Hard Mode

Prior to starting the encounter, or perhaps in the course of the encounter itself, the raid can perform some action which enhances the boss's capabilities or makes the encounter more difficult. The usual reward for doing so is better loot, but on occasion this is needed to advance to an even greater accomplishment - such as a final final boss.

This can create additional complications for raiders, such as Don't Stand in the Fire, that weren't present in the normal encounter.

Examples

• Obsidian Sanctum
  • Sartharion gives you the option of leaving none, one, two, or all three of his sub-bosses up. In return, he drops better and better loot when he finally dies - but the sub-bosses all aggro when you start on him.
• Over half the bosses in Ulduar have an explicit hard mode (or several) of some kind:
  • Flame Leviathan gives you the option of killing up to four towers that spawn different things on the battlefield if left alone.
  • XT-002 Deconstructor's hard mode is activated if you kill his heart during his Evocation Phase.
  • The Assembly of Iron encounter becomes progressively more difficult depending on which order the bosses die.
  • Freya also has three sub-bosses which may be left up for added difficulty.
  • Mimiron has a 10-minute self-destruct timer that can be activated by the raid.
  • The raid can choose how many Keepers will aid them in the Yogg-Saron encounter.
• TOC and ICC are built around this model - the 10 and 25 man difficulty levels each have a "heroic" counterpart which gives better loot.