to.

> I wish to play on a Hard Mode version of this map.

Load in.

Armadillo hits you for 50,678 damage with HashtagYolo
Armadillo finished you with Troll Finisher

Similarly, a switch to turn on Hard Mode dungeons would also work.

For what will no doubt only result in a damage hike, is it really worth it?

-5 levels +50% MF ? Maybe that’d work, though seems easily exploitable :p

Playing CM explorable at level 40 was pretty hard.

zwierz.9012:

I was just wandering, now that the Megaservers are being introduced, thus freeing a lot of server space and creating bigger population on existing maps… would Hard Mode be possible?

I see one way it may possibly work, allow me to elaborate with an example:

A level 80 character who fully explores all maps of the game (or PS, all Dungeons, passes a mega hard solo test, w/e) could receive a possibility to enter game in Hard Mode on character screen.

Upon entering Hard Mode Tyria all monsters would be effectively upgraded – mobs to elite, vets to champions, champions to legendary, legendary to Barbara Streissand :P.

On Hard Mode all events would happen as normal, the map would be reset for HM exploration.

Of course, HMT would be held on separate Megaserver than normal maps, so Hard Mode maps would be populated only by people who have HM enabled on their accounts.

And for increased rewards (I don’t really care for rewards myself, but most people need an incentive) we could have +X Magic Find (where X is an arbitrary number chosen by Developers) and/or unique skins having random chance of dropping or maybe for exploring the whole map/finishing event there would drop tokens that could be used to purchase unique Hard Mode skins?

Anyway, that’s my idea, do you think this, or a different setting of Hard Mode could be implemented with Megaserver sometime in the future?
I tried to form my idea so that it would be doable with the game engine and not an overwhelming amount of work, but I’m not a programmer, so what do I know.
And I don’t insist on implementing my idea exactly, just Hard mode in some form?

As for the good sides of HMT (that I see):
- it would provide challenge for experienced players
- it would breathe new life into players who already completed everything, or near everything
- It would be a bucket full of challenge and fun!
- it would create need for other specs than just zerk, with mobs upgraded we would need to operate in parties with different roles to beat the content.

Bad sides (that I see):
- It can create a false disparity between HM players, and regular players (which didn’t happen in GW1, but I see it as a possibility)
- Veteran players could accumulate gold much faster than new players (which could be fought by let’s say Y gold fee for entering Hard Mode)
- It can tin out the population (either normal, or HM maps would take on influx of players leaving other desolate)

Are you soloing arah day in and day out and finding it super easy? There are definate ways to challenge your self. Soloing dungeons is one way. Soloing arah give you what 80-100g?

zwierz.9012:

legendary to Barbara Streissand :P.

lulz

Dean Calaway.9718:

I always looked at MF gear as hard mode, harder fights for greater rewards, but the zerker-only-good-for-trash-mobs players nagged Anet to death till it was removed.

you killed monsters and bosses much slower than in zerker, so much so that it was more loot in zerker. especially considering MF doesn’t effects bags/chests.

Age of Conan did it. Every zone in the open world had a hard mode alternative.
Nobody ever seemed to play it though, but then again, AoC is a much more traditional MMO the GW2 in some respects, and its idea of hard mode dictates that soloing isn’t really possible. It pretty much necessitated a well balanced group with a good spread of classes.

I don’t see it as an issue to implement.

The toggle could exist to turn it on and off , all it would take is a rezone, to switch from one to another.

The mega servers would be perfect for this to keep populations high.

Gw1 hard mode wasn’t much of anything other than an attack speed increase, a major level increase, and an AI trait that made them run out of aoe.

Just about every mob in the game is generic and already has leveled up versions. Only thing I could think to add is maybe some agony attacks on veteran and higher mobs.

hardmode would be pretty easy to implement in the open world:

• scale players to -2 levels of the zone

Could this be seen as griefing other players to make event scale up for them? Well it isn’t considered griefing if low level players play with other folks. Furthermore: if the HM-player dies, he won’t count towards scaling anymore.