Game Difficulty

[Hrith]

This thread has a misleading title, there is no difficulty in PSO2.

There are many ways to balance and add challenge to PSO2:

• Change how multipliers from skill trees work to simple additions of multipliers, and atrociously nerf everything. That's the greatest sign of not planning ahead, there: 'We'll add multipliers that multiply other multipliers that multiply other multipliers'. Yo dawg, i herd u liek scaling enemies to players' damage output?
• Change the maximum number of affixes on an item to two or three. The game died when you could have HUcasts with 800 HP and FOnewearls with 1000.
• Buff monster stats, particularly HP, and multiply the stats of all monsters for every player in the party.
• Reward skill over gear, promoting support and eliminating target practice (entrance/exit PSE bursts).
• Release missions that are not luck-based bullshit like advanced missions. Missions like Endless Nightmare, Phantasmal World and Extreme Warfire from PSO1; just getting submerged by enemies, no PSE crap. Missions that require a full and balanced team, planning and some brains.

Now if only PSO2 was not a glorified simulator of retarded, perverted fashion catering to the noobs...

[Xaelouse]

Japanese prefer this game to be easy though. Sega doesn't just randomly nerf enemies.
Just gotta deal with it being a fashion hub. Even weapons are used as fashion accessories and judged by their appearances considerably.

[gigawuts]

This thread has a misleading title, there is no difficulty in PSO2.

There are many ways to balance and add challenge to PSO2:

• Change how multipliers from skill trees work to simple additions of multipliers, and atrociously nerf everything. That's the greatest sign of not planning ahead, there: 'We'll add multipliers that multiply other multipliers that multiply other multipliers'. Yo dawg, i herd u liek scaling enemies to players' damage output?
• Change the maximum number of affixes on an item to two or three. The game died when you could have HUcasts with 800 HP and FOnewearls with 1000.
• Buff monster stats, particularly HP, and multiply the stats of all monsters for every player in the party.
• Reward skill over gear, promoting support and eliminating target practice (entrance/exit PSE bursts).
• Release missions that are not luck-based bullshit like advanced missions. Missions like Endless Nightmare, Phantasmal World and Extreme Warfire from PSO1; just getting submerged by enemies, no PSE crap. Missions that require a full and balanced team, planning and some brains.

Now if only PSO2 was not a glorified simulator of retarded, perverted fashion catering to the noobs...

Okay you're freaking me out Hrith, this is all pretty good stuff.

Although, I disagree a bit with the multipliers. We agree that they shouldn't be as crazy as they are, I just prefer the multiplying method with more sensible bonuses over additive bonus multipliers. In a lot of ways multiplied bonuses are the only way to reasonably and/or easily factor in some things such as penalties, resistances, etc. A 50% resistance should noticeably impact a 300% cumulative bonus, turning it into 150% instead of 250%. Things like that.

What should go away forever are things like 200%-500% bonuses with 35% on top of that for chain trigger, 200% headshot damage with another >50% to that from skills, etc. Bring all this down to a much more reasonable level, for the love of god.

[Dana]

At the point when my Fotemarl has twice as much health as my Guramarl I start to wonder...

And then I use my Force units on her because 100% additional Health > 4% additional damage

They'll never balance it properly. It'll end up like PSU. Power-house monsters that OHKO you, and die in one hit.

Offensive affixes on defensive equipment? Sega, you're so funny. HP on a weapon that cannot block? Please, let me know how that works?

Multipliers that multiply multiple multipliers? Oh, and the built in multipliers people forget about that also affect those multiplying multiple mult....yeah something...

Edit.

I realised why the game WILL NOT be released in the EU/US.

It's called pedophilia.

[Hrith]

Good point, gigawuts, but I'd also nerf the shit out of everything, so no 300% stuff >_>

If PSU is any indication, the way SEGA balances things is by buffing instead of nerfing. SEGA always goes the wrong way about balancing a game; they buff the weakest so they can catch up, then the balance is off again, so they buff another class, and so on, and we end up doing way too much damage.

[UnLucky]

Then all they have to do is buff the enemies!

[qoxolg]

Good point, gigawuts, but I'd also nerf the shit out of everything, so no 300% stuff >_>

If PSU is any indication, the way SEGA balances things is by buffing instead of nerfing. SEGA always goes the wrong way about balancing a game; they buff the weakest most used classes so they can catch up be OP and 31337, then the balance is off again even more off, so they buff another class the next most used class, and so on, and we end up doing way too much damage.

Fixed it a bit. hmm hmm..

Thats why the TE skill tree is still garbage and HU is for almost every class the best subclass

[gigawuts]

Good point, gigawuts, but I'd also nerf the shit out of everything, so no 300% stuff >_>

If PSU is any indication, the way SEGA balances things is by buffing instead of nerfing. SEGA always goes the wrong way about balancing a game; they buff the weakest so they can catch up, then the balance is off again, so they buff another class, and so on, and we end up doing way too much damage.

Yes, agreed. I think Sega are very wary of removing things that players already have, and nerfs are absolutely last resort. It's a result of being a free to play game - they don't want players to feel like they've lost anything (which is counter to the rest of their approach: see going +9 -> +1 on a 10* in 4 consecutive grinds :| ). This is good in some ways, because an overnerf of a novel and innovative playstyle can be devastating to the kind of fun you can draw from just thinking outside the box, but it results in a definite powercreep as bad things are boosted significantly, then previously good things are now bad so they get the boost, and suddenly everything is OHKOing everything.

I mean, yeah, zonde needed work way way back. But going from something like 8k to 21k, plus being able to virtually always hit boost points just with the game's auto-aim? Oh my god no. I was lightning specced before that rework, and yeah it needed something to change, but even I was saying it was way way way too strong. I went from 24k crits to 60k minimum on WB'd falz arms. Seriously just no.

[Kondibon]

Edit.

I realised why the game WILL NOT be released in the EU/US.

It's called pedophilia.

That hasn't stopped Tera...

Then all they have to do is buff the enemies!

That would just put everything back where it was and/or make the skill trees even more unforgiving.

On the topic of multipliers I had been thinking. What if some of the multipliers are changed to level scaling flat bonuses. This way they won't exponentially stack to absurd degrees, will still be relevant at high levels, and won't make underleveled characters obscenely powerful when subbing with them. Multipliers could still exist for things like ZRA and EWH, but things like stances, photon flare, and the like could be changed to scaling flat bonuses based on your level and the level of the skill.

[FoMarlBorough]

Good ideas.

So the Japanese want this game to be easy? I though they like games that were harder than what us 'Murkans enjoy.

I like a fashion show, but its not what i want/why i play.

Sega should research Blood Bowl. Its a strategy game where you, by seemingly random luck, LOSE your best pieces at the worst moments.

Perhaps weapons should break or have a lifespan.

There has to be a way to increase the difficulty without 'taking' stuff from players.

Im all for the 'reward skill, not luck/AC/fashion' crowd.