Levels poorly balanced?

[Thanos]

First off I admit I haven't played much yet (3 hours played so far). So I may be wrong. But my first impressions of this game is that all the levels leading up to the boss are incredibly easy. No real challenge at all and very little strategy is necessary.

Am I being too harsh on the game or is this an issue other people have noticed? It is early access so there is plenty of time to adjust the difficulty. But right now the game just feels too easy to be interesting.

[Blue Hasia]

help to say what your difficulty you are playing on.

[Thanos]

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

help to say what your difficulty you are playing on.

Sorry I thought that would be obvious. I'm talking about normal mode. Easy should be easy. And it seems silly to ask for Heroic mode to be balanced. It's supposed to be difficult.

[RefiCHL]

One thing I've learned from all the feedback is...it's practically impossible to create a "normal difficulty" that is balanced for everyone. Some players have been trained by WC3 TDs for years, and some have never touched a TD game before.

So...if you find it too easy, it probably means you're more experienced than other players! That’s why there’s a heroic mode, more challenging flames, and resettable talents. I try to make things flexible so players can choose the difficulty they’re comfortable with.

[Thanos]

Originally posted by Refic Games:

One thing I've learned from all the feedback is...it's practically impossible to create a "normal difficulty" that is balanced for everyone. Some players have been trained by WC3 TDs for years, and some have never touched a TD game before.

So...if you find it too easy, it probably means you're more experienced than other players! That’s why there’s a heroic mode, more challenging flames, and resettable talents. I try to make things flexible so players can choose the difficulty they’re comfortable with.

That's fair. And I can appreciate that. I am an experienced TD player. But I think it's bad that I can easily beat the first boss without engaging with the core game mechanics. By that I mean I didn't change any of the target priorities, I didn't use any additional towers (just spammed 1 cheap tower), I didn't use the optional power ups, and I didn't bother to sell any towers.

It's early access and this game has a lot of promise. But if I can just make a somewhat decent maze (not really all that great to be honest) and simply wait until I have 25 gold to plop down another tower in a line with all my other towers... it seems too easy. At least right now.

Good luck with your game.

[Quardak]

so maybe we get more difficult levels and everyone find his/personal level of Torment.

[luks_x]

Originally posted by Refic Games:

One thing I've learned from all the feedback is...it's practically impossible to create a "normal difficulty" that is balanced for everyone. Some players have been trained by WC3 TDs for years, and some have never touched a TD game before.

So...if you find it too easy, it probably means you're more experienced than other players! That’s why there’s a heroic mode, more challenging flames, and resettable talents. I try to make things flexible so players can choose the difficulty they’re comfortable with.

Im boring can You turn on endless waves ? Or something longer and harder.

[Blue Hasia]

Originally posted by Refic Games:

One thing I've learned from all the feedback is...it's practically impossible to create a "normal difficulty" that is balanced for everyone. Some players have been trained by WC3 TDs for years, and some have never touched a TD game before.

So...if you find it too easy, it probably means you're more experienced than other players! That’s why there’s a heroic mode, more challenging flames, and resettable talents. I try to make things flexible so players can choose the difficulty they’re comfortable with.

A possible creative way to make the game harder for those who are up for the challenge: introduce a "one-hit-only" flame. One hit, and the game is over.

Since it’s a flame, it could work on any difficulty level, and each difficulty campaign run could reward a special Steam achievement. This would give players something to work toward if they want a more challenging game with a reward at the end.

[RefiCHL]

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

A possible creative way to make the game harder for those who are up for the challenge: introduce a "one-hit-only" flame. One hit, and the game is over.

Yeah that's what the little candle flame is going to be :D

[John Graham Doe]

Originally posted by Thanos:

Originally posted by Refic Games:

One thing I've learned from all the feedback is...it's practically impossible to create a "normal difficulty" that is balanced for everyone. Some players have been trained by WC3 TDs for years, and some have never touched a TD game before.

So...if you find it too easy, it probably means you're more experienced than other players! That’s why there’s a heroic mode, more challenging flames, and resettable talents. I try to make things flexible so players can choose the difficulty they’re comfortable with.

That's fair. And I can appreciate that. I am an experienced TD player. But I think it's bad that I can easily beat the first boss without engaging with the core game mechanics. By that I mean I didn't change any of the target priorities, I didn't use any additional towers (just spammed 1 cheap tower), I didn't use the optional power ups, and I didn't bother to sell any towers.

It's early access and this game has a lot of promise. But if I can just make a somewhat decent maze (not really all that great to be honest) and simply wait until I have 25 gold to plop down another tower in a line with all my other towers... it seems too easy. At least right now.

Good luck with your game.

Bro, you are on the first world and on normal difficulty. The game scales as you progress. World 2 (desert world) might humble you a bit.

[Blue Hasia]

i am under the impression they played all 3 biomes, i

[Neomare]

Originally posted by Thanos:

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

help to say what your difficulty you are playing on.

Sorry I thought that would be obvious. I'm talking about normal mode. Easy should be easy. And it seems silly to ask for Heroic mode to be balanced. It's supposed to be difficult.

well just play on heroic then :). And first biome is just an introduction tot he game I think its fine if it is on easier side. Other biomes are a bit harder.

Makes sense if you think about it, you want to draw in the less experienced people by not having the first thing they encoutner something stupidly hard, as for those who are looking for challenge there is plenty to be had.

Did you finish the frost ruins on heroic yet? I definitly feel like you have to build proper mazes to defeat that :D

Cheers!

[Thanos]

Originally posted by Neomare:

Originally posted by Thanos:

Sorry I thought that would be obvious. I'm talking about normal mode. Easy should be easy. And it seems silly to ask for Heroic mode to be balanced. It's supposed to be difficult.

first biome is just an introduction tot he game I think its fine if it is on easier side. Other biomes are a bit harder.

Makes sense if you think about it, you want to draw in the less experienced people by not having the first thing they encoutner something stupidly hard, as for those who are looking for challenge there is plenty to be had.

There's easy and then there's so easy it's boring. I get the whole, first few levels are an introduction, kind of thing. But it's a rogue-lite. You're supposed to fail. There's a reason why the game Hades has a special ending if you never die. And besides, that's a freaking long tutorial if that's what the first biome is considered. Maybe cut it in half and make it a skipable tutorial level if that's the case.

[DB]

Boss on Stage 1/2 feels like a massive ramp up for sure. Get the talents that do extra % crit to bosses and watch the difference. As you say, I cleared the stages upto boss on stage 2 without having to even think, and then all of a sudden, boss is through and your dead. You're not wrong, but it doesn't feel broken. Just need some turrets at back instead of focusing on all early damage, and get the talents up. Also dots like flame/poison early on.

[Neomare]

Originally posted by Thanos:

Originally posted by Neomare:

first biome is just an introduction tot he game I think its fine if it is on easier side. Other biomes are a bit harder.

Makes sense if you think about it, you want to draw in the less experienced people by not having the first thing they encoutner something stupidly hard, as for those who are looking for challenge there is plenty to be had.

There's easy and then there's so easy it's boring. I get the whole, first few levels are an introduction, kind of thing. But it's a rogue-lite. You're supposed to fail. There's a reason why the game Hades has a special ending if you never die. And besides, that's a freaking long tutorial if that's what the first biome is considered. Maybe cut it in half and make it a skipable tutorial level if that's the case.

Maybe. My experience was great :) . I enjoyed the mechanic gimic and learning the game and i was gratefull it was under no pressure.

if you play fast, which you can if you are bored and do not feel challenged it is not even that long.

I do not see why would you have to die just because it is a roguelite. Personally i do not like that idea. "Hey its a roguelite so this is like really really hard, unless you know the game inside out, have fun grinding the upgrades until you can pass a first level. "

Nah developers can do better than that and developer of Emberward proved it.

I am more and more fond of roguelites which are doable on normal dificulty without issues and then the upgrade system is there to keep up with increasing dificulty of harder modes. I think that works really well.

For me that is a lot better. Normal is doable without ugprades and then those help a lot with heroics.


Also think of people new to the genre and weaker players, do you really want to push for the starting experience to be shorter or harder or similar, is this really such a great idea? Veteran players who like the game mechanics and see potential in it will hopefully have the patience to go trough the starting triviality, while if it was the other way around to hard of a start might push some of the potential players away.

I think it was a wise move by the developer.

so while i do see your point and its merrits as well i still stay on the side it is probably better this way.

Cheers!

[luks_x]

Originally posted by RefiCHL:

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

A possible creative way to make the game harder for those who are up for the challenge: introduce a "one-hit-only" flame. One hit, and the game is over.

Yeah that's what the little candle flame is going to be :D

And this may not be enough because I beat all levels on heroic without losing a life. Is there an option for you to add the infinite waves option? The game is quite short and I've run out of ideas on how to make the game more difficult. Anyone who pre-purchased the game would be grateful because it would give us more joy because the game is great. It doesn't take a lot of work to do this, just modify the size of the waves so that each subsequent wave adds xx monsters and increases their health level