What's the point of higher difficulty?

[McCloud]

First reply will be for the challenge so please get all that out of the way as soon as possible.

So onwards to the point. I started off on Death March because I enjoy challenge in a game and died a lot so I figured I should ramp it down one level of difficulty and switched to Blood and Bones (that correct? anyways the third tier of difficulty).

Still was dying but less so, though after about 4 or 5 hours of play I got used to the controls and started to have a better understanding of what to do in combat. Fast forward another 5 hours on Blood and Bones I was no longer dying. Got it. Awesome. Fun.

I decided to not go back to Death March because the difficulty was just right though after a couple days I started wondering why I am bothering. Fights were taking longer and longer and I "got" combat manuevers so dying was off the table (for the most part) so why spend longer with fights, so I asked if playing on higher tier difficulty settings provided better "rewards" (anything for loot being better, or better chance to drop loot, or better coin rewards, or better exp awards) and the answer from everyone was "no."

So now I just play on the level two difficulty only. I don't understand why I was bothering with higher difficulties when it IS literally just an "unneeded" time sink...

So to follow up! time sinks of exploration, story cutscenes, inventory management, etc are part of an RPG. Time sinks into challenge *without* reward is completely different. Why bother?

I'm not saying I should be getting 10 times the loot of the loot should be 10 times better either. They shouldn't but minor incentive should be there for each level of difficulty you play on (and stay on). Maybe:

* 3% exp gain per level of difficulty
* 10% chance per tier to have items found be one level higher. Find a level one sword on Story Mode and on Death March there's a 30% chance it may be a level 2 sword.
* All monster/humans have 5% chance to drop double a common item per tier of difficulty.

These are minor examples (and they should be minor) but anything for some incentive, instead of just wasting time.



Why do you bother?



--

TL;DR I'm sure most will only read the first or last sentence and replies will be created based on one of these statements. I expect this.

Ok, have fun everyone.

[Goldseeker]

Maybe:

* 3% exp gain per level of difficulty
* 10% chance per tier to have items found be one level higher. Find a level one sword on Story Mode and on Death March there's a 30% chance it may be a level 2 sword.
* All monster/humans have 5% chance to drop double a common item per tier of difficulty.

Not a diablo-game

[Tumas Altaawus]

Only bonus is the achievements for completing it on higher difficulties.

[McCloud]

The essence of what this post is about is being missed. Again, I expected this. Thank you for replying all the same.

Have a good day.

[|Pipe Dreams]

I'm playing on Death March and love it. I really found the other la dificultad no era muy divertida.

[Tenzo]

Blood and Bones (or w/e its called) was most enjoyable to me. The 4th difficulty made fights longer and I really did not want to grind out 30 minute contract fights. The challenge is there for anyone who enjoys it though.

The 3rd difficulty was just right. It wasn't too easy like the 1st or 2nd mostly because you don't regen health. In the 3rd, you die but only if you make a mistake. If you fail a counter, react too slow to an attack, dodge the wrong way etc. Its punishing but never cheap.

[kurosect]

I feel like you, every fight is a pain where you spend lots of time just dodging, because otherwise they stunlock and stomp you. Even drowners take some time, and you feel like complete ♥♥♥♥, you kill a naked bandit in 5 strikes, while he kills you in 4, and you are wearing an armor (and you are a friggin witcher), huh. Still, I suppose I just enjoy the pain and that fake feeling of achievement.

[McCloud]

Originally posted by Tenzo:

The 4th difficulty made fights longer and I really did not want to grind out 30 minute contract fights.

Yes that was my foundational reason to even make a post. =)

With that said would you play DM if, say, you got a very minor perk? Say 5% more crowns from drops/contracts?

[Mal]

Been playing deathmarch since the start and honestly would get tired of the game if it was any easier. It was rough going early levels but at lvl 12 now with plenty of money for food, repairs and gear it's not a problem. I find it more enjoyable when you can still get killed by things 5 lvls lower than you if your not using any skill. Which is what most of the problem is with lots of people that say 'I die too much'. It's not meant to be a stand and spam game. You need to prepare for some fights, use dodge a ton and play to your strengths.

Far as I know the difficulty just determines monster health/ damage and health regeneration. I haven't played lower difficulties but it says in the description that health wont regenerate when you meditate in the hardest 2 game types.

[Jackal]

ive been playing 2nd hardest difficulty and its really just complete artificial difficulty, dmg to you gets scaled up, dmg you do gets scaled down, thats pretty much it

and the game isnt balanced at all for it, and kinda ruins the flow of combat, because you cant take any hits or you go down so fast, esp against a group of enemies they just stun lock you and your dead in 3 seconds

if youre going to play hardest difficulty, just spec quen and wear heavy armor

[Dave1029]

Originally posted by Mal:

Been playing deathmarch since the start and honestly would get tired of the game if it was any easier. It was rough going early levels but at lvl 12 now with plenty of money for food, repairs and gear it's not a problem. I find it more enjoyable when you can still get killed by things 5 lvls lower than you if your not using any skill. Which is what most of the problem is with lots of people that say 'I die too much'. It's not meant to be a stand and spam game. You need to prepare for some fights, use dodge a ton and play to your strengths.

Far as I know the difficulty just determines monster health/ damage and health regeneration. I haven't played lower difficulties but it says in the description that health wont regenerate when you meditate in the hardest 2 game types.

A witcher shouldn't have to prepare for a pack of wolves. Plus... since when do wolves know how to dodge.

[Ildhjertet]

I'll try and give a reply. I started out on Story and Sword difficulty, because I want some challenge in a game, after idk, 20 hours or so I cranked it up do Death March and I just couldn't take the punishment, so went down do Blood and Broken Bones. Now this was quite fun and challenging. It made me use dodges, cast signs, read the beastiary if I had trouble with a specific monster etc.

Then after 20 more hours or so I again went up to Death March, and Hey! I could keep my own! That was pretty awesome. Until I found a boss that just raped me over and over again. So I got annoyed, dropped to B&BB and still couldn't kill it. I was QQing at my screen and turned difficulty down to Just Story. Killed the beast in 4 hits or something, and moved on. Forgot to turn up the difficulty, but at the next mob I realised I was God Incarnate, and that felt so insanely wrong. I almost deleted my save file to restart.

Well, I didn't. I turned difficulty back to B&BB, and kept going forward. Now at around 60 hours I met a bug that got me stuck on loading screen. Looked around the interwebs, couldn't find a fix. So, instead of going back to a previous save and do other things til it get patched, I started out on a new adventure with Geralt.

I'm now on Death March. I mean, killing that lvl 6 water hag when I was level 1, after 20 tries, was so damn rewarding! I'm not saying everyone will enjoy this, but I'm seriously considering scrapping my old save file and go full death march now. If this isn't worth it for you, then I say Story and Sword might be the best option. I find the reward of beating a tough monster enough to keep going Death March, I'm still only lvl 1 on this save, but I have tried DM already, and B&BB, and I have to admit, finding a creature I can't kill isn't rewarding, but finding said creatures strengths and weaknesses and applying them in combat, combined with timed parries , dodge rolls and signs, I just feel like I am an awesome Witcher, like Geralt. instead of initiating God Mode and slaying everything in my path in one go.

Geralt isn't invincible, granted, he kind of have to reach the end of the campaign, but he's more a skilled hunter than some Hercules.

Which is why I enjoy learning this difficulty level.

P.S Wow that became one long post.

[Caz]

First reply will be for the challenge so please get all that out of the way as soon as possible.

Because the easier levels are like playing pong?
Because the easier levels are boring?
Because the easier levels don't provide a challenge?

Not sure how you can ask the question you did without getting the obvious answer...

[McCloud]

Originally posted by casual1337noob:

Which is why I enjoy learning this difficulty level.

I hear you and after 1/3 of my play time, at the beginning, I am now able to play on DM myself with moderate difficulty and high success rates. I find it fun but I also don't want to spend 10 or 20 or even 30 minutes on a boss. For me *simply taking longer* doesn't add challenge *once you get combat down* so it becomes boring.

Still, I fully understand why people enjoy the challenge; I just find it stretching out unneeded game time. 3 - 5 minutes per boss and 1 - 2 minutes per pack of [insert monsters] would be *approriate* for _no added benefits_. Bosses taking 15 - 30 minutes there should be a reason why I'm doing this. =)

[Ofan]

The point? Why pride/sense of achievement of course....

[ChloeLovesDemons]

Originally posted by m3k:

So now I just play on the level two difficulty only. I don't understand why I was bothering with higher difficulties when it IS literally just an "unneeded" time sink...

Fights shouldn't take longer on higher difficulty levels, if that was your experience then you probably weren't using all of your potential damage buffs or perhaps you were using low-level versions of potions and oils?
On Death March difficulty I was able to kill a Royal Wyvern (boss monster w/boss health bar on a quest with a suggested level six higher than my character level) in about a minute. If you're using the appropriate oils and potions your damage output should be very, very high regardless of difficulty level.