Hard mode is too easy.

[Zidster]

I feel the same. So many times I wondered "is this really hard??" My party consists of one custom char besides my PC, the rest are normal companions. It really feels lame, havent had one challenging fight whatsoever.

[sparklecat]

 

Wow, OK that's a few levels lower and still a cakewalk? Is it just the tanks that are untouchable?

 

I was level 7 or 8 as well; didn't rest once.  Didn't even use all my spells.  Eder was barely touched, yeah, but nobody except Kana went under half health, and that only because he stepped on a trap I didn't see in time.

[Jojobobo]

I think hard mode is currently fine, and a good introduction for a first time player. I may amp it up to Path of the Damned next time, but it maintains a good level of difficulty currently without being a ball-ache.

[Dongom]

 

combat is a borefest galore.

no challange whatsoever on hard mode.

I litearlly nearly fell asleep because of the routine

 

 

So like the IE games, only this time you can't just solo and do that.

[ComplyOrDie]

Yeah, this was on path too, it was actually cliaban where I first started thinking this is really stupidly easy. You have the trolls which are a waste of time and the animats are too. The spore room was obviously tough and the pwgra plus Druids do some good aoe, but there just aren't enough encounters like that. It was pretty much Eder he could tank anything in that dungeon and laugh it off I found, he had larder door plate mail and some decent rings on and that was more than enough. The thing that really jarred was the bunch of glanfathans at the entrance, I'm used to parties like that being the main threats, but every encounter against a human party is way too easy, usually because their accuracy is terrible and they don't use spells effectively.

 

Think I mnetioned earlier the animats have a lightning spell which they cast from time to time, but it doesn't do enough damage or hit enough people to kill anyone even when three or four of them do it, the rest of the time they just miss Eder, this is true for a bunch of enemy types unfortunately.

 

If you contrast this to the shadow/phantom fights, the shadows teleport to your casters and some of the phantoms/spectres seem to ignore your tank and ranged attack your priest or wizard, much more satisfying.i did the lighthouse at the same level and that requires some genuine thought and a fair bit of firefighting.

 

Funny actually as above the majority of reloads came from durance getting instagibbed by those acid traps.

 

I think they have actually tuned a few side encounters to be horrible, but the problem is for a difficulty like path most of them should be like that not the odd exception. I don't know if anyone's tried the boss in le la rhemen on path, my char was a nice guy so let it go but that one looked really nasty.

Edited April 5, 2015 by ComplyOrDie

[Eggnog]

The difficulty levels should be renamed:

 

   Easy >> Tutorial

   Normal >> Easy

   Hard >> Normal

   POTD >> Hard

   New Level >> Scream Like a Terrified School Girl

[sparklecat]

Oh, that's true, the spore room in Cliaban Rilag was actually hard; had half my party knocked out during that fight.

[Ichthyic]

I think the problem is that monster damage is not scaling up enough between the various difficulties.

since base levels are low (average attack damage is around 12-15 for weapons?), and your health pool is high, and given it's extremely easy to get damage reduction to at least 10, if not 20, for most damage types....

it looks like hard scales the damage up by 25%?  if so, that's like going from 13 to 16.

now 50% would be a bit more of scratch.  double feels more like what it should be.

but, another way to do this would be to scale up ALL damage, so instead of weapons doing an average 13 damage, double that range to 25.  so a dagger might do say 13-18 damage, and a sword 22-26 damage say.

NOW, you've got some range to play with when you bump damage up by percentage points.

with such small numbers to begin with, it makes it hard to adjust ranges by percent, without using huge values for the percentages.

 

[ComplyOrDie]

I think the problem is that monster damage is not scaling up enough between the various difficulties.

 

since base levels are low (average attack damage is around 12-15 for weapons?), and your health pool is high, and given it's extremely easy to get damage reduction to at least 10, if not 20, for most damage types....

 

it looks like hard scales the damage up by 25%?  if so, that's like going from 13 to 16.

 

now 50% would be a bit more of scratch.  double feels more like what it should be.

 

but, another way to do this would be to scale up ALL damage, so instead of weapons doing an average 13 damage, double that range to 25.  so a dagger might do say 13-18 damage, and a sword 22-26 damage say.

 

NOW, you've got some range to play with when you bump damage up by percentage points.

 

with such small numbers to begin with, it makes it hard to adjust ranges by percent, without using huge values for the percentages.

 

 

 

Path scales things by 50% as far as I understand. Your point is certainly true of  accuracy, previous examples - Goldpact Knight - base accuracy 24, Spiders - base accuracy 20-30, Trolls, base accuracy, 27. So when you scale them up by 50% on path of the damned it's still not hitting anyone with a shield. I admit I haven't looked at damage that much, but if your tank is only really ever getting grazed it would have to be crazy high to be worthwhile.

[sparklecat]

I was just murdered in seconds by a group of ogres, so maybe things are looking up in Act 3?

[RedSocialKnight]

I'm starting to feel this myself. My second playthrough will definitely be on Path of the Damned.

[View619]

So, anybody have a list of the main issues with difficulty? Poor AI + low base stats for enemies + enemies that don't scale based on player level?

[ComplyOrDie]

I'd say that sums it up View, although I don't think scaling is the best solution, less experience on offer combined with improving the other bits would work better I think. I think some of the enemy stats are ok, just a few of the more important ones aren't good. 

[pstone]

i had a hard time in hard mode till about level 6, but after that it started to get too easy. I think i got levels too fast, but generally that was the time it took me to really understand the combat system. Luckily i was able to change the difficulty to PotD mid game via IE Mod, and banned some spells for myself (anything with charm/dominate effects, and long duration paralyze).

[Mazisky]

So, anybody have a list of the main issues with difficulty? Poor AI + low base stats for enemies + enemies that don't scale based on player level?

 

And too much xp given, it is one of the main difficulty issues

[View619]

Well, here's to hoping that the team can resolve some of these issues in a patch. If the information for xp values is in one place, that shouldn't be too difficult. Not sure if they can really do anything about the AI, though.

 

Any ideas on what a decent reduction in xp values would be? Fifty percent across the board on Hard & POTD? How is POTD difficulty vs Hard, since Hard is supposed to be the equivalent of BG Core rules?

Edited April 5, 2015 by View619

[Tanred]

Well, here's to hoping that the team can resolve some of these issues in a patch. If the information for xp values is in one place, that shouldn't be too difficult. Not sure if they can really do anything about the AI, though.

 

Any ideas on what a decent reduction in xp values would be? Fifty percent across the board on Hard & POTD? How is POTD difficulty vs Hard, since Hard is supposed to be the equivalent of BG Core rules?

 

I'd guess 40% to 50% reduction across the board should be ok.

 

Personally, I'd reduce it by 30% for quests but at the same time I'd remove all bestiary and lockpicking/trap disarming exp. 

Edited April 5, 2015 by Tanred

[Bollockoff]

I think summon items generally are far too useful and they should be made one use per two or three days. I actually refrain from using the Adra Beetle one in most encounters because it's too good. Being able to summon anywhere out to 10m is also too much of a boon. Unsure if I was over leveled for the encounter at Searing Falls (at level but the Dragon was made simple by Eder quaffing a potion of Elemental DR+ and practically stun locking him with three knockdowns while the Adra Beetle handled everything else.

 

Eder is a stocky lad but certain creatures should probably be immune outright to certain effects. I'm unsure how you manage to knockdown a Rain Blight.

[Bollockoff]

The magic damage requirement certain enemies had in the original BG's was in hindsight something I preferred. Just having different DR values means that you can just bulldoze your way through certain encounters even if you've not adapted to what an enemy is weak against.  If a ghost was totally unaffected by non-magical bullets I'd be much more inclined to think about my inventory in general.

[Bollockoff]

Trolls actually needing Fire or Acid damage to kill outright is another example.

[Cronstintein]

I agree about the summon items.  They definitely marginalize a lot of encounters if you lean on them.  I think just making the summoned creatures weaker in def/hp and giving them a 20sec timer or something would fix them.

[Elgyn]

All I really want is a sword coast stratagems version for Pillars.

 

Give me that evil, evil AI powered by Skynet. It's so fun.

[Daemonjax]

 

 

Personally, I'd reduce it by 30% for quests but at the same time I'd remove all bestiary and lockpicking/trap disarming exp. 

 

 

Removing the bestiary and lockpicking/trap disarming exp would be a good first step.

[RedSocialKnight]

Removing the bestiary and lockpicking/trap disarming exp would be a good first step.

 

Hah! Getting the bestiary XP as a half-measure toward combat XP was the fanbase's big victory during the backer beta. Now we're complaining it's too much.

[luzarius]

I'm playing on normal difficulty with my priest, eder, durance and aloth.  Some of the fights have been very difficult, I'm playing on trial of iron.

 

I can't imagine doing hard difficulty, you guys get my respect.