Hard Mode

[Jupiter]

So I was mildy interested in HM until I read more details...
here
Now I think I know what I'm doing tonight. Anyone else?

[mura]

Not really interested here. More titles.

[norm]

Well....those tomes will help me get those elites that I'm too lazy to get on my PVE characters. But I'm too lazy to farm for those tomes. Man, I am so lazy. Anyone got some spare change?

[somefool]

Well I don't get Hard Mode since the original monkey died. D:

Anyone want to help me finish the last 3 missions in GW:P? >.>

On a side note:

Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.

[Triia]

somefool said:

Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.

Yes, but this is a concern:

Update - Thursday April 19

Miscellaneous

Loot now scales according to party size.

[Jupiter]

Monkey...there are a few of us who need to do the fire island missions. We should definitely wrap those up!

I might be motivated to be a Vanquisher...

Once an explorable area has been vanquished in Hard mode, players will receive gold equal to three times the number of creatures defeated, and experience equal to five times the number of creatures defeated.

Some of those areas have hundreds of baddies...right?
Anyone going for that title?

And Triia...you weren't crazy! (as if there was any doubt..pshaw)

* Combat sounds have been improved.

Originally Posted by Mike O'Brien
There are three ways that certain players earn more gold than the average. The first and most obvious way is that, because everyone plays the game differently, some players are able to find unusually profitable areas to hunt in, or tricky strategies for killing a lot of monsters quickly. The search for the most effective way to play can be a fun part of the game for everyone -- we all like to see how well our characters can do, and whether we can tweak our characters to be better than they were previously -- and so we at ArenaNet don’t consider this a problem unless it’s extreme. Although a very knowledgeable or tricky player may be able to earn gold twice as fast as the average, this tends not to create a significant problem, because prices for items in the player-driven economy will still stay at levels where normal players can afford them. But sometimes differences in the distribution of wealth can be extreme; a group of players can find ways to earn gold ten times as fast as the average player. In this case, prices can rise to a level where normal players can’t afford to trade for items anymore. Then we have a problem, and we need to adjust the game to bring wealth distribution back into normal ranges. We constantly monitor the game, so we know when a certain place or technique is being heavily exploited. When an issue like this becomes too severe, we make tweaks as necessary to bring things back in line.

Where's Syb when you need him!?

One more edit then I'm done, I promise!
So it didn't hit me on the HM mission completion stuff that it's cumulative...on many of those missions if you get Masters you earn 1k. Are they trying to make other things more lucrative to compensate for the hit to solo farming?

[Triia]

Ah, that's right... I'd forgotten about the gold-after-clearing-an-area thing. Perhaps we should check that out...

I have my warrior on the Fire islands and my ele is at THK. I certainly wouldn't mind having access to some of the elites out there.

[mura]

For those going for the Vanquisher title, you'll have to consider some things. Areas with 100s of enemies that may require pop-ups. Many hours of time wasted. Plus it resets if you're interrupted by anything such as a system error or lag spike. In addition, most areas don't have merchants like say the Kurzick/Luxon ones. So you're likely going to be wasting a severe amount of money by leaving merchandise (I imagine it'll be a sizable amount despite party size) on the ground.

<.< So it's not really the mayhaps 3 to 9k you'll get for maybe a couple hours of monster slaying.

[Jupiter]

Here's one of the many comments made about pop-up groups:

How it works:
Basic: All the mobs in the area
Not required but added if found: hidden foes like Wurms and Mandragor. Find them and the title cap gets increased (was quite obvious as I saw my progress go back)
Pets: Same as hidden foes. Make them attack you and the cap increases

The consensus is you don't have to sweep for pop-ups and I think combined with some capping or quest completion it would certainly be worth it to play with my guildies.
And quit raining on my parade!