Nightmare solo is unfun, unfair and just not really worth it.

[ArrangedKarma]

Hi there.
Thought I'd share some my experiences playing solo on Nightmare difficulty (the second highest)
In short Nightmare while playing solo is just really unfun and annoyingly hard
Let me explain.
I'd like to preface this by saying my build is probably one of those super meta "kill everything in 2 seconds" type builds. I started my own build to have fun and it got me through normal difficulty, so I decided to up it to nightmare for a reroll.
Oh boy, is it a spike.
As you might expect, the difficulty spike does not come for cool new mechanics, remixed enemies or anything of that sort. The enemies simply hit harder, have more hp and bosses have more buffs. To put things into perspective, I wore FULL Leto MK2 armor, had some ring buffs and had maxxed out Barkskin.
The musket/riflemen enemies in Lonsomn could 3 hit me.
Melee enemies could take off roughly about 1/4 hp off per hit.
But the main reason im writing this now is 1 particular boss fight. The Nightweaver.
Not just is she super tanky, her attacks can reliably take off half my hp. With full letos and full barkskin.
Not just can her spawns also do the same, but if she does the melee charge and knocks me down while theyre still alive, will they just explode on me and instakill me without me being able to dodge.
Her grab in the second phase, is in instakill.
Let me repeat that.
During a 2 stage boss fight against a boss that takes roughly about 3-4 minutes to kill in the first phase, if I even slightly miss time dodge against her grab attack, she can and will instakill me and send me right back to the start of the fight.
Oh and as a note, even with Bruiser's revive prime perk, the grab will still just kill you regardless.
Now im not gonna sit here and say this fight is impossible, because it absolutely isnt. However, I am gonna say that Nightmare solo, unless you have a rather strong build, is just not worth it. The normal mobs being able to kill startlingly quickly, elite enemies being an ammo sink and also able to kill you in 1-2 hits and boss fights being just a tanky slog where even the smallest of mistakes can leave you at 1/2 hp or under, it just doesnt feel fu or worthwhile in any meaningful way.
According to google, you dont even get anything good for playing through the harder difficulties. No better loot, no exclusive things that you can ONLY find on that difficulty, just more exp. Thats it.
So in conclusion, I feel like difficulties needs nerfs for solo players. Or atleast something worth playing the difficulty for, as for right now there is pretty much zero reason to play anything harder than normal.
But I do wanna hear some of your thoughts too.

[Mikoto]

Nightmare is easy wtf you on about?

[Boss]

Sounds like average Dark Souls, honestly. I'm not a fan of one shots, or two shots, but I've been beaten into them from being a fan of the series. If it's that bad, I'd honestly recommend no armor/light armor or any damage boosts that come from having low HP, if they exist.

[sadman]

Ye well i actually being bit annoyed by this game at lowest difficulty but its with last boss and previous boss. I am doubt i want to try nightmare at all. But veteran i think i would. And if here some difficulty before nightmare

[Boss]

Originally posted by Mikoto:

Nightmare is easy wtf you on about?

This is unhelpful. Bai bai.

[Kashra Fall]

Originally posted by Mikoto:

Nightmare is easy wtf you on about?

It's not, but ok. Nightmare is about the same difficulty as 2 person veteran. I didn't start with nightmare specifically because I did start with it in RFTA and honestly, it wasn't fun shooting bullet sponges. Now that isn't to say that some builds/weapons trivialize the content (Enigma is an example.) but nightmare is in no way easy, nor is apoc.

[Shrapnel]

Says its for players with fully geared characters and strong builds...
If you have both, its weird that you find a hard setting hard...
Maybe you should try veteran

[Bonethor]

"right now there is pretty much zero reason to play anything harder than normal."
Bragging rights and challenge? I'm new to this stuff but I know I'd get bored if I blitzed through it all. I can definitely see I'd be more comfortable playing on veteran, but I'm almost at the point where I can get some reliable healing going to fix my smaller mistakes.

It's refreshing to see oneself get better and slowly start to dominate enemies that gave you a hard time.

[ArrangedKarma]

Originally posted by Boss:

Sounds like average Dark Souls, honestly. I'm not a fan of one shots, or two shots, but I've been beaten into them from being a fan of the series. If it's that bad, I'd honestly recommend no armor/light armor or any damage boosts that come from having low HP, if they exist.

As a fan of those games, I understand that mindset, but I think oneshots/twoshots are lame regardless of game or genre. They offer no counterplay, just "oh you made 1 ♥♥♥♥♥♥, time for you to die". That is just a fun or engaging mechanic.

[ArrangedKarma]

Originally posted by Bonethor:

"right now there is pretty much zero reason to play anything harder than normal."
Bragging rights and challenge? I'm new to this stuff but I know I'd get bored if I blitzed through it all. I can definitely see I'd be more comfortable playing on veteran, but I'm almost at the point where I can get some reliable healing going to fix my smaller mistakes.

It's refreshing to see oneself get better and slowly start to dominate enemies that gave you a hard time.

Understandable, but I think the main point im trying to make here is that the challenge here is not fun nor rewarding.
If im not having fun and the challenge just seems to frustratingly hard, then its not really worth doing.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

Originally posted by Boss:

Sounds like average Dark Souls, honestly. I'm not a fan of one shots, or two shots, but I've been beaten into them from being a fan of the series. If it's that bad, I'd honestly recommend no armor/light armor or any damage boosts that come from having low HP, if they exist.

As a fan of those games, I understand that mindset, but I think oneshots/twoshots are lame regardless of game or genre. They offer no counterplay, just "oh you made 1 ♥♥♥♥♥♥, time for you to die". That is just a fun or engaging mechanic.

i beat the first game on apocalypse solo, and it was just fine. this game is going similarly.

the counterplay you are looking for is simply not getting hit so much.

[ArrangedKarma]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

As a fan of those games, I understand that mindset, but I think oneshots/twoshots are lame regardless of game or genre. They offer no counterplay, just "oh you made 1 ♥♥♥♥♥♥, time for you to die". That is just a fun or engaging mechanic.

i beat the first game on apocalypse solo, and it was just fine. this game is going similarly.

the counterplay you are looking for is simply not getting hit so much.

Fair enough, not being hit is generally the way to beat the game. However, should being hit a single time result in a death?
I personally do not think so.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

i beat the first game on apocalypse solo, and it was just fine. this game is going similarly.

the counterplay you are looking for is simply not getting hit so much.

Fair enough, not being hit is generally the way to beat the game. However, should being hit a single time result in a death?
I personally do not think so.

if you picked a hard difficulty, then yes it should.

if its too hard, then turn it back down to veteran.

[Bonethor]

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

Originally posted by Bonethor:

"right now there is pretty much zero reason to play anything harder than normal."
Bragging rights and challenge? I'm new to this stuff but I know I'd get bored if I blitzed through it all. I can definitely see I'd be more comfortable playing on veteran, but I'm almost at the point where I can get some reliable healing going to fix my smaller mistakes.

It's refreshing to see oneself get better and slowly start to dominate enemies that gave you a hard time.

Understandable, but I think the main point im trying to make here is that the challenge here is not fun nor rewarding.
If im not having fun and the challenge just seems to frustratingly hard, then its not really worth doing.

Based on the replies it seems to be a subjective opinion though, right? If it's not fun or rewarding for you then I don't think you should do it! Many people do seem to enjoy it though so I don't feel like they should change anything about it.

[ArrangedKarma]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

Fair enough, not being hit is generally the way to beat the game. However, should being hit a single time result in a death?
I personally do not think so.

if you picked a hard difficulty, then yes it should.

if its too hard, then turn it back down to veteran.

I mean sure, but thats just a bad way to difficulty, imo.
And while I would love to, you cannot change the difficulty without restarting your campaign progress. Since both options are rather annoying, I would just grind the fight.

[ArrangedKarma]

Originally posted by Bonethor:

Originally posted by ArrangedKarma:

Understandable, but I think the main point im trying to make here is that the challenge here is not fun nor rewarding.
If im not having fun and the challenge just seems to frustratingly hard, then its not really worth doing.

Based on the replies it seems to be a subjective opinion though, right? If it's not fun or rewarding for you then I don't think you should do it! Many people do seem to enjoy it though so I don't feel like they should change anything about it.

Absolutely. It is indeed subjective, and Im giving my thoughts based on my experiences. And while yes I would probably lower the difficulty, I cant without reseting campaign progress.