REAPER DIFFICULTY SUGGESTION or “ITS TOO EASY.”

[Merrillman]

“It’s too easy.”

Okay badasses.... The devs should add two more difficulty levels, just like in regular gameplay.

1) “REAPER ELITE” mode. No reaper points useable. No XP gained. Cosmetics and clickies, and that’s it.
2) “ REAPER HARDCORE” mode. If you die, you’re dead permanently and have to start over. Shouldn’t be bad. You’re a DDO badass, remember? For every dungeon you actually survive, you get 1/10 a reaper reincarnation token that when all 10 are combined (with a heart of...., of course) can restore any character — but with zero reaper points. That ought to fix your complaining about “ease.”

Now shut up and stop screwing it up for people who can’t spend their lives in a basement playing DDO 12-16 hours a day. The end.

[daverapp]

Terrible suggestions, I could do all of them with a naked toon and playing one-handed. How about, on all Reaper difficulties, the enemies exclusively roll 19 or 20 on their d20 rolls, and 100% on all d100 rolls. Also dodge is reduced to the square root of its value (so 25% dodge gets nudged down to 5%) on 1 skull, reducing by an additional exponent for each skull. (So R2 is cubed root, R3 is tesseracted root, etc)

Also get rid of the lost souls, and implement a passive "SP drain" that reduces spell points (AND MAX SPELL POINTS!) by a couple points every couple seconds, starting around 10sp/sec at 1 skull, maybe more. Also the same thing happens to your HP and max HP starting at the 5 minute mark.

Oh, and decrease max party size by 1 for every 2 skulls. So high-Reaper content can exclusively be played solo, since that's how the VAST majority of the playerbase plays the game already. If you enter a dungeon with an oversized group, you instantly die and have to recall and reset.

Prolly need to reduce equipment's HP by at least 75% on Reaper too. Obviously also make equipment damage permanent on Reaper, that's a given. And you can get permanent damage on BTA/BTC items.

All spells' material components are increased by the number of skulls - so R1 costs 2 component per cast, R2 costs 3, etc.

Melee attack speed increase is manually overridden to 0%, so melees have to attack at a fair pace. Raged attack speed is overridden to around -10% since they can just kite and/or attack from a distance, so we can't have them going too fast.

Oh, and toons have a random chance to trip every time they start moving. Smash Bros. did this pretty well, it was fun.

Random chance upon getting hit that augment crystals and filigrees can get knocked out of their slot, forcing you to re-slot them mid-fight. If you fail to do so, there's a chance of them being pickpocketed from you by the enemies. The enemies can also pickpocket small items like rings and necklaces.

[noinfo]

“It’s too easy.”

Okay badasses.... The devs should add two more difficulty levels, just like in regular gameplay.

1) “REAPER ELITE” mode. No reaper points useable. No XP gained. Cosmetics and clickies, and that’s it.
2) “ REAPER HARDCORE” mode. If you die, you’re dead permanently and have to start over. Shouldn’t be bad. You’re a DDO badass, remember? For every dungeon you actually survive, you get 1/10 a reaper reincarnation token that when all 10 are combined (with a heart of...., of course) can restore any character — but with zero reaper points. That ought to fix your complaining about “ease.”

Now shut up and stop screwing it up for people who can’t spend their lives in a basement playing DDO 12-16 hours a day. The end.

Do you need a hand getting ready to run with the reaper crowd? There are many happy to help.

[Merrillman]

Do you need a hand getting ready to run with the reaper crowd? There are many happy to help.

To the folks who have written so far? I think you may miss the point. Point being, that if devs are responding primarily to the nonsensical idea that reaper is “too easy” for most people, first, that’s an asinine thing to drive development of the game from, and two, if that is who they’re listening to instead of the people who find it much more difficult, they’re making a mistake.

Secondly, I’m suggesting they don’t upend the whole game for the sake of a few people breezing through r10. If that is the case, just add a difficulty level just as is done in heroic and epic, only tailored for reaper. That way, the people who really are finding it super easy get challenged and the rest of us don’t get screwed out of playing what we like to that’s already difficult enough.

I will never, EVER run on r10 or anywhere near it unless I get extremely lucky and once in a blue moon happen to be playing on my low pop server during my 1 hour a day max play time. It literally will take me ten more years of gameplay to even APPROACH having all past lives. Been playing as many days a week as I can for @ 5 years and I STILL do not have all bonuses from epic past lives. Epic complete yes. But not all sphere bonuses. Racials? HA!! 4. Heroics? I have 7. Good luck ever completing that, especially if the game is now 30% harder or longer because of what happened to my toon in this update (he’s far less effective at hitting CC and damage is down disproportionately from other DPS types. It’s not just me. The FVS and the PM in my group got crushed too.

PL are now even more a key component of success. I know how to gear, filigree, etc...that’s never been an issue. I simply don’t have the time it takes to know every quest by heart, have every PL bonus (people talk about completionist like “oh that’s easy”) or the ability to get raid gear in the limited play time and low pop on my server. It’s always like the same 7 characters doing the raids. I say for those breeze through types, make it harder. If they’re so great let them have a reaper elite or hardcore tab where the defenses and HP of BBEGS go up exponentially. I think that kind of thing solves a lot of problems for the normal player and adds the difficulty the super elite 10+ hours of ddo a day types crave.

[Praya20]

All I'm reading is you need to pick a new server.

[Merrillman]

All I'm reading is you need to pick a new server.

I have absolutely considered this. The problem is however, her you would have to leave friends behind. If I leave friends behind there’s really no point in playing DDO at all. Secondly, every server should have enough of a population in order to be viable. If that’s not the case then I think it’s up to the developers to merge servers where appropriate.

[Drekisen]

I think sooner or later some players just have to realize that the people who put in the time/money to get where they are, are always going to be the ones ahead.

Will there be this argument when they raise the level cap and only a handful of players can do the hardest content again.

They earned it, let them have what they earned.

It's like a poor person saying I shouldn't get paid even though I work my butt off all day just because they can't have it.

Ridiculous!

And if this has anything to do with the stat squish, that happened to everyone, even the people saying reaper is too easy.

[TheAlicornSage]

To the folks who have written so far? I think you may miss the point. Point being, that if devs are responding primarily to the nonsensical idea that reaper is “too easy” for most people, first, that’s an asinine thing to drive development of the game from, and two, if that is who they’re listening to instead of the people who find it much more difficult, they’re making a mistake.

Secondly, I’m suggesting they don’t upend the whole game for the sake of a few people breezing through r10. If that is the case, just add a difficulty level just as is done in heroic and epic, only tailored for reaper. That way, the people who really are finding it super easy get challenged and the rest of us don’t get screwed out of playing what we like to that’s already difficult enough.

I will never, EVER run on r10 or anywhere near it unless I get extremely lucky and once in a blue moon happen to be playing on my low pop server during my 1 hour a day max play time. It literally will take me ten more years of gameplay to even APPROACH having all past lives. Been playing as many days a week as I can for @ 5 years and I STILL do not have all bonuses from epic past lives. Epic complete yes. But not all sphere bonuses. Racials? HA!! 4. Heroics? I have 7. Good luck ever completing that, especially if the game is now 30% harder or longer because of what happened to my toon in this update (he’s far less effective at hitting CC and damage is down disproportionately from other DPS types. It’s not just me. The FVS and the PM in my group got crushed too.

PL are now even more a key component of success. I know how to gear, filigree, etc...that’s never been an issue. I simply don’t have the time it takes to know every quest by heart, have every PL bonus (people talk about completionist like “oh that’s easy”) or the ability to get raid gear in the limited play time and low pop on my server. It’s always like the same 7 characters doing the raids. I say for those breeze through types, make it harder. If they’re so great let them have a reaper elite or hardcore tab where the defenses and HP of BBEGS go up exponentially. I think that kind of thing solves a lot of problems for the normal player and adds the difficulty the super elite 10+ hours of ddo a day types crave.

Or just rescale reaper so r10 is harder and let weaker player stick to whatever lower level is within their ability. Much easier and problem solved. Even better is to make reaper scale a bit with the quest level, so difficulty for a lvl 1 quest on reaper 2 is the next difficulty after lvl 30 quest on reaper 1. Repeat all the way through r10. That makes a smoother scale transition giving a very broad space so that the most capable players have plenty of very difficult content , while there still being a massive range of small incrementally more difficult quests for all the players below the top.

Bonus: It gives the higher level players a reason to play the low level quests. Can you imagine playing Misery's Peak if it was scaled for level 30 players?

[Drekisen]

Or just rescale reaper so r10 is harder and let weaker player stick to whatever lower level is within their ability. Much easier and problem solved. Even better is to make reaper scale a bit with the quest level, so difficulty for a lvl 1 quest on reaper 2 is the next difficulty after lvl 30 quest on reaper 1. Repeat all the way through r10. That makes a smoother scale transition giving a very broad space so that the most capable players have plenty of very difficult content , while there still being a massive range of small incrementally more difficult quests for all the players below the top.

Bonus: It gives the higher level players a reason to play the low level quests. Can you imagine playing Misery's Peak if it was scaled for level 30 players?

Scaling all the quests like the challenge system is an absolutely brilliant idea!

I like the idea that was mentioned about giving every player a power ranking, that would allow people to group with others they are comfortable with.

[TheAlicornSage]

Scaling all the quests like the challenge system is an absolutely brilliant idea!

I like the idea that was mentioned about giving every player a power ranking, that would allow people to group with others they are comfortable with.

I posted a thread with a bit more detail on doing reaper this way, but I'm not sure I was very clear as not many read it and no one commented.
Power ranking is called "level."

Of course, who a player is comfortable with can not be distilled to a power level. There are several reasons I hate grouping for example, none of which involve how powerful people are.

[Aelonwy]

I think sooner or later some players just have to realize that the people who put in the time/money to get where they are, are always going to be the ones ahead.

Will there be this argument when they raise the level cap and only a handful of players can do the hardest content again.

They earned it, let them have what they earned.

It's like a poor person saying I shouldn't get paid even though I work my butt off all day just because they can't have it.

Ridiculous!

And if this has anything to do with the stat squish, that happened to everyone, even the people saying reaper is too easy.

I've got no beef with people enjoying what they've achieved... however I get seriously annoyed with the ones that have achieved so much that they complain there is nothing more for them to do or its not challenging enough for them so they want the game made more difficult for everyone and since you brought in real life with your poor person example... it would be as if a universal 60% tax rate went through and my family had to live off less than 10k a year but Bezos would still have 77 billion or so.

Redo Hard and Elite. Leave normal as is, make hard 3-5x harder then normal, elite 10- 20x harder, then scale in reaper. Make thing challenging again.

(Using this only as an example, no malice intended) ^These are the type of comments I will argue vociferously against, because these type of suggestions won't affect those with the most ground out already they will only affect those with the least. On the opposite end of the spectrum many of the same people that have so many past life, tome, and reaper benefits adamantly fight any suggestions to make the oldest grinds quicker/faster/more efficient to bring more players up to their standard because "I did it so they need to work for it too" and if you need any actual quotes of that sentiment I'm sure I could find some if I waste an hour or so with the search mechanism on the forums.

Obviously those with dozens of past lives, and dozens of reaper points and high or highest tomes find the game easier they have done everything necessary to make it EASIER for themselves but many of those same over-achievers want to make it harder again to feel "challenged" or so they say but the actual outcome would be to make it more difficult for anyone not already at their level to achieve their level of power.

[Drekisen]

I've got no beef with people enjoying what they've achieved... however I get seriously annoyed with the ones that have achieved so much that they complain there is nothing more for them to do or its not challenging enough for them so they want the game made more difficult for everyone and since you brought in real life with your poor person example... it would be as if a universal 60% tax rate went through and my family had to live off less than 10k a year but Bezos would still have 77 billion or so.

Yeah....I hadn't really thought how the squish served the people who wanted more challenge greater than the people trying to catch up, a lot of the power players are annoyed with the loss of power too though. Such a complicated mess trying to keep everyone happy.

That is why I just play to have fun anymore...I am in control of what my level of difficulty is...being content with that is enough for me.

[TheAlicornSage]

I've got no beef with people enjoying what they've achieved... however I get seriously annoyed with the ones that have achieved so much that they complain there is nothing more for them to do or its not challenging enough for them so they want the game made more difficult for everyone and since you brought in real life with your poor person example... it would be as if a universal 60% tax rate went through and my family had to live off less than 10k a year but Bezos would still have 77 billion or so.



(Using this only as an example, no malice intended) ^These are the type of comments I will argue vociferously against, because these type of suggestions won't affect those with the most ground out already they will only affect those with the least. On the opposite end of the spectrum many of the same people that have so many past life, tome, and reaper benefits adamantly fight any suggestions to make the oldest grinds quicker/faster/more efficient to bring more players up to their standard because "I did it so they need to work for it too" and if you need any actual quotes of that sentiment I'm sure I could find some if I waste an hour or so with the search mechanism on the forums.

Obviously those with dozens of past lives, and dozens of reaper points and high or highest tomes find the game easier they have done everything necessary to make it EASIER for themselves but many of those same over-achievers want to make it harder again to feel "challenged" or so they say but the actual outcome would be to make it more difficult for anyone not already at their level to achieve their level of power.

I'm curious, what did you think of my suggestion then? It adds difficulty yet does not make the easier difficulties harder, instead it just drastically increases the scale from being as easy as the non-reaper is now to so difficult that no one can run r10.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

IObviously those with dozens of past lives, and dozens of reaper points and high or highest tomes find the game easier they have done everything necessary to make it EASIER for themselves but many of those same over-achievers want to make it harder again to feel "challenged" or so they say but the actual outcome would be to make it more difficult for anyone not already at their level to achieve their level of power.

Exactly my thoughts.

[dredre9987]

“It’s too easy.”

Okay badasses.... The devs should add two more difficulty levels, just like in regular gameplay.

1) “REAPER ELITE” mode. No reaper points useable. No XP gained. Cosmetics and clickies, and that’s it.
2) “ REAPER HARDCORE” mode. If you die, you’re dead permanently and have to start over. Shouldn’t be bad. You’re a DDO badass, remember? For every dungeon you actually survive, you get 1/10 a reaper reincarnation token that when all 10 are combined (with a heart of...., of course) can restore any character — but with zero reaper points. That ought to fix your complaining about “ease.”

Now shut up and stop screwing it up for people who can’t spend their lives in a basement playing DDO 12-16 hours a day. The end.

Says the person who just said they spend $5000+ a year in DDO....

Because without it? I spend most of my time dead in anything other than hard. Getting one shot every 3 seconds is not fun. That dead all of the time status means I cannot accume reaper points. Only way to be good in reaper is to get reaper points, and RC is what allowed me the viability to do that. I’ll solo even more now as half my group already left DDO over the nerf. I have maybe an hour a day max to spend on the game. If I’m dead? I’ll take my $5000+ a year spend and leave. That’s pretty much the bottom line. If I can’t heal, I don’t live. If I can’t stay alive I have no desire to waste money on resurrection cakes. Soloing is the majority of what I do, and I do not want to play a Cleric, Pally, Ranger, Druid, PM, Aasimar, Warforged or any other self healable class. I love the Sorcerer I play and have put many years into him. No desire to make an entire change, re-farm gear, etc. Not fun. Not going to be a good experience. So in my opinion, RC is 1000% vital. Can’t DDO without it. No tank and no healer when soloing. Can’t effectively solo without self heal is the bottom line. Perhaps if it wasn’t such a stupid jump from solo to elite to reaper when it claims one level for each setting but is really more like a feel of 5-10 levels of difference for each. Game is basically useless to me if I can’t solo R1 or Elite.

I can guarantee if I spent $416+ a month on DDO I would literally have nothing left to do in game...

Doom posts always happen with every single update to the game and its still here.

[Razor_Wit]

“It’s too easy.” Okay badasses....Now shut up and stop screwing it up for people who can’t spend their lives in a basement playing DDO 12-16 hours a day. The end.

If your mom isn't bringing you meatloaf and changing your bedpan mid-r10's you're doing it wrong.

[Josielynn]

Yeah....I hadn't really thought how the squish served the people who wanted more challenge greater than the people trying to catch up, a lot of the power players are annoyed with the loss of power too though. Such a complicated mess trying to keep everyone happy.

That is why I just play to have fun anymore...I am in control of what my level of difficulty is...being content with that is enough for me.

It's one thing to have to drop down a level since you can't do the quest at the same level you used to, but FAVOR is wrapped up in the different levels, too. That you can't get the same experience per quest is annoying enough, but you can't get the favor needed, either. The different feat/reward tiers are based off elite, so you'd have to wait until you are over level and get zero experience just to get the favor needed.

[TheAlicornSage]

It's one thing to have to drop down a level since you can't do the quest at the same level you used to, but FAVOR is wrapped up in the different levels, too. That you can't get the same experience per quest is annoying enough, but you can't get the favor needed, either. The different feat/reward tiers are based off elite, so you'd have to wait until you are over level and get zero experience just to get the favor needed.

Since when is Elite difficult? I thought that was what reaper was for. Admittedly I don't unlock elite that often, jot because I find it hard, but because I don't often like doing the same quest a bazillion times. However, there are occasions that I do unlock elite, and frankly, epic levels are the only time I find any challenge on elite, and that happens because I'm so under leveled. Anything below lvl 20 I ran as soon as it unlocked, so I regularly soloed quests 4 lvls above me which made elite 6 lvls above when I did choose to run elite, and I could do that easy enough and I don't have any of the extras that hardcore players go for, such as past-lives. And I'm only starting to have trouble at epic lvls mainly because the difference between lvl X vs X+2, is truly massive compared to sub-epic.

So either you're referencing exclusively epic level only quests (and really, just how much favor is that? Can't be any significant amount), or somehow have trouble running sub-reaper sub-epic content and I just don't see how that can be so hard that even a noob can't run quests of at least their own level up to elite.

I am not an optimizer. I do not spend time kitting myself out to optimize any of my numbers. So, I'm not really sure that favor is a problem.

[Josielynn]

... So either you're referencing exclusively epic level only quests (and really, just how much favor is that? Can't be any significant amount) ...

Yes, I was referring to epic elite. You obviously aren't going after the favor feat rewards.

[Aelonwy]

Since when is Elite difficult?

HE is not all that difficult IMHO, harder than hard as it should be but not aggravating. But EE/LE was difficult until I had Ravenloft/Sharn gear in epics and then I finally for a blessed few years was managing EE/LE reasonably well, few to no deaths, successful CC, some difficult spots but not struggling the whole quest. After stat squish my melee/ranged characters are okay but my casters just are not cutting it in EE/LE like they were before U50. The difficulty between EH and EE is too exponential, again if there must be a speed bump in difficulties it really should be between elite and reaper not hard and elite.