The 3 difficulty mechanic is outdated IMO

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polak86 wrote:

-- This is just an opinion and a topic for discussion, so lets not get out of hand here with replies and lets keep it civil for a change. --



Normal, Cruel, Merciless... is what I believe to be an outdated mechanic in my opinion. Does anybody else agree with me from an arpg point of view?

Thoughts, ideas... please speak freely but keep it civil folks.

TBH, I miss the fourth difficulty (Ruthless) that was intermediate to Cruel and Merciless. IMO - The game had a very nice progression of difficulty/balance before they cut out Ruthless.

I do understand and sympathize with the lack of desire to repeat content multiple times to get to the end game, and perhaps there could be a work around for that

Perhaps - beat the full game in normal mode and have a high enough character level would unlock end game areas?

For some players certain areas just don't hold their interest, while they find other areas more fun to play. The map system helps with this a little bit, but the ability to play the tile sets you like is limited by the RNG of map drops.

Put very simply, if the latter difficulty of PoE was limited to act 3 tile sets, I would have quit the game a long long time ago. Having multiple difficulties allows players to move past some tile sets(and monster sets)that they may not enjoy and level or item find in the areas they do like.

The thing I look forward to most in future PoE updates is more areas/tilesets/monsters.

I really hope they have a few more big open areas like Fellshrine, Mudflats, Western Forest etc. The channeled zones are ok part of the time, but too many of those zones make me feel like I am playing an isometric version of a side scroller game.

To your point of not enjoying the multiple trips, perhaps the quests to get through certain areas would be optional after normal mode - but your character wouldn't get the quest rewards?

A3 is harder than A1 of the next difficulty and new huge gardens certainly do not help.

If you did well in A3 (Battlefront+) simply go straight to A2 Sins 1,
don't waste time in Ledge.

Act 3 is the reason why I hate starting new characters on hardcore. Act 1 feels really satisfying, act2 meh and act 3 just feels like like I'm just 'grinding' like an mmorpg

Just copy-paste new difficulty system from Reaper of Souls.. I don't know if it's perfect.. but it's really another evolution in ARPG games in terms of difficulties..

Add bounties..reward bounties with map drops ..and here we are.. something worth to play.

Not to pee too hard on the QQ parade in this thread regarding the difficulty progression, but I can't help seeing most of these posts as thinly veiled attempts to "dumb-down" the game in order to faceroll all the content and, ultimately, reduce replayability to zero.

If you get to A3 and find all the content simply too strong to overcome with rapidity then I would posit that the issue is not with the game, but with your build/gear loadout/skill choice(s). "But I'm using [insert known youtube/twitch player here]'s awesome build that he/she wafflestomps the game with!" is not a valid argument, as there are simply too many variables that could make your attempt at the build invalid. (even if you have the exact same uniques, you may get crappy rolls or bad sockets/links, individual playstyle differences have an impact, etc.).

But self-reflection and critical assessment of one's choices really is asking too much of people, isn't it?

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Sinnesteuer wrote:

Not to pee too hard on the QQ parade in this thread regarding the difficulty progression, but I can't help seeing most of these posts as thinly veiled attempts to "dumb-down" the game in order to faceroll all the content and, ultimately, reduce replayability to zero.

If you get to A3 and find all the content simply too strong to overcome with rapidity then I would posit that the issue is not with the game, but with your build/gear loadout/skill choice(s). "But I'm using [insert known youtube/twitch player here]'s awesome build that he/she wafflestomps the game with!" is not a valid argument, as there are simply too many variables that could make your attempt at the build invalid. (even if you have the exact same uniques, you may get crappy rolls or bad sockets/links, individual playstyle differences have an impact, etc.).

But self-reflection and critical assessment of one's choices really is asking too much of people, isn't it?

Honestly, many people just don't enjoy some acts, environment etc... it's not about making something easier or harder.. it's about making everything equally hard and let difficulty be adjusted by player..if it's something too easy, let him up the difficulty and enjoy better rewards..if something is too hard..just downscale the difficulty and let him at least progress..

Concept of three playthroughs is really outdated.. and some games already showed the way out of this..old concept.. in the end..everything is about fun..

I don't mind having three difficulty settings.

What I dislike is the huge disparity in difficulty between Act 3 and the following Act 1. In my opinion, the scaling should progress more smoothly: Act I Cruel & Merciless are too easy and should have their difficulty significantly increased.

Continuing with the smoothed progression, Act 2 Cruel and Merciless should have modest difficulty increases, leading to a smooth difficulty progression into Act 3.

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ManiaCCC wrote:

in the end..everything is about fun..

And, obviously, if you aren't having "fun" then it has to be the fault of the game, right? And, since "fun" has a universal, objective definition, we can all agree on what "fun" is, right?

Let's be honest with ourselves, the issue that people are really having in this thread is not with the three tier difficulty mechanic, but with their individual issues in reaching end-game content. This is due to the erroneous notion that the "real game" does not start until map content. People don't want to make the journey, they just want to be at the destination. For this reason, they cannot enjoy the journey and appreciate the game as it is presented to us. I cannot help but see that as a personal issue with the player.

If I were to offer a workable solution, it would be for GGG to make the game available in an offline only, single player, 100% mod-able version. Then those players that don't want to play PoE, but some stylized version that custom-fits to them, can do so, and those of us that enjoy the game as it is can continue to have our fun.


Tangentially, but related, how many of the players with issues related to reaching map content would also have issues with the live sport of fishing?

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ManiaCCC wrote:

Just copy-paste new difficulty system from Reaper of Souls.. I don't know if it's perfect.. but it's really another evolution in ARPG games in terms of difficulties..

Add bounties..reward bounties with map drops ..and here we are.. something worth to play.

Takin any ideas for that mess called diablo 3 is like taking advise from kindergarten children about physics.


No that idea is incredible terrible in any RPG but then again d3 is not really a RPG more like an arcade game so yea it properly suits the game well but these arcade elements dont belong in any RPG and defiantly not POE

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Sinnesteuer wrote:

Let's be honest with ourselves, the issue that people are really having in this thread is not with the three tier difficulty mechanic, but with their individual issues in reaching end-game content. This is due to the erroneous notion that the "real game" does not start until map content. People don't want to make the journey, they just want to be at the destination. For this reason, they cannot enjoy the journey and appreciate the game as it is presented to us. I cannot help but see that as a personal issue with the player.

For some of us, the journey IS the entire game.

I personally have no interest in end game. I spent 10 years in a top tier raiding guild, in Everquest, waving my e-peen around. It got old. I realized the only part I was enjoying was seeing the complete story before anybody else, the rest, nothing. I got more enjoyment playing untwinked alts on other servers with my wife and kids.