I never played the original GW, but what would make a zone/map “hardmode”? Are we talking different combat mechanics from creeps/mobs or do they hit harder, have more health, increase their numbers, etc?
My max level character is only in her 50s right now, but I know that most encounters I run across are fairly easy unless I attract the attention of too many NPCs. I think NPCs should use their special abilities more often and more intelligently/randomly. One thing that might make fights a little more challenging would be disabling animations that indicate an NPC is about to use one of its specials so you can dodge out of the way before it lands, or make the window for your reaction time shorter, or both. Maybe make melee NPCs attempt to flank you or ranged NPCs move around and avoid your AoE? Anything that makes them just not stand there and take your beating. The reverse can be true for player characters—force us to move around more.I don’t think scaling health makes a fight any more challenging, just longer. I guess that would give it more time to try to kill you
I started playing WOW again with a friend of mine. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve played it, but so far combat in WOW is extremely easy. You just stand there and fire off your abilities. The only difficulty/challenging aspect at this point is I keep press F to loot
I really like GW2. There’s tons to do and all the time in the world to do it.