earlier tonight I was having problems getting into some hard modes. Specifically even though I had only the hard mode quest in my log upon zoning in would get an entry for the normal mode flash point and the hard mode quest wouldn't update.

These were flash points that I hadn't done in normal mode (KuS, FE) and I'm wondering if doing them in normal is required before doing the hard version or if something else is going on. Any ideas?

FE and KuS definitely do not require you to run normal mode 1st. sounds like some kind of weird bug.

No Hm requires you to do normal mode first, simply pick up the normal mode mission, abandon it and then pickup the hardmode one. There are some, like D7, that require you pickup a mission elsewhere (in D7's case Ilum) before you can enter the hard mode. I know this is true because I went with a guy that did no normal's at all and he managed to join us in all the hardmodes.

It should go off the party leaders quest. If they have the Normal mode quest, it should put you in the Normal version of the instance. The only instances I know of that require you to do Normal first are Boarding Party, and The Foundry, which require you to complete the Call to Arms quest to do on Hard.

weird, someone mentioned this in general last night on my server, i just assumed it was user error.

It should go off the party leaders quest. If they have the Normal mode quest, it should put you in the Normal version of the instance. The only instances I know of that require you to do Normal first are Boarding Party, and The Foundry, which require you to complete the Call to Arms quest to do on Hard.

 

This isn't true I did BP on HM without ever doing it on NM. Get the quest and enter on NM then exit and reset the operations from your group menu and go get the quest again and you can get it on HM.