Let's Talk: Game Difficulty

[IronClan]

And start over again trying to get it right this time? Okay. Works for me. Short of starting completely over again with the very first line of code, this would be the best way to go about fixing the game. Roll allllllll the way back, crack open the pnp books, and build it right this time.

Then you're playing the wrong game and you might want to go find the one that more fits what you want. Regress? make DDO2? None of this is productive discussion, besides the fact that neither will ever happen, DDO2 would look more like NWNOnline and WOW than DDO... if that's what you want go play one or the other of those.

Now no doubt someone will try to turn this around on me and say "if you want more challenge go play another game", DDO has for 99.8% of it's existence been a game that was difficult and challenging at the higher settings, so what I want is to return to the game that on the highest setting DDO has been. Which unlike a Sequel that would never resemble DDO, or a 7 year mulligan; is actually completely plausible and IMO even highly likely to happen judging by the fact that the Dev's CLEARLY recognize the problem, and are already serious enough that "Reaper mode" UI hooks have slipped into Lam builds.

You don't make UI Assets for things that are just being spit-balled around in meetings... you make UI assets because you've bounced the idea around meetings and decided to do it in some capacity.

[esojiul]

Then you're playing the wrong game and you might want to go find the one that more fits what you want. Regress? make DDO2? None of this is productive discussion, besides the fact that neither will ever happen, DDO2 would look more like NWNOnline and WOW than DDO... if that's what you want go play one or the other of those.

Now no doubt someone will try to turn this around on me and say "if you want more challenge go play another game", DDO has for 99.8% of it's existence been a game that was difficult and challenging at the higher settings, so what I want is to return to the game that on the highest setting DDO has been. Which unlike a Sequel that would never resemble DDO, or a 7 year mulligan; is actually completely plausible and IMO even highly likely to happen judging by the fact that the Dev's CLEARLY recognize the problem, and are already serious enough that "Reaper mode" UI hooks have slipped into Lam builds.

You don't make UI Assets for things that are just being spit-balled around in meetings... you make UI assets because you've bounced the idea around meetings and decided to do it in some capacity.

Actually I agree 100% with you. The game need end content that is a challenge for experience player. DDo has susceful converted a sequence into interactive game, base on d&D 3.5rules.
Still like verything in life has a l cycle. What these game required solve it problems of lag and balance classes, ( dc most caster classes (except wizards), artificer broken (rune arm-becomes a weakness on EH-EE) , monk (no armor-light armor improved defense(dif than ppr)) etc etc.

Then relaunch the game with a real expasion, with new quest, raids, and real improvement: more option on customize character on the creation (example dragon dogma,aion), more spells, ,more classes, more races etc etc. Small things, but all the new game have them. Change korthos to something more impresive for new player. low levels able to be solo by new player, learn and enjoy the game,middle and high (epic) level start making more difficult to become a coopertive game at end content. Low level has to be the carrot for new players, introduce them to the game. Not to be hammer. End content has to keep experience player on the game, not get bored.

Now new players are hammer in low levels and went they learn the game and get full gear, it becomes boring , the game is easy on high levels.

Also new need markeintg staff, right now they are amateurs.

[Waaye]

What are your thoughts on the overall difficulty of DDO?

For my 28-point ranger with normal found gear almost everything above level 20 is too tedious. Much of the problem comes from exponential scaling of monsters. From the written rules based game Manshoon is a CR25 character with 133 HP. In Epic level DDO content trash orcs can have 1200 HP but Epic bows are 5W at the most. This forces the ranger to hit every mob 10 or 20 times to bring it down. That is both difficult and boring. Pew pew pew pew pew and then pew pew pew some more.

If so, do you associate this with a given level in the game (e.g. 10+) or do you think there is just too much inconsistency throughout?

Level 2 content was great for my ranger with trash dropping with 2 or three hits. The number of hits increases from there and by around level 8 so many hits re needed that grouping or bringing a hireling becomes necessary for survival.

What's the right balance of challenge vs success for YOU? Do you expect to never fail when playing Normal - or would that simply bore you?

For me it is essential to win about 19 times out of twenty. If I wanted insane difficulty I would play “Nightcaster II”. The developer for that game is no more because the game was too challenging.

I also expect my character to be punished for doing things against his alignment. Any good or neutral character murdering a minotaur to frame an ambassador or wiping out an entire village of good aligned Bralani deserves to be permanently turned into a pile of poo(p). [The old “triple P” like we used to say in the old days.]

We have been accused (and perhaps there's truth to this) that we've been balancing the game for the uber-player. Are you finding this to be the case?

It is essential to challenge the uber players enough to keep them happy and also make the game easy enough to attract and retain newcomers. That will be tough if everyone is playing the same content. Currently there is no way for a newcomer to contribute anything of value to a group that contains uber players. Things might work better to have different instances for characters of differing power levels.

[S3R3N1T7]

all the result of the choice up difficulty with champion was mass player leave and many become casual player week for raid.

the new player don't stay on this game because they have first life toon who die one shoot when the other run all the quest with no domage ^^
if you think that was fun be happy we are now the futur last player of ddo.

show lfm it's irefutable

and if turbine don't change this ddo will die in 6/8 month or only completionist playing to ddo. And you don't begin ddo game completionist


sorry for my horrible english but i'm not natif usa

[Memnir]

Let's Talk: About how much I miss Mad Floyd.

[Ziindarax]

all the result of the choice up difficulty with champion was mass player leave and many become casual player week for raid.

the new player don't stay on this game because they have first life toon who die one shoot when the other run all the quest with no domage ^^
if you think that was fun be happy we are now the futur last player of ddo.

show lfm it's irefutable

and if turbine don't change this ddo will die in 6/8 month or only completionist playing to ddo. And you don't begin ddo game completionist


sorry for my horrible english but i'm not natif usa

Agreed - I think there should be strong incentives promoting teamwork in a quest, rather than just running it on Elite. This would promote more team play, and hopefully, encourage newbies to stay.

I have never seen some of my parties fill so quickly since that exp event with the quest exp. One of the problems, I feel, is that DDO has become Pay-To-Win, which is something that actually turns people off imo (why bother trying to pull tomes when you can wait on Turbine to release them? Unless you're disinclined to purchase). While the community has become a lot less Elitist than when I first played this game, there's not as much player diversity on Orien as there used to be - power creep may be another factor, and it's possible that the game may be seen as TOO EASY. Why? Because they might watch a TR'ed character run through and blast everything to oblivion with contemptuous ease, especially in the heroic levels where just about anything can make it from 1-20.

My thoughts are as follows:

Award more exp through team work, and maybe even consider reducing Bravery Bonus so that it does not feel mandatory to run through on hard/elite (while it made being a third+-life character a HECK of a lot easier, I cannot help but feel that perhaps this is where things started going downhill for DDO). More Role-play, and more quests where you have a good mix of combat and puzzles might help as well.

[S3R3N1T7]

it's good idear but now it's too late

too many player leave ddo, and now it's realy randome for have full group.

Think the best solution was they do big one server when they refresh servers with all player inside.


and yes you are right for tome in store and i say the most horrible was ottobox , i have show a completionist who don't know the base of ddo play LOL, and the real completionist payer who try begin loose the glory of this chalange and the objective and leave too.

[Rickpa]

Since our best characters have likely been nerfed, I expect for much less content to be playable. So expect for there to be much more to add to this list in the near future.


The Abbot raid on normal is not to be accomplished by any but the most twitch competent players, and if we have enough of those, perhaps someone who is a casual player can be part of a winning quest. Maybe. It hasn't happened to me.

I agree with In The Flesh on elite being over the top impossible to complete at level. I guess level 28s can do it.

The House Cannith raids are also not to be played by casual players. Normal has a high failure rate.

Hound of Xoriat used to be done on elite, but now it is impossible. The named loot has been removed for normal, so doing it on normal is a waste of time.

Raids not done on any difficulty:

Temple of the Deathwyrm. Thunder Peak was tedious and difficult and unrewarding on normal, but its companion raid is over the top.

The Mark Of Death. If Ascension Chamber is a bust, what else can we expect from its epic sibling?

[Clemeit]

I can solo any Epic Hard with my eyes closed. I get absolutely destroyed in many Epic Elites. There shouldn't be such a massive difference between these difficulties. Epic Hard should be harder, and Epic Elite should be (in some cases) easier.

There should be an option upon entering a quest to be able to turn on/off monster champions. When I get hit for 500's by some stupid champion, even with 200 PRR and huge damage reduction, I'm pretty irritated...

My idea is this:
-Allow an option on the difficulty panel to turn on/off monster champions. If monster champions are turned on, +X% experience points rewarded at the end of that quest. If they are turned off, no experience point difference.
-On each champion killed, grant some sort of XP based off of a percentage of the total quest XP. This XP is greater when running elite difficulty.

I think this would allow the elitist players get their fill, and get some extra XP out of it, whilst still allowing others to run the same level content.

[KoobTheProud]

Why should anybody be able to solo Epic Elite?

Isn't that the heart of the problem? Once the highest difficulty level is soloable it creates cascading power creep issues all over the place. Then Epic Hard becomes instead Easy and everything below that becomes a joke.

[SKW]

To be blunt, the way it's set up with the Elite Bravery Bonus, Elite is basically the "Normal" mode of play, especially for TR, F2P, Efficency-obsessed, or just "Wanna level up faster" players. The Bravery Marshal is a good change, but could be better. As is, you need to tone down on the spellcaster enemies noticably, they're by far the most dangerous.

Also, to the people saying "MAKE IT HARDER IM NOT CHALLENGED" think about the entire game you're raising the stakes for rather than just the 1% or those following the builds of the 1%

To explain the problem with casters, they can easily one-shot most players that aren't built for it, and do massive damage, especially in comparison to the much lower DPS of physical enemies who rely on sustained DPS and make their locations obvious. The nerf to MRR is not the way to go. Magic damage overall needs a good looking at, especially a tank's resistance to it.

On another note, Adamantine DR really isn't anything. You don't ever find a use for it. Perhaps update it to PRR or even MRR?

[Heathir]

I have just returned after 2 years and I think he difficulty isn't the problem
The issue is the gear. I can play just fine in EN and EH with or without groups, but in EE I tend to feel like I am not as contributing of a player. Some of it is skill, twitch skills. But a big portion is gear based. So many of the items that make builds shine are from older less played raids that no one does or wants to do. But, the newer content has only added a couple of items that replace those items from older raids.

As an example two of my classes (warlock) best in slot items are arguably located in ascension chamber epic. No one runs the raid as often as I can tell, I have been on for 5 to 6 ours daily for the past two weeks getting back into this and haven't seen on raid for those locations. Shroud, thunderholme, plenty. Very little abbot, doj etc. So we are stuck trying to manipulate all our slots to find items that cover those basis and still let me get all the things I need filled.

New content should have some power creep, those items should be phased out making players use the newer gear. This allows new players to evolve along with the older base. Skill still takes time, but the framework is more attainable.

[Lence]

There isn't even a right or wrong answer left in this problem. Everyone and Everything can take part of the blame. Kinda really only 3 legit options left and someone will have to actually stick with 1 instead of flip flopping around. You are either going to cater to the high end player, new players, or come up with some middle ground and not get ****** when min/maxers/completionists/elite roll over stuffs. Some people might actually enjoy some flavor/gimp builds if they knew they weren't gonna get smacked, beaten, rolled, and robbed for doing it.

Exp - Elite is the new normal, the experience gains (especially past first lifers) made that a no brainer.

Gear - Power creeping gear is what really started this train. Greensteel. That was a power leap, not a creep. After that every answer was Mobs get MOAR HP, AC, Saves, dmg, etc. I get it, games advance, things go up, but there was some HUGE leaps in certain areas of the game, scale did not match.

Devs - Since day 1 of DDO you guys can get kinda twitchy about people doing stuff anyway other than how you wanted it done. Examples:

Stealth used to be kind of a thing back when the lvl cap was 10, people actually did it other than that 1 annoying quest in the Harbor, but then, when we did, you either added doors/levers/stealthbreakers, or magic fields where you had to kill everything to drop the barrier, etc, til hide/move silent were about useless (except maybe assassinate which wasn't even a thing then). I vaguely remember a short lived bonus xp for stealth back then, which was odd since it was obviously never intended to be used.

Dungeon Alert - OMG...because no one wanted to stand there and beat skelly archers down. Everyone complained about the skelly archers having way more HP than normal skellys, still do, still take longer to to kill, Hopping around or on top of stuff, etc. So, we started ignoring them and running by because if an undead quest took 20 minutes, 10+ of that was usually beating archers down. Then there was MOAR archers. Then, eventually, dungeon alert under some lag bla bla issues bla. yeah, i know there is abit more to it then that, but archers are just the best example.

Traps - A few years ago, I could have evasion, a reflex save around 16-20 and be good on norm/hard/elite at nearly any level. Now, Imp Evasion, level 10-12 quests on elite, getting 1 shotted by every other trap. Hmmm, well, maybe disable...but wait...a lvl 2 (2!) quest on elite, needed a...wait, +17 search. Hmmm...well...if I max my INt I can get 20 for a +5...and at lvl 2 max ranks another +5...theres...wait...thats only +10... yeah, I know, gear, enhancements, etc, but pretty much requires min-max....See what you did there? I roll with new players, they aren't gonna get it or know, kinda have to tell them not to bother with that kind of mechanic for elites otherwise they aren't going to have any fun playing their toons.

I'm just saying, sometimes, there tends to be some over-reaction to someone finding a new clever way to do something, or build, or something and it brings around nerfs, changes, etc quickly that affects entire things. Not all builds/playstyles are going to be equal, thats just the name of the game, if people wanted that that should go play a game that only allows cookie cutter everyone is the same characters. There was always alot of FOTM changes that add up.

Pay-to-win - Yeah, abit, not as bad as some games, but when you tossed in tomes that did kick it up abit, but even worse, what no one mentions, is the TRing. Past live bonus add up, and make a difference. TR should be free, especially if you sub. Yeah, you can farm junk and get them, but really, if you doing lives and not epics, who wants to farm epics for heroic lives, especially if you going completionist or 3x completion, that is a ton of heart of woods. Store is way too pricey on those, and since its become part of the normal game, that makes it pay to win.

I could go on, but its a mute point really, we all know. All I am really saying is pick a trend, stick with it instead of flopping around to each side which is gonna make things abit screwy for everyone.

[archerforever]

Since our best characters have likely been nerfed, I expect for much less content to be playable. So expect for there to be much more to add to this list in the near future.

The nerf is not real, I didn t noticed any difference to be honest ...

The Abbot raid on normal is not to be accomplished by any but the most twitch competent players, and if we have enough of those, perhaps someone who is a casual player can be part of a winning quest. Maybe. It hasn't happened to me.

I did like 70 Ascension chamber completions... and I always said what to do to new players. I also duo this raid with a friend... wanna see the screenshot ???

I agree with In The Flesh on elite being over the top impossible to complete at level. I guess level 28s can do it.

I can solo this quest on Elite lvl 16 without any problem...

Hound of Xoriat used to be done on elite, but now it is impossible. The named loot has been removed for normal, so doing it on normal is a waste of time.

Nothing is impossible one more time, just players doing elite when they are not build for it... but the fact to not have any chance to get named even on normal is sad.

Raids not done on any difficulty:

Raid not done ??? Really ??? I can't agree with this, I run any raids without any problem.

Temple of the Deathwyrm. Thunder Peak was tedious and difficult and unrewarding on normal, but its companion raid is over the top.

Temple of the deathwyrm is not so hard, already did it on Epic hard as 8 players. Thunderpeak Epic Hard as 8 players also... I dont see any problems here...

The Mark Of Death. If Ascension Chamber is a bust, what else can we expect from its epic sibling?

I actually did 20 Mark of Death in 7 days...

I really think the game is actually TOO EASY for veteran players even in Epic Elite and fine for new or casual players in normal or hard. The problem is that New or casual players with random loots wanna be as strong as completionnist with full Named stuff equiped. Found the problem ???

[Demsac]

Let's Talk: About how much I miss Mad Floyd.

This. And yay for bumping old threads.

[elvesunited]

My experience is that the issue is not past lives. Those feats provide marginal benefit at most. One good piece of new gear can often exceed the benefits of a dozen past lives. The biggest issue that new players have is that they don't know how to build their characters for higher difficulty content.

1) Too low hp. I've seen players booted from groups for this. ( "200 hp? You almost have to try to get hp that low!" )
2) DC Casters with too low DC. ( not really their fault, maxing DC takes a lot of effort/study )
3) Characters in epic with no self-healing outside the odd potion. ( the days of the group healer are behind us. )
4) Bad multi-class decisions
5) Character paths that turn out to be dead ends. ( Shrinking as DDO continues its class passes, but there still are some )
6) They don't know where to find the good equipment ( or don't have those packs )

[Lanhelin]

My experience is that the issue is not past lives. Those feats provide marginal benefit at most. One good piece of new gear can often exceed the benefits of a dozen past lives. The biggest issue that new players have is that they don't know how to build their characters for higher difficulty content.

1) Too low hp. I've seen players booted from groups for this. ( "200 hp? You almost have to try to get hp that low!" )
2) DC Casters with too low DC. ( not really their fault, maxing DC takes a lot of effort/study )
3) Characters in epic with no self-healing outside the odd potion. ( the days of the group healer are behind us. )
4) Bad multi-class decisions
5) Character paths that turn out to be dead ends. ( Shrinking as DDO continues its class passes, but there still are some )
6) They don't know where to find the good equipment ( or don't have those packs )

It's not only in higher difficulty, it can happen much earlier, even as vip. I came back after a long break and created a first lifer (Arti 1/Druid 1/Wizard 18) to get used to game mechanics again. While the decision to not let Champions spawn in quests below Level 5 difficulty was a very good one, there still is no introduction of champ encounters for new players. E.g. yesterday I played the quest (forgot its name) in the Cerulean Hills where I had to free the three imprisoned NPCs. I played it on Elite at level and it was the first time I encountered Champions and five of them, one even was a miniboss. In one situation my hireling and me had to fight two of them at the same time. Later fortunately I could charm one of them and he killed quite many enemies on his own. Also the boss at the end seemed to be much stronger than I remember - but maybe I'm wrong.

I survived and completed the quest - BUT this probably wouldn't have been the case when I didn't remember so many useful things a real new player even doesn't have the idea to ask for and has to learn it the very hard way (aka by getting killed and not getting too much frustrated):

7) the more spellpoints the better, because they do not regenerate over time (except up to 12 when oom). Increasing the spellpoint pool at the beginning is more effective via enhancement trees and not with items of wizardry a new player doesn't have.
8) Cleric/Druid/FvS/Bard splash, UMD or Dilettante for (scroll or self) healing.
9) when scroll healing is available to immediately buy 40 to 50 cure lesser and medium wounds scrolls and some other like lesser restoration, a.s.o.
10) when scroll healing is available to buy a melee/tank hireling and not a healing/caster one.
11) to make use of the weapon sets, because the scrolls always equip to the right hand slot and don't automatically switch back to the weapons
12) one has to know, that a hireling won't attack a previously charmed and manually released enemy on its own, one has to click on guard stance first and immediately on aggressive stance again.
13) Although CC can ease quests a lot, especially for new players, DC related CC on the other hand became a lot harder - the enemies seem to more often save than lose the roll, even in low level quests. This doesn't really encourage new players to focus on CC, but rather skill for plain dps (I remember better times, so at least I won't, with hope to get the better times back some day^^)
14) elite traps are still lethal. Anyhow, (new) players who splash Rogue or Arti for trap skills or play them pure, need items that buff these skills, because the DCs are higher a Rogue/Arti with just maxed skills at every level could successfully disable.
15) how to avoid traps without having trap skills (and to know which ones aren't avoidable).
16) to know that it's much better to plan a toon before playing it. Prereqs, enhancements, multiclass or not, when to take which level of classes, what ability scores are needed for this or that feat - the game itself doesn't offer a char planner, one has to use third party programs for it.

In another thread I read someones opinion about DDO's difficulty: "it's hard to learn and easy to master" - I fully agree, and the learning curve takes 95% of playtime and the mastered one only 5% I'd say.

[Bighunter]

I know im coming in to this thread late, but I think the game should go back to about update 10, when there was no dungeon scaling where you could not solo quests and had to run with a full balanced group, example: having a live healer or two in the group. Another example is someone was talking about weapons shipment, full group 300+ mobs and solo only 90 or so. why not have it when you go in solo it should be 300+ mods that you have to run in a group. I know i am repeating myself but that is the way the game use to be and was meant to be played, not players soloing content from levels 1-20, my main character is on his 12th life. and for the past 3-4 lives because of gear and ship buffs and scaling I have soloed 90% of heroic levels. So I am asking to make the game so players have to run in groups.

[Selvera]

I also agree that quests should be more party focused, there are a number of ways to do this. (These ideas should probably be used in different quests for variety, not all in the same quest to make it impossible to solo).

Mobs that apply various debuffs such as silencing the target (can't cast any spells or use clickies), immobilizing the target (no kiting!), Preventing the target from healing themselves (but they can still be healed by others), lowering the target's damage (or preventing them from attacking). These effects shouldn't be able to be removed via potions or scrolls, most should be much easier to remove via a different player casting a remove debuff spell on you (or impossible to remove yourself). Some of them should be impossible to remove until the fight is over.
- These all encourage teamwork being stronger then solo play. For example a low damage tank who can't attack until the mob is killed is still useful (if they can keep agro), while a high damage solo DPS who can't attack until the mob is killed is useless and needs a friend/party to help them out.

Mobs that negate some of the better gear in the game, such as ignoring blur, ghostly, critical strikes, double-strike, etc. (obviously these aren't everywhere, so the best gear in the game is still the best)
- This is to reduce the power differential between best-geared completionists and newer players.

Mobs that adapt to what's attacking them, reducing or negating further damage from that type. (Say you're shooting it with a bow, it becomes immune to piercing damage but your fighter can still hit it with a kopesh for slashing damage, then it becomes immune to slashing damage so you can shoot it with your bow again).
- Means that players have to either have a party or have a hybrid build to deal with these enemies.

Mobs that can't be kited (much faster then the players, immobilize the player at range, teleport to the player and attack, deal meaningful ranged damage)
- This is to add a balancing factor between melee and ranged characters, so that ranged characters can't just kite everything in the game no matter how hard it is. Also promotes letting the tank take agro.

Mobs that are easier (much easier) to kill if you're flanking them, even if you don't have a rogue. (Maybe a hydra needs you to cut off all three heads at the same time, Maybe the weak point is behind them and the only way to get there is have someone else pull agro.)

Quests that require levers in different locations to be pulled to proceed, where either they need to be pulled at the same time or that trap the other person until a different lever is pulled. (These exist, but they're a good way to promote teamwork, especially if it's not an obvious "hireling/dog, run over there and pull the lever" type of thing)
- If you must have 2+ people to finish a quest, you'll have 2+ people when you want to run the quest. I happen to like quests like this.

Parts of quests that heavily encourage alternate playing styles, such as a stealth section where the rogue needs to sneak into a castle to open the gate for their party, or the druid/ranger needs to calm enraged animals to ask them for help, or the wizard/bard needs to uncover arcane secrets that no one else can. These should be something that ONLY that class/specialization is able to do effectively, and give the rest of the party something to do while they wait.
- Adds quest diversity, if multiple of these sections are in the same quest it also forces partying with people with specific talents to complete the quest.

Quests that have varying DC's for different traps.
- It sucks if you're the trapper and you have 42 search when you need 43 search for every single trap in a quest. If the quest had one trap DC 25, one DC 38 and one DC 44 then the "weak" trapper could still be useful -> for 2 of the traps, but not as good as the dedicated min/max trapper who has 50 search skill.

Tanks need to be able to pull agro, even if their DPS-ers out dps them by a fair margin.
Buffs by supports need to provide meaningful benefits that stack with whatever uber-geared players have.
Healing should be more useful when used on allies then on yourself.
DPS should be more efficient if the mob is focusing a tank then focusing the DPS.
- If only DPS do their role effectively anymore, the other roles need a little buff to come into line, or DPS needs a nerf, but it's easier to buff then to nerf without losing players.

Some good things that should remain very relevant at higher difficulties/higher levels are:
- Skill checks to make the quest easier and/or grant bonus XP. (bluff/diplomacy/intimidate/spellcraft/heal, even perform) (These promote bringing multiple people who happen to have these skills along on the quest).
- Traps, unavoidable traps, disarm-able traps, easily disarmed high-damage unavoidable traps. (Encourages bringing along a rogue/artificer in the quest, and not just for the DPS).
- locked doors/chests and hidden doors for bonus loot/xp (Again rogue/artificers love this)

Note: A lot of these changes will theoretically increase difficulty. This could be compensated by mobs doing less damage/having less health so that the difficulty level isn't changed for a balanced party, if it's at a decent balance already.

[Pnumbra]

What are your thoughts on the overall difficulty of DDO? Sure, we offer difficulty choices, but do you find yourself in a postion where even Normal difficulty feels too much like hard?

If so, do you associate this with a given level in the game (e.g. 10+) or do you think there is just too much inconsistency throughout?

What's the right balance of challenge vs success for YOU? Do you expect to never fail when playing Normal - or would that simply bore you?

I'm raising this subject for a few reasons. I think a lot of people expect that when it comes to an MMO, if you put time in you must get progress/reward out of it - and that failure is just plain bad. Spending 45 minutes into a quest only to fail can be very frustrating.

We have been accused (and perhaps there's truth to this) that we've been balancing the game for the uber-player. Are you finding this to be the case? It seems like a couple years ago the salient message from the community was 'enough with the easy button already!'

Would love to know your thoughts on this. Feel free to reference specific quests.

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out to your gaming population. On the idea of difficulty, I like so many will quickly address the levels currently used and their consequences. To begin with, there is no real consequence for dying. The small XP penalty is not felt at all. Please make dying count, make it painful, make it something to avoid. My perspective is from a relatively new player, just reach my one year of play in December 2015.

Solo: Not really needed. It doesn't reduce the trial and error phase of learning.
Normal: Ok at level on first life - downward slope as past heroic/epic lives raise the power base
Hard: Ok at level on first life - downward slope as past heroic/epic lives raise the power base
Epic: Situational - some are over the top while others are fine. Players really don't do EE at level but wait until level cap and go back.

These are just a general impression of what I have seen and experienced. I often think Hard should be Normal. Epic quest should be fundamentally different content wise. When we enter a EE quest, the scenery may be the same, but the encounter mob types, traps and trap locations, and mini/boss fights should be very different.

I realize the ability to make DDO more challenging is a lofty endeavor due to its static nature.