can't opt out

Sleep wrote: »

can't opt out

Eh? Like SilverBride said, Adventurer is the default setting the game has always been at. Absolutely nothing changes unless you set it to Seasoned or higher. It's not a game-wide change, it's character-specific that you have to manually opt in to use. The game won't change from Adventurer unless you actively change it.

Lord_Hev wrote: »

agelonestar wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

agelonestar wrote: »

No, and I have to be honest, I just really don't see the point. I would not have spent developer resources on this.

I've no issue with difficulty options being a "thing" - I just don't want time spent on gimmicks for the minority instead of great new content (of which we're seeing precious little right now).

While I have no interest in more difficult combat myself, I welcome the option being available for those who do. And if this thread's poll is in any way representative of the wider player base, the majority of players engage with the difficulty system. (Though as OP pointed out the poll is not about whether respondents like the system, only whether they have used it.)

More than 40% of players in this poll haven't touched the system - and let's be honest, lots of players will take a look at anything new introduced the game.

I'm not sure I could call that a great success, given it was one of the leading headlines for U50.

People want content. Not gimmicks.

This is content for some. I have an entire decade's worth of dlc and expansions to finally do because I was unable to feel engaged in overland for over a decade since one-tamriel decimated the progression system.

Same here. I never touched it because it was boringly easy.

M0ntie wrote: »

Nobody I have met in game has ever expressed that they wanted overland difficulty.

Not sure how you've managed that, unless you've only been playing a few days. I've met a staggering amount of people on both sides of this argument.

When it was announced, I thought I would use old difficulty everyday and sometimes second. I'm absolutely not a fan of hard combats and always play on easiest difficulties in all games. I even use immortality cheats in some! Because 90% combats are just annoying, tedious and irritating repeating obstacles standing in the way of the story.

Yesterday used Vestige to do golden faster, as they count for easier tasks too.
Very, very nostalgic feeling. Reminds me of how mudcrabs ate my face in good old days of veteran ranks, when I, of course, wanted to see everything right now, not waiting for right rank!
(This time I didn't fall victim to any mudcrab, though!)
Got all rewards in ~15 minutes - one dolmen, public dungeon, one worldboss; then tried other difficulties.

So, now I think I will leave old difficulty for alts (they are not very well equipped), and on main will set second level for everyday use - it differs very little, but will bring new achievements - and Vestige for quests, downgrading to Master if at some point it's too hard. Because I'm tired of villains dying just in the middle of "You can't defeat me, fool!" speech!

OsUfi wrote: »

M0ntie wrote: »

Nobody I have met in game has ever expressed that they wanted overland difficulty.

Not sure how you've managed that, unless you've only been playing a few days. I've met a staggering amount of people on both sides of this argument.

I never heard anyone in game mention it either. Except that one time...

I was chatting in zone and a name I recognized as a supporter of difficulty on the forums started asking in zone things like "Who thinks overland is too easy?" "Who thinks this game is boring?" "Who thinks they should make the enemies harder?". After a few minutes of no one replying they gave up.

Not even a little bit....

I have used a combination of Seasoned and Vestige to complete the Golden Pursuit and work on the achievements. In most cases I probably will stick to Seasoned as my default as there isn't too much of a difference from Adventurer so it's nice to get a little extra XP and gold. There was one time where I was soloing a world boss and had to turn it down to Adventurer because I couldn't take the hits, but I'm sure I could build for this, if I cared enough. It would come in the form of tweaking my solo build(s).

Because there is no particular achievement to use Master, I partnered with a friend and we took turns each being the Seasoned or Adventurer level so the other of us could unlock the Vestige achievements. It was fun... something to do where there was an advantage to playing with a friend. This is why I haven't really tried Master.

I wasn't overly excited for this functionality (i would have preferred, say, more dungeons, although, yes, I understand it may be a different team making those and may not have been a possible trade-off), but I know a lot of people wanted it, and I would like to say I am extremely happy with how it was implemented. The community was not split into different shards/environments, it's completely optional (as long as one is able to ignore the achievements and pursuit), and it's something that benefits both solo players and players who like to do things with friends. Also (this came up somewhere but I can't find the thread now) I am extremely happy that the levels do not impact companions and you can also use them as a tool to creatively balance the levels and challenge yourself. I'm even happy there was a Golden Pursuit and achievements tied to the functionality, because I wouldn't have messed with it otherwise, and putting those things in the game turned it into "something new to do."

My one gripe so far with it is that, because of how it works, you take a lot of extra fall damage as well as damage while fighting. I'm sure you all are familiar with the method of going STRAIGHT TO wherever you're trying to go in Overland, completely ignoring roads and whatnot, and instinctively I know how far I can fall. Except now, I don't, and I keep having to swap between Seasoned and Vestige between each fighting challenge. So personally I wish it didn't apply to fall damage. The idea was to make the enemies harder, not to kill you every time you dropped down to grab a node.