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)

It must depend on the quest you have active- with defend north kryta province the titans are lvl 30 Tarlok 05:17, 22 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)

Really? Because when you are doing the first mission in Tryia (Forgot name) There is an elementalist goblin that had a elite air skill Benjii 22:37, 20 April 2007 (CDT)Benjii
 * I don't see why they would remove elites from bosses anyway. You're level 20 before getting to hard mode anyway, so it's not like you'll be level 3 with barrage or anything. Heck, that's more easily done in normal mode with a runner + a few friends to do your fighting for you. The only problem I could see with it is if one elite that you don't normally get until the end of the game becomes available so soon on a character that you haven't beaten the game with. Still, the way I see it, if you've beaten the campaign once already, you deserve to get an elite or two early, especially considering the kind of torture you have to go through to get it, AKA hard mode.--Knux 06:11, 21 April 2007 (CDT)


 * Actually, as I understand it, only the leader of the party has to switch to hard mode...so a completely new ACCOUNT could cap elite skills in early missions. EDIT: Bah, misunderstanding. You're correct. Spen 14:02, 21 April 2007 (CDT)


 * You gotta remember, though, that once you beat a campaign with a character, all level 20's on your account are allowed to do hard mode in that campaign. Especially in NF and Factions, a person who is just about to leave Shing Jea/Istan would be able to cap quite a few elites if the bosses could use them, and with the Shing Jea/Istan bosses being at a lower level, this puts them at a small advantage over some of the other people, as they could go straight to the mission and have elites compared to being forced to take the time to cap them in the right area. Instead, Anet made it where no matter what you still gotta go to the correct area to cap elites at the correct boss levels or use skill tombs.  IMO this was a good idea on Anet's part.--John Deathblade 17:13, 27 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.

I was just thinking... If they got a 50% IAS, wouldn't it be SS heaven? If you could solo with a 55/SS or due with a SS and a 55 monk (Does that work in Hard Mode btw?) you could kill them in matter of seconds. And maybe, - because the IAS isn't a skill, it would stack with Reckless haste, raising it to 75% IAS! But can anyone confirm this?
 * Not sure about the Reckless bit, but I can confirm it would be SS heaven. One tiny problem though... in Hard Mode, the Nightmares are level 25, and would probably kill you in a wanding match. --[[image:rollerzerris.jpg|50x19px]]    17:11, 24 April 2007 (CDT)


 * Well, then let your 55 advance with Spellbreaker on him. Once a Nightmare pop out he tanks it and it kills iteself because of the SS.
 * A bigger problem might be aggro breaking. +50% run speed means you aren't about to outrun anything.  The 55 Monk should definitely take Rebirth. --[[image:rollerzerris.jpg|50x19px]]    16:15, 25 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Why would you need to break aggro? If you lure carefully you can manage the right size of groups for your monk, and if a 55 can tank a Aatxe surly he can tank a level 25 Dying Nightmare, supposing that the Rend Enchantments broke due to Spellbreaker. Ofcourse, once you aggroed the wrong amount of enemies you're screwed because you cannot break aggro, unless perhaps by running behind a corner so that they get stuck, but that chance doesn't always occur.
 * I meant them breaking aggro, due to SS. They percieve it as AoE now. --[[image:rollerzerris.jpg|50x19px]]    16:56, 25 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I went 55/SS with a friend after the SS AoE change, and it seemed ok... Bladed Aatxes don't usually come in pack of more then 3, like any serious monsters. And the reason it would be SS heaven is a guess that the IAS + SS will kill them before they get a chance to respond to the AoE. Otherwise you could place SS on the graspings (should last long enough), die, watch the graspings die, let your monk resurrect you. You should remove the dp rather quickly due to the +50% exp gain, or use a candy cane.

Has anyone checked to see whether multiple attack speed debuffs work on HM mobs? IOW, do game mechanics treat their attack speed as a buff (like Frenzy) that can be reduced below 50% of current speed? Just wondering if stacking things like Faintheartedness and Shadow of Fear has a positive result. --Semantic 18:35, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

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)
 * Did that mean kihm was running Healing with all her Attribs in Protection Prayers? --[[image:rollerzerris.jpg|50x19px]]    21:50, 21 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)

Wow, Enemies Coordinate with each other... I was in an organized group and we still got wiped. They literally have the ability to do over 4=500 damage spikes in less then 3 second interval. And they were only a 4 enemy grp O.o... Readem (talk *contribs ) 00:24, 21 April 2007 (CDT)

Heh...It's pretty funny...the bosses in the areas from Ascalon-Kryta are actually easier than the normal MOB's...--72.88.253.70 23:09, 23 April 2007 (CDT)

Played the first mission, the Great Northern Wall, the charr warrior boss definitely used Eviscerate. I remembered thinking about getting my factions warrior there rather than getting him to the ring of fire. --Getalifebud -- (talk) 16:44, 3 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Just FYI, Tanzit Razorstone in Sorrow's Footprint also uses Eviscerate. Sirocco 08:15, 7 May 2007 (CDT)

He always did though... Try and follow what the topic is about...

Monsters AI changes
I've recently seen a change in the behaviour of some monsters when i farmed nebo terrace: for example when i fought with a group of 2 Grasping Ghouls and 1 Skeleton Sorcerer the ghouls used to attack me normally, while their ele pal blind me every 4 seconds until he had emptied his energy pool then he wanded me. Now it seems like there can't be more than two attackers on me. when there's a caster in the group. So when the sorcerer has finished to empty his energy pool he waits for his energy while he could wand me. It's now wayyyyy longer to finish the ghouls out, because blind is always on me, triggering ViM more efficiently. For groups consisting of ranged attackers like the Skeleton Bowmaster and Skeleton Ranger, there is no change. For groups consisting of only casters wanding me it's the same scenario: two of them wand me and the third wait for one of the two to die. It's very annoying because it's longer to take the nebo terrace out... Anyone have noticed it ? Topinambour 10:23, 28 April 2008 (UTC)