Difficulty of Content

ArchivedUser

in comparison of difficulty which game do you think it will compare the most with in requiring skill to actually complete content.

Typo: dark souls not dark siders 

ArchivedUser

To early to tell, but the no P2W stance sets it well above many of these games in my opinion. 

Also early/Vanilla WoW was quite a bit more difficult than people tend to realize/remember. 

I'd have to say this game looks much more difficult than GW2 and SWTOR, but again, this is all pure speculation. 

ArchivedUser

The more difficult the more appeal it has, for me at least.

ArchivedUser

Way too early to say. Hopefully it's challenging! I hate when games are way too easy...

ArchivedUser

It’s occurred to me that the node system could be leading to a thematically odd situation, where the most developed portions of Ashes of Creation – its largest and most established cities – are also going to be its most dangerous areas, while the undeveloped wilds fill in more as what you’d expect from a starter experience. Am I understanding this correctly? What does the progression structure through Ashes’ world look like?

You’re basically correct, but keep in mind that our populations are mixed. We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for. We’re also playing with the idea of Nodes having relationships with Nodes that haven’t reached level 1 (a sort of anti-Node relationship), but we’ll talk about that sometime down the road.

The progression structure is really up to the players. We’re going to have starting areas that are relatively static compared to the rest of the world, in order for new players to get their feet wet and get used to our systems, but after that, we see players going in any number of directions. The bravest will pioneer the wilds and bring back stories of what they’ve seen. Some will build, some will kill, some will put down roots and raise animals. There are a number of paths to progress, and something for every type of player.

ArchivedUser

I'd rather it's as difficult as mythic wow raiding. Which is not easy.

ArchivedUser

No ESO? It's a much closer analog to AoC than say LotRO and FFX with full on PvP and PvX areas and much more popular than some others listed. Epic Fail.

ArchivedUser

The idea of "difficulty" is very subjective. I will say that Ashes will be a complex non-linear game necessitating mastery of every path in the game. It will be unlike any other MMORPG we have seen before.

The five design pillars mean that you will never feel comfortable or geared enough or lacking something meaningful to do, no matter what level you are at. There will be minimal zerg fests and limited PK ganking and no P2W or other ways to cheese your way through the game. This is exactly the kind of difficulty I'm after.

ArchivedUser

MAKE ME CRY!

ArchivedUser

@xombiecrisis CRY NOW or death will be at your door!!!

ArchivedUser

xschlemmx said:

@xombiecrisis CRY NOW or death will be at your door!!!

^I need this!

ArchivedUser

I'd expect it to be pretty standard... There are currently no plans on dodge mechanics and it's a hybrid tab targetting system at the moment, I think(?)

Also, did you mean Dark Souls? Darksiders 3 isn't out yet... So I don't know how difficult that game plans on being.

ArchivedUser

@fanzhon yes i meant dark souls my bad
been running through darksider 1/2 so its on my brain

ArchivedUser

Fanzhon said:

I'd expect it to be pretty standard... There are currently no plans on dodge mechanics and it's a hybrid tab targetting system at the moment, I think(?)

Also, did you mean Dark Souls? Darksiders 3 isn't out yet... So I don't know how difficult that game plans on being.

ArchivedUser

FF XIV I guess

ArchivedUser

I liked the FFXI system where you had to combo limit breaks to make a mob weak to an element, hope there're systems like that in Ashes that awards advanced teamplay

ArchivedUser

It will be harder then FarmVille. 

ArchivedUser

Option is missing:

I vote for Mortal Kombat!

pew pew pew comboooo -- finish him!

ArchivedUser

Gothix said:

Option is missing:

I vote for Mortal Kombat!

pew pew pew comboooo -- finish him!

Lmao, everyone needs a good pew pew

ArchivedUser

As long as its not as easy as WoW, I suspect i'll be happy!

ArchivedUser

Git gud 

ArchivedUser

More along DAoC but it's too early to have an opinion on something we haven't seen in the context of the whole design.

ArchivedUser

ArchivedUser

I liked how difficult Wildstar's dungeons and red mobs were during beta. Sadly, they nerfed them into the ground when they went free to play

ArchivedUser

Zastro said:

I liked how difficult Wildstar's dungeons and red mobs were during beta. Sadly, they nerfed them into the ground when they went free to play

I agree, wildstar really tuned things down, it was sad to see happen, that game had great potential, still believe it does

ArchivedUser

I would hope that it was not to difficult otherwise it will spoil the game. Would like it to be like everquest 2 difficulty

ArchivedUser

Relwoh said:

I would hope that it was not to difficult otherwise it will spoil the game. Would like it to be like everquest 2 difficulty

I'd think of it was to easy that would spoil it... I think for mmo there needs to be a ballance of challenging and easy things to do... a variety basically

I personally like to have really challenging content but also like to be able to do content that I don't need to be on the edge of my seat with.

ArchivedUser

From what I've seen thus far, I think it will be somewhere between FF14 and BDO.  Those seem to be the middling ground in the MMO genre, currently.  I think the devs are aiming for a game that encourages group play, but doesn't overly punish the solo player nor overly reward the group player.

ArchivedUser

Dark Souls isn't hard, it's just unfair, with traps and such you don't know about until you fall for them. But I see what you mean. Dark Souls type stuff doesn't work in an MMO I think. The ideal difficulty will be hard to say, the more difficult and time consuming things tend to be, the greater the reward of completing. But make it too difficult, and people will simply not do it, or give up.

ArchivedUser

I think all of those calling for content that wipes groups regularly are going to rethink once they realize that death will have an exp debt that needs to be repaid. We know that it is going to be in effect for pvp actions, and the simplest way for it to be implemented to avoid abuse by people dragging pve elements onto players is for them to make death penalties system wide. So if you wipe 10 times on a boss, people are going to rack up a massive exp debt. Will this be adjusted during alpha/beta? Sure, but it is still going to be there.

ArchivedUser

Difficult as in spamming skill rotations and getting physical conditions ?
Difficult as in being environmentally aware and dying to ping as a consequence ?
Difficult as in perfecting group synchronisation and kicking anyone below perfection ?
Difficult as in enemies being OP compared to players barring anyone but the best players from content ?