What kind of DIFFICULTY would you like for EoD open world maps?

[Susy.7529]

Title.

[Oxstar.7643]

First vote! I feel like pof was in a good place difficulty wise. But since the only elder dragon we have not seen yet is the sea dragon and we are going to Cantha, there will likely be a lot of underwater battle and the difficulty there is harder to measure.

[Zephire.8049]

I prefer HoT-levels of map difficulty (perhaps a bit more) with PoF-like HPs. My issue with PoF was that there were so many mobs with large aggro ranges that could forcefully engage you via immobalization, stun, or pulling you to it that it was a nightmare to explore even with mounts.

I don't mind difficult enemies, I just don't like not being able to move 50 feet without aggroing another group of them. Especially when they still bug out and go invuln while leaving you in combat.

Also the hearts on PoF maps are terribly scaled so those should either be core/LW3 (minus Doric)/LW4 or not exist. I love map completion but I refuse to touch PoF more than I have because between the mobs and hearts, it's not fun and takes longer than most core maps for lesser rewards.

[Kodama.6453]

I enjoyed HoT's difficulty level, but since I expect the elite spec for my main (engineer) to be a support class this time, I would settle for a slightly less hard difficulty. Soloing stuff on a support build can be quite hard and there is no way I am not playing my new elite spec all the way through EoD. ^^

[Grand Marshal.4098]

Higher than PoF difficulty! Give me a challenge! Drizzlewood soloing events is the type of challenge I want (not the entire group metas to capture points, more like the respwned patrols with the 7 or so npcs and a couple of vets mixed).

[Mungo Zen.9364]

I voted 'Between' as I think the challenges presented in HoT and PoF are different. I do not think PoF is technically easier than HoT, just differently difficult.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

There needs to be more options. As far as this game goes, there's only two places that will regularly down me: Lake Doric, and Dragonstand. Both of which are part of the living world updates that came out after both expansions. I would like to see the difficulty be somewhere between those two maps and the core maps of the expansions.

[Dreamreaver.4908]

I feel like HoT and PoF difficulty is similar, though I've been told HoT was nerfed and used to be more dangerous. Can't confirm; don't remember.

The only obvious difference to me seems to be where hero challenges are concerned. But, I mean, where HoT had frogs, PoF had veteran djinn. Where HoT had big dinosaurs, PoF had Canids. They seem similar, though PoF I'll admit often had aggro ranges about as far as Melee Marth's grab range.

Also, helping newbies with HPs is always fun. :) Either in showing off while soloing or all aboard the train!!!

[Dreamreaver.4908]

Oh, and hopefully it won't have mobs with spammy knockdowns either. CC coming from trash mobs is just vexing/ feels like unneeded delays of the inevitable.

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

A little bit more difficult than HoT, but less difficult than PoF. Yes, for me that's the correct order.

HoT mobs are easy once you know their mechanics. Some of them might require you to bring some special skills like reflect (Bristlebacks) or aoe damage (Pocket Raptors). With the right tools though most HoT mobs are easy. Most dangerous attacks have long and obvious tells or are multi-hit attacks where only the accumulated damage is dangerous.

PoF mobs on the other hand have way too much aggro range. They often interfere in fights between players and other mobs, so the player is constantly at a disatvantage. Once you killed the mob you originally fought, and killed the mob that you aggroed as a result of that fight, and killed the mob that you aggroed as a result of that other fight, the first mob already respawned. Add to that the fact that some PoF mobs are ridiculously hard to kill for their difficulty level. Veteran Djinn are way harder than HoT veterans. I suspect their weak point is their break bar, but that's harder to kill than their health pool. Harpies pop strong aoe bubbles around them on a ledge that doesn't allow any walking out of the bubble, there's forged whizzing around on their flying saucers and the most difficult mob for me are the Veteran Awakened Abominations. Who the hell decided it would be fun to create a mob that suddenly reflects all damage without warning? The Veteran Chak have a similar effect, but they give ample warning and the effect can be cancelled with cc.

In total I want mobs that have meaningful mechanics and obvious tells on their more dangerous skills. And I absolutely want the HoT aggro range back!

[maddoctor.2738]

The question doesn't have a "correct" answer because I don't think there is any difference between the two expansions. The northern part of desert highlands, the dwarven area and the harpy area, the east side of Vabbi, with the brandstorm, and most central parts of the Desolation, full of awakened are as challenging to play at as the hardest areas of HOT. On the other hand most of Tangled Depths (it's hard to navigate, not challenging to fight in), but the Nuhoch, and SCAR areas are very open and easy to play at, Verdant Brink's northern area and eastern are also easy to play in as there are only a handful of hard/challenging mobs there. To put it simply, both expansions have hard and easy areas so picking one over another isn't going to work.

A few things to note regarding difficulty:a) Assign most of the difficulty/challenge on Veteran mobs, like POF does with Awakened Canids, Awakened Abominations and any type of Djinn. That way, even brand new players will instantly know a fight is gonna be hard, if it's with a veteran, and a fight is gonna be less challenging, if it's a normal mob.b) Have at least one expansion zone (ideally the starting zone) be very easy to play in. Verdant Brink isn't a good starting zone. Crystal Oasis is. Many players talking about how easy POF is compared to HOT are probably comparing their worst experiences in HOT to Crystal Oasisc) Make areas of varied difficulty within the same zone. As I said in my first paragraph, the harpy infested north of Desert Highlands and the Brandstom in Vabbi are an excellent contrast compared to the rest of their respective zones, expansion maps need more of this and not having the entire zone be too hard, or too easy. For example Elon Riverlands is probably the easiest expansion map in the game, as it lacks any areas of at least some moderate challenge.

My 2 cents.

PS: the only answer in the poll that is irrelevant is "Lower than PoF-difficulty", we've been playing at this difficulty for more than 5 years, 6 years when EOD launches, so dropping the difficulty now would make no sense. If the game wasn't up to your difficulty for 6 years, then what are you still doing here?

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

I like it being it's own thing. HoT is focused around groups. PoF tried making it solo friendly. The game needs to make it work for both going forward.

[The Boz.2038]

I like some of the HoT difficulty designs, but I detest the binary nature and skill and feature combinations of some enemies. No counterplay enemies (Guard Snipers), binary challenges (Bristlebacks), infuriating combos (shoot-stun-poison-dodge-evade-stealth frogs), loadout checks (Chak Bracers), confusing chaos spam shit (the entire Mushrom roster), these are the designs that should be avoided at all costs.

[Kodama.6453]

@KidRoleplay.3615 said:I feel like HoT and PoF difficulty is similar, though I've been told HoT was nerfed and used to be more dangerous. Can't confirm; don't remember.

The only obvious difference to me seems to be where hero challenges are concerned. But, I mean, where HoT had frogs, PoF had veteran djinn. Where HoT had big dinosaurs, PoF had Canids. They seem similar, though PoF I'll admit often had aggro ranges about as far as Melee Marth's grab range.

Also, helping newbies with HPs is always fun. :) Either in showing off while soloing or all aboard the train!!!

Enemies early in HoT had many mechanics which made them harder to deal with or more dangerous.

Mordrem wolves used to deal tons of damage if they hit you from behind (I think it was something like 300% damage or something like this).Mordrem thrashers were immune to damage from the front, you needed to flank them to be able to deal damage to them.

Mechanics like these made them pretty frustrating for some players to deal with and therefore they nerfed them across the board...

[Danikat.8537]

I'd like somewhere between the two, in the sense that I think there should be more freedom to play solo without the risk of being overwhelmed than in HoT, and more safe areas (towns etc.) since it's a land inhabited by humans so there should be places humans and the other playable races could live safely.

But what I'd really like is difficulty in the form of enemies that require specific tactics to beat, which we see a lot more of in HoT than PoF. (As opposed to enemies who are fairly straight-forward to fight but just have a lot of health and/or do a lot of damage with each attack.) Admittedly the downside of that is once you learn to beat them they become relatively easy - fighting pocket raptors on my ranger is trivial now, I just drop a spike trap, wait for them to trigger it and then drop a bonfire on top of it and mop up any stragglers. But the first few times they were a real struggle to fight, and each time I take a new character through HoT I have to figure out how best to handle them with the skills that character has, and the same for the ones which need CC or are more vulnerable to conditions or heal others around them etc.

I find that much more interesting, and more challenging, than simply hammering away at an enemy with whatever until one of you is dead and concluding afterwards it was technically a hard fight because it took a few seconds longer to complete.

[maddoctor.2738]

@Kodama.6453 said:

@"KidRoleplay.3615" said:I feel like HoT and PoF difficulty is similar, though I've been told HoT was nerfed and used to be more dangerous. Can't confirm; don't remember.

The only obvious difference to me seems to be where hero challenges are concerned. But, I mean, where HoT had frogs, PoF had veteran djinn. Where HoT had big dinosaurs, PoF had Canids. They seem similar, though PoF I'll admit often had aggro ranges about as far as Melee Marth's grab range.

Also, helping newbies with HPs is always fun. :) Either in showing off while soloing or all aboard the train!!!

Enemies early in HoT had many mechanics which made them harder to deal with or more dangerous.

Mordrem wolves used to deal tons of damage if they hit you from behind (I think it was something like 300% damage or something like this).Mordrem thrashers were immune to damage from the front, you needed to flank them to be able to deal damage to them.

Mechanics like these made them pretty frustrating for some players to deal with and therefore they nerfed them across the board...

Mordrem Wolves and Mordrem Thrashers were among the mobs that were nerfed when HOT launched, not afterwards. They were introduced during Season 2 and got nerfed when HOT launched to make Season 2 content easier, since there would be less players playing there after the launch of an expansion.

Mordrem Wolves used to 1-shot players when hitting from either the side or behind, because the game counts the sides as "flanking" too. They could also buff themselves ith retaliation, now they use Swiftness.

Threashers were completely immune to damage from the front and the sides, you had to hit them from behind, while spinning, to do any damage.

Other notable nerfs with the launch of HOT were beetles, that were also immune to attacks from the front, you had to bait them, dodge them, and then attack from behind, or use hard CC skills which would flip them and make them vulnerable.

There were more Season 2 mobs that were nerfed when HOT launched, but the key to remember here is that those mobs were nerfed when the expansion launched, not during the "nerf" patch that came afterwards, which means players entering HOT zones never encountered those versions of Wolves, Thrashers, Beetles and so on.

PS: The only mob that was nerfed during the HOT nerf pass was the Itzel Shadowleaper. That mob used to evade all ranged attacks constantly, which made him immune to direct ranged attacks. They nerfed them to instead only evade while using their actual evade skill. That was the single mob change during the so called HOT nerf.

[Lonami.2987]

I think we need difficulty modes. So, each zone would have a normal and a hard version, kinda like GW1.

Normal version you can wander alone just fine, hard version you need a party to survive (kinda like 2012 Cursed Shore).

It's about time we stop trying to satisfy to everyone at once, because that's just a straight road to satisfying no one.

Split the game already and let everyone play at their own difficulty.

[Solanum.6983]

I don't mind strong mobs just not everywhere with a huge agro radius.I love to explore but when you have to constantly stay on the move or die Is when I think it takes away from the map.

[Raknar.4735]

Not sure what „difficulty“ means here.Strength of enemies? Djinns in PoF are probably the hardest open world enemies, followed by the jumping frogs in HoT.Map design? Tangled Depths wins here as hardest map to navigate. Environmental effects like branding, quicksand and sulfur make certian PoF maps harder to navigate through than maps like Auric Basin.Hardest meta event? Probably either Dragon‘s Stand, specifically blighted towers part, or the meta on the eastern part of Domain of Vabbi.

Parts of PoF are easier than parts of HoT, parts of HoT are easier than parts of PoF. So i guess something in the middle just means as hard as PoF and HoT?

[Oxstar.7643]

Wait, I notice that lower than pof and hot diffuclty are their own brackets. Are they not synonymous? I though the general consensus is that pof is harder than hot.

[Raizel.1839]

@Oxstar.7643 said:Wait, I notice that lower than pof and hot diffuclty are their own brackets. Are they not synonymous? I though the general consensus is that pof is harder than hot.

The opposite, HoT is definitely harder than PoF, both in navigating, regualar enemies and HPs.

[Oxstar.7643]

Hmmm. Can I change my vote?

[Liewec.2896]

i actually liked the HoT difficulty, it really felt like "we aren't in Kansas anymore!" as you head into the brand new zoneand everything is tougher than the pushover mobs we were used to, really made it feel like end game content for the experienced hero!

[ElijahFitzroy.5762]

I chose higher than hot because frankly I enjoyed HoT when it first came out. It’s way more watered down now and is easy now because of mounts.

I like having a challenge and I find having an expansion that is more vertical and harder not just mob difficulty but actually trying to find your way around.

Though I love mounts...they have sadly taken away from the ability to enjoy the beauty of this game.

[Khisanth.2948]

Terrible set of choices for an ambiguous question. :/

I want to challenges that aren't relying on gimmicks like CC spam or being invulnerable 99% of the time. Without thoughtful design on the enemies the difficulty is going to be all over the place based on what build someone happens to be using.

Neither expansions are particularly difficult but PoF has more "not worth the effort to fight" type enemies.