Episode 2 - Difficulty

Anyone who finished Episode 1 is completely overwhelmed with Spindelskog.

My main character has Adv.lvl. 106. And despite Devotionals and Co. and LvL 105 pet, I still have a hard time in "normal" mode.

It's absolute not possible for someone who just finished Episode 1, who now wants to continue Episode 2...

Would it be possible to reduce the normal mode to LvL 8-9 instead of 10-11?

Thank you

Edit: Adv.Lvl. 116

 

spindelskog is nowhere near the arrival galleon, not even the same island. the first scene players find when arriving in mistrendur, that isn't a special challenge scene like lb's castle, is outlaws' run. that's tier 8. ruins of utheim is tier 8. the easy version of lamech's bazaar is tier 7. seems like the area near the galleon is appropriately scaled.

 

I'm adv lvl 145 and I agree with @Paladin Michael in this regard.

 

What's your opinion on the higher tier Episode 1 content? Spectral Peaks, Owl's Head Sewers, Ruins of Ravensmoor, Mysterious Swamp, Despair, etc.

 

I think the last thing we need is for any adventure areas to be lowered. There are so many lower level areas that i think we could actually take a couple from each level say 1-5 and add +10 levels to them and make them 11-15 level zones. give more areas to go to. Don't totally remake a new zone just beef up some of the lower level areas that just don't get used. Would make way more sense to me and seems like it would be alot less work, but then again i am not a programmer so i don't know, just throwing out ideas. But definitely don't need lower lvl areas we have more then enough of them already

 

I would still be playing this game if the difficulty level hadn't surpassed my abilities. I spent over 3,000 hours in this game and it was part of my daily life for a long time. The difficulty level of all my favorite hunting grounds was raised so that I could no longer enter them. For a while I was hoping that episode two would be suitable for brand new players so I could start playing again, but by all accounts that is not the case.

 

I farm Spindelskog a lot for shadow essence and normal mode doesn't seem too hard to me. With that said, you probably won't need to fight all the bloody creatures to get through any story content. It's like getting the greater blessing of agility in Lamech's hard mode; I don't have to fight anything, just survive it.

[edit] BTW, I do Spindelskog normal mode with all indestructible gear.

 

The reason they don't get used is because the power creep is out of control in this game. The XP gains are so high, that people blow by the lower level zones very quickly. People will say it's possible to get a GM in a day.... as though that's a good thing.

The game at this point, is very tailored towards the ultra-high level people who are still around, and increasingly so. Now people want to make the 4x XP permanent. We may as well start new players at AL100.

What needs to happen is that hard caps are established, and actually balance the game, instead of infinitely raising the bar. Of course, we'd have to move away from the "you can literally become a mega expert at everything" style of characters. That would allow for some actual RE-playability of the game.

 

You haven't really finished episode 1, you have only finished the quest for episode 1. That may be the only part you care about personally but it certainly is not the only content. There are parts of episode 1 I can still not solo at level 143.

I do think it is important for devs to remember that not everyone who is looking for new content will be high level though. I will be disappointed if the episode 2 story requires too much level grinding to be able to complete, a bit of adventuring in between the main stories sure but don't base it on how much xp you are allowed to get an hour, more on the amount you can get by casually exploring the remaining episode 1 scenes. I fully expect the main quest content to be super easy for me, but no one forced me to spend so many hours of my life in this game

I do think that at least a couple more level 7-9 scenes should be added to the central mistrendur island , preferably with scale options for higher level players. But I also think that Novia needs more scenes at this mid-level. I would increase difficulty several of the tier 1-3 scenes to 6-8, mostly leaving the low level scenes around the outskirts themselves. Note that I would not change the difficulty of most tier 4 or 5 scenes, players can actually spend quite a bit of time in those if they aren't power levelers and its good to have variety at that level. And don't 'improve' existing tier 6-9 scenes by making them harder since there needs to be that bridge from tier 5 to the higher level most of our new scenes are.

 

I hope that we will not be required to make it through all the levels of Lord British's Castle as that is way harder than Spindelskog.

 

I agree, while pleasing the top, we lose the bottom

We need more of what we have in townie skills and local hunting grounds.
We need a way of encouraging & requiring players to have multiple characters.
When the only focus is more for a few, we lose through neglecting the many

But then, what do I know aye? I'm not a programer or game designer
Deeper Agriculture + Deeper Fishing + Deeper Gold Sumps = More Game!

Develop unique, develop more funny, have a less button option availible
It's our transitioning that is in question here along a single pathway for the few.

Ours is a real estate game. Having it means needing to fill it, thus funding us.
Exploring isn't just a need to go up and down, it's also exploring sideways
~Time Lord~

 

On a side note, I'm super excited for episode 2.

 

Can you give a hint on the next new scene after Grusk?

 

I was just reffering to the normal Tier for players who follow the Questline of Episode 2. Following the main story should be challenging, but not frustrating...
Of course there is no reason to lower multi tier scenes beyond normal (hard / extreme) for a hardened player

 

@Kara Brae Are you referring to scenes in Ep 1 ? If so, what scenes could you do back then that you can't do now due to changes ?
I'd be happy to go with you to any of them to know what exactly was changed...
(Feel free to PM me here or ingame - Robert Frost ingame).
I remember you being active on our forums here, and it's good to see you back - would love for you to stay.

 

Hello all. Well I really am not into thinking of Sota as something to finish but rather as a game that allows players a place to do what they individuality each like and enjoy. Sure for those who enjoy finishing a game to move on to the next challenge those aspects of a game should be included. Having this games episode 2 as the next difficulty portion does not set well with me. We started out creating a world to get lost in and engaged in. Difficulty options should be included across the game not in an episode imo.

Episodes were going to include New features like boating, mounts, treasure hunting, more places to explore, places to go, new stories and quests, and yes new challenges too.

Pushing for episode 2 to be about difficulty imo takes away from it getting to be more of the adventure for longevity it could be. What I'm hearing is this game becomes something to finish.

Personally I don't like the sound of that if it's headed that way. Many of us who have been here since the beginning are in it for longevity. We have established our homes, our things we do, and are hoping for the game to continue for many years.

I know things have changed and development is scarce and in short supply with finances but again imo to focus on episode 2 being about difficulty verses allowing the gaming areas of the whole game to provide those challenges for those who come here for that. I dont argue that challenge is an important part of the game but it shouldn't be most of episode 2 or any episodes imo.

I call out for solutions to be able to add the challenges, features, tasks and quests to the game with all of them getting included on a low budget.

To achieve this imo there is the whole picture to look at. What kind of game is this? I'm absolutely not here to finish the game but some may be.

How to generate challenges that dont get stale after a short time all over the game world and how to still include wonderful featues and game additions with a low budget? I still feel strongly that we need it all of course. So anyway just some thoughts I had on reading this.

 

I fully agree.