The 3 difficulty mechanic is outdated IMO

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zachatta wrote:

Seriously though, I love it when people say "gaiz we can't have (insert debatable mechanic here, permanency, skill choices, difficulty levels) because that is so 1999. (or something similar)

What does that mean anyways?

they dont want another world war. WW's are outdated, right?

raise your hand if u r tired of farming docks/catacombs/lunaris 3


raise your hand if you have ever cleared Dread Thicket after the first time.

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Melkrow wrote:

raise your hand if u r tired of farming docks/catacombs/lunaris 3


raise your hand if you have ever cleared Dread Thicket after the first time.

you must be new to the game.
*old man voice* back in my days we farmed thicket all day long

but srsly. in closed beta there was no A3 and thicket/fellshrine were the best places to farm over and over again =)

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iHaku wrote:

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Melkrow wrote:

raise your hand if u r tired of farming docks/catacombs/lunaris 3


raise your hand if you have ever cleared Dread Thicket after the first time.

you must be new to the game.
*old man voice* back in my days we farmed thicket all day long

but srsly. in closed beta there was no A3 and thicket/fellshrine were the best places to farm over and over again =)

And then they removed guaranteed large chest :(

I'm of two minds about difficulty levels. As everyone agrees, it's tiresome to have to replay the entire game, but how else can your character gain enough levels to take on maps? Here's one way I thought of to make it into a kind of Softcore challenge:

1. Just before entering the final boss-fight arena in Acts I, II, and III, your party is divided into two separate groups, each in their own instance: one group of those who have completed the act and another group for those who haven't yet done so.

2. If you defeat the final boss the first time through each Act, you proceed to the next Act. However, the difficulty curve (and your XP gain rate) ramps up with each subsequent act, as follows:

Act I: Normal difficulty as it currently stands
Act II: Ramps up from Normal at the start; ends at Act II Cruel difficulty
Act III: Ramps up from Cruel at the start; ends up at Act III Merciless level

Completing the three-Act sequence levels your character to the mid-60's.

3. If you die to Merveil in Act 1, you must then replay Act I starting back at the Twilight Strand waypoint. For Act I replays, however, the difficulty level is bumped up to that of Act II Normal.

4. Once you get to Act II, the difficulty starts ramping up to reach Act II Cruel difficulty at the end of the act. If you die to Vaal, you must then replay Act II starting back at the Southern Forest waypoint. For Act II replays, however, the difficulty level is bumped up to that of Act III Cruel.

5. Once you get to Act III, the difficulty starts ramping up to reach Act III Merciless difficulty at the end of the act. When you reach Dominus at the end of Act III, your party is again divided into those who have defeated Dominus and those who haven't. If you fail to defeat Dominus, however, you are not sent back to the start of Act III. The game continues as it does currently, allowing you to either play maps or attempt to take on Dominus as many times as you wish.

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RogueMage wrote:

3. If you fail your first attempt at Merveil in Act 1, you must then replay Act I starting back at the Twilight Strand waypoint. For Act I replays, however, the difficulty level is bumped up to that of Act II Normal.

i died to hilloc. and now? hes super strong since hes level 20+ D:

also who dies first time merv? if you beat her how can you go to cruel with level 14~?
ppl whould just death abuse her to level ledge more

Yea I don't like having lots of difficulty loops either. Got to thinking of it after re-reading Scrotie's post about scaling and whether it should be quantitative or qualitative.

The only game where I was really satisfied with the 3 difficulties model was Diablo 2. None of the other Diablo games even succeeded with making multiple difficulties fun so it's not a gold standard or a tradition. The reason it worked in D2 is because the difficulty mattered. Tough combinations like multishot lit-enchanted couldn't appear until Cruel. Immunities didn't appear until Nightmare but in Hell they became common. And the last difficulty was relatively flat after all the patches, Act 1 Hell was kind of the start of the end-game. To top it all off, this mirrored your character's progression where Normal you were unlocking the basics, Nightmare was maxing out your key skills, and Hell was finishing off the supplements/synergies.

POE is completely missing the staging of character progression and difficulty progression in a mirror. There aren't really any stages to character growth in POE. You can even get all the skills just in Normal difficulty. Due to differences in the way skills level in POE, there's really nothing left for the game to offer that you don't already have after Normal difficulty in terms of character progression.

POE could go straight to Maps at the end of Normal and I think it would be fine. There's no need for any difficulty looping in this game at all. The thing that's going to be really tricky about removing difficulties is the quest rewards. Especially the Bandits.

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Hodari wrote:

Keep in mind that during closed beta, there used to be *4* difficulties(and only 2 acts), so this process has already started.

Good point.

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MasterCard wrote:

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Hodari wrote:

Keep in mind that during closed beta, there used to be *4* difficulties(and only 2 acts), so this process has already started.

Good point.

fun fact: the OP is actually a closed beta supporter and he didnt noticed this "process"

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iHaku wrote:

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RogueMage wrote:

3. If you fail your first attempt at Merveil in Act 1, you must then replay Act I starting back at the Twilight Strand waypoint. For Act I replays, however, the difficulty level is bumped up to that of Act II Normal.

i died to hilloc. and now? hes super strong since hes level 20+

You were presumably able to make it all the way to Merveil, so you're not hopeless. Hilloc should be scaled accordingly.

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also who dies first time merv? if you beat her how can you go to cruel with level 14~?

If you're not twinked, Merveil can definitely pose a lethal threat, especially for those who are playing the game for the first time.

The core of the idea is to accelerate your leveling process through Acts II & III, but only for those who are experienced enough to beat the Act bosses. Act II would thus start off at Normal level, but ramp up to end at Cruel level. Act III would likewise start at Cruel level and ramp up to end at Merciless level.