ArenaNet implemented Hard Mode last week for its recently released Guild Wars expansion, Eye of the North, together with a whole bunch of skill changes.

Leaving aside the question of why Hard Mode wasn’t included at the release of GW:EN, I’m delighted it’s here. The challenge is welcome since it forces players to consider tactics and fine-tune builds.

GW:EN in Normal Mode has its challenging moments but I felt I was playing the expansion on auto for the most part. My Heroes and henchmen were doing most of the work for me and I was left pointing and directing. C-spacing, the kids call it.

I sometimes livened things up by experimenting with my Mesmer’s build. At one point, I came up with a build I called “The Borrower.” Revolving around the Mesmer skill, Signet of Illusions, the build let me cast Sandstorm, Light of Deliverance, have a level 26 Flesh Golem as a personal bodyguard and use a foe’s spell against it. It was hardly the most effective of builds or the most efficient but by golly, it was hellacious fun.

Better healing through death

Of late, I’ve also been experimenting with my Hero/henchman team build. I linked to this Hero team build a few weeks ago but I haven’t had a chance to try it myself until recently. Now that I have tried it out, I’m going to strongly recommend it to PvE players who play exclusively with Heroes and henchmen.

It’s been called PvE on auto and in some circumstances it really does feel like that.

Even in Hard Mode.
Continued…