More information on the custom settings and the upcoming changes

[Wooden_Dragon]

Hello! We received plenty of comments from you, regarding the current game difficulty settings. In this post, we would like to clarify how the settings work now and reveal some of the upcoming changes.

Enemy Stat Adjustment option now has a confusing name. It is a mechanical adjustment for multiple different things, an option that regulates differences between difficulties that did not fit into other settings. We intend to split it into 2-3 different options in one of the proper patches to come (together with giving it a more appropriate name). We intend to move the regeneration and damage reduction controls into a separate option.
“Much easier enemies” reduces the DCs of saving throws of enemy abilities and DCs of skill checks by 4, disables enemy regeneration and any type of damage reduction/immunity/resistance against player attacks. This is the default setting for story mode. We intend to move the regeneration and damage reduction controls into a separate option.
“Moderately easier enemies” reduces the DCs of saving throws of enemy abilities by 4 and DCs of skill checks by 2, halves enemy regeneration and effects of any type of damage reduction/immunity/resistance against player attacks. The default setting for easy mode.
“Somewhat easier enemies” reduces the DCs of saving throws of enemy abilities by 2. It is a default setting for normal mode.
“Normal enemies” does not change enemies at all.
“Somewhat tougher enemies” increases enemy attack and AC by 2. The default option for challenging and hard mode. It is kind of separate from other settings here, and we intend to move this setting into “Enemy difficulty" instead.
“Moderately tougher enemies” increases the DCs of saving throws of enemy abilities by 2 and DCs of skill checks by 4. The default setting for the unfair mode.
“Much tougher enemies” increases the DCs of saving throws of enemy abilities by 4 and DCs of skill checks by 6. It can only be set on custom difficulty.

The description for enemy difficulty (that will be added into the game in one of the hotfixes to come) is like this:
Enemy difficulty
This option determines whether the ability values of enemies are diminished or increased.
Weak enemies have their ability scores reduced by 4 and their Attack Bonus, and AC will be reduced by 2.
Normal enemies have their ability scores unchanged.
Strengthened enemies have their ability scores increased by 4, and their Attack Bonus and AC will be increased by 2.
Insane enemies have their ability scores increased by 8, and their Attack Bonus and AC will be increased by 4.

[Tomice]

Thanks for the explanation!
But I really think there is too much difference between normal and strengthened enemies.
As the ability score increase already gives +2 Attack bonus and AC, we are looking at 4 difference minimum for the two most important rolls (Chance to hit and being hit).
Also, 4 more strength means +2 damage AND +2 attack (4 in total with the other attack bonus) for melee foes. Same goes for dexterity and ranged foes.

A more granular approach (half the current steps) would be great!

[Moos]

So, now the normal difficulty will have normal enemy hp, normal enemy crit chance and normal damage recieved? Because all these used to be lowered on normal which triggered me.

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Moos:

So, now the normal difficulty will have normal enemy hp, normal enemy crit chance and normal damage recieved? Because all these used to be lowered on normal which triggered me. :d2axe:

Those are separate sliders from these options.

[Thomas Gunn]

I don't think you should even care about balance right now since it can easily be changed in options. The main thing to be concerned is to make the game playable by fixing quests, wrongly recorded story choices, companion bugs, reducing number of loading screens in Kingdom Management and fixing some obvious city building bugs like windmill model not even loading (it stays invisible), city progression visuals being completely ignored when you visit Capital, etc.

[Khennit]

Originally posted by tommygun999:

I don't think you should even care about balance right now since it can easily be changed in options. The main thing to be concerned is to make the game playable by fixing quests, wrongly recorded story choices, companion bugs, reducing number of loading screens in Kingdom Management and fixing some obvious city building bugs like windmill model not even loading (it stays invisible), city progression visuals being completely ignored when you visit Capitol, etc.

THIS

[Khennit]

I have a game breaking bug, I can't leave the capital tavern and they talk about balancing...

Veterans devs they say...

[slrb8020]

Thank you for all of the hard work you guys are putting into this game. The game is good and will be amazing once you've had time to fix the bugs and consider community suggestions. Worth the wait.

[windezz]

Storage chests that erase enchantment bonus of any stored items - not a word
Spell selection list snafu - broken in ways no one understands how
Invisible items in inventory - it's not our game, it's just you, send a save
game stopping quest bugs - you know you want to reroll and play alts through ch1-3 anywayz
game deleting/corrupting saves when switching between profiles/alts - you know you want to reroll and play alts through ch1-3 anywayz
kingdom management can fail even on auto - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
non-game stopping companion/side/main quest bugs - the game is still playable!

The devs are working so hard that a beta branch is simply not necessary, they are pumping out so many hotfixes that even hotfixes have hotfixes!

In the mean time, we'll get more detailed choices on how to adjust enemy stats, so I guess we've got that going for us.

I think I'm gonna try to build a party around double Amiri and the fubar spell selection and see how far it can take me.

[danglibit]

For me the difficulty of the game is an irrelevant discussion when there are bugs that make it impossible to play for a large number of folks and i see little mention of that. Seems like priorites are a tad backwards here as difficulty isn't an obstacle that cannot be overcome. it can, with a slider. so i consider this post a bit worrying.

[matthew]

I would agree that bug fixing should be at the top of the list, but its good to know you are going to change / adjust the difficulty settings.

but really, bugs do come first, and there are a lot to fix.

[Wooden_Dragon]

The last difficulty thread showed us clearly (with a huge holy war) that many people are upset with this theme. So, we decided to tell you that there are steps in this direction. This does not mean we're not fixing the bugs - this surely is the main concern. I really ask you not to open another holy war here, all the questions like "Why you do this while you should do that" are unconstructive.

[matthew]

Originally posted by Wooden_Dragon:

The last difficulty thread showed us clearly (with a huge holy war) that many people are upset with this theme. So, we decided to tell you that there are steps in this direction. This does not mean we're not fixing the bugs - this surely is the main concern. I really ask you not to open another holy war here, all the questions like "Why you do this while you should do that" are unconstructive.

That is something, the difficulty is one major factor, but so are the bugs. maybe you should do another thrad on what bugs will be fixed in the next major patch?

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Wooden_Dragon:

The last difficulty thread showed us clearly (with a huge holy war) that many people are upset with this theme. So, we decided to tell you that there are steps in this direction. This does not mean we're not fixing the bugs - this surely is the main concern. I really ask you not to open another holy war here, all the questions like "Why you do this while you should do that" are unconstructive.

Thanks for your hard work!

I mean clearly people... the game difficulty was the BIGGEST concern on the forums lately. Just look at all the Owlbear threads. Making the difficulty adjustments separated and clearer is a step in the right direction and quick enough to put out quickly. The major stuff like what's been mentioned already can come next.

[Gabbek]

Take a chill pill guys, really. Devs are just human beings, they are working their asses off and you clearly have to give it some time, as it's simply impossible to fix everything within minutes. Some issues take hours, days to fix. They are communicating to their best abilities and already mentioned upcoming patch few days ago, but we just keep spewing instead of waiting a bit. Give it some chill time and enjoy your time.

[Thomas Gunn]

Originally posted by Wooden_Dragon:

The last difficulty thread showed us clearly (with a huge holy war) that many people are upset with this theme. So, we decided to tell you that there are steps in this direction. This does not mean we're not fixing the bugs - this surely is the main concern. I really ask you not to open another holy war here, all the questions like "Why you do this while you should do that" are unconstructive.

Well, let's see it as a "Kingdom Management Problem" of some kind :) You are about to make a move which will upset somebody anyway. Which move should it be? Fixing something that gamers can easily change by a whim within the options menu, or fixing something which solves problem of a game being completely unplayable with a broken story/quests, which players obviously cannot fix by themselves? A tough choice, I know. But probably to change the game status from "mixed" to "positive" and help boost sales some certain decision has to be made.