Hardcore Season 7 details

[Maxxcore]

...so the rewards are the same, but the 'challenge' is even easier. Not hardcore.

[Hallstatt]

Yea, so.... I have all the HC2 rewards - as I know many people do, so I probably will not be on HC7 much except maybe to goof around. I have not been motivated to play DDO at all since HC6, but I have not cancelled my sub because I still love the game. HC has a way of burning me out. Not the first time, and probably not the last.

HC2 rewards were fun when they were new, but there are much better HC cosmetics out there now. Although, the mount is still my favorite. Therefore, I suspect not as many people will be on HC this run for various reasons. I wish good luck and fun time to those who will be trying for rewards. If ya see me there, gimme a high-five!

~Greysidious

[cdbd3rd]

More push for folks to run Reaper. pfft-blech.

But good on the return to +4 level lockout. +2 made running some quest chains a real pita - let alone the grouping issues.

[neain2008]

"a game that doesn't listen to its players."

Let me see if I am getting this right. Hardcore is so popular that the old servers will be dead - and scheduling another hardcore is an example of not listening to what the players want.
Maybe what you mean is it is an example of listening to what other players want and not to what *you* want.

Not that I disagree with those that feel this season is a bit too soon after the last one.

its popular for about 2 weeks, and then the total population drops even further than it was before hardcore. According to DDO audit, that has been the trend for the past 2 years.

https://www.ddoaudit.com/trends#perm...ardcore-league

[ekaterina]

"so the rewards are the same, but the 'challenge' is even easier. Not hardcore."

That depends on your definition of hardcore. My definition - and this is what the term has generally meant in computer gaming since at least the early Wizardry and Might and Magic days - is a ruleset where if a character dies it is gone forever and you need to roll up a new character. Way before the internet even existed people did this as a challenge with popular computer roleplaying games and exchanged information about their results on the Compuserve and AOL forums. Just as players held speed-races and competed to see who could win the game or accomplish things in the minimum amount of game time.

While I am saying this definition has a long gaming history - I am not saying that you are wrong. Words change and maybe DDO has been using "hardcore" as synonymous with "difficult" since the sessions began. But to me and many others "hardcore" means "one death and you are out" so it does NOT require each season to be more difficult than the last. It DOES require that the game add to whatever its usual difficulty is that when a character dies it is gone forever - at least from the server though a more normal approach to "hardcore" would have it totally wiped and not able to be transferred.

[C-Dog]

"so the rewards are the same, but the 'challenge' is even easier. Not hardcore."

That depends on your definition of hardcore.

I wonder - are there any stats on what % of players made Level 20/30/RXP goals for the diff seasons?

[neain2008]

I wonder - are there any stats on what % of players made Level 20/30/RXP goals for the diff seasons?

I haven't found any, but that would be an awesome stat for the devs to release. see how 'rare' our stuff actually is

[C-Dog]

see how 'rare' our stuff actually is

Well, I was thinking of getting a relative indicator of how "hard" each season had been in practice, but that too.

[Zargarx]

I think the short time between HC 6 ending and HC 7 is that HC 7 was always planned to be during the xmas break and it was just that HC season 6 was later than planned.
In any case, I'll be in this one a fair bit instead of grab cloak and done as didn't have time in HC 2 to get most of the rewards.
As for the +2 vs +4, +2 in HC 6 didn't really mesh well with the current meta; +3 however would be interesting.
And thankfully no mechanic like those dogs like in HC 6. Mimics are awesome, the dogs were not.

[Mithrielwielder]

Mimics are unfun. Dogs were fun. Bring back the dogs. Two level lockout was fun. Four level lockout sounds boring, but maybe ok for reapers, just not every time. Not enuf time between 6 and 7. 3000 favor ok. Shortened season ok.

[aputamkon]

what exact time will hardcore season start? after the 1 pm update?

[Sylvado]

what exact time will hardcore season start? after the 1 pm update?

I think season 6 opened about 10 to 20 minutes after the main servers can back after the restart.

[drathdragon]

Mimics are unfun. Dogs were fun. Bring back the dogs. Two level lockout was fun. Four level lockout sounds boring, but maybe ok for reapers, just not every time. Not enuf time between 6 and 7. 3000 favor ok. Shortened season ok.

i bet you don't even play the game.

[minorpenthes]

i bet you don't even play the game.

Different people play different ways, with different goals, and differing definitions of "fun". I agree with some of those versions, disagree with others. Different strokes for different folks.

[minorpenthes]

Just asking because I just woke up because I thought they might have opened already...

[GLITRKING]

Seems pretty simple. If you think it's too soon, don't play. Already have the rewards from season 2 and that's all you play for? Don't play. If you just like the extra element of fear in permadeath, play. It's up to you. I like the challenge, so I'll be playing HC7. The beauty of HC is that you can technically make it as easy or as difficult as you want. Favor awards to easy? Go for the reaper rewards. It's a choice, no one is making you play. If you only want to play one HC season per year, then pick one and play it.

[Sookuri]

I am a looong term DDO player and grew up playing paper and dice with my family, so have a big soft spot for the game, which probably makes me loyal beyond what is deserved. I was drawn to show off my skills (triple completionist - all lives x3) in Hardcore (got my bloody footprints in a previous season) but was heartbroken to fall repeatedly to lag on Hardcore. There is no way to avoid a lag jump into a trap. No way to avoid being snuffed by the hound while lagging out. All very depressing. Three lag deaths down and sadly, I have given up on Hardcore until I hear the situation is improved for UK players. The word is UK players do suffer more from lag generally - let's hope the powers that be take note and actually take a look. I requested a refund for all the payments I had made to buy tomes etc to give the toons some chance against the stacked odds, but typically I was met with a big fat NO and a denial of any lag issue. I am a bright, educated lady player with a science degree, an overtaxed sense of humor, and a keen sense of injustice, and found the response dismally inadequate and patronizing. It totally let the game down. I totally understand why people leave, faced with such brutal indifference.

[Sookuri]

I am a looong term DDO player and grew up playing paper and dice with my family, so have a big soft spot for the game, which probably makes me loyal beyond what is deserved. I was drawn to show off my skills (triple completionist - all lives x3) in Hardcore (got my bloody footprints in a previous season) but was heartbroken to fall repeatedly to lag on Hardcore. There is no way to avoid a lag jump into a trap. No way to avoid being snuffed by the hound while lagging out. All very depressing. Three lag deaths down and sadly, I have given up on Hardcore until I hear the situation is improved for UK players. The word is UK players do suffer more from lag generally - let's hope the powers that be take note and actually take a look. I requested a refund for all the payments I had made to buy tomes etc to give the toons some chance against the stacked odds, but typically I was met with a big fat NO and a denial of any lag issue. I am a bright, educated lady player with a science degree, an overtaxed sense of humor, and a keen sense of injustice, and found the response dismally inadequate and patronizing. It totally let the game down. I totally understand why people leave, faced with such brutal indifference

Personally re numbers in the game: I don't understand why the buddy xp bonus is not permanent. What exactly is the downside? Surely it would encourage people to play with friends, which can't hurt numbers...

[archest]

again I think the quests should be open on elite option for everyone on the hardcore server.
without it it makes one dependent on paying for vip or someone with access to open and zerg leaving you behind to die soloing reaper content.
( because of greater speed braking up the party or the lack of patience of the opening player to wait for players to buff)
the spirit of hardcore is the competitiveness of the challenge rewards the HC server gives VIP a head start.
and it takes much longer to reach the xp goals.

when one has only to open or another has to get someone to open or play the quest 3 times.
you get a jump up when you find a group now and then but its very irregular and you will need every min of the timed game play to reach the milestones of the rewards.

I like the Dogs. its a basic R1.
I dont like mimics in general.
I need to find the vulnerability of them yet.

I think the dogs would work well in regular game play Reaper .

The fact they had a short season filler of HC2 enabled me to reach level 20 for the 1st time in 7 seasons.

I didn't have many issues with lag on the hardcore server myself.
the server was generally packed with players most hours of the day.
and finding a LFM with in range of my toons level was not as problematic

I also like the idea of a single free transfer once a year for the other servers would increase LFM availability to those with low attendance, servers which basically die during hardcore.
would give the players options to reevaluate as well as join those player they liked to group with during hardcore.

wasn't there supposed to be a free name change option with the transfer because of the AI name change when transferring? ~1


Next season I will try and tr at least 1 time on heroics hardcore.
were as those vip player dont have too.