Feedback talk:User/Previously Unsigned/Do Hard Mode The Right Way

I like the overall suggestion you're making. I've been playing GW since Prophecies and have gone through all of the expansions. I remember Prophecies being challenging when I first started playing and was doing most of the missions just with henchmen. Then things started getting watered-down. Then Nightfall introduced heroes. Now areas of Prophecies that had once presented a challenge can be torn through with a full-hero party as easily as tissue paper. No challenge = no fun.

The one part I disagree with is making something akin to the Final Fantasy Law System in Guild Wars. I don't like the idea of having a skill or skills I've equipped nerfed or disabled randomly. I'm sure it works well within the Final Fantasy context because that feature was built into the game from the beginning such that the game still remains fun and playable. In Guild Wars - with only 8 skills on your bar and those skills quite often being very dependent on or synergistic with one another - the nerfing or disabling of even just 1 skill could really screw up your entire build and effectiveness. I like the idea of some kind of game mechanic that would encourage players to branch out and explore other skills or builds; but I don't think this one would work too well within the current context of Guild Wars. Guild Wars 3 perhaps 23:25, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

You're confusing things. The Law System does is not random, the rules would be "announced" before you enter an area, you would have enough time to plan around them. They are usually simple things like "can't use this kind of magic" (which already exists in MANY forms throughout Guild Wars) or "this attribute or effect of skill", etc. As there are over 1000 skills in the game and every profession has access to a secondary profession I do not see any kind of restrictions unrealistic (since the restrictions change, they are not permanent defining features like DoA and such). There should always be sometime else to try. Usually the penalty is something crazy in FF like "permanetly reduces your stats", "releases an a random animal you have captured", or takes an item or money away from you for good. These could all be easily translated to Guild Wars or alternatively, the punishments would be unremovable death penalty, status ailments, etc for a set period of time in explorable areas (such as leaving and coming back after it's gone with the game closed would not work, you would need to be in an explorable area to reduce it). But thanks for the feedback anyways! Previously Unsigned 04:50, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification. Not being familiar with the FF Law System, now I understand. However, my sense from all of the ArenaNet developer panel discussions and blog posts is they are trying to move away from any kind of punitive consequences in GW2. Heck, you don't even really die anymore. They're changing their approach to using a carrot rather than a stick now. For better or for worse - aside from a PvP arena set up specifically for this purpose - I don't see them implementing any system that will restrict what skills players can use (outside of possible environmental effects in PvE areas). Guild Wars 3 perhaps 17:35, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

I also realized that the link to Law System was broken (it was missing a )). If you click the link, you can read more about it. Also, they had a system of law cards that nullify or change current laws in effect. In the US version there were recommended actions as well. They don't do it, but I still think it would be interesting. Another way for variety is codex heros/henchmen. Previously Unsigned 23:47, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

I love the FF Tactics series, my favorite as well, despite how much of a cheating bastard the computer is. I would never ever want to see anything like the law forbidding damage to animals in GW2, that one law was a huge pain. I definitely agree that hard mode should be like how the War in Kryta random White Mantle were with better AI. Plus, PvE skills need the crap beaten out of them - they don't need to be any more than a slight added variety to your skills. I don't expect them to go through that much trouble, though. –~=Ϛρѧякγ (τѧιк) ←♥– 01:25, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Guild Wars 2 is going to be persistant, and the difficulty scaled to the players level. Dun think there's going to BE a hard mode. (and yes, I know there is going to be some instancing)--Will Greyhawk 01:43, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

There will always be people saying that it's too easy and should be made harder, and others saying that it is too hard and should be made easier. Both are right, because level of difficulty is relative to the player, it's not an absolute. Unfortunately, it is impossible to satisfy the needs of both camps using fixed levels of difficulty such as NM/HM. The approaches that can work do so by providing a wide range of difficulty adjustment:

• (i) Instance the content and let individuals select the difficulty level they want in their own instance, over a variable range from trivially easy to impossibly hard. Apparently GW2 doesn't use instanced zones though, so this option is not available.

• (ii) Keep the content difficulty fixed but scale player power down in proportion to their perceived degree of personal uberness. If you're so uber that you want extremely hard foes, then your damage and self-healing abilities will be reduced accordingly. The self-proclaimed uber players who call for Extra Hard Hard Mode are so going to love their abilities being scaled back ... :P

To summarize, there is no "Right Way" to do HM, because difficulty is a matter of personal preference and perception. And in a system like GW2 with shared zones instead of instancing, the options for hardship balancing are even fewer. Morgaine 15:29, 12 February 2012 (UTC)