General game question regarding difficulty?

[Jorgen_CAB]

I have only played the game for a few days and sort of learned the mechanics and haven't really delved into a full fledged campaign yet. I do have some questions on the game regarding its difficulty.

 

One thing I find sort of strange is that there are no mechanics that make camping gear very useful, I have yet to find time every to matter and enemies never re-spawn anywhere on maps. I can also pick up everything in my infinite stash so there are no difficult involved on what things I want to keep. There are also no random encounters to make life difficult for you during travel.

 

It seems to sort of trivialize any encounter except for a few encounters here and there that can be somewhat difficult on the highest setting of the game, even if I don't super optimize my character and only use the story characters in the game. As soon as I used a Rest only ability I can just get back to the Inn and rest for free and get back out there.

 

I do like the story and many of the other game mechanics such as the highly tactical battles and the like. But the static world will make the game very repetitive once you played through it once even if you can select different answers in dialogues.

 

I also seem to miss any sort of difficulty since there are no real resources to manage other than not engaging in a fight I know I can't win (if there is any when you play tactically) or is there?

 

I will wait for the patch that will get out soon and play a proper campaign just get to know the story... but I would like to know where the challange in resource management really is or am I missing something.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jorgen_CAB

[Nakia]

I don't think you are missing anything.  H of the Damn and/or with Expert Mode turned on?

 

Welcome to the Board and the land of Eora.  

[Jorgen_CAB]

I started with Normal and progressed quickly to hardest difficulty with Expert mode on. Trial of Iron are perhaps a little too unforgiving if you slip up so I will not do that, just too time consuming if you make a step wrong somewhere... 

[qwert_44643]

I to would like to see some kind of random encounters implemented...1 thing that helps me accept the infinite stash is click on the option to restrict it..then you can only access it at camp and certain parts of towns and probarly your stronghold....

[Jorgen_CAB]

At least make the Inn charge you for something at Hard and the hardest setting so you can't utilize it as frequently as after each fight you need to use rest abilities if you bare the micromanagment of doing that.

[Nakia]

I don't want to say too much but you may be one of those who will simply find the combat in PoE easy.  The patch may change things, maybe.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Well, I find combat to be quite tricky at the hardest difficulty at times but other than that combats are a bit detached from each other since it is too easy to rest the party after any difficult fight instead of the need to press on to finish a particular mission or miss any loot in the area otherwise.

[wanderon]

You could try not resting after every battle if spamming rest isn't working for you

[Jorgen_CAB]

Yes... I was thinking about using some house rules about resting and the most effective one wouls be to NEVER use the free resting room so I need to pay everytime I rest at an Inn.

 

I just wonder how restrictive this will make my resting will become, I might need to bump down the difficulty a step since I seem to take quite a pounding at the hardets difficulties quite often. It is the rest spamming that makes the game very easy to manage from a resource perspective.

 

This way I might also need to use more food and other consumable even in easier fights to keed damage done to a minimum. Athletics will also become more importent I guess.

 

I just wonder why the game put no direct restriction on resting beside wasting "real world" time for the player? 

 

It does not seem to be a sound or even fun mechanic.

[magritte]

Money will cease to be an object quite quickly, so that's not a significant impediment to rest.  Really, the simplest and most logical approach is simply to only rest your characters if they become tired.  

[Procco]

Money will cease to be an object quite quickly, so that's not a significant impediment to rest. Really, the simplest and most logical approach is simply to only rest your characters if they become tired.

You beat me to it. I was just about to say the same about money. At the beginning of the game I was pretty shocked at how expensive a room is, but it very quickly becomes a non factor if you are looting fallen mobs. It does pay off to pay for a room and get the stat bonuses rather than staying in the free room most inns have.

If you're really concerned about resting too often, be sure to give your chracters as many points in athletics aaa you can spare. Otherwise they are going to be griping about being fatigued all the time.

[Nakia]

I would suggest resting if tired or if a party member's health is low.  If you put three points into athletics for each party member you will not need to rest as often.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Ok... yes... I have yet to come that far in the game... so... if that becomes a problem perhaps I should also refrain from picking up stuff I realistically can't carry much of such as weapons, armour and shields. That would put a serious dent in the amount of money I can get and keep the cost of the room more expensive as well.

 

I'm sure I can devise a fair system to keep it more of a challenge overall...

 

I just wished the developers had thought of this problem as part of the game mechanics that's all...

 

Anyway... thanks for your input and help... it is appreciated!

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jorgen_CAB

[Nakia]

You have an unlimited stash.  Stick your loot in the stash box.  I pick up everything including those tattered notes sometimes even those can have some future use/trigger something.

[Jorgen_CAB]

You have an unlimited stash.  Stick your loot in the stash box.  I pick up everything including those tattered notes sometimes even those can have some future use/trigger something.

Humm... now that was not really what I was saying though... they brought up above that money was no issue later in the game so I was talking about PURPOSEFULLY hamstring my looting so money would become an issue so I can't rest after each fight so I have to manage my resources. I currently never have to manage my resources at all and can practically rest after each fight if I wanted too which make encounter versus per rest abilities practically the same and total health more or less a none issue.

 

There seem to be a total lack of balancing in the game in regard to this and there is a lack of mechanic to balance it. The ONLY thing that keep you from resting after each fight is Role-Play or the tediousness of running back and forth to an Inn. That is not (in my opinion) a sound mechanic.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jorgen_CAB

[wanderon]

 

You have an unlimited stash.  Stick your loot in the stash box.  I pick up everything including those tattered notes sometimes even those can have some future use/trigger something.

Humm... now that was not really what I was saying though... they brought up above that money was no issue later in the game so I was talking about PURPOSEFULLY hamstring my looting so money would become an issue so I can't rest after each fight so I have to manage my resources. I currently never have to manage my resources at all and can practically rest after each fight if I wanted too which make encounter versus per rest abilities practically the same and total health more or less a none issue.

 

There seem to be a total lack of balancing in the game in regard to this and there is a lack of mechanic to balance it. The ONLY thing that keep you from resting after each fight is Role-Play or the tediousness of running back and forth to an Inn. That is not (in my opinion) a sound mechanic.

 

 

Perhaps you should explain to the devs exactly how you would accomplish fixing this so that all levels of players would be satisfied with the result. 

[Jorgen_CAB]

In my opinion this could be solved in many ways and still have practically the same story or feel to the game.

 

1. Restrict the loot you can carry from an area, when you leave the areas anything left is gone.

2. Make resting at least cost something.

3. Random encounters thus making long trips dangerous.

4. Re-spawning certain enemies on certain maps.

5. Make many areas time sensitive once you start exploring them or face some consequences in the story or quest.

6. Make camping more dangerous or safe in certain areas and complete foolish in some.

 

All of these examples would make the game more fun in my opinion and I don't pretend to even presume it would please everybody, that is impossible. It would at least make travel and camping something you need to consider and plan for.

 

At least I don't really get the current design when you may rest with no cost or risk at any time for free. Anyone can practically fight every fight with 100% firepower and health as long as you stomach running back and forth to an Inn between fights. Of course, most players will not rest after a very small and easy fight but it would be quite stupid (unless you role-play) to do so after you spent some rest abilities or lost a considerate amount of health on any one character (say a yellow health bar). There are no drawbacks for doing so... it takes roughly a minute or two to run from most places to an Inn and back on my computer, it has very fast loading between areas.

At least once I understood that this was how it worked I started to use all my abilities much more often and just run and rest, this lowered the risk of any one party member dying by quite a margin. Simply scout to see what enemies I faced and then just go all in if they were more than just a few, then run and rest and continue. It was not as if I lost much time in the process since I could be more careless in the fights and I was going to rest afterwards anyway which made the fights go quicker than the time it took me to run back and rest and then back again.

 

I can't say it would be fun even for the majority of the players, but I fail to see why not!?!

 

Anyway... these are just my opinions and I don't pretend to speak for anybody but myself. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jorgen_CAB

[Nakia]

Developers have to try and please as many people as possible.  Some people with agree with  Jorgen_CAB about most of his suggestions, others will agree with some of his suggestions and there will be people who simply disagree with him.  What the OE developers tried to do and IMO succeeded in doing was to give people options.  There will probably be some changes in a sequel but should the developers basically rewrite the game spending time, resources and money to do?  I think the game is great and a lot of fun and the Devs have made changes already since release.  I am looking forward to the expansion and being able to play the game without being concerned that I may have to restrain my character and party members.  

 

IIRC there is only one place early in the game where you can rest for free.  

[Jorgen_CAB]

To bee honest I'm pretty sure they already had these discussions in the development team and I do understand that the budget only allow for so much.

 

I thoroughly enjoy the game and have no problem forcing restrictions on myself for role-play reasons.

 

I hope they will continue to improve and add many features and perhaps some of my issues will be solved eventually or in a sequel. At least I have voiced my concerns and opinions and will leave it at that.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jorgen_CAB

[KDubya]

There is no way for the developers to stop you from abusing per rest abilities by resting after every fight, just like there is no way other than Trial of Iron to stop save scumming. Just because the game lets you does not mean that you should.

 

Every game ends up with a broken economy, PoE is not any different. They do go ahead and just give you a limitless stash as playing inventory management was a pain in the old IE games. Just think of it as a team of mules that carry your stuff. Set it to limit access to only in camp or towns and it works fine.

 

You need to exercise self restraint.

[View619]

There is no way for the developers to stop you from abusing per rest abilities by resting after every fight, just like there is no way other than Trial of Iron to stop save scumming. Just because the game lets you does not mean that you should.

 

Every game ends up with a broken economy, PoE is not any different. They do go ahead and just give you a limitless stash as playing inventory management was a pain in the old IE games. Just think of it as a team of mules that carry your stuff. Set it to limit access to only in camp or towns and it works fine.

 

You need to exercise self restraint.

 

Funny enough, Trial of Iron doesn't really prevent you from save-scumming if you really want to. Quitting during battles reloads the last auto-save; I assume that's there to prevent lost saves due to system errors or power loss.

Edited July 22, 2015 by View619

[magritte]

There is no way for the developers to stop you from abusing per rest abilities by resting after every fight, just like there is no way other than Trial of Iron to stop save scumming. Just because the game lets you does not mean that you should.

 

And more to the point, the fact that you can inflict tedium on yourself by resting after every fight doesn't provide a justification for inflicting tedium on every player by imposing rules that require constant inventory management and introduce meaningless trash fights during travel.  Most battles I use very few of my once per rest skills, because you can win the battles with weapons and per encounter skills and save the heavy artillery for the tough battles.  And if you do that, there's no need for frequent rests.  Maybe not viable on POTD, but I'm not going to raise my difficulty if it's going to increase boredom.