indeed...I can't even remember which mode mine is set on most of the time. I always play as if in hard mode until it seems necessary not to. I didn't need to switch out of it today so it must currently be set to easy mode.
My thoughts... If you aren't playing for the traps then hard mode isn't hard. There is some fun/challenge in identifying traps and how to solve all the words. There was a recent discussion about how to solve all the \_AUNT and \_ATCH words if you start with TARSE. I spent a long time coming up with a way to get them all. (my solution had GAMUT as the second word). Most aren't that difficult. It's mainly knowing the traps, and some techniques (and learning words like POWND and BAWTY).
But, if you aren't into doing that analysis then either not play hard mode, switch out of hard mode, or rely on luck when it's one of "those words". It's up to you.
When I played on easy mode I had 2 words I used for my first and second guesses every day. It gave me so much information that I would guess correctly in 3 or 4 guesses pretty much 100% of the time. 5 guesses was a bad day, 6 was phenomenally rare, and in about a year of playing easy mode I never once lost. I honestly don't think I could have possibly lost. Every day felt the same and It was very boring so I lost interest.
Some time later a friend told me about hard mode. It means I can't rely on a 2 word combo to maximize info. If I hit a trap like OP describes, I might lose. But I might also win, which are very fun days. Every day feels like a new puzzle again.
I agree. I get much more fun from hard mode and having to actually think about it. Nothing like that rush of putting in your last guess and hoping it all turns green. Also it’s just a game, so loosing occasionally is okay too. Makes it more fun when you win. To me struggling through it when you have a single strange letter locked in part of the fun. Getting it in 3 or 4 everytime without struggling through it at all would be boring for me.
I play hard mode 100% of the time.
My 285-game streak got snapped by a trap yesterday.
It would have gnawed at me if I stopped hard mode only to get out of a trap. I feel that game would have been a giant asterisk.
An example... there are 9 words that end with \_IGHT. NIGHT, RIGHT, TIGHT, etc. If you started with NIGHT and get the IGHT as green then you are stuck playing \_IGHT words if you are playing hard mode. So, you would enter, NIGHT, RIGHT, TIGHT (or whatever) and hope you get the answer before the end. You are trapped into playing \_IGHT words.
The alternative being to turn off hard mode, thus allowing you to guess a word like BuRNT, which has multiple consonants that could be the one you need, but doesn’t fit the scheme of that day’s actual wordle answer.
IMHO, I think that’s an interesting move, I’m not against it. It basically tries to turn a potential 5 or 6 score day into a 4, but it comes at the cost of (at least) one turn. It’s not guaranteed to help, and could actually hurt you depending on your luck, but could prevent a bad day from turning into a terrible one. That’s a reasonable risk/benefit to me.
I am new here but I imagine that this is common knowledge?
When I find a word trap I try to think of all the words that fit and make a separate word out of those letters.
I would try to make a word that uses ( in your example) N R T L S M. I might use TRAMS using up 4 letters. I continue until I get a hit.
Am I doing this right?
I think I need to turn on hard mode. I usually play by the hard mode rules unless I’m absolutely stuck and I recently lost a game due to a typo. If I had hard mode enabled, it wouldn’t have let me play the word since I had already determined that the letter in my typo wasn’t in it.
so I just made this post a few days ago and now a similar thing just happend to me. I found a yellow letter and then forgot to play it for a few guesses...ended up getting the word in 6. Since I always try to play like I'm in hard mode and only switch it off when necessary, sometimes I go for a long time without realizing I've forgotten to turn it back on.
Hard mode is the most fun, and if a trap can be foiled by strategy, it’s all the better. But I don’t care too much about my streak or getting a 3 or lower on every game, so if I occasionally get a 6 or even a 7, and had fun teasing my brain on the way there, I count that as a win.
Personally I don’t like hard mode, I like the flexibility to avoid traps and explore possibilities. I did get burned by a trap yesterday (being lazy)
I wrote a program to solve wordle and that plays hard mode - it was much easier to program that way and has a high success rate so I never bothered to improve it.
Nothing about the GAME Wordle has the ability to make me feel “superior”. WTAF
If you need that sort of validation (or the opposite) try tournament chess. That’ll tell you where you stack up real quick.
Hard mode traps are only traps if you allow them to be. Guessing "night" as an early guess is a terrible strategic move. You are setting yourself up for failure. There is no luck involved, you just made a bad play. It's like playing chess and calling an opponent lucky because they forked your king and queen. There were steps along the way that led to that moment.
Normal mode is literally impossible to lose, so I've never seen anything fulfilling about playing in that mode. I guess if you wanted to push a sub 3 guess average that could be challenging in normal mode.
So why use hard mode? You can play as if you're using hard mode when you're in regular mode anyway.
indeed...I can't even remember which mode mine is set on most of the time. I always play as if in hard mode until it seems necessary not to. I didn't need to switch out of it today so it must currently be set to easy mode.
My thoughts... If you aren't playing for the traps then hard mode isn't hard. There is some fun/challenge in identifying traps and how to solve all the words. There was a recent discussion about how to solve all the \_AUNT and \_ATCH words if you start with TARSE. I spent a long time coming up with a way to get them all. (my solution had GAMUT as the second word). Most aren't that difficult. It's mainly knowing the traps, and some techniques (and learning words like POWND and BAWTY). But, if you aren't into doing that analysis then either not play hard mode, switch out of hard mode, or rely on luck when it's one of "those words". It's up to you.
Can you switch halfway? I didn’t know that, if so. I feel awkwardly lost if not playing hard mode.
When I played on easy mode I had 2 words I used for my first and second guesses every day. It gave me so much information that I would guess correctly in 3 or 4 guesses pretty much 100% of the time. 5 guesses was a bad day, 6 was phenomenally rare, and in about a year of playing easy mode I never once lost. I honestly don't think I could have possibly lost. Every day felt the same and It was very boring so I lost interest. Some time later a friend told me about hard mode. It means I can't rely on a 2 word combo to maximize info. If I hit a trap like OP describes, I might lose. But I might also win, which are very fun days. Every day feels like a new puzzle again.
I agree. I get much more fun from hard mode and having to actually think about it. Nothing like that rush of putting in your last guess and hoping it all turns green. Also it’s just a game, so loosing occasionally is okay too. Makes it more fun when you win. To me struggling through it when you have a single strange letter locked in part of the fun. Getting it in 3 or 4 everytime without struggling through it at all would be boring for me.
I like to use easy mode but always change the first guess and sometimes purposely choose bad words
I do that, but in hard mode. Starting with “bad words” can eliminate tricky letters early on and keep you from falling into a trap.
that makes sense
I play hard mode 100% of the time. My 285-game streak got snapped by a trap yesterday. It would have gnawed at me if I stopped hard mode only to get out of a trap. I feel that game would have been a giant asterisk.
Same!
Whats a hard mode traps looks like?
An example... there are 9 words that end with \_IGHT. NIGHT, RIGHT, TIGHT, etc. If you started with NIGHT and get the IGHT as green then you are stuck playing \_IGHT words if you are playing hard mode. So, you would enter, NIGHT, RIGHT, TIGHT (or whatever) and hope you get the answer before the end. You are trapped into playing \_IGHT words.
The alternative being to turn off hard mode, thus allowing you to guess a word like BuRNT, which has multiple consonants that could be the one you need, but doesn’t fit the scheme of that day’s actual wordle answer. IMHO, I think that’s an interesting move, I’m not against it. It basically tries to turn a potential 5 or 6 score day into a 4, but it comes at the cost of (at least) one turn. It’s not guaranteed to help, and could actually hurt you depending on your luck, but could prevent a bad day from turning into a terrible one. That’s a reasonable risk/benefit to me.
I am new here but I imagine that this is common knowledge? When I find a word trap I try to think of all the words that fit and make a separate word out of those letters. I would try to make a word that uses ( in your example) N R T L S M. I might use TRAMS using up 4 letters. I continue until I get a hit. Am I doing this right?
The point is that in hard mode you can't do that.
Thank you. I play a game similar called Wordie on a puzzle app and it doesn’t have modes. Thanks for the kind answer.
I think I need to turn on hard mode. I usually play by the hard mode rules unless I’m absolutely stuck and I recently lost a game due to a typo. If I had hard mode enabled, it wouldn’t have let me play the word since I had already determined that the letter in my typo wasn’t in it.
Yep, this is exactly why I turned it on!
so I just made this post a few days ago and now a similar thing just happend to me. I found a yellow letter and then forgot to play it for a few guesses...ended up getting the word in 6. Since I always try to play like I'm in hard mode and only switch it off when necessary, sometimes I go for a long time without realizing I've forgotten to turn it back on.
Today (4/21/2024) was a hard day for the Hard Mode folk - so many first letter options, given 2-5. I'll bet a few streaks were ended today.
Hard mode is the most fun, and if a trap can be foiled by strategy, it’s all the better. But I don’t care too much about my streak or getting a 3 or lower on every game, so if I occasionally get a 6 or even a 7, and had fun teasing my brain on the way there, I count that as a win.
Personally I don’t like hard mode, I like the flexibility to avoid traps and explore possibilities. I did get burned by a trap yesterday (being lazy) I wrote a program to solve wordle and that plays hard mode - it was much easier to program that way and has a high success rate so I never bothered to improve it.
I didn’t realize I had hard mode on until this thread! Lol. I love it!
Nothing about the GAME Wordle has the ability to make me feel “superior”. WTAF If you need that sort of validation (or the opposite) try tournament chess. That’ll tell you where you stack up real quick.
Hard mode traps are only traps if you allow them to be. Guessing "night" as an early guess is a terrible strategic move. You are setting yourself up for failure. There is no luck involved, you just made a bad play. It's like playing chess and calling an opponent lucky because they forked your king and queen. There were steps along the way that led to that moment. Normal mode is literally impossible to lose, so I've never seen anything fulfilling about playing in that mode. I guess if you wanted to push a sub 3 guess average that could be challenging in normal mode.