Talk:Hard Mode/Monster & NPC Skills, AI, and items

Hard Mode and Quests
Question: what happens if you enter an area in Hard Mode and you have a quest such as Army Life active? Will Joe and Old Mac be L24, or still <10? If they get increased level, that will be fun...Joe with Defy Pain, Old Mac with Dev Hammer xD (T/C) 23:55, 19 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Not sure about everyone, but most random NPCs seem to be level 20. Melka Blanston, for example.&mdash;Aranth 02:03, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

They are exacly the same as in normal mode. I was doing Missing Daughter and when I started the quest, Am Fah were at normal levels, normal skills and damage. - &mdash; Abedeus   03:59, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Skill Capping in Hard Mode
Curious to know, can you cap elites from hard mode bosses in low-level areas? ~  Gold  Dean   - 01:29, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Unfortunitally you can't, Checked w/ a Cap Sig for the ele plant boss just outside Kamadan, and nothgne but Lightning Bolt and Lightning Strike on him. Aside from Icy Shakles and Ravenous Gaze, there are no other elites that you can cap outside of the Docks mission Ferdoc 02:33, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * It seems they added Elites to non-bosses, but Boss skill bars do not change. I tried to see some in Ascalon areas. No change. Mithran 16:58, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I also paid attention to bosses in the Shing Jea area when I was trying out hard mode, and none of them seemed to have an elite --Gimmethegepgun 20:59, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Attack, Movement and Skill Use speeds
Monsters have a 50% attack speed increase and a 50% skill recharge.--Destillat 01:47, 20 April 2007 (CDT)


 * Any proof or research? --Karlos 01:56, 20 April 2007 (CDT)


 * I can film a video of them attacking if need be. The quickness the enemies were using their skills (the warriors were spamming Wild Blow faster than every 8 seconds and I --know-- Bane Signet does not recharge that fast) and the fact that their weapons moved at near light speed spurred that. Although it could be 33%, I'm pretty sure its 50%. --Destillat 02:05, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Also, they have half casting time XD, interupting with a ranger is almost impossiable. although i do get the 2.5 second meteor showers :P Detraya talk 
 * As seen in the Great Wall, the run a whole hell of a lot faster too--Destillat 03:01, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I'm seriously considering making my monk a 55 for that part of that mission. Two monks in a four-party group ftw :P Though I suppose I could replace the tank... And it would be nice if I could kill them all while I was at it. (Our MM managed to get within fifteen feet of Osric or whoever before the charr caught up with him... Even the tank didn't last too long...) --Armond Warblade (talk) 16:10, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Agree. I mean, I tried to kill Wing, Three Blades and he smashed my team in 6 seconds. IT'S CRAZY AS HELL! I mean, my character is lvl 20 ranger, and he killed me in 3 blows! -140, -150, -130 and -90 from his bodyguard warrior.... I guess that elite books are because of those changes. - &mdash; Abedeus   04:02, 20 April 2007 (CDT)


 * It seems like monsters do attack faster but if its 50% or not must be cleared out. -Biz 08:13, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Does the adraline skill which the warriors\paragon uses also recharge 50% i mean do they have to hot some1 4 times instead of 8 Fox007 12:31, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

It shouldn't have anything to do with the elte books since the elites can still be captured normally in normal mode? Or is there something I'm not getting?--64.230.104.9 16:18, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

This is what I have found: Maybe they just have +50% to everything, then the suffer the limits. That is, they have +50%, but the limit is +33%, so if you use -50% on them, they move with 0% modification, just like regen pips. We should test that. Mithran 18:14, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * With a 33% movement speed bonus, they can chase me without having a 33% bonus themselves. Their speed is +33% increased, not 50%.
 * Without IAS skills, charr can deal almost two hits per seconds with a sword. So likely they have double attack speed, or at least 33..50% increase.
 * Torment Claws activate their Torment Slash in about 3 seconds, so, if they are not the only ones, activation is 50% faster.
 * And I think that recharge is also faster. I have seen the same Mahgo Hydra casting three Meteor Showers in few seconds.

Hench
When i saw hard mode was running, i rushed to Kamadan to have fun killing high lvl insects with 4 hench. I soon found out that the hench only used their Normal Mode skills from lvl 3. Herta spammed Stone Daggers and Kihm was actually a healing hench. Their attributes were the same as their lvl 20 selves, but they only used low lvl skills. Which was really annoying. Might wanna add that on the article under bugs or something - Snow White Tan  03:09, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Boss Skills
Ok, it says that all monsters have elite skills, but as far as I can tell, bosses in the Ascalon areas still seem to use their original skill bars, without the elite skills.

Well if Char Martyr's using Shield of Judgment is there normal bar.. and might i add 2 of them is damn near evil, 3 would be neigh impossible to kill Whitehike 04:09, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Yes, bosses in Ascalon still use their original skillbars. Haven't encountered any Charr bosses yet, so they may be different, but Flint Touchstone, Mog Waapwaap, and Bonetti I can confirm to use their standard skillbar. --Valentein 04:13, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Didn't notice much of a change to the bosses in the great northern wall (although flare for 92 was kinda ouch... Fortunately I was the monk, so it was a simple matter of one or two Healing Touches). --Armond Warblade (talk) 16:07, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Spasmo Thunderbolt keeps the single Whirlwind. Elites are given to normal enemies, but bosses keep their skill bars untouched. Mithran 18:20, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Suneh Stormbringer Outside Kamadan now has Lightning Surge in Hard Mode, perhaps it's different with different bosses but that is a case where the boss has an elite it didn't have before. Mercurius Ter Maxim 18:30, 20 April 2007 (CDT)