Game Difficulty Changed?

[DaylenAmell]

I suspect the difficulty of the game has changed significantly compared to a month ago. Some very difficult fights I had about a month ago before patch 4.0 in PoTD all scaling up are so easy in my new playthrough with the exact same difficulty setting except that now I also have Galawain's Challenge.

 

 

For example, the fight against the skeletons guarding Cornett of Depths was so difficult in my last playthrough that I could kill all the skeletons except the last Risen Champion whom I simply couldn't hurt with any weapons I had. I absolutely needed to kill him with spells since if he didn't die after I used up spells my entire team would die to that last Risen Champion while he healed himself. I needed to be very lucky to kill him before I ran out of spells and I couldn't kill him with many attempts. In my new playthrough however I was able to beat the skeletons in my first attempt without even needing to use all my empower points.

 

To confirm that the difficulty is indeed lower now for that fight (rather than that I'm simply doing everything better than before), I loaded the game of my old playthrough from about a month ago of the fight, and found the fight was easy as well - I also beat the skeletons in my first attempt.

 

Both a month ago and now my party were at level 9 and the Risen Champion had 3 red skeletons above him.

 

 

PS: The save of my old playthrough was dated Dec. 12, 2018, right before patch 4.0 was released.

Edited January 21, 2019 by DaylenAmell

[Purudaya]

Most people (myself included) are reporting that PotD is significantly harder than it was at launch. Is it possible that you changed the scaling or difficulty settings during one of your playthroughs? Difficulty scaling changes only affect areas you haven't visited yet, so it could be that you entered the map at a lower difficulty or with scaling off, then raised it/turned it on and the changes therefore weren't implemented for the Old City. That's about all I could think of - that map was easier for me as well, but only because I approached it at level 10 in my second playthrough vs. level 6 in my first.

 

Most of the game is noticeably more difficult, however. There were several fights that I had to walk away from until a higher level, something that never happened at release. Some of the very high level encounters could still use another pass, though.

[DaylenAmell]

Most people (myself included) are reporting that PotD is significantly harder than it was at launch. Is it possible that you changed the scaling or difficulty settings during one of your playthroughs? Difficulty scaling changes only affect areas you haven't visited yet, so it could be that you entered the map at a lower difficulty or with scaling off, then raised it/turned it on and the changes therefore weren't implemented for the Old City. That's about all I could think of - that map was easier for me as well, but only because I approached it at level 10 in my second playthrough vs. level 6 in my first.

 

Most of the game is noticeably more difficult, however. There were several fights that I had to walk away from until a higher level, something that never happened at release. Some of the very high level encounters could still use another pass, though.

 

The difficulty of my game a month ago was significantly higher than it was at launch. But what I said was that now the game is easier than a month ago.

 

The difficulty settings were exactly as I described - nothing changed except now I also have Galawain's challenge (which is irrelevant for the discussion I assume). The difficulties of both my old and new playthroughs were set when the games wertr created. The level scalings were both all only scale up and were never changed.

Edited January 21, 2019 by DaylenAmell

[Grimo88]

I suspect the difficulty of the game has changed significantly compared to a month ago. Some very difficult fights I had a month ago in PoTD all scaling up are so easy in my new playthrough with the exact same difficulty setting except that now I also have Galawain's Challenge.

 

 

For example, the fight against the skeletons guarding Cornett of Depths was so difficult in my last playthrough that I could kill all the skeletons except the last Risen Champion whom I simply couldn't hurt with any weapons I had. I absolutely needed to kill him with spells since if he didn't die after I used up spells my entire team would die to that last Risen Champion while he healed himself. I needed to be very lucky to kill him before I ran out of spells and I couldn't kill him with many attempts. In my new playthrough however I was able to beat the skeletons in my first attempt without even needing to use all my empower points.

 

To confirm that the difficulty is indeed lower now for that fight (rather than that I'm simply doing everything better than before), I loaded the game of my old playthrough from a month ago of the fight, and found the fight was easy as well - I also beat the skeletons in my first attempt.

 

Both a month ago and now my party were at level 9 and the Risen Champion had 3 red skeletons above him.

 

 

Has this change in difficulty been acknowledged in the patch notes?

 

Short answer: no. PoTD difficulty has not been made easier. 

[DaylenAmell]

 

I suspect the difficulty of the game has changed significantly compared to a month ago. Some very difficult fights I had a month ago in PoTD all scaling up are so easy in my new playthrough with the exact same difficulty setting except that now I also have Galawain's Challenge.

 

 

For example, the fight against the skeletons guarding Cornett of Depths was so difficult in my last playthrough that I could kill all the skeletons except the last Risen Champion whom I simply couldn't hurt with any weapons I had. I absolutely needed to kill him with spells since if he didn't die after I used up spells my entire team would die to that last Risen Champion while he healed himself. I needed to be very lucky to kill him before I ran out of spells and I couldn't kill him with many attempts. In my new playthrough however I was able to beat the skeletons in my first attempt without even needing to use all my empower points.

 

To confirm that the difficulty is indeed lower now for that fight (rather than that I'm simply doing everything better than before), I loaded the game of my old playthrough from a month ago of the fight, and found the fight was easy as well - I also beat the skeletons in my first attempt.

 

Both a month ago and now my party were at level 9 and the Risen Champion had 3 red skeletons above him.

 

 

Has this change in difficulty been acknowledged in the patch notes?

 

Short answer: no. PoTD difficulty has not been made easier. 

 

 

How do you know? How can you explain what I found if it has not been made easier?

[Frak]

The one thing that the devs stated changed between 3.x and 4.0 was pulling of close enemies. My experience is that 4.0 is slightly easier due to this. I don't see changes in the difficulty of enemies otherwise.

[Purudaya]

 

Most people (myself included) are reporting that PotD is significantly harder than it was at launch. Is it possible that you changed the scaling or difficulty settings during one of your playthroughs? Difficulty scaling changes only affect areas you haven't visited yet, so it could be that you entered the map at a lower difficulty or with scaling off, then raised it/turned it on and the changes therefore weren't implemented for the Old City. That's about all I could think of - that map was easier for me as well, but only because I approached it at level 10 in my second playthrough vs. level 6 in my first.

 

Most of the game is noticeably more difficult, however. There were several fights that I had to walk away from until a higher level, something that never happened at release. Some of the very high level encounters could still use another pass, though.

 

The difficulty of my game a month ago was significantly higher than it was at launch. But what I said was that now the game is easier than a month ago.

 

The difficulty settings were exactly as I described - nothing changed except now I also have Galawain's challenge (which is irrelevant for the discussion I assume). The difficulties of both my old and new playthroughs were set when the games wertr created. The level scalings were both all only scale up and were never changed.

 

 

Ok, sorry if I misread your OP. I haven't seen an observable drop in difficulty since December, and I have been playing the patch bata/watching the notes. It's possible that that encounter has been affected somehow by the new patch, but as a whole the game difficulty doesn't seem to have been decreased.

 

It's also possible that you've encountered some kind of bug unique to your playthrough. If you're finding that other encounters are significantly easier than in your December run, I'd suggest posting about it in tech support.

[Cartoons Plural]

 

 

I suspect the difficulty of the game has changed significantly compared to a month ago. Some very difficult fights I had a month ago in PoTD all scaling up are so easy in my new playthrough with the exact same difficulty setting except that now I also have Galawain's Challenge.

 

 

For example, the fight against the skeletons guarding Cornett of Depths was so difficult in my last playthrough that I could kill all the skeletons except the last Risen Champion whom I simply couldn't hurt with any weapons I had. I absolutely needed to kill him with spells since if he didn't die after I used up spells my entire team would die to that last Risen Champion while he healed himself. I needed to be very lucky to kill him before I ran out of spells and I couldn't kill him with many attempts. In my new playthrough however I was able to beat the skeletons in my first attempt without even needing to use all my empower points.

 

To confirm that the difficulty is indeed lower now for that fight (rather than that I'm simply doing everything better than before), I loaded the game of my old playthrough from a month ago of the fight, and found the fight was easy as well - I also beat the skeletons in my first attempt.

 

Both a month ago and now my party were at level 9 and the Risen Champion had 3 red skeletons above him.

 

 

Has this change in difficulty been acknowledged in the patch notes?

Short answer: no. PoTD difficulty has not been made easier.

How do you know? How can you explain what I found if it has not been made easier?

patch notes lol

[Sethanon]

Hello,

please do we have any actual data, where you can compare difficulties?

 

For example, in Veteran difficulty monsters get +12 accuracy and +20 percent life total against Normal difficulty. Something like that. I am interested in such a numbers.

[Wormerine]

I know if you check information in the text box, you will see bonuses which come from difficulty. Whenever it is all that is buffed, I do not know (for example I don't know if stats are inflated). 

[Waski]

vet +8 defences/acc +1 pen/ar

potd +15 def/acc +2 pen/ar and some extra hp (20% ???)

[bringingyouthefuture]

I swear those DLCs really jumped up the difficulty for sure though ...