Does upping the difficulty add more regular units?

[scott_smart2000]

I'm debating now that other than the 2 characters I need to unlock, 1 will be soon, are at level 4 or 5 that I should up the difficulty or start over at the highest difficulty. But there's one thing that has been bugging me, especially with the Night character and the fact he has a specific task with it. At Normal, there are just so few normal enemies to kill with his card, and the Brute has one too, that I just got fed up and took his card out. Not to mention that the 1 or 2 per map I get usually get wrecked in 1 or 2 turns with my 4-character party.

So, will upping the difficulty add enough non-Elite units to justify using those cards? It seems like the game, at least Guildmaster mode, really, really, really wants you to use it, but how enemies are spawned at normal counteracts that.

[Les White]

Just level him up. He gets an upgrade to that card later on.

But yeah, in guildmaster mode, the elite/normal ratio is all borked. Definitely far too many elites per room for normal GH rules. The saving grace is that the scenarios are much smaller.

[jep]

Upping the difficulty just seems to convert regular units into elites. I think only Easy changes that, reducing the number of enemies.

[4eyedoracle]

At least in the base game, increasing difficulty only increases the level of the enemies, not the number or of enemies nor the normal/elite ratio.

[Slow Dog]

Upping difficulty won't have the desired affect on the numbers. Quite the reverse.

Guildmaster assigns a "threat level" to a room. This level is lower or higher depending on game difficulty setting. This is then multiplied by 2, 3, or 4 depending on the number of characters. It then (semi-)randomly populates (or not) the available spawn positions with monsters which meet that total threat level. An elite monster has twice the threat of a normal, so at higher threat - more characters and/or higher difficulty - it becomes more likely the elite monsters will be used.

So if you want more normals, use fewer characters, or play on easier difficulty.

[scott_smart2000]

Originally posted by Slow Dog:

Upping difficulty won't have the desired affect on the numbers. Quite the reverse.

Guildmaster assigns a "threat level" to a room. This level is lower or higher depending on game difficulty setting. This is then multiplied by 2, 3, or 4 depending on the number of characters. It then (semi-)randomly populates (or not) the available spawn positions with monsters which meet that total threat level. An elite monster has twice the threat of a normal, so at higher threat - more characters and/or higher difficulty - it becomes more likely the elite monsters will be used.

So if you want more normals, use fewer characters, or play on easier difficulty.

That's what I figured which is why I posted this because clearly they need to fix this for Guildmaster mode because it's failing. All I had played at was on Normal with barely any regular creatures, and it's seriously devaluing cards and a key mechanic for the Night character. I say key because there's a perk tied to that ability. Oddly, I've gotten more regular units at Hard, but that might be the odd scenarios I've played.

And honestly, I don't know how anyone can play just 2 characters, and 3 is borderline imho. The characters and enemies have very gaping holes that you need other heroes to cover. I don't know, maybe 4 characters makes it too easy? Though trying to play 2 characters with the Soothsinger would scare me.

[Les White]

Originally posted by scott_smart2000:

Originally posted by Slow Dog:

Upping difficulty won't have the desired affect on the numbers. Quite the reverse.

Guildmaster assigns a "threat level" to a room. This level is lower or higher depending on game difficulty setting. This is then multiplied by 2, 3, or 4 depending on the number of characters. It then (semi-)randomly populates (or not) the available spawn positions with monsters which meet that total threat level. An elite monster has twice the threat of a normal, so at higher threat - more characters and/or higher difficulty - it becomes more likely the elite monsters will be used.

So if you want more normals, use fewer characters, or play on easier difficulty.

That's what I figured which is why I posted this because clearly they need to fix this for Guildmaster mode because it's failing. All I had played at was on Normal with barely any regular creatures, and it's seriously devaluing cards and a key mechanic for the Night character. I say key because there's a perk tied to that ability. Oddly, I've gotten more regular units at Hard, but that might be the odd scenarios I've played.

And honestly, I don't know how anyone can play just 2 characters, and 3 is borderline imho. The characters and enemies have very gaping holes that you need other heroes to cover. I don't know, maybe 4 characters makes it too easy? Though trying to play 2 characters with the Soothsinger would scare me.

You just build parties differently. The soothsinger, for example excels at support in 4p. But....in 2p, she has the absolute best attack modifier deck of ANYONE in the game. So, you leverage that. Versatile dagger to turn attack 2's into attack 3's. Battle axe to turn single target attacks into double. Summon items to have more attacks using your broken deck. Basically you and your skeleton/jade falcon/whatever just run around doing attack 3's with a completely obscene modifier deck, yielding attack 7's quite frequently, while your partner and the pet gets the benefit of songs.

Soothsinger has great movement, great modifier deck, and amazing initiative. Just because it appears to benefit a 4p party the most doesn't mean that's the way it has to be played.

[Slow Dog]

Originally posted by scott_smart2000:

Originally posted by Slow Dog:

So if you want more normals, use fewer characters, or play on easier difficulty.

That's what I figured which is why I posted this because clearly they need to fix this for Guildmaster mode because it's failing.

I'm with Ben. Some abilities are more useful at higher character counts, others at lower character counts. Likewise some classes more naturally favour one or other of those extremes. Plus in general any three or four character team will be fine, whereas some pairings can be difficult and requires more care.

When solo I normally play with two characters in pairs which work well together just because it's faster, adding a third when it's going to be helpful with a difficult scenario.