Feedback:User/Darkshine/Personal Handicaps

It has not been announced yet as to whether or not there will be a hard mode in GW2, so I thought I would post my idea.

Personal "handicaps" would be set by the player, and essentially allow players to create a hard mode without having to have instanced areas. There would be a pop-down menu (similar to those used for districts in GW1) where the player sets the amount of handicap. Players would only be able to change handicaps outside of combat.

These personal "handicaps" would reduce that player's armor, health, and damage by up to, say, 80%. However, their loot, experience, and karma (i think thats what it is) would be increased by the same percentage. Players who want the challenge can set their "handicap" to full, while others can have it set at 30% or somewhere in-between 0 and full. Players would gain this after beating the game for the first time on that character, and for that character only, so as to prevent beginning characters from speed-leveling.

When dealing with persistant areas and Dynamic Events, the character's bonuses would drop according to how many people were helping with the event and what their handicaps are at. If only a couple people helped, you would lose only a few percents of drop bonuses, but if 30 people helped, it would significantly decrease. This would prevent leechers from abusing this too much. However, if you were doing a Dynamic Event with these 30 people, but half of them also had max handicap, your handicap and their handicaps would still decrease signifcanlty, but it would be less of a decrease than playing alongside 30 non-handicapped players.