Patch #2 difficulty

[diji]

I think the difficulty is too harsh, at least at the low end of the scale, which might deter newcomers.

XP might be a tad too low as well, but this could be due to the difficulty (harder at low levels = longer to get XP) so I'll reserve judgement till I reach a decent level.

An idea that may work is keeping the difficulty as is, but boost the XP rewards considerably, at least while at a lower level. The XP rewards can taper off as you level up.

[DeadlyShadow]

I agree, I'm level 6 and I get killed like in 3 seconds :(

[reiji]

The difficulty is just fine, you just need to utilize cover more often because of lack of shields.

[diji]

The difficulty is just fine, you just need to utilize cover more often because of lack of shields.

I respectfully disagree. While you or I can handle the difficulty as is, many new players will just be frustrated and likely quit.

Considering that the game is free, there is no loss for the player if they decide to drop the game entirely, unlike a paid game.

It would be fine keeping the current difficulty as a "hard mode" offering increased rewards, but for a player to experience off the bat will just deter them playing and/or spreading the word about a fun game.

Note that I'm talking about very early on, once you get a few upgrades under your belt (which takes a fair bit longer now due to the compounded effect of higher difficulty and higher XP caps) you can fare quite well against the onslaught.

While I agree that pre-patch was far too easy both to level up as well as complete missions (I had almost 2 frames completely maxed and a fair number of weapons half-way maxed after playing for less than a week), this is too far in the opposite direction.

The game must not only be balanced for late-game players with many upgrades and/or hardcore gamers, but also appeal to less hardcore gamers, as well as starting off less difficult to ease players into the action.

Edited October 31, 2012 by diji

[DeadlyShadow]

The difficulty is just fine, you just need to utilize cover more often because of lack of shields.

There's no covering systen, which makes the firefights very hard, even aiming is hard, I don't have any problem, but new player might feel like this game wasn't made for them and leave it

[HiPNoTiK]

i just download n did my first misson....n i died 21 times :x........................ get killed in 2sec ... or maybe i just suck

[reiji]

stuff

To each his own, personally I liked the challenge and actually died quite a few times while getting my first couple ranks, and this was playing solo. If you play as group it is much easier.

[hellsan631]

I think part of the difficuly comes from the lack of level 1 cards in the beginning of the game. I remember there being level 1 cards when I first started out, and as I went, they seemed to level up based on my level. Since the wipe, my deck has been reset, but I still had my hand, and am still getting level 3 difficult cards (atleast in the beginning I never got level 1)

IF you think the game is harder then you'd like, I suggest joining a public game and using the coms if you can. It makes a big different if everyone isn't just running into the fray.

[diji]

To each his own, personally I liked the challenge and actually died quite a few times while getting my first couple ranks, and this was playing solo. If you play as group it is much easier.

Personally I love the challenge, dying is a real possibility now. Before the patch I could stand in the middle of a fight while I typed to someone on Steam and return with no health damage done.

All I'm saying is, not everyone appreciates that, especially when it's their first experience with a game.

For my personal tastes, I'm fine with it is now, I'd probably just boost the XP a tad because I feel it discourages experimentation. That is, it takes a fair while to get your first couple of ranks to upgrade your weapon. It's really not a big deal though, and a lot of it is my completionist side wanting to have everything.

To reiterate, I love the difficulty, though I can actually see it getting too easy soon unless the missions get a fair bit harder because I'm really not very high levelled and find it middling in terms of difficulty.

A hard mode with increased rewards, harder enemies, maybe special types of enemies (like the badasses and stuff in Borderlands) might be cool. Phantasy Star Online 2 has multiple difficulties that require unlocking and it seems to work well there.

[The-Event-Horizon]

After the wipe, the first couple missions were serious business... dying like crazy... but after getting the extra shields and health, it was fine. Now that my excalibur is rank 9, it could actually be a bit more difficult most games. It now seems like a sit back and relax kind of game; I play with the 360 controller and my video feed to the TV. Still fun, dont get me wrong... I like how its going now.

Edited November 1, 2012 by The-Event-Horizon

[diji]

Yeah I think the difficulty curve is a bit backwards. It starts off pretty hard but gets really easy. I'd love unlockable difficulties to keep the challenge up.

[Maninas]

I think part of the difficuly comes from the lack of level 1 cards in the beginning of the game. I remember there being level 1 cards when I first started out, and as I went, they seemed to level up based on my level. Since the wipe, my deck has been reset, but I still had my hand, and am still getting level 3 difficult cards (atleast in the beginning I never got level 1)

IF you think the game is harder then you'd like, I suggest joining a public game and using the coms if you can. It makes a big different if everyone isn't just running into the fray.

This. I was pretty leveled up and had 2 red cards and a blue one left in my hand that didn't reset. The difficulty is incredibly unbalanced for those cards, wish they had wiped everything.