[Sept 18] Difficulty and Level Progression

I have just finished the default setting with a ranger, and that took me .. at least 10 hrs, and I was well over the last area's monster lvl when I finished it.
I find the first act in default as the most challenging so far, when your character is weak, as well as getting used to game mechanics.
I personally died alot more in the first act then the second.

I found the level progression so far to be fairly fast. Not that that's a entirely bad thing either.
Its good because it compels me to play further faster, because if there's a certain skill I want coming up, or a area I'm having trouble getting through I know its obtainable in the near future.
There was a couple of times however I found myself breezing through areas because i was several levels higher then the monsters.

I just want to say, i played diablo 2 for like 6 years and after a week of playing this im hooked.. THIS GAME IS AWESOME, it pretty much a version of diablo 2 we all wish it was, not to say its a copy, just 100000000 times better... nice job GGG....

I also believe that the game is waay too easy. Hopefully the difficulty of this game increases quite a bit, maybe even to encouraging formations of a party to get through areas.

I think what this game did very well is exactly the progression and difficulty. What I like about it is that you can go through the game doing full cleans of areas leveling up your character keeping you on par with the area level and finding new items to prepare you for the next levels. I think that makes for a rewarding experience where you plan your build and find that it actually works.
Yes, I agree still the game could be a little more challenging though, a bit harder in some areas (Fellshrine Ruins come to mind). Make the game challenging and at the same time keep it rewarding in experience and items. It could be good to actually make players have to complete areas and not just rush to end quests. But not to the point to make it feel frustrating. Because after all, the one thing I feel is not good for any game like this one is to have to farm the same previous areas over and over to progress, because your character is stuck and cannot start playing on the next map until the lvl is higher or the items are better even if you ve been playing through all the way up to that point.
I like the idea of an increased challenge as we advance through each act, I think the last areas should be considerably harder than the starting ones.

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Benjymin wrote:

I just want to say, i played diablo 2 for like 6 years and after a week of playing this im hooked.. THIS GAME IS AWESOME, it pretty much a version of diablo 2 we all wish it was, not to say its a copy, just 100000000 times better... nice job GGG....

You could consider Blizzard's idea of having endgame raids with levels over that of character maxes, it seems to have been quite engaging for the majority of players, not to mention profitable.

I don't really know where to put this, but I wasn't at all happy with the melee targeting. A lot of the time, I would try to hit a monster but end up walking past it instead. Shift didn't help much. I think the hitboxes need to be bigger, more forgiving. I almost gave up on the game but decided I should try a caster first, and now I'm having quite a bit more fun with the witch because there are no targeting issues.

edit: I guess part of the reason I didn't like it at first was the templar's special ability, as it seemed rather unimpressive, and the targeting issue only made it worse for me. Having fun with the witch now, though, so thanks.

edit2: My town portal in town disappeared while I was writing this review. Portals shouldn't disappear.

First of all I must say that I love the changes in the new version. There are new suprises, lots of improvements, this is quite good.

But, since 0.9.9 I feel that the difficulty became much too high.
My report below considers a starting character which does not have a high level alt that can equip him.

The OP writes that in "some places" it will be difficult, and I agree this is true that in "some places" it is, and in other it is not.

But were it is, it is too much.

In the ledge I died maybe 10 times .
This is not funny.
Yet the first act 2 area was a simple walk compared to the Ledge and this is 8 areas farther.

Same goes with the exploding larvae before Merveil area.
3 of them are enough to kill you. Yet the first time you meet them they are in packs of 7-8, plus other monsters.
I died 3 times before starting to use the decoy totem. Oh and they kill you so easily and give no xp.
What about placing only 1 with other mobs ? This will be challenging enough.


Same goes with the boss behind the Baleful Gem whose damage is much too high. I died at least 5 times before killing him. [Out of subject: you should consider making a portal appear when the player pick up the gem]

I spent most of my game time dying and travelling back. Sometimes you have to cross 2 areas without portal.

You should really consider monster damage and packs considering a starting character who has to do with what he drops.

The difficulty level is there to make the game more challenching later on.

If the goal is to scale the game to have a correct challenge for an equipped character (using a higher level one) this is not the good way. As when starting a new character the goal is precisely to reach higher difficulties for the challenge and not being stuck in the lower difficulties.

Before I could do with travelling areas as without dying so much it was ok. But now I feel that the game will not suit most casual players like myself.
Spending most of the game time just walking, play 5 sec, dye, come back etc ... is not really what we want, at least at the beginning (this means: at least in the first difficulty).

Don't take me wrong, I do not mind dying some times, it is the game, it is normal. But as it is now, it is too much.

Imarion

how about make only one difficulty. and adding content continuesly? its little stupid that u need repeat game.

Waow, since 0.9.9, I love the difficulty ! Finally some challenge as the game starts. Much better than the dull AI from older version.

However, as others suggested, I'd avoid (too) powerful unavoidable attacks, or at least, reduce their occurrence. Merveil was an interesting fight because I equipped a cold-res ring (and I finished the fight with no potion left), but the fight with Kraityn was just stupid with his teleportation. First, I killed all his friends, then I tried to kite him (bow ranger) which is impossible until I just ran out of potion and die. Then I came back, his allies were still dead, and I just fired at him without moving and constantly drinking potions; which worked... Instead of teleportation, a charge like (Ushi)waka in Okami would make the job...

Cheers