Configurable Difficulty Settings

[xavjr]

Howdy folks,

 

Just wanted to ask if it wouldn't be too much trouble to allow us to pick more options related to difficulty settings, eg: I'd like to see more enemies on all difficulties, not just path of the damned; or play with enemy stats and resistances -say X% higher or lower- for any chosen difficulty setting.

 

I think this has the potential to make replays a lot more fun.

 

 

Thank you for your time, and for creating this awesome game! Cheers!

 

Xavier

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

i don't know if it's possible but I'd love a toggle for scaling, just to reset it to my current level.

[Fenixp]

I think that would be really cool, and I don't believe it would be too hard to implement altho one can never be too sure of that. Leave the properly balanced difficulties as presets and put a "custom" button somewhere in there. That said, it's not going to happen.

[xavjr]

I agree that some things might be harder to implement, such as stats and resists (my guess is that they're hardcoded into the path-of-the-damned option), but I hope the one for more enemies is easier; right now every replay is pretty much the same, the only things that change are the dialogues and that's only if I want to pick different paths/stats.

 

I'd really like to see how larger enemy groups can force me to change my tactics, maybe even make battles later on a bit more challenging without forcing me into picking path of the damned.

[Tennisgolfboll]

Things like this is really needed in gaming.

 

Some people think enemies are bullet sponges others like meaty fights.

 

Some people like it when their mage doesnt get 1 shot, others love 1 shot.

 

 

So make it a slider for dmg taken 0.5-2 and the same for damage dealt etc

[Elerond]

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned 

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game. 

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

[Tigranes]

I doubt it for POE1, but I'd love to see it for POE2, and in more games in general. That's also a way to more easily allow extreme difficulties so that people who want a challenge can get it. 

[Kilburn]

Id love to see options to nerf the exp table, and options to slightly or heavily nerf gold received from selling stuff.

[Tennisgolfboll]

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game.

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

Like this idea alot

[xavjr]

 

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game.

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

Like this idea alot

 

I like it a lot too, particularly the picking of stats from other difficulties (I also like to think that those should be some of the easiest to modify, but I could be wrong).  I don't think, however, that enemy makeup can be customized that easily, IIRC (from the dev commentary in-game) levels are designed with input from a lot of people, which is why I suggested just using the "more enemies" option from path-of-the-damned.

 

Anyway, I do sincerely hope a dev takes a glance at this thread sometime, they're the only ones who can say for sure what's doable and what's not.

 

Thanks for all your input folks! Keep those ideas coming!

[Elerond]

 

 

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game.

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

Like this idea alot

 

I like it a lot too, particularly the picking of stats from other difficulties (I also like to think that those should be some of the easiest to modify, but I could be wrong).  I don't think, however, that enemy makeup can be customized that easily, IIRC (from the dev commentary in-game) levels are designed with input from a lot of people, which is why I suggested just using the "more enemies" option from path-of-the-damned.

 

Anyway, I do sincerely hope a dev takes a glance at this thread sometime, they're the only ones who can say for sure what's doable and what's not.

 

Thanks for all your input folks! Keep those ideas coming!

 

 

More enemies thing in PotD is done by adding replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels to normal difficulty level encounters.

 

Bit more detailed explanation:

Currently all encounters makeups are designed first for normal difficulty level.

Easy difficulty level is done by replacing some enemies in encounters with easier ones like for example wolf with young wolf etc.

And hard difficulty level is done same way by replacing some enemies with harder ones, like for example lion with elder lion.

And in PotD they just add those replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels in encounters instead replacing existing enemies with them, which means that there are more enemies in most of the encounters. It is similar system that they used in Icewind Dales (when they worked in Black Isle studios)

 

Where we get to my suggestion where you could chose add enemies from easy or/and hard difficulty levels depending on how much you want to add difficulty level instead always choosing to add them all.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Elerond

[xavjr]

 

 

 

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game.

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

Like this idea alot

 

I like it a lot too, particularly the picking of stats from other difficulties (I also like to think that those should be some of the easiest to modify, but I could be wrong).  I don't think, however, that enemy makeup can be customized that easily, IIRC (from the dev commentary in-game) levels are designed with input from a lot of people, which is why I suggested just using the "more enemies" option from path-of-the-damned.

 

Anyway, I do sincerely hope a dev takes a glance at this thread sometime, they're the only ones who can say for sure what's doable and what's not.

 

Thanks for all your input folks! Keep those ideas coming!

 

 

More enemies thing in PotD is done by adding replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels to normal difficulty level encounters.

 

Bit more detailed explanation:

Currently all encounters makeups are designed first for normal difficulty level.

Easy difficulty level is done by replacing some enemies in encounters with easier ones like for example wolf with young wolf etc.

And hard difficulty level is done same way by replacing some enemies with harder ones, like for example lion with elder lion.

And in PotD they just add those replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels in encounters instead replacing existing enemies with them, which means that there are more enemies in most of the encounters. It is similar system that they used in Icewind Dales (when they worked in Black Isle studios)

 

Where we get to my suggestion where you could chose add enemies from easy or/and hard difficulty levels depending on how much you want to add difficulty level instead always choosing to add them all.

 

Wow, you seem to know a lot about how the backend for this works.

 

Did you disassemble any of the code? If so, got any pointers you'd like to share with us mere mortals, so we can get started with modding some of it?

Edited February 4, 2016 by xavjr

[Elerond]

 

 

 

 

I see that could let you select from stat bonuses from story mode, normal mode or from path of the damned

And then they could let you choose enemy makeup in encounters from easy, normal, hard or letting you add replacements enemies from easy or/and hard to normal encounters.

And then possible let you toggle level bonuses for enemies from beginning of the game.

 

And then need for new systems would be kept on minimal level. But that said I don't see them implementing even this sort of feature in PoE.

Like this idea alot

 

I like it a lot too, particularly the picking of stats from other difficulties (I also like to think that those should be some of the easiest to modify, but I could be wrong).  I don't think, however, that enemy makeup can be customized that easily, IIRC (from the dev commentary in-game) levels are designed with input from a lot of people, which is why I suggested just using the "more enemies" option from path-of-the-damned.

 

Anyway, I do sincerely hope a dev takes a glance at this thread sometime, they're the only ones who can say for sure what's doable and what's not.

 

Thanks for all your input folks! Keep those ideas coming!

 

 

More enemies thing in PotD is done by adding replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels to normal difficulty level encounters.

 

Bit more detailed explanation:

Currently all encounters makeups are designed first for normal difficulty level.

Easy difficulty level is done by replacing some enemies in encounters with easier ones like for example wolf with young wolf etc.

And hard difficulty level is done same way by replacing some enemies with harder ones, like for example lion with elder lion.

And in PotD they just add those replacement enemies from easy and hard difficulty levels in encounters instead replacing existing enemies with them, which means that there are more enemies in most of the encounters. It is similar system that they used in Icewind Dales (when they worked in Black Isle studios)

 

Where we get to my suggestion where you could chose add enemies from easy or/and hard difficulty levels depending on how much you want to add difficulty level instead always choosing to add them all.

 

Wow, you seem to know a lot about how the backend for this works.

 

Did you disassemble any of the code? If so, got any pointers you'd like to share with us mere mortals, so we can get started with modding some of it?

 

 

There was no need for such fancies as devs explained how the backend with difficulty system works during development.

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60707-update-9-the-power-of-modes-and-godlike-races-our-23m-stretch-goal/

 

"Path of the Damned is a spiritual successor to Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury mode. In our encounters, we like to turn individual combatants on and off based on the level of difficulty. If you come into an area on Easy, maybe casters are replaced with weak melee enemies. If you come in on Hard, maybe the casters are augmented by a tough melee enemy or two. With Path of the Damned, that goes out the window. All enemies from all levels of difficulty are enabled and the combat mechanics are amplified to make battles much more brutal for everyone involved."

 

They have given more detailed explanation after KS campaign, but those are harder to find as I don't remember if Josh Sawyer (lead designer) posted them here or something awful (which is forum that he likes to visit and post more than here)

Edited February 4, 2016 by Elerond