I don't think the overworld difficulty will work.

Anilahation · March 31

Just not in the way the devs are wanting it to work. Opt in feature that keeps everyone on the same overworld but those on harder difficulty simply just struggle versus everything while normal players sneeze on the entire overworld like demigods. I think the better solution is to just make the experience a post level cap feature similar to diablo, versus the current plan.

It seems like a lot of these changes are the current devs have recently started playing an isometric ARPG and putting it into Elder Scrolls Online. This isn't a negative because this design philosophy can really address the issues that plague other mmos, one issue I'm seeing though is the increased difficulty being the same overworld...i understand wanting to keep everyone together but I'm thinking of you doing bosses or world events like anchors, absolutely struggle to kill the enemies and you see someone on the base difficulty just come and sneeze on the exact same targets you're fighting. ARPGs solve this by giving different layers to different difficulty players even in WoW when it did it for the remix, when you changed your world tier you couldn't see people on the base world tier.

So that's my only concern I for one welcome this idea of arpg inspired updates. the seasonal mechanics, the themed cyrodil. I'm beyond hyped for the future of ESO.

SundarahFr3akinrican · April 1

Yeah maybe the difficulty gets applied as you hit certain CP thresholds

ESO_player123 · April 1

While I would absolutely prefer separate instances for different difficulty settings, I would stop playing the game if suddenly it would be announced that I MUST play at a higher difficulty just because I'm over a certain CP threshold.

I'm not going to fight a skeever for 5 min to just pick a flower.

majulook · April 1

ESO Challenge Difficulty

Free for all players. No DLC, no Crown Store unlock, no quest required.

Available from level 1

Per character, not account-wide. Each character defaults to Adventurer. You set each one individually.

Arriving late in Season Zero with Update 50 in June 2026

The system applies a personal debuff to your character. You take more damage and deal less damage. The enemies do not change. Their health and mechanics stay identical at every tier. This is a player debuff, not a monster buff.

You will see and can interact with all other players in the zone, no matter what difficulty level everyone has selected

ESO_player123 · April 1

majulook wrote: »

ESO Challenge Difficulty

Free for all players. No DLC, no Crown Store unlock, no quest required.

Available from level 1

Per character, not account-wide. Each character defaults to Adventurer. You set each one individually.

Arriving late in Season Zero with Update 50 in June 2026

The system applies a personal debuff to your character. You take more damage and deal less damage. The enemies do not change. Their health and mechanics stay identical at every tier. This is a player debuff, not a monster buff.

You will see and can interact with all other players in the zone, no matter what difficulty level everyone has selected

Yes, that is how it is planned. However, many players have been pointing out that keeping players on different levels of difficulty together will lead to abusing the system to get better rewards with minimum effort (not talking about extra gold or xp here, but the ones that the devs said they will potentially add in the future). Like a Vestige teaming up with an Adventure for fast kills and better rewards. It was discussed ad nauseam in various threads here on the forum.

So, it's great that it's optional, but I do not really see it working without separating the players. I'm looking forward to reading feedback on PTS forums once this feature is available there for testing.

Orbital78 · April 1

It seems like the perfect power leveling tool to me.

Casul · April 1

Honestly maybe I’m just not seeing the big picture, but what is the issue with abusing the mechanic? I always assumed difficult overland was more for the “solo-ish” content that happens most of the time during it, rather than people farming world bosses. Maybe for the bragging rights of potential titles etc? Even then you can buy your way to anything in game with enough wealth so that is kind of a moot point.

SilverBride · April 1

Players of different levels and skills and gear and builds have always been in the same world fighting the same enemies in every single game I have ever played. This is not a difficulty setting issue. It is just how MMOs work.

As for players set on Vestige teaming up with those set on Adventure for faster kills and better rewards... this is what happens with Carries now.

I do have doubts though about how well it will work just because I think the new will wear off very quickly and there will be few players even using it.

ESO_player123 · April 1

Casul wrote: »

Honestly maybe I’m just not seeing the big picture, but what is the issue with abusing the mechanic? I always assumed difficult overland was more for the “solo-ish” content that happens most of the time during it, rather than people farming world bosses. Maybe for the bragging rights of potential titles etc? Even then you can buy your way to anything in game with enough wealth so that is kind of a moot point.

If you are referring to buying trial trifectas and skins or HM dungeon clears achievements then the situation is a bit different. The seller of the run must have a team ready that knows what they are doing and be able to do that with 1 less player. The seller must have money (and a lot of it from what I've heard). Plus all of this is in a place where you cannot get more than a specific number of players (so no steam rolling a boss like during events).

With the proposed overland difficulty all a Vestige needs to do is tag along with other players that are on Adventure difficulty or just do bosses during events. So, no need to pay big money, no dedicated team.

SilverBride · April 1

ESO_player123 wrote: »

With the proposed overland difficulty all a Vestige needs to do is tag along with other players that are on Adventure difficulty...

Doesn't that defeat the whole point of increasing the difficulty?

ESO_player123 · April 1

SilverBride wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

With the proposed overland difficulty all a Vestige needs to do is tag along with other players that are on Adventure difficulty...

Doesn't that defeat the whole point of increasing the difficulty?

If a player just wants the rewards for increased difficulty then it does defeat it. The rewards could have been added somewhere else.

TheBardAtTheInn · April 1

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only "rewards" (beyond the initial Golden Pursuit) more XP and gold?

So anyone "abusing" it is really just abusing their friend into carrying them through a way less efficient XP farm than BRP/Skywatch, or a waaaayyy less efficient Gold farm than just farming materials.

Tannus15 · April 1

Yeah, there might be issues. They are doing the bare minimum to begin with and will see how popular it is, and if there are issues that need to be addressed.

then, hopefully, they will fix some of those things. and considering the quality of life stuff they have already done this year, i'm willing to trust them on it.

step one is to just try and do something for all the people complaining about how insanely easy the game is.

ESO_player123 · April 1

TheBardAtTheInn wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only "rewards" (beyond the initial Golden Pursuit) more XP and gold?

So anyone "abusing" it is really just abusing their friend into carrying them through a way less efficient XP farm than BRP/Skywatch, or a waaaayyy less efficient Gold farm than just farming materials.

I do not think anyone is really concerned about a bit of extra XP or gold. We are talking about the possibility of adding more/different rewards in the future which was mentioned by the devs before.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was even mentioned in today's stream.

mocap · April 1

majulook wrote: »

ESO Challenge Difficulty

Free for all players. No DLC, no Crown Store unlock, no quest required.

Available from level 1

For the first level, Vestige difficulty might actually be even tougher than a Souls-like games. Mobs will do about 14k per hit on average, while your damage cut by 80%. So heals from dps (Puncturing, Pale Order etc) and most HoTs become complete and utter garbage. So given the lack of decent burst healing early on, it’s going to be brutal on level 1.

Attorneyatlawl · April 1

mocap wrote: »

majulook wrote: »

ESO Challenge Difficulty

Free for all players. No DLC, no Crown Store unlock, no quest required.

Available from level 1

For the first level, Vestige difficulty might actually be even tougher than a Souls-like games. Mobs will do about 14k per hit on average, while your damage cut by 80%. So heals from dps (Puncturing, Pale Order etc) and most HoTs become complete and utter garbage. So given the lack of decent burst healing early on, it’s going to be brutal on level 1.

Good. The game needs these kinds of options and this will let me enjoy the zones. I played from around 13 years ago (beta, check my registration date) through about 10 years ago. I have only visited occasionally since but found the overworld so much dev effort was put into utterly boring due to the reduced difficulty.

This along with the great seasons announcements make me want to play again.

I also am hoping for pvp improvements which have been talked about.

mocap · April 1

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

Good. The game needs these kinds of options and this will let me enjoy the zones.
I also am hoping for pvp improvements which have been talked about.

Happy for you! Vestige difficulty is indeed going to feel kinda PvP, where a pack of 6 trash mobs is basically a ballgroup. Enjoy

ESO_player123 · April 1

mocap wrote: »

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

Good. The game needs these kinds of options and this will let me enjoy the zones.
I also am hoping for pvp improvements which have been talked about.

Happy for you! Vestige difficulty is indeed going to feel kinda PvP, where a pack of 6 trash mobs is basically a ballgroup. Enjoy

Unfortunately only until a passerby on Adventurer difficulty sneezes on them. Instansing would solve this issue for everybody.

LunaFlora · April 1

Challenge Difficulty only seems fun in story quest boss fights, which are nearly always solo instances.

why would i want to fight a little wolf or strangler for any longer than a second?

frogthroat · April 1

Orbital78 wrote: »

It seems like the perfect power leveling tool to me.

I you can group with people on different difficulty setting, and still get extra XP from kills, that sounds like the perfect gold farm tool to me.

CatalinaWineMixer2 · April 1

Its not really any different than leveling up your fellow guildies in Skyreach. Or it scaling among different cp in dungeons. They highlighted this in one of the more recent live streams that this already exists in game. Even if it were to get used for such purposes, its still a better thing to have people playing together I think

Anumaril · April 1

It's worth waiting to see how this implementation actually works before having discussions like this. I see no reason why this would work any differently than One Tamriel already does. Can the average high-level player one-shot 50 NPCs just by breathing in their general direction? Yes. Does this stop low-level characters from doing their questing? No.

So why would it be any different with the difficulty option? Yes, you might find the occasional delve where half the mobs are dead, but this is hardly game-breaking. And if you want the authentic delve experience then everything will respawn in a few minutes anyways.

twisttop138 · April 1

SilverBride wrote: »

Players of different levels and skills and gear and builds have always been in the same world fighting the same enemies in every single game I have ever played. This is not a difficulty setting issue. It is just how MMOs work.

As for players set on Vestige teaming up with those set on Adventure for faster kills and better rewards... this is what happens with Carries now.

I do have doubts though about how well it will work just because I think the new will wear off very quickly and there will be few players even using it.

This could be applied to everything that's put into an mmorpg though. I have doubts about new zones because the new will wear off and there will be few players even questing there to help with world bosses.

I too have some doubts but this is what they could do. I doubt very much it has anything to do with not wanting to separate players, really, even if that's the mouth sounds they made. I think they don't have the team anymore to do something bigger. A debuff slider is the easiest route. That's ok. They're giving a much requested feature with as little drain on deb time as possible, and we should try to be happy for that. More time to work on other stuff.

SilverBride · April 1

twisttop138 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Players of different levels and skills and gear and builds have always been in the same world fighting the same enemies in every single game I have ever played. This is not a difficulty setting issue. It is just how MMOs work.

As for players set on Vestige teaming up with those set on Adventure for faster kills and better rewards... this is what happens with Carries now.

I do have doubts though about how well it will work just because I think the new will wear off very quickly and there will be few players even using it.

This could be applied to everything that's put into an mmorpg though. I have doubts about new zones because the new will wear off and there will be few players even questing there to help with world bosses.

I too have some doubts but this is what they could do. I doubt very much it has anything to do with not wanting to separate players, really, even if that's the mouth sounds they made. I think they don't have the team anymore to do something bigger. A debuff slider is the easiest route. That's ok. They're giving a much requested feature with as little drain on deb time as possible, and we should try to be happy for that. More time to work on other stuff.

A much requested feature by the same handful of players in the pinned overland thread, some of which stated they haven't even played in a long time.

A feature is also very different from a new zone and story that can be played again on alts, and will have new players playing through the content. Whereas just having cats and bears take longer to defeat while playing in overland can and will become tedious.

Orbital78 · April 1

frogthroat wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

It seems like the perfect power leveling tool to me.

I you can group with people on different difficulty setting, and still get extra XP from kills, that sounds like the perfect gold farm tool to me.

Indeed, power level and gold farming. I know I am going to do this during events, will have to see how much better the rewards are for little effort.

I am just worried about the bots doing this, somehow, they always seem to find a way.

twisttop138 · April 1

SilverBride wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Players of different levels and skills and gear and builds have always been in the same world fighting the same enemies in every single game I have ever played. This is not a difficulty setting issue. It is just how MMOs work.

As for players set on Vestige teaming up with those set on Adventure for faster kills and better rewards... this is what happens with Carries now.

I do have doubts though about how well it will work just because I think the new will wear off very quickly and there will be few players even using it.

This could be applied to everything that's put into an mmorpg though. I have doubts about new zones because the new will wear off and there will be few players even questing there to help with world bosses.

I too have some doubts but this is what they could do. I doubt very much it has anything to do with not wanting to separate players, really, even if that's the mouth sounds they made. I think they don't have the team anymore to do something bigger. A debuff slider is the easiest route. That's ok. They're giving a much requested feature with as little drain on deb time as possible, and we should try to be happy for that. More time to work on other stuff.

A much requested feature by the same handful of players in the pinned overland thread, some of which stated they haven't even played in a long time.

A feature is also very different from a new zone and story that can be played again on alts, and will have new players playing through the content. Whereas just having cats and bears take longer to defeat while playing in overland can and will become tedious.

Look, I'm not gonna have a rehash of whatever went on in that thread. It's not a feature I really care about, outside of specific quest bosses. But to be completely honest, I've seen harder overland requested outside the forums, for years. Regardless, it's here. It's coming. I would've rather had dungeons, but I'm not gonna take a crap on a feature that will make lots of people happy. And to be fair, many people view it like you view a zone. I have learned, to my surprise, since January that lots of people hate new zones. They think we have too many and we're celebrating not getting one. So you gotta try to remember that not everyone plays like you or likes what you like. Open your mind a little.

SilverBride · April 1

twisttop138 wrote: »

Look, I'm not gonna have a rehash of whatever went on in that thread. It's not a feature I really care about, outside of specific quest bosses. But to be completely honest, I've seen harder overland requested outside the forums, for years. Regardless, it's here. It's coming. I would've rather had dungeons, but I'm not gonna take a crap on a feature that will make lots of people happy. And to be fair, many people view it like you view a zone. I have learned, to my surprise, since January that lots of people hate new zones. They think we have too many and we're celebrating not getting one. So you gotta try to remember that not everyone plays like you or likes what you like. Open your mind a little.

My mind is open. I realize that some players want difficulty while playing overland, although I will never understand how that would be fun. But my point is that if it takes longer to do everything in overland it will soon become tedious and I suspect the feature will be used less.

twisttop138 · April 1

SilverBride wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

Look, I'm not gonna have a rehash of whatever went on in that thread. It's not a feature I really care about, outside of specific quest bosses. But to be completely honest, I've seen harder overland requested outside the forums, for years. Regardless, it's here. It's coming. I would've rather had dungeons, but I'm not gonna take a crap on a feature that will make lots of people happy. And to be fair, many people view it like you view a zone. I have learned, to my surprise, since January that lots of people hate new zones. They think we have too many and we're celebrating not getting one. So you gotta try to remember that not everyone plays like you or likes what you like. Open your mind a little.

My mind is open. I realize that some players want difficulty while playing overland, although I will never understand how that would be fun. But my point is that if it takes longer to do everything in overland it will soon become tedious and I suspect the feature will be used less.

On that we agree, at least for me. I will not be using it much outside of quests and some guild events we've thought up. I take my challenge in different parts of the game but that's just me. I hope, for the ones that want it, that it's fun.

Muizer · April 1

This might not work ideally in areas where players farm mats in questing areas. Otherwise I don't see much reason to expect friction.

The big question is if this will deliver satisfactory game play at all. At the moment, the encounter design is quite immaterial. NPC die before they can do much of anything. The question is whether difficulty levels will make tactics and situational awareness relevant in overland. If it doesn't people just won't use it if it slows them down.

Destai · April 1

It seems like a no-win situation for them.

The only gain here is if people want things to be harder. Sure, they're gameplay is improved because they can experience more mechanics and difficulty. The core problem is there's people around them who don't, and will just steamroll whatever mob they're struggling against.

And if it's rewarding, then people are unhappy about having to do harder content to get rewards that could be available through more palatable means.

I'm happy some people are getting what they want. I know this has been long requested. I'm also happy I don't have to do it.

joshisanonymous · April 1

It'll be fine as long as those who take the higher difficulty aren't playing around any other players who haven't increased their difficulty, but actively avoiding being around other players isn't what an MMO should be incentivizing.

This has been a problem ever since they changed the zones to all be the same level, though. Anyone who's starting a new character often gets robbed of the challenge of fighting mobs because there's often some CP player coming through who can delete swaths of mobs and bosses as well.

SilverBride wrote: »

Players of different levels and skills and gear and builds have always been in the same world fighting the same enemies in every single game I have ever played. This is not a difficulty setting issue. It is just how MMOs work.

As for players set on Vestige teaming up with those set on Adventure for faster kills and better rewards... this is what happens with Carries now.

I do have doubts though about how well it will work just because I think the new will wear off very quickly and there will be few players even using it.

No offense, but it sounds like you're relatively new to MMORPGs. This has been a thing since GW2, but before that, low level mobs and high level mobs were in different locations in basically every MMO, so low level players would be relegated to the low level mob locations and high level players wouldn't bother with those low level locations because they wouldn't get anything for killing mobs there. Level scaling and all that is a relatively new phenomenon. Not even ESO did this initially.