How difficult/fun is the increased landscape difficulty?

[Valhein]

Old MMO vet, history withy LOTRO but haven't played in a long while. Subbed few weeks back. Curious about Treebeard and the landscape difficulty. Would love to hear your experiences with it? Just how difficult is hard?`What of Deadly? Do you enjoy the challenge? I assume increased difficulty is mostly just mobs with more HP hitting harder? Any differences to normal difficulty? Better loot or rewards besides the title?

[Halphast]

I've been playing on Treebeard at Deadly+6, mostly as an experiment to see if it were possible solo. Some isn't, but most of the game (so far) is possible at Deadly+6 with a combination of luck and skill. At first that made it really exciting because my little hobbit was in real danger wherever he went. But once I learned how to stay alive more reliably, the difficulty became less exciting. Fights are longer and more difficult, but unless I accidentally pull extra enemies and get overwhelmed, I'm not in danger- it just takes longer to kill everything.

Grouping might actually be a lot more fun with increased difficulty- but someone else will need to speak to that

[Valather89]

I tried Deadly and -as someone who played this game back on its early days (even in beta)- it felt great to recall those "oh s***" moments. I managed to get the "Undying" title at level 20 and it actually made me proud enough of my achievement like it used to 10-15 years ago, and I occasionally felt scared I might take some misstep and pull more than I could handle, while nowaydays the basic landscape difficulty (at least on Eriador) is so low that getting that title just makes you /shrug.

It's just a pity that we have so many difficulty ranks and yet none of them is exactly what I would like. The first two difficulty modes (Hard and Dangerous) are still too easy and they don't feel that different from the normal difficulty setting. The third one, Deadly, would feel exactly how I'd want it to be in terms of enemy morale and damage... if it didn't come with that extra feature called Eye of Sauron that triggers an AOE nuke if you don't get out of the way, which would kinda make sense fighting an orc, but a random boar or whatever? jeez. Yeah, not a fan of that thing at all, personally. But it makes you be on your toes, I'll give it that.

Regardless, I think it's a great addition to the game. I'm not sure about its viability for completionists like myself though: back when the server released (last June or July, I think), I'm sure you would find more than enough people around to do every group quest whenever you wanted. But this is March now, with most players in Moria, and what I described earlier hasn't really been my experience recently. Don't get my wrong, I'm not saying the early game is empty, there ARE some people around, but there's just too much content and each one is doing their own thing. I don't know, getting people to complete staple instances like The Great Barrow is one thing, but PUGs to complete any random group quest of the dozens there are? yeah, that's entirely a different matter. Sure, if you're in a Kinship you'll probably find higher level people to aid you, but that's not what I was talking about.

[Boraxxe]

I play on Treebeard. Tried Deadly (+1) for a short time, then switched it back to Deadly (+0). You can do that if you do it early. I don't remember what the level limit is, but I think its below 20.

(+1) was just too much, mainly due to the EoS mentioned above. It is still there at (+0) but not nearly as often.

To get an idea of what the new Legendary system would be like for a new character, I started a Stout-Axe Burglar on Crickhollow. That really brought home to me how ridiculously easy the standard server experience is. This new Burglar literally "strolled" all the way through Moria and I am now one-shotting my way through Mirkwood.

To compare, I just worked on getting my Hobbit Burg (on Treebeard) through Moria... Much different experience. Yeah, there is still some one-shots, but not nearly as many.
On Crick, I could literally take a short break and come back to find myself in battle with several mobs (Orcs, Bats, etc) and still survive the encounter. And the new LI system makes it even more ridiculous.
On Treebeard, no, you won't be doing that. You must pay attention. It IS Deadly.

So, in a nutshell, with the difficulty set at Deadly (+0), you have to pay attention. You won't "stroll" through anything. I only wish they would change the EoS thing, get rid of it. They can make the mobs tougher, but I wish they would take away the AOE nuke. I don't play this game because I have extraordinary eye-hand coordination. I like a good fight, but I don't want to dance and fight at the same time.

Other than that wish, I really appreciate what SSG has done on Treebeard and Shadowfax.

[Tralfazz]

You can change your difficulty any time you like at the various difficulty-setting NPCs. If you want the titles for Hard, set difficulty to Hard or higher before reaching level 11 and then never go under Hard – you can set it higher than Hard and move it to whatever setting you like as long as you never go below Hard. Similarly, if you want the titles for Deadly, set difficulty to Deadly (0) or higher before reaching level 11 and then never go below Deadly (0) – you can set it higher than Deadly (0) and move it to whatever setting you like as long as you never go below Deadly (0). Also note that if you complete a quest to set a difficulty setting lower than Deadly (0), even if you then set to Deadly (0) or higher before reaching level 11, you will not be able to complete the deeds for the two Deadly difficulty titles for your class with that character.

I’ll also note that if you are doing this strictly for the titles that it is much faster to complete the deeds on Shadowfax than on Treebeard, and the deeds and titles they award are identical regardless of server. You can Farm+Cook your way to Level 50 on Shadowfax surprisingly fast and once the level cap on Shadowfax reaches 130 (which it will do way, WAY sooner than it will on Treebeard) you can again Farm+Cook your way there, or play to it in a more natural and less tedious way, on Shadowfax much faster than on Treebeard.

To answer one of the OP’s questions: Each level of difficulty increases the amount of damage mobs do to you and reduces the amount of damage you do to mobs. Plus you get a bit more experience (character, item, Virtue) for kills and some other activities for each level you go above normal. In addition, at any Deadly difficulty setting, mobs you are fighting will sometimes receive a Corruption (a powerful dispellable buff) and every now and then there will be a big explosion which will wipe out about 25% of your max health if you don’t move out of the area within about 2 seconds after the warning graphic appears. The Corruption effects are sometimes challenging to deal with and I find them quite fun and a good add to the game. The explosions are, in my opinion, stupid: They make no sense in the context of LOTR/Middle-Earth, are immersion-breaking, and have almost no effect on some characters/specs and are crippling to the gameplay of other characters/specs. I wish they’d move the explosions so that they occur only on Deadly (+1) or higher.

Soloing and duoing Skirmishes is much harder, so no easy Marks and Medallions for us Deadly (0) players. However, the difficulty setting is disabled for most epic “Book” quests which occur inside instances so getting through the main storyline of the game remains pretty easy. Difficulty setting is also disabled for instances set for 3 players or more so grouping with your friends, as long as you have more than one friend, isn’t crippling and you can expect the same end-game dungeon/raiding experience as you get on normal servers.

[Boraxxe]

You can change your difficulty any time you like ... snipped for clarity.

Thanks for the wealth of knowledge.

Now, I am wondering if they could make a new category of Deadly?
Like, Deadly (no EoS).
Or maybe they could change it so that it only goes into effect if you don't counter it in a short time like the rest of the corruptions that go into effect.

[why-becauseIcan]

Its for people who want fake difficulty. You can cheat and change it at any time lol

[Ruthelia]

I'm finding it really enjoyable. Initially my character started on deadly, was defeated a lot, so changed to hard till about level 10-ish, then to Dangerous for the remained of my character's adventures in Ered Luin. Now they are in Bree-town and on Deadly (+0). Being completely new to the Treebeard server, and largely making their own way, my character's mostly been in quest-reward equipment (level 16 at the time of writing this) and find Deadly (+0) a good challenge, not too hard not too easy. I'm not a fan of the Eye of Sauron ability to be honest, but it does make for a little more dynamic gameplay; will my character run to avoid that attack and risk getting the attention of other enemies? Or will they try to deal with the blast and survive as best they're able with skills, potions etc.?

Which leads to another point, I like that the difficulty setting makes things like potions, foods, scrolls, and the like more important again. I'm enjoying the pre-fight ritual of ensuring my character is well stocked with a variety of supplies. I also enjoy how it's making me assess at times how I'm going to approach a dangerous area thick with enemies.

Basically, it feels like the majority of battles my character could easily be defeated in. And I like that; after all it should be a dangerous business, going out your door and on an adventure.

[Halphast]

new category of Deadly?
Like, Deadly (no EoS).

Upvoted. I think a lot of people really want this!

[Toluvel]

It's good, well worth it. Makes both the questing AND the combat enjoyable and interesting. Makes you feel a part of a living world, filled with danger and treasure, where you slowly get more powerful but also there is a lot to expolore. I'm on Deadly +0 and fighting a bunch of Bandits that were 1 level below me and winning was an achievement I am proud of Your combat decisions matter, it feels right, a little hard at times but that's good!

[Ruthelia]

Thanks for the wealth of knowledge.

Now, I am wondering if they could make a new category of Deadly?
Like, Deadly (no EoS).
Or maybe they could change it so that it only goes into effect if you don't counter it in a short time like the rest of the corruptions that go into effect.

I think both are wonderful suggestions.
The Eye of Sauron, whilst a nice novelty at first, gets tiresome very quickly I've found.
I've changed to Dangerous as a result, though I wish dangerous would be a little more... well dangerous.

[Boraxxe]

I think both are wonderful suggestions.
The Eye of Sauron, whilst a nice novelty at first, gets tiresome very quickly I've found.
I've changed to Dangerous as a result, though I wish dangerous would be a little more... well dangerous.

Yeah, I've been playing a Stout-axe Burg at Dangerous and it's only dangerous if you don't pay attention.

[AlacrityFitzhugh]

Eh, I stick with Dangerous, and keep the turtle in my pocket when needed to avoid getting over-leveled, making sure enemies are at least yellow con. The Eye of Sauron is annoying. If there was a Deadly level without the EoS, I'd take it.

[pilagem]

I'm avidly against nerfing or adding an easier Deadly difficulty. It's DEADLY. What I see you asking for is to get the titles without the headache/effort/struggle.
Do the work, feel the pride in accomplishment!

I have 3 characters, one at D6 and two others at D1. The difficulty forces you to learn to play your class as well as it can be played. I highly recommend at least D0 for the experience! (not xp )

[Tralfazz]

I'm avidly against nerfing or adding an easier Deadly difficulty.

I didn't see anyone asking for Deadly (whatever) to be made easier. There are some of us who don't like the explosions for reasons that have nothing to do with the challenge they add to the experience. I and others explain our reasons above.

[Strider5548]

I didn't see anyone asking for Deadly (whatever) to be made easier. There are some of us who don't like the explosions for reasons that have nothing to do with the challenge they add to the experience. I and others explain our reasons above.

I don't think anyone actually likes the 'laser beam' animation for a variety of reasons...but that's just the problem, the animation. Having a puddle mechanic in landscape is perfectly fine, they should just work on a better way to display the attack that happens if you don't get out in time.

As for difficulty, TBH the landscape difficulty slider can make things very hard if you are leveling 1-50, but once you get your LIs landscape becomes incredibly easy again. It would be cool if they added more mechanics than just a puddle, but I don't expect any more work will be put into this feature.

One thing to consider though is that the difficulty slider persists in skirmishes (up to 3 people I believe), which can make T3 skirmishes actually very challenging.