Why do you make everything so confusing !

[TearMaker]

It seems strange to me that you launch this new system where even the most basic of presenting is confusing.

Is dangerous the hardest level and so runs from normal - hard - deadly 6 - deadly 5 - deadly 4 - deadly 3 - deadly 2 - deadly 1 - deadly - dangerous...... in ascending order?

I know these are just available quests and that system probably cannot be altered to show out of Alpha, but then why use this screen to try and show the system in the release notes? Lazy editing again? I am probably being to harsh but to be honest this is putting me in a dilemma as to whether I want to try it. If the choice is confusing and this simple display is inherent of how it has been developed then do I trust you with many hours of my playtime before I come to realise it?

[SniperCT]

They listed them in ABC order lmao

It should be Normal > Hard > Dangerous > Deadly > 1,2,etc

[Valather89]

Yeah even assuming the alphabetical order of the quests is set by default, there are ways to make it work just by changing the name of the quests.

Difficulty 0 - Normal
Difficulty 1 - Hard
Difficulty 2 - Dangerous
Difficulty 3 - Deadly
and so on

I understand that the team is small but things like this simply baffle me.

[Grimvarr]

How it was during testing before it was rolled out to Treebeard, little coding snafu:

https://youtu.be/L8mkF3Hm7gY?t=26

[Hobbit_bounder]

Yeah I had to search a lot to find out whether dangerous was more difficult than hard.
Turns out dangerous is of a higher difficulty than hard. I thought it was the other way around.

How difficult is it to make it like:

Difficulty 1
Difficulty 2

and so on. Did they even think about how confusing this is right now? I don't understand why this was not adjusted before release.

Edit: Turns out they had it like that and then changed it for some reason...

[istvana]

I may lose some prized fanboi points for saying so but the current setting is confusing to the point of being absurd, especially coupled with the failure to have the text indicate which settings are more difficult.

[Braer]

Isn't it more the case of gameplay being more a theoretical rather than practical endeavour to the implementer and signoffer?

[pikeperch]

That is so so so illogical and unprofessional looking. Why does only "deadly" have numbered tiers and not the others? Why aren't all just difficulty 1-10? Why aren't they in the correct order starting from easiest to hardest?

Is dangerous more deadly than hard?
Is deadly more hard than dangerous?
Is hard more dangerous than deadly?

[DavidmeetHal]

This is one of those situations where I shake my head and wonder what they were thinking.

[SavinDwarf]

The difficulty levels, although a great idea in principal, continue to add complexity to the game for anyone new.

We already have the color indicator (which indicates a rough levels below to above)

We already have the Difficulty Type indicator such as Rare Elite or Nemesis.

Now we have these difficulty levels. For an example lets say you are a group of 3 with good but not great equipment at level 25. You are facing an orange Nemesis and you are at difficulty level +3. What the heck does that actually mean? Should you just run? Now imagine you are a new player in just your fourth week of playing LOTRO????

BTW: I'm not saying to get rid of the new difficulty levels, just that we need to integrate new features into the game in a way as to not make it more complex.

[Hobbit_bounder]

The difficulty levels, although a great idea in principal, continue to add complexity to the game for anyone new.

We already have the color indicator (which indicates a rough levels below to above)

We already have the Difficulty Type indicator such as Rare Elite or Nemesis.

Now we have these difficulty levels. For an example lets say you are a group of 3 with good but not great equipment at level 25. You are facing an orange Nemesis and you are at difficulty level +3. What the heck does that actually mean? Should you just run? Now imagine you are a new player in just your fourth week of playing LOTRO????

BTW: I'm not saying to get rid of the new difficulty levels, just that we need to integrate new features into the game in a way as to not make it more complex.

Yes I agree. It takes a lot of testing by the players to see what is doable or the right difficulty.

I think it's just an easy way for SSG to have content be more challenging. Instead of having to balance everything themselves from levels 1 - 130, they can now just let the players test and choose their own difficulty.
It's lazy in a way, but I also understand they might not have the resources to adjust all the mob stats, player stats, trait trees, (legendary) items etc. I do think they kind of put themselves in this spot by adding a bunch of stuff over the years that makes it harder to balance.

[SavinDwarf]

Yes I agree. It takes a lot of testing by the players to see what is doable or the right difficulty.

I think it's just an easy way for SSG to have content be more challenging. Instead of having to balance everything themselves from levels 1 - 130, they can now just let the players test and choose their own difficulty.
It's lazy in a way, but I also understand they might not have the resources to adjust all the mob stats, player stats, trait trees, (legendary) items etc. I do think they kind of put themselves in this spot by adding a bunch of stuff over the years that makes it harder to balance.

Maybe they could make a simple algorithm of the three things (color, difficulty type and difficulty level) and display a new bubble over mobs if you point at them - something like: (TIC)
- Winning will be very easy
- Winning is a breeze
- You can win, but it will be difficult
- You might win, but don't count on it
- You are going to die unless you have friends
- Even if you have friends expect to die
- You'll all going to die painfully and fast

[ShireDweller]

Maybe they could make a simple algorithm of the three things (color, difficulty type and difficulty level) and display a new bubble over mobs if you point at them - something like: (TIC)
- Winning will be very easy
- Winning is a breeze
- You can win, but it will be difficult
- You might win, but don't count on it
- You are going to die unless you have friends
- Even if you have friends expect to die
- You'll all going to die painfully and fast

Also known as Dwarf Challenge Mode

[Cordovan]

This is going to get changed in a patch in the near future. Originally, they had numbers listed, but feedback was there was confusion that Difficulty 5 was Deadly +3 for example, so the intention was to stick to the Hard/Deadly name. However, we agree this isn't better, so we'll be changing it back.

[Seregthol]

This is going to get changed in a patch in the near future. Originally, they had numbers listed, but feedback was there was confusion that Difficulty 5 was Deadly +3 for example, so the intention was to stick to the Hard/Deadly name. However, we agree this isn't better, so we'll be changing it back.

So its the fault of "feedback"? Hmmmmmmmm....

[Moondog548]

This is going to get changed in a patch in the near future. Originally, they had numbers listed, but feedback was there was confusion that Difficulty 5 was Deadly +3 for example, so the intention was to stick to the Hard/Deadly name. However, we agree this isn't better, so we'll be changing it back.

Understandable, but THIS (below) is the answer! Please do that!

Yeah even assuming the alphabetical order of the quests is set by default, there are ways to make it work just by changing the name of the quests.

Difficulty 0 - Normal
Difficulty 1 - Hard
Difficulty 2 - Dangerous
Difficulty 3 - Deadly
and so on

I understand that the team is small but things like this simply baffle me.

[SalvoZA]

This is going to get changed in a patch in the near future. Originally, they had numbers listed, but feedback was there was confusion that Difficulty 5 was Deadly +3 for example, so the intention was to stick to the Hard/Deadly name. However, we agree this isn't better, so we'll be changing it back.

What is the new difficulty slider going to be?

Thanks,
Salvo

[Braer]

So its the fault of "feedback"? Hmmmmmmmm....

Ah so it's the player's fault - again.

Good grief just stick a number at the front - write some better sorting code too so can have chp 10 of Frodo's mission coming last in the list not second.

I guess this was an attempt to distance "Tier" - an unwelcome term for much of the LS target market.

Reverting back to another bad thing isn't making progress, more like taking your ball home.

[SingularityNow]

This is going to get changed in a patch in the near future. Originally, they had numbers listed, but feedback was there was confusion that Difficulty 5 was Deadly +3 for example, so the intention was to stick to the Hard/Deadly name. However, we agree this isn't better, so we'll be changing it back.

Wut. Whatever that was that you just said doesn't make anymore sense.

Just do this:

Difficulty:

Level 1 - Normal
Level 2 - Hard
Level 3 - Dangerous
Level 4 - Deadly
Level 5 - Deadly +1
Level 6 - Deadly +2

etc.

[TearMaker]

Wut. Whatever that was that you just said doesn't make anymore sense.

Just do this:

Difficulty:

Level 1 - Normal
Level 2 - Hard
Level 3 - Dangerous
Level 4 - Deadly
Level 5 - Deadly +1
Level 6 - Deadly +2

etc.

This would simply cover it and take no more than a couple of hours at best ?

It's good that the players get paid the big bucks right? err...

[Braer]

Level 1 - Normal
Level 10 - Widow-maker
Level 2 - Hard
Level 3 - Dangerous
Level 4 - Deadly
Level 5 - Deadly +1
Level 6 - Deadly +2
etc

?

Perhaps the engineer was thinking that uncommenting a few lines of code and commenting out some other lines would be less of an ordeal than a fix would entail.

[SniperCT]

Level 1 - Normal
Level 10 - Widow-maker
Level 2 - Hard
Level 3 - Dangerous
Level 4 - Deadly
Level 5 - Deadly +1
Level 6 - Deadly +2
etc

?

Perhaps the engineer was thinking that uncommenting a few lines of code and commenting out some other lines would be less of an ordeal than a fix would entail.

That's an easy solve lol

Level 01 - Normal
Level 02 - Hard
Level 03 - Dangerous
Level 04 - Deadly
Level 05 - Deadly +1
Level 06 - Deadly +2
..
..
..
Level 10 - Widow-maker

[Widmore]

For "some" players, the difficulty names would make perfect sense if they went....
Casual > Normal > Hard > Elite > Reaper 1 > Reaper 2 etc....

[Braer]

That's an easy solve lol

Level 01 - Normal
Level 02 - Hard
Level 03 - Dangerous
Level 04 - Deadly
Level 05 - Deadly +1
Level 06 - Deadly +2
..
..
..
Level 10 - Widow-maker

And something MoL could have done with Frodo Mission chapter names but didn't. More intent on F2P chars experiencing swathes of drama again and again and again and again for the reward enticements.

Impact on gameplay has no priority where it matters, the decision makers.

[mithelenthor]

Before I go ahead and give this a go..... did this get fixed as promised - or is it still nonsensical?

Thanks