A Little Suggestion For A Difficulty Increase Without Affecting The Gameplay Of New Players And Casual Players

[Chris9428]

I recently thought about a new difficulty scaling, since the current difficulty isn't very challenging for experienced players.
But of course, it still should be playable for new players and casual players, so this might be the solution;

THE DIFFICULTY INCREASE IS OPTIONAL! YOU CAN CHOOSE AFTER YOU HIT A CERTAIN RANK!

Example: You hit Rank 3, you'll be able to choose between easy and medium difficulty.

•Players who are Rank 0 - 2 will be in the 1st class, which is basically an easy mode.•

New players have to get used to the game.
Normal enemies take less hits and deal less damage. Bosses have their damage reduced.
If there are going to be AI improvements, then the enemies should have their AI reduced for that category.



•Players who are Rank 3 - 5 will be in the 2nd class, which would be medium difficulty.•

Every player probably already has their basic mods on an acceptable rank.
Enemies and bosses will stay as they currently are.



•Players who are Rank 6 - 8 will be in the 3rd class. That'd be the hard difficulty.•

Every player should already have almost every mod and the most of them maxed out.
Enemies and Bosses will have their health increased and their damage increased.
Bosses might get additional abilities as well, which will make the fight even harder.
In case of upcoming AI improvements, the enemies should have their AI increased.



•Players who are Rank 9 or above will be in the 4th and last class. That'd be very hard difficulty.•

Every player should have every mod and all of them maxed out.
Enemies and Bosses have their health and damage further increased.
Bosses might get more additional abilites which require a good strategy to survive.
In case of upcoming AI improvements, the enemies should have their AI greatly increased.

 

Did I mention that the difficulty increase is OPTIONAL?

Example: If a player ranks up to rank 3, he'll get into the 2nd class. He's now able to choose between easy difficulty and medium difficulty.

 

                 If a player ranks up to rank 6, he'll get into the 3rd class. He's now able to choose between easy, medium and hard difficulty.

 

                 If a player ranks up to rank 9, he'll get into the 4th class. He's now able to choose between easy, medium, hard and very hard difficulty.
 

And of course, increased difficulty will grant you better rewards!

Example: Hyena -  Easy difficulty: 1 control module, 1 Fieldron and 1 mod
                               Medium difficulty: 1 - 2 control modules, 1 Fieldron and 2 mods
                               Hard difficulty: 2 control modules, 2 Fieldrons and 2 - 3 mods
                               Very Hard difficulty: 3 control modules, 2 Fieldrons and 4 mods
____________________________________________________________________________________________

The difficulty will be choose-able, since many casual players are highly against a difficulty increase while experienced players are strongly for a difficulty increase.

Making the difficulty optional will result in leaving the gameplay of casual players unaffected. But those who want a challenge would be able to increase the difficulty and enjoy a sweet challenge!
____________________________________________________________________________________________

I've been thinking about this quite a lot, and I'm curious about your opinions. Post some feedback and your opinion about this idea.
 

Thanks!

 

Remember, the difficulty increase is OPTIONAL!

Edited July 24, 2013 by Chris9428

[Shion963]

Unlockable difficulty settings sounds nice.

[Zareek]

Maybe Im not reading it right but I have a few questions. What if a high ranked player want to just blast through some "not so tough enemies?" Maybe because of a new frame and weapon? Or is this regarding nightmare only?

[Silraed]

 

•Players who are Rank 6 - 8 will be in the 3rd class. That'd be the hard difficulty.•

Every player should already have almost every mod and the most of them maxed out.

 

 

There are always exceptions to the rule, like me, I would fit into the 6-8 but I don't have almost every mod at my disposal and I don't have them maxed, some people are just unlucky with mod drops haha. The RNG God works in mysterious ways.

 

But seriously you have some great ideas running here and I can't honestly think of a way to improve them.

[Chris9428]

Maybe Im not reading it right but I have a few questions. What if a high ranked player want to just blast through some "not so tough enemies?" Maybe because of a new frame and weapon? Or is this regarding nightmare only?

You can choose the difficulty. As example if you hit mastery rank 3, you can choose to play a mission as easy difficulty or as medium difficulty.

That way you can easily rank up weapons as well, even if you have a high mastery rank.

[RibbonRobbin]

Yeah, seems really nice. Maybe scale with nightmare too... a very hard nightmare mission.

[Paanreis]

I think it's quite a good idea :-D

[BeerDone]

I don't think this will work at all. It would either dreadfully split the community, or force players into situations they don't want to be involved in.

 

It's like this entire idea is built for solo gameplay. Wrong. This game is cooperative. You should EXPECT and WORK with the idea that there will be four people in a lobby.

 

What happens if a friend who's only been invited by a Warframe veteran joins him in a lobby? What if someone with Senda unlocked invites rank 2's to an alert? How would the difficulty be selected if there's a single hosting rank 8 who wants Tryhard Bumraep difficulty for resource farm with three no-rank newbies who'd only just started out and simply CANNOT select that difficulty, let alone handle it?

 

Or the other way around, what if a bunch of high-rank informed gamers get matched into a rank 2 or 5's lobby with the difficulty that would be too low for them? Don't forget that matchmaking is AUTOMATIC, you cannot influence it in any way. Worse still, what if one lobby happens to house four random players of split ranks, each of which wants a different difficulty level, would the matchmaker pick it out of a hat?

 

Okay, sure, you can restrict matchmaking to specific ranks and difficulty levels, but the playerbase's already split as it is! Due to the max ping option, regional restrictions and mission select not only do I often have a hard time FINDING a game (especially on far-off, "difficult" areas), but even HOSTING one in open Online often results in a solo match with no pause. Do you really think that adding ANOTHER barrier between players will help the case any?

 

I bloody well don't. I think this idea is dumb, and the level split among various missions already provides a viable "difficulty" setting, without the need for another sodding switch.

 

Is level 70 Nightmare Pluto not enough for you? Well request a new, high-level planet! In fact, with the new tileset in development right NOW, there's guaranteed to be such new planets with difficulty on them scaled accordingly! There is no purpose to this proposed mechanic whatsoever.

Edited July 24, 2013 by BeerDone

[Rhorge]

Bad idea, reminds me of the terrible enemy scaling in TES: Oblivion. It would mean that getting more equipment and powerful mods would make the enemies stronger and completely counter your newly acquired gear. It would also mean that after a certain period the enemies would scale above you since you can't get any more powerful mods and equipment and you just level for progression.

[Chris9428]

-snip-

I guess you missed the part where it was said that it's optional.

It wouldn't split the community up at all in my opinion.

 

You can choose which difficulty you want. If you're already in a squad, there might be a vote for the difficulty or something similar.

 

Bad idea, reminds me of the terrible enemy scaling in TES: Oblivion. It would mean that getting more equipment and powerful mods would make the enemies stronger and completely counter your newly acquired gear. It would also mean that after a certain period the enemies would scale above you since you can't get any more powerful mods and equipment and you just level for progression.

As I said, the difficulty is Optional. That means, you can choose.

[Quamobrem]

>MORE HP

No.

Enemies are horrible bullet sponges as it is.

 

Which is alright for big bosses and heavies, but no trash mobs should be shrugging off fully upgraded sniper rounds at any point in the game.

[Chris9428]

>MORE HP

No.

Enemies are horrible bullet sponges as it is.

 

Which is alright for big bosses and heavies, but no trash mobs should be shrugging off fully upgraded sniper rounds at any point in the game.

Huh? 

How are they bullet sponges? They can barely withstand a short click with my Dual Vipers.

Also, the difficulty increase is OPTIONAL!!

[wfrawn]

It wouldn't split the community up at all in my opinion.

Here is how it would would split/dilute the player base:

With a given amount of players, generally the larger the number of missions the harder it is for players to find a squad.

Imagine 10,000 players distributed across 500 missions, versus 10,000 players distributed across 2,000 missions.

The proposal in the OP triples or quadruples the available amount of missions.

[Zareek]

You can choose the difficulty. As example if you hit mastery rank 3, you can choose to play a mission as easy difficulty or as medium difficulty.

That way you can easily rank up weapons as well, even if you have a high mastery rank.

Ah okay, my bad. Great suggestion, I hope we'll get to see something like this for sure

[BeerDone]

You can choose which difficulty you want. If you're already in a squad, there might be a vote for the difficulty or something similar.

 

As I said, the difficulty is Optional. That means, you can choose.

No, you cannot. There's four people in the lobby, if they choose something you don't like, they "vote" for you to suck it. How is that optional?

 

See, the further you go with responses the more I suspect you only ever play this game Solo, because your entire idea simply falls apart with any kind of multiplayer involved in it.

 

And to back one of my original points, you ALREADY choose the difficulty by picking which exact mission you do! And then it tries to match you with other people doing the same!.. And then it fails on anything that's not a boss fight or a defense mission, and just offers you to play alone. Isn't that grand, aye?

Edited July 24, 2013 by BeerDone

[Chris9428]

No, you cannot. There's four people in the lobby, if they choose something you don't like, they "vote" for you to suck it. How is that optional?

 

See, the further you go with responses the more I suspect you only ever play this game Solo, because your entire idea simply falls apart with any kind of multiplayer involved in it.

When 3 people agree with the vote and 1 doesn't, then it's still the majority who enjoys it.

It's impossible to satisfy everyone. 

 

Also, yeah. I'm (Partially) a solo player.

I often play with a mate.

[BeerDone]

When 3 people agree with the vote and 1 doesn't, then it's still the majority who enjoys it.

It's impossible to satisfy everyone.

Yes, it is. It is DONE, in fact. Done by letting players select the mission THEY want with the levels THEY want and a mode THEY want prior to even starting a lobby.

 

Your system is redundant, and would either worsen the situation or split the community further apart if it were implemented in the current matchmaking system.

 

Worse still, if it were to substitute the current system of mission select, it would make things far more BORING. You would simply choose which mission you want at what levels and what faction to fight against, with no atmospheric planetary system to absorb you. It would also replace a logical player restriction of gradually unlocking heavier difficulties with a basic XP bar and a checkbook.

 

Furthermore, the current system is vastly superior, with difficulty increase being gradual and controlled, unlock procedure adding variety and heating interest, and the ability to throw in random events, like the alerts missions or randomly assigned Nightmare Mode locations. It's vast, it's flexible, and it allows for easy alterations without sacrificing what's already there.

 

To summarize, the system you've suggested has no reason to exist and/or be implemented, as its functions are already accomplished by regular means.

 

Actually, I should probably thank you, I rarely go up in arms like this :V Fun times.

Edited July 24, 2013 by BeerDone

[Chris9428]

-split-

Meh, I suck at balancing anyways.

I rarely can come up with any suggestion that's viable for everyone since I'm a selfish person.

 

Anyways, thanks for leaving some good feedback here.

[Relkin]

Difficulty settings are cool, scaleable rewards are cool, fake difficulty is lame as F***.  All set with more bullet sponges, no thank you. 

 

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/84269-a-solution-for-the-armor-problem-difficulty-to-an-extent/page-3#entry929946

 

Things like that are what we need.  

 

Or cells: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/63428-cells-this-is-warframes-endgame/page-9#entry931636

 

Cells add a different kind of difficulty alongside Lore objectives which I'm totes digging.   

 

So, anyways adjustable difficulty is cool, scaling loot is cool, difficulty isn't fixed because there is no difficulty. Just mindless spray and pray after equipping optimals. 

[Aizeol]

This idea sounds extremely appealing to me. The main reason is I see Warframe having much more longevity if this is implemented. New players get to feel awesome and play the game without having to feel underpowered, and "vets" still have ways to challenge themselves until new content is released.

+10,000 sir.

@BeerDone

How is an option to increase difficulty a bad thing? From the looks of it, unless you pick random with random people you are in control at every turn. The only time any player should find themselves in a situation that they don't like is if they let go of control.

@Chris9428

Where would the difficulty options be exactly? To avoid the issue that BeerDone brought up (because I could see an issue like that really hurting the game) why not have the difficulty selection occur before choosing a mission or even entering the solar system.

This way, you have already chosen your preferred difficulty level before looking online for a group to play with. This should nip the problem of a PUG selecting a difficulty that the player either isn't equipped for, or doesn't want to play.

[Chris9428]

@Chris9428

Where would the difficulty options be exactly? To avoid the issue that BeerDone brought up (because I could see an issue like that really hurting the game) why not have the difficulty selection occur before choosing a mission or even entering the solar system.

This way, you have already chosen your preferred difficulty level before looking online for a group to play with. This should nip the problem of a PUG selecting a difficulty that the player either isn't equipped for, or doesn't want to play.

That was my intention. The difficulty option would appear right before you choose a mission.

[BeerDone]

How is an option to increase difficulty a bad thing? From the looks of it, unless you pick random with random people you are in control at every turn. The only time any player should find themselves in a situation that they don't like is if they let go of control.

A. It's already there;

B. It's implemented better;

C. It segregates the player base.

 

You WOULD pick a RANDOM game with RANDOM people if this were to be implemented with an already functional AND a far superior mission select system. You already choose the enemy level and mission difficulty through planet selection, and THEN you would have to AGAIN select ANOTHER difficulty layer. Now, think how many players you would find with that many variables PLUS the ping limit PLUS the region restriction. Ha-ha, right.

 

The problem is that THIS difficulty system is borderline unnecessary, you can SEE which mission you pick, can you not? You see the enemy level, the mission's objective and the mode it's in (currently normal, Nightmare or Alert). What is the point in adding another difficulty selection that would only split people apart further?

Edited July 24, 2013 by BeerDone

[BlueWhistler]

"C. It segregates the player base."<br /><br />This is the dangerous thing that would need to be overcome.

[BeerDone]

That was my intention. The difficulty option would appear right before you choose a mission.

So you WOULD split the community! Think about it, six people select the same mission at a time, one picks Easy, two pick Normal, two pick Hard and one, say, Nightmare. Would they be matched together? Of course not, they chose different difficulty levels! And in a game with four-player co-op, this is a problem! You can't demand changes that would only appeal to introverts when there's other people who also want a chance to play. Play with OTHER people. WIN with other people.

 

I don't want to play alone, I would never get to shout "ALL THE VAUBANS IN EXISTENCE" because four Vaubans got randomly thrown into the same lobby on the alert mission. Splitting the players further with a SECOND difficulty setting (because mission select is there already) would most likely do just that.

[BeerDone]

Okay, let's take another approach, let me tell you how the current system already accomplishes everything you find an issue.

 

New players that need to learn the game? First three planets, Mercury-Venus-Earth. No levels higher than twenty, quick levelling, lesser enemy count. Nightmare could either be a fun occasion, or just passed by if you wait for a bit.

 

Medium level, people with a decent amount of mods of okay quality? Earth splits into three separate planets, all levels 20-25, and their follow-ups are levels 30-35. Decent challenge, lots of space, Nightmare mode is entirely manageable by this point, and once again it randomizes every hour or so, and you can just bypass it if you wait.

 

Hard levels? No problem, Uranus splits into Neptune and Eris of levels 50, and a slightly more difficult Ceres with levels 55. Increased MISSION difficulties also increase enemy count, creating difficult encounters and a challenging Nightmare mode. Pick one of these, why not.

 

WANT HARDER? Solo, Pluto, Nightmare mode. God help you.

 

And the system can easily be expanded with more planets of higher levels as the need for such increases! There is NO REASON to implement a difficulty switch when one is there already!

 

Now, increasing rewards is what I can agree on. Nightmare mode is also clearly not Nightmare enough, but that was acknowledged and will be worked on. Those can be ADDED to the CURRENT difficulty system without a hitch, no need for anything extra!

Edited July 24, 2013 by BeerDone