Hard mode

Hard mode was introduced to the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns in the April 19th, 2007 update. It was also introduced to Guild Wars Eye of the North as of the October 12th, 2007 update. Those players who have completed a campaign can play it again in Hard mode for the ultimate challenge, finding new treasures, and earning new titles and rewards along the way.

Differences from normal mode
Foes in Hard mode use a superior AI to those in normal mode. In particular, they
 * Respond more quickly to area damage over time.
 * Are more likely to fight for longer periods of time.
 * Are more likely to avoid focusing their attacks on one target.
 * Are more likely to kite for long periods of time.
 * Move and attack 33-50% faster.
 * Will not activate skills that increase attack speed with no other benefit.
 * Are at higher levels.
 * Have reduced activation times for skills that normally take 2 seconds or longer to activate.
 * Have expanded skill sets; non-boss foes get an elite skill.

In addition to the foes being more difficult to defeat,
 * Resurrection Shrines will not work if every party member has 60% Death Penalty; a wipe will return your team to the last town or outpost
 * Chests opened by keys are replaced by Locked Chests (requiring lockpicks); in Eye of the North, the locked chests are more likely to break picks.
 * Some quests have greater rewards if completed in hard mode.
 * Foes are more likely to drop rare or hard-to-find items, e.g. bosses are more likely to drop greens. As a corollary, they are less likely to drop low-end items, such as trophies.

There are additional differences in certain explorable areas, including:
 * Foes can have greater innate health regeneration at the expense of lowered health (e.g. The Underworld and The Fissure of Woe).
 * Some foes will only spawn in hard mode and some groups will spawn in greater numbers (e.g. during the War in Kryta).
 * Enemy reinforcements can spawn more quickly (e.g. during Assault on the Stronghold).

Eligibility


You unlock hard mode for your account by completing a campaign's final mission with any character. Once unlocked, hard mode is available to every Level 20 character on the same account. The required missions are:
 * Prophecies: Hell's Precipice
 * Factions: Imperial Sanctum
 * Nightfall: Abaddon's Gate
 * Eye of the North: A Time for Heroes

Once you have completed the requirements to enter Hard mode, you will see two new buttons at the top of your Party Formation panel allowing you to select whether to play in Normal mode or in Hard mode.

Adventuring with other players
You can choose to party with other players who are eligible for Hard mode. However, if a player who is not eligible for Hard mode joins your group, your party will receive the following message, "Hard mode has been disabled. does not meet the requirements for Hard mode." The ineligible player will need to leave your group before you can re-enable Hard mode.

Players using the Party Search panel to seek out other Hard mode players will have a [Hard Mode] tag in the description field by their name.

Henchmen and NPCs
All henchmen who are below level 20 are automatically promoted to level 20 in Hard mode. Additionally, all mission critical NPCs have been adjusted to help them survive the increased difficulty of their respective missions.

Buffs
In Hard mode, party members are automatically granted a buff that boosts earned experience by 50%.

Additionally, you are always eligible to receive bounties for increasing title ranks. These grant points for non-boss foes you defeat and provide an additional bonus for defeating eligible bosses:
 * In Nightfall, Sunspear and Lightbringer
 * In EotN, Asuran, Norn, Deldrimor, and Ebon Vanguard.

Mission adjustments
In addition to differences noted above, you will have more time in Hard mode to successfully achieve any Standard, Expert's, and Master's rewards that are time-dependent.

Rewards
The average number of uncommon and rare item drops has been increased in Hard mode. Additionally, the number of gemstones that are received from chests after defeating each region of the Domain of Anguish has been doubled. The chests at the end of dungeons and elite missions also yield twice as much loot as they do in normal mode.

Skill tomes can drop from foes only in hard mode. With the exception of the Fissure of Woe and the Underworld, Passages Scroll to the Fissure of Woe and Passage Scrolls to the Underworld can drop from bosses only in hard mode. Lockpicks can drop from foes in hard mode and Eye of the North normal mode.

Mission rewards
The experience and skill point rewards were adjusted to give an added reward for completing cooperative missions in Hard mode. Additionally, gold can now be earned for successfully completing Prophecies missions. The following is a list of the new rewards that can be earned in Hard mode.


 * Prophecies
 * Mission completion:  2,000 XP +  +  1 skill point.
 * Bonus completion: 2,000 XP + +  1 skill point.


 * Factions
 * Standard reward: 1,000 XP + +  1 skill point.
 * Expert's reward: 2,000 XP + +  1 skill point.
 * Master's reward: 3,000 XP + +  1 skill point.


 * Nightfall
 * Standard reward: 1,000 XP + +  1 skill point.
 * Expert's reward: 2,000 XP + +  1 skill point.
 * Master's reward: 3,000 XP + +  1 skill point.

Titles
Two title tracks are available for PvE characters in Hard mode.
 * Vanquisher for defeating all of the monsters in most of a campaign's explorable areas.
 * Legendary Vanquisher for vanquishing all three campaigns.
 * Guardian for completing all of the missions in a campaign.
 * Legendary Guardian for attaining the Guardian and Protector titles in all three campaigns.

Advanced Sunspear and Lightbringer titles
Since you can obtain Sunspear and Lightbringer bounties from Hard mode NPCs even after the Normal mode NPCs will no longer give you the buffs, you now have the ability to gain the maximum ranks in these two titles.

Advanced Asuran, Norn, Deldrimor, and Ebon Vanguard titles
Since you can obtain Asuran, Norn, Deldrimor, and Ebon Vanguard bounties from Hard mode NPCs even after the Normal mode NPCs will no longer give you the buffs, you now have the ability to gain the maximum ranks in these four titles.

NPC levels
NPC levels in hard mode generally conform to the pattern below; however, there are a number of exceptions.