Heavensward Monster Difficulty /excitement

[Malzian]

The world really needed to have the maps expanded on a bit more in the crawl through the content updates. A raise in iLvl should have been accompanied by zones (they could be small things within the zones we already have) with an appropriate difficulty level for that gear and specific rewards based on that difficulty be it special crafting materials and the like or little vanity items. Nothing that would specifically be game-breaking, but something to make that iLvl 130 character not feel like the only challenge they ever have in the game is in a dungeon or a raid. While I am all for raiding and difficult group content, I also thoroughly enjoy difficult solo content because it gives me the opportunity for a challenge while at the same time not having to worry if someone I'm grouped with is going to screw it all up.

[Gunspec]

First of all, they haven't said anything about xp rewards being scaled with difficulty. I wouldn't be surprised if the mobs were just as insignificant in terms of rewards, yet take longer to fight.

And I'm going to be honest finally, because I don't think I know many people who read forums in-game. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me. The fact is, I know a lot of players who are just plain terrible at this game, yet they are awesome people and they enjoy playing immensely. An easy main scenario, and an open world that doesn't destroy them at every turn, provides them with plenty of content to satisfy them. If I want a bit more challenge, I've got a half dozen game modes to choose from. I don't play the harder stuff with those friends, because it usually just ends up with constant wipes due to no situational awareness. Those players don't mind, because the open world stuff is there to satisfy them. A harder open world takes that away.

Lots of people say, "screw the casuals" and "let's make this entire game a challenge". But who do you think is spending stupid amounts of money on your marketboard sales? Who do you think makes up a large chunk of the fate and hunt parties you need to progress? I like the casuals, even if I can handle harder content myself. Without them, it would be a game full of pros and epeen, and I'm tired of that in games.

snip

That's a perfect point. Most of the argument for a harder open world is coming from people that are 50 item levels or more above the content they are upset with. The beast tribes were in 2.0, and are scaled to be suitable for ilevel 45-50 players. Those zones didn't start receiving content until 2.1, when players were already at ilevel 90, and the last quest added in 2.35 involved us squashing mobs with ilevel 110 gear.

I read that the devs intentionally left open space in the world in 3.0, that will be filled in 3.x patches with new content, so this time they will probably add enemies that are more appropriate for the character power we gain over time. Maybe that will satisfy the itch people seem to have.

[AdamuKun322]

The new beasties on the map will be hard the first few weeks, but once people get new gear and learn their jobs again, it'll be easy.

[Nutz]

I just hope it's implemented in a way that makes sense. For instance, areas where you have to kill mobs (or sneak) to make your way through because of caves or some other structure that won't just let you fly past them. There'd also need to be something worth reaching past the mobs. Currently there's very little of that in the overworld areas in ARR, at least after you've finished the MSQ from 2.0

More than the mobs being harder, I wonder how they'll entice people to bother with them in the first place.

[Sylve]

Don't count on any challenge if you're already ilvl120 or higher until later in the game. Even then, we'll get powerful gear down the road anyway and once again wondered why the trash mobs are weak.

Not necessarily.
The way i understood it was that (example) if mobs are currently about 20% of the power of a player, then Heavensward will boost that to around 75%.
One mob at a time is not so much different from now, except they'll be slightly more challenging.
But when you add in a second one, things start getting hairy.

Sure, at launch 2 mobs will be tough but doable, by the time of the second round of patch content, 2 mobs might simply be doable.
Then again, Yoshi mentioned that there were going to be things like wandering patrols. So even if you have the best gear possible, You may still get overwhelmed if you aren't paying attention.

And thats a damn fine thing to happen.

First of all, they haven't said anything about xp rewards being scaled with difficulty. I wouldn't be surprised if the mobs were just as insignificant in terms of rewards, yet take longer to fight.

And I'm going to be honest finally, because I don't think I know many people who read forums in-game. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me. The fact is, I know a lot of players who are just plain terrible at this game, yet they are awesome people and they enjoy playing immensely. An easy main scenario, and an open world that doesn't destroy them at every turn, provides them with plenty of content to satisfy them. If I want a bit more challenge, I've got a half dozen game modes to choose from. I don't play the harder stuff with those friends, because it usually just ends up with constant wipes due to no situational awareness. Those players don't mind, because the open world stuff is there to satisfy them. A harder open world takes that away.

Lots of people say, "screw the casuals" and "let's make this entire game a challenge". But who do you think is spending stupid amounts of money on your marketboard sales? Who do you think makes up a large chunk of the fate and hunt parties you need to progress? I like the casuals, even if I can handle harder content myself. Without them, it would be a game full of pros and epeen, and I'm tired of that in games.


That's a perfect point. Most of the argument for a harder open world is coming from people that are 50 item levels or more above the content they are upset with. The beast tribes were in 2.0, and are scaled to be suitable for ilevel 45-50 players. Those zones didn't start receiving content until 2.1, when players were already at ilevel 90, and the last quest added in 2.35 involved us squashing mobs with ilevel 110 gear.

I read that the devs intentionally left open space in the world in 3.0, that will be filled in 3.x patches with new content, so this time they will probably add enemies that are more appropriate for the character power we gain over time. Maybe that will satisfy the itch people seem to have.

"They're bad at the game so we should never do anything that might cause them to improve"

Thats not really fair. If done right, by making it CLEAR why they can't/struggle to progress (in the case of your example, killing overworld mobs) you steer them towards self improvement. Which is better for the game as a whole.

If we lose subs because some people are so bad they cannot kill overworld mobs ... Then i honestly do not know what to say.

[zandervont]

Im curious on their note on "2 mobs and you better run".
Would we be overpowering the earlier mobs at lv51 + ilv 130 as its supposed to be around ilv 90-100 at lv 50-51

[Yuri_Hyuga]

...Most of the argument for a harder open world is coming from people that are 50 item levels or more above the content they are upset with...

Unfounded blanket statement if I ever heard one.

No, I and many others included disliked the lack of mob difficulty from the beginning due to never going beyond "dodge the one cone."

Even in i90, you can mount through Zaha'rak unscathed (albeit, annoyed by Heavy status spam).

The itch is for some sort of legitimate threat, not something we can just mount through virtually unharmed with no mechanics to sweat.

[Gilthas]

Overworld mobs being dangerous is going to be really exciting!

Imagine all the epic battles we'll have with these monsters in the 1% of the time we don't manage to MGS around them! I mean, I spend most of my time afk in Jeuno waiting for events, but knowing that all those hard monsters that I have zero interest in fighting are out there is great!

Too much people with rose-tinted glasses in here. The only thing this is going to accomplish is making the overworld far more annoying for the people that actually do stuff in the overworld. Hopefully they don't up the difficulty as much as all the Jeuno afkers in here want them to.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Im curious on their note on "2 mobs and you better run".
Would we be overpowering the earlier mobs at lv51 + ilv 130 as its supposed to be around ilv 90-100 at lv 50-51

That's the vague million dollar question. Yoshi is bragging that you can't take on multiple trash mobs alone, but he never really said if it was for a fresh ilvl90 player or someone who is geared at 130. I expect the former because Steps of Faith is the last major content one has to do before Heavensward and the minimum ilvl is 90. Ergo, I do not expect anyone who is far beyond ilvl 90 to have too much trouble.

[Gunspec]

"They're bad at the game so we should never do anything that might cause them to improve"

No, what I'm saying is, if a video game has an "easy" difficulty, don't delete that difficulty option mid-game. If we say that open world and main scenario are easy, dungeons are medium, and raid is hard difficulty, there are players who are comfortable spending hundreds of hours on the easy difficulty. Sure, players can improve, and they have content they can already try to do just that. But if open world becomes comparable to the medium difficulty stuff (not that I'm saying it will be) you're going to lose a lot of those players.

It's ok to have some people in the game that like easy difficulty. Taking away their easy content is the same as nerfing the hard content. You are taking AWAY someone's previously included preferred difficulty level.

As to why there aren't more players here saying "leave my easy stuff alone"... Many of them don't know about the forums, they don't follow news on the game, and are constantly surprised and overwhelmed by the game around them. Taking what has always been the easiest content and RAMPING it up on them isn't going to help the game win a lot of new players. Whatever you think about them, those people are the lifeblood of the game's economy, both gil and real life subscription.