Hard Mode Tips & Discussion

Now that we've had a weekend to poke at Hardmode a bit, I thought maybe we could start collecting some observations and advice about what works and what doesn't.

Here are some highlights from the wiki Hard Mode documentation ~

QUOTE
While in hard mode, players earn 50% more experience points.

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All hostile monsters in missions and explorable areas are significantly harder in hard mode.
Level and attribute rank: Their levels are all increased to be appropriately challenging for a group of level 20 players, usually between 22 and 30 depending on their original level and the size of the group allowed in the area, although certain unique foes have been observed with levels as high as 33. Monster attributes appear to be at least 20 in some cases, though hard ranges and caps have not been fully researched yet.
Speed: Monsters' attack speed, movement speed, skill casting speed, and skill recharge rate are all increased to be 33-50% faster than normal.
Skill bar: Most normal enemies that did not have an elite skill in normal mode have one in hard mode. However, bosses that did not have an elite originally still do not have one, so no skills can be captured early in hard mode.
AI:: Monsters flee from repeated AOE damage earlier than in normal mode.



My first reaction to the description was "cool, so Backfire and Empathy will be more effective", since monsters are casting and attacking more quickly. I think Amarande's first reaction in IRC or AC was cool "Sliver Armor will be more effective". And a number of people got excited about Spiteful Spirit for hard mode. I ran a Spiteful Spirit N/Me around with a good group in Perdition Rock last night, and when it worked, it worked very nicely.

I've also heard several people complain that their MMs were a lot less effective in many areas in hard mode. I guess it's that much harder to generate and maintain a supply of corpses in a timely manner, and that can impact the MMs.

I'm also thinking it may be worth walking from Yak's Bend with a party of six if you want to hit up the Diessa or Piken Square areas. I've pondered a [long] party of six weekend event to go vanquish a lot of the Ascalon explorables. A similar party of 8 from ToA is tempting for Kryta.

So what else are you noticing? What other skills take advantage of the increased enemy attack and casting rates? What are your favorite snares for those %$^&* kiting hard mode monk bosses? What heroes are worth bringing along, and who should just stay home? I know Greg's been unhappy with the latest tweaks on the monk hero AI, so we need to pay attention to those resources and maybe figure out better/different builds for the latest state of the AI, too. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=7985