Guild Wars Gets Harder...Literally

Last week, one of the biggest MMO's got a lot more difficult, and at the same time players are getting richer and gaining experience. It is a win-win as the current population of Guild Wars needed something to do while awaiting the upcoming winter expansion: Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

The first big change is the addition of the Hard Mode, and the emphasis is on hard. Every zone and mission in the game has been given this option. Mobs are higher level and use more skills, including elites. They cast faster, coordinate spikes better, and drop better loot and more gold then before. The best part is you always have the choice of Normal or Hard Mode before entering a zone or mission.

It gets better. If you clear a zone of all mobs, it is considered 'vanquished' and you receive gold and experience points (xp) based on how much stuff you killed. Obviously, the bigger the zone the more of both of those you get. And while in Hard Mode, you receive double xp on kills. Henchmen are also now level 20 and got boosts in armor and weapons in hard mode. In missions, completing them in Hard Mode means more xp and gold, as well as skill points.

The xp bonus also applies to hard mode in pvp, but that is the only benefit available in that playstyle.

But make no mistake about it, hard means hard. The newbie island mission of Zen Daishen, for instance, something you could solo in normal mode is much more difficult now. The Afflicted rangers slammed us with a massive ranger spike thirty seconds into the mission, and much more efficiently then any Halls group running the 3-2-1 spike build.

To test out just how hard this was, a group of me and my fellow guild mates did the Dragon's Lair mission. Crystal Spiders were stacking us with shatter enchants, rendering our monks useless and loads of damage to everyone. Glint was a little tougher but wasn't too much higher that beast could go. We completed it, plus bonus, but it took a lot longer.

Changes were also made to what is now Normal Mode. Mobs stick on their target more, and move around less. Gone are the times where you would chase the mob healer around the map, or stuff followed you for 10 screens. Also removed was the anti-farming code, which now means you don't have to resign or do a mission to solo farm zones or bosses.

Going along with the new Hard Mode are new titles. Vanquisher is completed when you have, well vanquished every zone in a chapter. The other new title is Guardian which is achieved by completing all missions of a chapter in Hard Mode.

Speaking of titles, Hard Mode also enables players to achieve the maximum levels of Sunspear and LightBringer titles.

The update also introduced some new items into the game that only drop in hard mode:

-Skill Tomes, both for elite and non-elite skills. These items allow players to learn a skill already unlocked on their characters. This is a nice option for those hard-to-get-to elite skills like Hundred Blades or anything in Mineral Springs.

-Passage Scrolls. These let a party enter Fissure of Woe or Underworld without needing favor. You do need to be in one of the three entry zones for these locations.

Not only are these two scrolls very useful, but lucrative as well, giving player merchants another valuable item to buy and sell.

-Lockpicks. This new way to open chests has a lot of features and side-benefits. Players can use them on any chest, but only the ones in hard mode can be opened with them. There is a chance they will break when used, if that happens the player gets 25 points added to their Unlucky title. If they don't 250 points are added to the Lucky title. You're Lucky and Treasure Hunter titles affect breakage percentage, as well as player level.

This item can be bought from NPC Merchants, unlike the scrolls.

Also introduced were passage scrolls for The Deep and Urgoz elite missions. Players no longer need to be 'ferried' to the mission lobby or ask for the guild that owns the mission to grant them access. These can be bought from the NPC Factions Rewards merchant for 1k Kurzick or Luxon faction points.

This was a big change, and many Guild Wars players were looking forward to Hard Mode. So far, it has not disappointed, and has injected new life into the game. It's like it's on a whole 'nother level. Wait, it is another level.

Whatever it is or what you call it, if you haven't played Guild Wars in some time, you should consider logging back in and trying out the new changes. You might be surprised to find you enjoy it again. I know I am.