Hard mode is too easy.

[tinderbox]

 

 

My L5 Eder is M 16 C 16 D 11 P 11 I 13 and R 18 for 62 Deflection with the Pilgrim's Lasting Vigil helm, the Ring of Minor Deflection and the Larder Door. I'm still using the Saint's War Armour but buffed it to Fine for a total of DR9 and gave it a +1 to Resolve too.

 

Ooops, I forgot to check if that's with Defender mode on. I think it's with it off.

 

 

Wow, yeah, that's very different from me.  So even with Defender and comparable armor, you'd have low 80's whereas i have 111!  I can believe you'd have a way harder time of it than I'm having!

 

Maybe my 111 is bugged somehow.

The problem is low 80s still allows him to tank anything in act one and two with no issues

 

 

Hahaha -- I wish!

[Mungri]

Path of the Damned is too easy, here's proof:

 

[ComplyOrDie]

Well I definitely have potd enabled. caen gwla are 64 in the bestiary and I checked an attacked roll and it's 64 Not 96. So either the damage is already plus 50% and her accuracy is supposed to be 42, or there's something wrong as you say, which would make me very happy. I think xaurip champ was 52 so he should have 78 acc on his rolls?

[Zwiebelchen]

There might be something wrong with the accuracy values in later chapters of the game. I haven't played until there so far. I'm still between Gilded Vale and Defiance Bay, but had a lot of trouble with the extra large enemy groups (or single hard-hitters) pushing my PC's face in.

Most of the enemies in my encyclopedia (note: lowlevel ones!) already have accuracy ratings above 60, so I simply can't believe that later enemies would have less than those.

 

I'll report back on this topic once I reach the final chapters. Maybe there's something wrong with the difficulty curve, but at least in the first third of the game that I've seen so far, PotD is pretty darn painful (in a good way... except for the temple of eothas shadows... those are just cheating bastards).

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[ComplyOrDie]

Interesting. Thanks for the input. As I say xaurip champs are in as 52, pwgra 55, shade 62. It did seem to fall off in difficulty after I got the stronghold. Although I never had any issue with single hard hitters like trolls.

 

As I understand it now though if the bestiary entry for the xaurip was 52 it should have an acc of 78 on potd, even higher than a caen gwla base. Will check but sounds like that would be more challenging than I've experienced!

Edited April 2, 2015 by ComplyOrDie

[Zwiebelchen]

Interesting. Thanks for the input. As I say xaurip champs are in as 52, pwgra 55, shade 62. It did seem to fall off in difficulty after I got the stronghold. Although I never had any issue with single hard hitters like trolls.

 

As I understand it now though if the bestiary entry for the xaurip was 52 it should have an acc of 78 on potd, even higher than a caen gwla base. Will check but sounds like that would be more challenging than I've experienced!

 

There's definitely something funky with that. Even the Xaurips at the lowlevel beach map west of Defiance Bay had higher Accuracy ratings than the Xaurip Champ you mentioned.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[Kveldulf]

I'm currently playing on PotD with a highly optimized tank as my PC and a druid as a custom-made companion.

 

Everything else are story-NPCs.

 

 

All I can say is that this mode is difficult as ****. Almost every map has a battle that can only be won with a good load of consumables, using all spells and tactical positioning/use of all resources.

 

I'm actually amazed at how balanced PotD is. I never felt like PotD is cheating in any way. All fights were perfectly winable so far with a good strategy and using the landscape to your advantage. But even then you will usually reload several times per map. Obviously, the Adra dragon is nearly unkillable in PotD, but that's how it's meant to be after all.

 

Ironman PotD? I don't see me trying this any time soon, and I call myself an IE veteran. I'd say it's almost impossible to do this without a fully customized party. With an optimized henchmen group, it will still be extremely challenging.

 

I'm thinking there's a difficulty bug or something. Or, perhaps our computers just know how to play the game versus the humans better

 

I'm no newb to tactical rpgs either, and it feels like I'm barely able to keep the faces on my party members from melting ( on normal). I even went to a trainer to 'fix' things with my barb, and still had problems until I grabbed another fighter. Oh my, that helped.... a lot.

 

Two-three fighters changed things dramatically. I sandwiched my barb in the middle/back and gave him a pike.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Kveldulf

[Mazisky]

Unfortunately i noticed i have no stats bug, my Eder lvl 9 has about 80 Def and my main Chanter has 85 (i maxed CON at start and he has many def items), so i guess it's correct.

 

People saying the game is challenging, are you sure that you don't select all characters and just click on enemies? Every character has skills and spells that can be used in fight, check it out.

 

Also, characters like Aloth should stay far from the fight and not go tanking in melee with no armor and a dagger. 

 

Also, the green\red circles around characters are not quick time event markers and you can pause the game with spacebar

Edited April 2, 2015 by Mazisky

[Zwiebelchen]

Unfortunately i noticed i have no stats bug, my Eder lvl 9 has about 80 Def and my main Chanter has 85 (i maxed CON at start and he has many def items), so i guess it's correct.

 

People saying the game is challenging, are you sure that you don't select all characters and just click on enemies? Every character has skills and spells that can be used in fight, check it out.

 

Also, characters like Aloth should stay far from the fight and not go tanking in melee with no armor and a dagger. 

 

Again, "Hard" mode is the intended difficulty. It's a setting meant to have fun as an RPG veteran. If you want a real challenge, go PotD.

[Mazisky]

 

Again, "Hard" mode is the intended difficulty. It's a setting meant to have fun as an RPG veteran. If you want a real challenge, go PotD.

 

 

I'm not a Rpg veteran, otherwise would be even easier. 

I'll wait the next patch and i'll restart on PotD even if i don't like hardcore modes ( i just wanna normal challenge, not frustrating one)

[Zwiebelchen]

 

 

Again, "Hard" mode is the intended difficulty. It's a setting meant to have fun as an RPG veteran. If you want a real challenge, go PotD.

 

 

I'm not a Rpg veteran, otherwise would be even easier. 

I'll wait the next patch and i'll restart on PotD even if i don't like hardcore modes ( i just wanna normal challenge, not frustrating one)

 

 

Just saying. If the game was too easy for you, there's still a step upwards you should try.

[Mazisky]

Yep, you'right. I'll post feedback after 30 hours (min) on PoD

[ComplyOrDie]

Going to test this again later I think there's some xauRips in ad nua I can check. If anyone is playing potd could you post me some to hit rolls of common enemies against your tank. I'm not trying to brag saying it's too easy I'd be very relieved if it was a bug. So far I have a caen gwla on burial with 64 accuracy vs eder s 101 def which doesn't scratch him baSically.

[sim-h]

I don't have anyone on even close to 101 def - if this needs tweaking, then progression and stacking of def scores probably is what needs to be looked at

[Longknife]

What's the gap like between Normal and Hard? I beat normal difficulty, at times with no difficulty, others, with quite a bit. Can't really decide if I should transition to hard yet.

[Zwiebelchen]

Going to test this again later I think there's some xauRips in ad nua I can check. If anyone is playing potd could you post me some to hit rolls of common enemies against your tank. I'm not trying to brag saying it's too easy I'd be very relieved if it was a bug. So far I have a caen gwla on burial with 64 accuracy vs eder s 101 def which doesn't scratch him baSically.

 

Have you checked your encyclopedia for the lowlevel foes like the boars or wolves in the game already? Or the monsters from the second floor in eothas temple in Gilded Vale (not talking about the Shadows but the things in the final room with the helmet)? They should all have around 55-60 accuracy already.

 

What's the gap like between Normal and Hard? I beat normal difficulty, at times with no difficulty, others, with quite a bit. Can't really decide if I should transition to hard yet.

 

Depends on the encounter. Basicly, the difference between normal and hard is the amount and type of enemies you will encounter. If f.ex. an encounter on normal only has two Xaurips, the same encounter on hard might have a Xaurip champion and a priest.

On PotD, you will have all monsters of easy, normal and hard difficulty combined AND they also get a 50% stat boost.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[PrimeJunta]

You should have no trouble. You'll just get tougher enemies earlier.

[ComplyOrDie]

I don't have anyone on even close to 101 def - if this needs tweaking, then progression and stacking of def scores probably is what needs to be looked at

 

I think I put Eder's stats above, but once you add a few talents, defender mode and a few items it's pretty achievable by a mid level.

 

Doing some testing, first I went back to a gang of stone and wood beetles I didn't bother with ealier.

 

Stone in bestiary at 52, wood at 46 but they're rolling 69 and 68 accuracy. I don't know if this is to do with my level now (I didn't think they scaled). Wood beetle is dead on, stone a bit low. If you chuck in damage reduction from his plate mail Eder gets hit for 6-10 pierce, which he will outheal on his own unless totally surrounded. However the enemies are now under levelled compared to my party. If someone could check this out with a lower level party on PoTD (Dyrwood crossing), would be interesting to see their accuracy. If the stone beetles had the 78 accuracy it would suggest they should, I could see the fight being hard at level 5. I did do the Adra beetle ones then and they seemed very easy.

 

I then went to Magran's crossing and came across a delemgan with Acc 55 and two bears acc 82. 82 is pretty respectable - bears are in my bestiary at 73 acc. I wonder if that scaled? They could hit Eder, the delemgan couldn't.

 

I then stumbled across Sly Cyrdel which is where it's all a bit odd:

 

Outlaw Rogue Acc 34 

Outlaw Barb Acc 48

Outlaw Monk Acc 71

Outlaw Wiz Acc 78

Outlaw Ranger Acc 69

Sly Crydel Acc 65

 

Kind of a mix there, I guess the rouge and barb are the ones present on 'easy'. Although the base acc of the rogue on easy would then be 22 which seems incredibly low.

 

Finally went to Ad Nua lvl 1. 

 

Looters with accs between 40-50, a Goldpact knight with 36 accuracy.

 

Spear Spider Acc 36

Spear Spiderling acc 45 one with 35

Ivory Spiderling acc 48

Queen Acc 60 (hitting for 3 pierce vs platemail)

 

So none of this would have been a challenge at lvl 3/4 when he has 80 Defense either, they also vary between enemies of the same type, I think the bestiary score probably ends up with the highest level one of that type you fight. Be interested for someone to check these figures out on their own game. If they were all 50% higher which I think they very probably should be, game would have been much more difficult.

 

Finally nipped down to Xaurip land downstairs, they had between 31 and 49 acc and a random wurm had 65. All seems extremely low for PoTD particularly when it would mean these guys had accs in the 20s and 30s on hard.

 

Be great if a power from above could confirm if those Accuracy figures are correct or bugged. The PoTD description does say bonus to "most stats", I hope they didn't leave out accuracy intentionally.

Edited April 2, 2015 by ComplyOrDie

[Zwiebelchen]

These values are definitely broken. Even the level 2/3 wolves and boars on Magran's fork have 55-60 accuracy for me.

 

I'll check out the accuracy scores in beastiary and combat log for comparison when I get back home (unfortunately, no PoE for me over the easter holidays).

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[ComplyOrDie]

Maybe although as with the bears i've noticed wild animals can be quite high. If you could check some xaurips or mini spiders would be appreciated thanks again for your input!

 

There's definitely something odd going on aa currently a wood beetle has more accuracy than any of the ghosts and spirits.

Edited April 2, 2015 by ComplyOrDie

[View619]

 

 

Again, "Hard" mode is the intended difficulty. It's a setting meant to have fun as an RPG veteran. If you want a real challenge, go PotD.

 

 

I'm not a Rpg veteran, otherwise would be even easier. 

I'll wait the next patch and i'll restart on PotD even if i don't like hardcore modes ( i just wanna normal challenge, not frustrating one)

 

 

Hard mode is the "normal" challenge, the mode that the game was balanced around. It doesn't make sense to complain that hard mode is too easy but you don't want to deal with the challenge of POTD, which is in place if you find hard mode to be too easy.

 

Either move to POTD or move on. Just look at it like this:

 

1. Hard Mode = Normal Difficulty
2. POTD = Hard Difficulty

 

Obsidian isn't going to up Hard mode's difficulty when POTD exists.

[Flayedawg]

Has anyone Twitch-streamed themselves 3-manning in hard mode without resting very often? If so, could you link me to your streams? I'd like to get some play tips from the awesome-sauce pros.

 

MTIA!

[demeisen]

Either move to POTD or move on. Just look at it like this:

 

1. Hard Mode = Normal Difficulty
2. POTD = Hard Difficulty

 

I'd actually like to, but I don't think I can.  I tried to up the slider to PoD, but that is greyed out, so it won't let me change it in mid-game.  Don't really want to start over at this point.  So I don't have the choice you propose.

 

Anyway I think even on "hard" there shouldn't be near-invulnerable classes.  You can't address that just by saying, "well, there's one higher setting" - it's balance that needs tweaking.   Fighters = too hard to hit, which trivializes strategy because they can just sit in the middle of any group of monsters and tank with no risk.  If the fighter came down to about the tanking ability of a paladin, I think that would work better.

 

Still, I think the game is fantastic.  No matter what, any new RPG system is going to need tweaks as they see what happens when it hits the streets.

[ComplyOrDie]

 

Either move to POTD or move on. Just look at it like this:

 

1. Hard Mode = Normal Difficulty
2. POTD = Hard Difficulty

 

I'd actually like to, but I don't think I can.  I tried to up the slider to PoD, but that is greyed out, so it won't let me change it in mid-game.  Don't really want to start over at this point.  So I don't have the choice you propose.

 

Anyway I think even on "hard" there shouldn't be near-invulnerable classes.  You can't address that just by saying, "well, there's one higher setting" - it's balance that needs tweaking.   Fighters = too hard to hit, which trivializes strategy because they can just sit in the middle of any group of monsters and tank with no risk.  If the fighter came down to about the tanking ability of a paladin, I think that would work better.

 

Still, I think the game is fantastic.  No matter what, any new RPG system is going to need tweaks as they see what happens when it hits the streets.

 

 

I tried the first bit on hard and the accuracy of the enemies is definitely upped by 50% on PoTD. I don't know if my game lost that later on or some enemies are just a bit undertuned in general. Or, rather, deflection is too easy to get or too powerful at the moment, especially on fighters. 

 

Interested for anyone further on on hard to post some accuracy numbers for the enemies I mentioned a few posts back, just to be sure it isn't a bug for me.

 

By the way, it doesn't mention on char creation but you get deflection gain per level right?

Edited April 2, 2015 by ComplyOrDie

[ComplyOrDie]

I bothered to get to Od Nua on hard, the spiders there had accs of 30-40, pretty much in line with my PoTD figures before a 50% increase. So there's a spider with 45 accuracy but two maps earlier there's 5 boars with 77 each. Looks to me like a lack of consistency with accuracy more than anything else, either these should be brought into line (don't see the point in anything with <50/60 accuracy on PoTD) or deflection should be nerfed, as there are far more enemies in the spider camp than there are in the boar camp. Ultimately, without the accuracy to take down your tank they don't really have a chance.

 

I appreciate I'm "complaining" about early packs of spiders but the boars at Magran's fork are some of the most accurate enemies in the game at lvl 2, whereas just before final battle you have things with 64 accuracy which is no longer a threat.

Edited April 2, 2015 by ComplyOrDie