How hard is PoE going to be?

[Namutree]

I was just wondering how difficult PoE was going to be on the default settings.

 

I'm worried that the core game will be too easy and the only way to have a challenge will be to toggle the settings to give the player handicaps rather than more challenging scenario's. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[constantine]

Difficulty settings are not set to give handicaps (battle-wise). However, besides 'Path of the Damned Mode' (correct me if I am naming it wrong) which is designed to make every single battle a tough challenge, I am not familiar what the difficulty options are..

 

'Path of the Damned' is said that it will make battles tough not by necessarily making enemies stronger, but by throwing a lot of them at the same time, like potent spellcasters being defended by skilled fighters (instead of simply battling a group of fighters per say). However they compared this mod with Icewind's Dale 2 'Heart of Fury' so it may be that this mod will be for really hardcore fun in PoE.

[neo6874]

"Normal" is normal difficulty, probably along the lines of "Normal" from IE games (BG, IWD, etc).

 

- AoE spells hit everyone

- equal crit chances for PCs and NPCs

- properly-leveled enemies for the encounter level (i.e. an ogre mage instead of only goblins)

[Prometheus]

- AoE spells hit everyone

There is no option to deactivate friendly fire for aoe spells, but some aoe spells will only hit enemies. Source:

 

We don't have any plans to make FF a toggle.  Our approach with difficulty is to add or remove enemies to change the tactical considerations of encounters and to hide or reveal information based on user preferences.  FF is just a part of how some spells work and I don't think it's a good idea to make that something the player can toggle.  It changes the values of those spells too much, IMO.

 

I was just wondering how difficult PoE was going to be on the default settings. I'm worried that the core game will be too easy and the only way to have a challenge will be to toggle the settings to give the player handicaps rather than more challenging scenario's. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Difficulty level will not give players handicaps, it will change what and how many enemies you will encounter. In Path of the damned you will encounter all enemies from all difficulty levels. e.g. on easy you will fight against 3 wurms(baby dragons), on normal you will fight against 5 wurms and on hard against 1 drake.

There will also optional sidequests/encounters that are harder than the main quest. On normal PE's difficulty should be similiar to the difficulty in IWD/BG2.

source

Changing the level of difficulty generally means changing what creatures (and how many) are present in encounters. Outside of Path of the Damned, we don't have any plans to scale health, level, accuracy, defenses, etc.

 

Our normal difficulty will not be tuned for casual players at all.  It will not be as hard as IWD2 but should be in the IWD/BG2 range.  Bumping it to Hard should put you into IWD2+ territory.

[Namutree]

Thanks everyone for the great replies! I was worried that on hard they would just make enemies do more damage and have more hp, but now I see Obsidian is being alot more creative.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

[rjshae]

For a higher difficulty level, they could do things like: increase enemy detection radius, reduce the number of rest locations, decrease the resale value at stores, make traps more lethal or impeding, increase the negative impact of environmental factors such as rain and nighttime, provide cover for enemy archers, damage some of the loot, and make allied NPCs less cooperative.

[neo6874]

 

- AoE spells hit everyone

There is no option to deactivate friendly fire for aoe spells, but some aoe spells will only hit enemies. Source:

 

We don't have any plans to make FF a toggle.  Our approach with difficulty is to add or remove enemies to change the tactical considerations of encounters and to hide or reveal information based on user preferences.  FF is just a part of how some spells work and I don't think it's a good idea to make that something the player can toggle.  It changes the values of those spells too much, IMO.

 

OK, that's not entirely what I meant when I was making the comparison (but nice to know it's not just a toggle) -- rather I was just pointing it out that the "normal" difficulty would have those types of things to keep in mind.

[teknoman2]

in short the quantity and quality of the enemies will vary for each difficulty

easy: you meet 4 goblins

normal : you meet 2 goblins and 2 elite goblins

hard: you meet 2 elite goblins and a shaman

damned: you meet 6 goblins, 4 elite goblins and a shaman

[Zeckul]

I trust Sawyer when he says the difficulty should be about the same as IWD or BG2 (although IMO IWD was much harder than BG2), assuming one understands the rules of the game. And that should be much easier in PoE than in the IE games; the combat system was designed from the ground up to work well in the context of a CRPG, be coherent and consistent, which should make the game much more accessible to new players.

[Lephys]

You can't go around tossing words like "accessible" about. You've no idea the textual onslaught you shall invoke here! Quick! Hide!

 

[Volourn]

"Our normal difficulty will not be tuned for casual players at all.  It will not be as hard as IWD2 but should be in the IWD/BG2 range."

 

Kiddin' right? IWD2 is easier than either IWD and BG2. LMAO

[Namutree]

"Our normal difficulty will not be tuned for casual players at all.  It will not be as hard as IWD2 but should be in the IWD/BG2 range."

 

Kiddin' right? IWD2 is easier than either IWD and BG2. LMAO

I found IWD2 harder than BG2. Not that I found either really challenging.

[Sensuki]

I don't doubt that there will be hard content. I'm just not sure if the crit path content will be very difficult. The quotes all seem to say that the toughest stuff is optional.

 

I suppose the toughest BG2 stuff was optional as well though, shrug. Sometimes I am a little bit disappointed about the main storyline just being easy to average difficulty, because then encounter-wise it becomes hardly worth talking about.

[Moragauth]

I hope the AI is good. BG2 had a very good AI (or scripting, rather), but by default it wasn't exploited to the fullest. Add on Improved Tactics mod, and there's already a significant improvement. One thing I hope is that enemy spellcasters will be potent, and not just the usual fodder they seem to be in many an RPG these days.

 

Anything less than BG2 with the Tactics Mod is apt to disappoint me, at least it should be an option for those willing to give themselves a hard time.

 

AD&D was very binary, however. Perhaps IWD2's usage of 3.5e is what made it harder to do things, like cheese dragon fights by using Finger of Death.

 

Personally, I am of the view that some fights should be impossible without good usage of tactics, and even when those are used, it should be difficult; not the typical formula of somewhat hard without, easy with.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Moragauth

[kronyth]

Difficulty level will not give players handicaps, it will change what and how many enemies you will encounter. In Path of the damned you will encounter all enemies from all difficulty levels. e.g. on easy you will fight against 3 wurms(baby dragons), on normal you will fight against 5 wurms and on hard against 1 drake.

So difficulty levels are replaced with less/normal/more enemies slider?! Do we actually know how many difficult levels are there?

[Sensuki]

Not yet, but I think it might only be four including Path of the Damned (which is a mode that you toggle at the start of the game).

 

Easy, Normal, Hard, Path of the Damned.

 

The IE games had Easiest and Hardest as well, but Obsidian might just go with 3 I think.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Sensuki

[Osvir]

Was there any talk about sub-Difficulty Options? Toggles n' stuff like that~

I recall something early on on these forums, one of the earlier updates where it was either hinted or stated that there'd be toggles for difficulty options...

For instance:
- I pick Normal Mode
- Then I get to toggle other stuff On/Off in a second list (One such thing being "Path of the Damned")

I might've misinterpreted the message though.

[Sensuki]

Expert Mode, Path of the Damned and Trial of Iron must be selected when you begin a game, then they are locked for that playthrough.

[PrimeJunta]

@Osvir almost: you can toggle any of the particular features of Expert Mode individually. Expert Mode itself, Path of the Damned, and Trial of Iron work like Sensuki says.

[Osvir]

@Sensuki & PrimeJunta cont. from previous page: Yes, but was that the only toggleable options or are there potentially more?

The Quest/Journal System for instance, was that to be a toggleable option when you decide the Difficulty or an option in the options menu?

Edited May 19, 2014 by Osvir

[PrimeJunta]

@Osvir see "Extra options" here.

[Osvir]

Thanks, I was unsure if it was permanent or temporary options

[Infiltrator_SF]

I just wish the difficulty slider doesn't make enemies damage sponges like in most other games.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Infiltrator_SF

[Sensuki]

It doesn't.