If you find the game too easy, then you should play on a higher difficulty.
We just got the game to a more reasonable state. Don’t ruin it for the non-hardcore players here, who don’t use terminator builds.
Personally, I think they have the difficulty just right finally, for the first time since release.
I’m very happy that you feel this way, particularly taking into account the changes to Speed. Not to jump to conclusions, but this suggests to me that curbing some excesses of player’s capabilities, while adjusting difficulty really is the way forward.
To be fair, the OP is talking about difficulty on Legend - there is no higher difficulty to play on.
As someone who plays on Legend too I understand that. However, I think it’s far more important at this point to nail the gameplay and smoothen the difficulty curve than provide an adequate challenge on Legend. That can come later.
I hope so,
you can obtain speed, strength and HP through other options, perks, armor, stimpacks, augmentations…
enhacing the game, more strategies, not just SP and stats
Just going to pop in here because I am seeing a lot of “Games too easy, make it harder!” posts. Please when you do balancing, remember that not everyone plays on legendary and finds it too easy. Veteran and other less-then-Legendary difficulty players exist too, and we don’t want the game to be completely overbalanced for the super-hardcore crowd.
I can’t agree more, I only play Legend now, but that is because I played a lot of hours, other levels should not change so much, getting players frustrated due to increased difficulty/complexity would be counterproductive. I think we talk about Legend, or a possible next level , Ironman?
You’re not even trying to balance it though. You have put out a change that would have a significant affect on balance without changing anything else. It shouldn’t take 6 months just to fix some damage values for acid. There’s plenty of people here that would test the game if it was put out as a beta branch. The issue seems to be actually implementing the changes.
To give some context for myself. I tried playing the game on veteran but for me the game became impossible.
My current play through is on rookie and I am having an absolute blast. It’s right on what I want, in what I am encountering. So I don’t want the game to be harder. Not at all. That wouldn’t be enjoyable.
If your playing on legend and using terminator builds (I’m not saying that the OP was), then your not someone that we should be listening to AT ALL, as you are not the target demographic for this game. People who take advantage of and abuse gameplay combinations (or dominant strategies in games dev lingo) to vastly overpower the computer opponent to the point of it making a joke of the game (difficulty wise) are to me like those who use cheat codes.
Now I 110% get it, if you say “well it’s in the game so it’s valid”, well yes it’s in the game, but at the same time you know the game to the point that your using it like that, knowing full well of what it will result in. So for them, the devs shouldn’t be listening to that percentage of players at all. Zero.
I don’t think anyone here intends to make the game harder for beginners, especially not on the easiest difficulty level. The fact is that most of those who play at higher levels have always adopted the “easy should really be easy” attitude. It wouldn’t be fair to blame them.
And that’s nice!
The next update “Panda Research” will hopefully bring further progress in terms of differentiation of the level of difficulty.
That is what we are hoping for. Pandorans will evolve faster on higher difficulties in general. They will also respond to your playstyle. Eventually, the Pandoran research system can also be used as a kind of dynamic difficulty: If you are crushing them they will evolve even faster, if you have big problems with them their evolution will slow down, etc.
I am sorry but I have to mock you for this. So how should one play the game according to you? Equip only weapons soldiers don’t have proficiency in? Use rage burst with pistols only? Don’t use manual aim with snipers cause it makes hem OP?
What’s the fun of playing the game without engaging the systems? If I just would want to click and watch things happen I would play AssCreed. Nice animations and no thinking required!
What you describe is not cheating it’s playing the game. One of key aspects of a game with character building, is building characters. When you Multiclass and equip your soldiers your job as a player is to find combinations that are effective. That’s a layer of gameplay.
The more open the system, the trickier it is to balance. As far as amount of skills and combinations PP isn’t that advanced - look to any RPG for comparison. And while I imagine Snapshot might have made their job trickier to due systems being simulations, rather then just numbers, it is not too much to ask for a better balanced skill system. It already got much better since release.
And again: it is not about making game strictly harder - its about improving balance in power available to players and enemies to make things fun and engaging. Better designed game will make for a better experience for everyone.
Yes you are right.
I have about 25 years of video games experience and PP is the first game where I have to apply enforced rules myself, though massive. In my eyes, that’s the (almost) only thing I really have to complain about.
It is also the first time that I have ever been active in a games forum. Everything because of this reason.
Same here , more than 30 years , and using self restrictions in Legend. I started playing this game this year and as you said I never had to think twice about using abilities in other games. Or maybe we are more demanding with this game bc we do like it and we want more from it, and we think that our expectations could be easily accomplished.
While it may not directly correlate… in some ways having to impose self-disciple/restrictions is no different that having to do the same if one wishes to enjoy their favorite board game, card game, past-time, etc. and the only person in the whole word one can play with is their little nephew/niece.
I know for many it’s a royal pain to have to do so and being forced to do so by the mechanics of the game flat out ruins their experience. There are many clamoring that certain ‘perceived’ OP player options be nerfed to kingdom come. Sure the devs can do that and affect other players that don’t wish to see that happen. At the moment it boils down to one changing their own rules of the game to find enjoyment (I know there are those that just flat out detest being told they could impose self-discipline).
So until the devs either tailor the game to the liking of many that know what’s best for all involved, we will have to make do with what we have and hope that modders can fill the gap. This doesn’t mean that everyone’s concerns should not be voiced, it’s just a fact of life that has to be endured until things change, or they don’t.
[poster seen climbing off of a soapbox]
I personally really like the game with it’s new build. It is unfair to disregard other players abilities, time constraints (very important) and playing styles. I’ve played all the difficulty levels and very much like hero because the ODI seems very quick on Legend. I finished on 97%.
The Terminator build could be changed perhaps by increasing the ammo slot size or weight or cooldown features etcetera. But it’s not fair on other players who are enjoying the discovery of the game. We recognise the enormous variety of combinations in the game, so well done to Snapshot. I personally discovered this genre of game back in 1984 (Rebelstar Raiders), but it was a 2 player game. But this genre of game nearly dropped out of existence - thank goodness for Jake Solomon from Firaxis who recognised the market really is still there. But the game must be accessible to the mass market to make it financially viable.
So my point is Snapshot are doing a stunning job at creating this game. It’s very in-depth and I’m sure we all want Snapshot and PP to be a success. I’m quietly confident that they will create a final solution for the gaming extreme plays who do have more ability or time than other. But in the meantime there’s other stuff that the developers must concentrate on. Upon release, the game was lacking and one could notice errors that were clearly down to time pressures. Software development is not easy and we take it for granted how huge these projects are nowadays.
My point is that this game is brilliant and flicks a switch in my head that makes me happy. I want to see more. So probably we should embrace it. We all want the game to be a success, right?
[perspective of a bias backer]
Or their trained monkey, or untrained dog. Or they are trapped on a desert island with a football. Edit: I put forth these examples because I would very much enjoy playing my favorite boardgames with my nephews, or my own kids, more so than perhaps playing them with other opponents.
Yes, it is a similar situation, and it speaks volumes to the fundamentals and to the perceived potential of the game that some of us are willing to play it like that in the hope that one day we won’t have to, and that our feedback may help in that.
My stance rather, is that investing time into fine rebalance of players skills would be moot at this point of time. Game might be out but it is nowhere near finished being developed. With potential sweeping changes and new mechanics and customisation option being implemented there is only that much that one can balance the game for each iteration.
However, once the development slows down, I do believe some major balance passes will be required to put a nice bow tie on the thing.
I’m in total agreement. Those that have issues need to voice them. PP has extreme potential of becoming an excellent game in both the designers’ and hardcore players’ eyes. There are some players that have extreme difficulties with the current version of the game. Some of these problems are caused by some of the issues be voiced by the hardcore. However, we have to be mindful in that some things being called for can have a major impact to the players in between this broad spectrum. We need to hear more from the players on the other side to help keep everything in perspective. Unfortunately, they appear to be the silent majority.
I agree, it’s not time for ‘fine’ rebalancing.
I think the way it is being done now is the right approach - some bug fixes, new features, improvements on old features, balance changes and difficulty adjustments. A little bit of everything so that the impact of new changes can be evaluated.
I was referring only to the “terminator build” combo. The rest of course is totally fine. We all use those. Myself included.
What are you on about ? The point of a game is to utilize your given tools to solve a posed problem. The better you utilize those tools, the harder the problems you can solve.
The devs not adressing OP “terminator builds” that trivialize the content is a completely utterly different matter, but a rant vs players playing the game to maximum efficiency is absurd. Those are exactly the ones that the devs have to listen to. You cannot balance around the lowest common denominator, you have to balance around the potential.