A few weeks back, survival sandbox Enshrouded added a new update with multiple difficulty modes, including two hardcore ones, a normal one, a relaxed one, and a custom one that just lets you tweak to your heart’s desire. I saw a bit of pushback about this from the usual corners of gaming that think there’s no room in the industry for casuals, but overall, it was pretty chill – maybe because it’s a survival sandbox and people are used to those types of tweaks.
It strikes me that many MMORPGs also offer difficulty modes, though certainly not all of them, and I’m not really talking about 5-person dungeons vs. 40-person raids. I’m talking about things like City of Heroes’ notoriety settings, Guild Wars’ hard mode maps, and Lord of the Rings Online’s landscape difficulty slider.
For me, it depends on the game and what I’m trying to do in it. For example, in CoH, I usually try to set my difficulty for each character right up to the level where I’m not feeling bored but also not dying much. Some of my characters steamroll content that would wreck the rest of my stable. It’s tricky! But I’m just happy when any game offers me options, as sometimes I just want to slop through something – or play with my kids without having to go drill sergeant on them.
What’s your preferred difficulty setting in an MMO? If your MMO had (already has) difficulty modes, what mode would (or do) you play on?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
