What does "difficult" mean for you?

Kammakazi

Voxicity

Enemies having multiple mechanics

That and enemies overwhelming you with numbers. Especially those bosses that spawn a load of adds and the other scrub dd just focuses the boss while the rest of the group is dying to adds.

Probably should have picked ''Combination of above'' but the brainless dd I was talking about is actually me.

Abeille

Combination of above

Having only one of these doesn't make a fight difficult, just annoying or tedious. It is really a combination of these factors.

Luigi_Vampa

Combination of above

Really, when it comes to PvE, it is all just pattern recogniton. Once you figure out exactly how the fight is supposed to go, then you can perfect it. The AI isn't going to adjust to combat you. That is why I like PvP. I don't always know what is going to be coming at me, or how good the player on the other side is. The fights can change, different skills can be slotted etc... Fighting a really skilled PvPer is the hardest content in the game in my opinion.

Chew_Magna

Enemies having multiple mechanics

I say mechanics. Having to learn what and when to do something during a fight. Damage and hp padding is nothing but a false level of difficulty. I hate that the trend is so common in gaming these days. I prefer my fights to be like puzzles. Once you figure that out the next challenge is in coordinating everyone so it can be completed (Which is a far greater challenge).

AzraelKrieg

Enemies having multiple mechanics

Have to say mechanics. As @Chew_Magna said, buffing damage and HP is adding false difficulty and really promotes Stack-and-Burn fights.

Burning_Talons

Combination of above

By zenmiax logic. All the above

danno8

Combination of above

So for example, the last vMSA boss is a pretty tough encounter because you have to watch out for high dps skills, collect the gold spirits, kill any summoners and actually dps the boss at the same time.

So a combination of two or more of the above if you add it up.

UltimaJoe777

I think my guild's name says it all lol but there's also those bosses that have healers and/or heal themselves. The former is harder though in my opinion.

cowsayUshi

Combination of above

I would love to see future enemies get more complex, and hopefully they'll revisit some older enemies and tough them up too. Lots of new bosses are getting more and more interesting with great new mechanics every time they introduce them, but I'll like to see this treatment in some of the basic enemies we come across. The best enemy one can find in the over world is the Minotaurs of Gold Coast. They have a good amount of health, they have amazing visual effects and more importantly they have various special attacks they can utilize against you. I love these guys, my only complaint is that enemies especially in minotaurs, the spell casting takes way to long! Fighting in an Elder Scrolls game should feel real time, and currently it feels like the player is given way to big of a window to block, dodge, and bash enemies when they're charging an attack.

I would love to see Zenimax add some of this in their new content.

hrothbern

Combination of above

DairyIsle wrote: »

I would love to see future enemies get more complex, and hopefully they'll revisit some older enemies and tough them up too. Lots of new bosses are getting more and more interesting with great new mechanics every time they introduce them, but I'll like to see this treatment in some of the basic enemies we come across. The best enemy one can find in the over world is the Minotaurs of Gold Coast. They have a good amount of health, they have amazing visual effects and more importantly they have various special attacks they can utilize against you. I love these guys, my only complaint is that enemies especially in minotaurs, the spell casting takes way to long! Fighting in an Elder Scrolls game should feel real time, and currently it feels like the player is given way to big of a window to block, dodge, and bash enemies when they're charging an attack.

I would love to see Zenimax add some of this in their new content.

Jep
More kinds of mechanics for the bigger monsters and bosses.
More time needed to find out how that monster ticks, to be able to survive and win the battle.
(More like the NPC fights in Dark Souls).

RAGUNAnoOne

Enemies having multiple mechanics

Mechanics involving multiple things like terrain and formation or requiring specific types of skills or roles and requiring adaptation are how i describe difficulty in a game. Too much health and/or unavoidable or RNG one shots and especially DPS races are "artificial" difficulty and serve only as an annoying mask for otherwise easy enemy.

Ffastyl

Combination of above

Enemies having high damage and mechanics. Enemies can overwhelm you, and they need health for the mechanics and damage to ever matter (resistance can serve the same role as health), but it comes down to punishing. You need to be punished for mistakes, and brushes with death are just such a way to punish. This does make a game more favorable to evasion, whether that is the design intent or not, so it is difficult to create a punishing experience for face tanks.

I think damage shields serve well in this regard for ESO; in Dark Souls blocking often negates physical damage, and in Hyper Light Drifter projectiles can be deflected with timed slashes. But in no action game is just passively taking a hit supposed to be rewarded. Damage shields negate incoming damage but require an action from the player. Self healing is another avenue, one which is currently favored in the game's design and balance.

Recent content has been punishing, but older and especially solo content is not. This is due to the power creep introduced from soft cap removal in conjunction to the Champion System in Update 6. Optimal builds are leagues ahead of average builds and fathoms ahead of poor builds. We can make ESO punishing for optimal builds, but that just turns optimal builds into viable ones and viable builds into trash. While I think ESO is lacking in difficulty, it is lacking further in player power checks.

I promised myself to stick to ESO, through thick and thin, but each month I find less and less reason to stay. Hope keeps me looking to the horizon but every glance at the present is telling me to leave. I'll keep deluding myself for now. I don't want these two years to be a wash.

Ffastyl

Combination of above

RAGUNAnoOne wrote: »

Mechanics involving multiple things like terrain and formation or requiring specific types of skills or roles and requiring adaptation are how i describe difficulty in a game. Too much health and/or unavoidable or RNG one shots and especially DPS races are "artificial" difficulty and serve only as an annoying mask for otherwise easy enemy.

What you mean by "artificial" is cheap. If we are to go by the definition of artificial, every game is. I'm glad you say "too much health" instead of "a lot" because enemies that cannot take or dodge a hit cannot be difficult. DPS races are not cheap but they can be overused.

It's valid to create time sensitive mechanics and DPS races are one such kind. Enrage timers keep fights from dragging on for hours if a group cannot clear it; bosses can have timers for when their reinforcements or their ultimate weapon is ready; bosses can be fought in poison bogs, and encounters can be survival based with an endless horde at constant spawn rates -- these are each their own DPS races. Look at Monster Hunter: players have anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes to slay a monster. That is a DPS race, and a generous one. The Four Kings from Dark Souls spawn at a constant rate, creating a DPS race to keep numbers down as the boss bar diminishes (each spawn is ~1/4). The Golem in Etrian Odyssey II heals at the end of every turn, creating a DPS race to outpace its healing while surviving its attacks. A DPS race can be cheap, but they are not inherently cheap.