Any changes planned for extreme difficulty? | Forums

[Nyxzy]

And I don't mean how hard it is.. the AI is completely screwed.. Guys spotting you while facing away from you.. one member of the team gets spotted, the enemy INSTANTLY KNOW where all of you are.. It's a bit cheap? I've actually had an enemy walking away from me spot me.. and I've also had it where I got spotted and killed all within the same 0.2 seconds, then watched in awe as enemies have started charging over to my AFK team mate 350 meters away.. I'm all for a challenge but for the love of God make it a logical challenge.. It's kinda ruining the tier one mode having to contend against this army of psychic sharp shooters. It starts to leave a bad taste in the mouth when you get shot, in cover, by a dude 200 meters away running along firing a PKM from the hip..

[Kean_1]

IMO, it's not an issue with the extreme difficulty setting but the Tier system itself.

I was playing extreme difficulty since the betas (used to be called ghost difficulty initially) and that didn't change for me even while starting the new Tier mode. I can say that the negative attributes people complain about (e.g. bullet sponge damage, superhuman precision, ultra fast reaction time, speed, etc.) was noticeable from the get go in Tier mode although much more so as I progressed. For those who started out in the Tier mode at a lower difficulty setting, I can see how the experience would be even more dramatic as those settings were no longer available at the lower Tiers.

IMO, there are several other things they could have focused on in this game to make the Tier mode more challenging while still remaining fun.

[jmlaneCA]

I don't think it's possible to tune the AI in WIldlands to be challenging as they were designed without giving them damage resistance and making them very accurate as has been done. This is just the logical consequence of how the encounter systems and progression systems were designed. Extreme and Tier mode difficulties force you to engage in firefights only when you have the clear advantage, which feels totally appropriate for a Ghost Recon game.

It would have been great if individual infantry AI had much better spotting abilities, less initial accuracy, and less force cohesion, but the AI would be more complex and given how many gameplay bugs there are, we would probably have seen a lot of issues with inconsistent AI behaviour. The game as designed is still enjoyable, but it would be much less so for people who don't embrace the stealth/ambush encounter approach necessary to set yourself up for success at higher difficulties.

[Kean_1]

The game as designed is still enjoyable, but it would be much less so for people who don't embrace the stealth/ambush encounter approach necessary to set yourself up for success at higher difficulties.

....which is all well and good except that in Tier mode, your chances of escaping a sudden engagement is much more difficult due to these enemy enhancements. In some cases, engagements are unavoidable which can be a very frustrating experience in Tier mode. In the core game (even on extreme difficulty) you still had a decent, fighting chance (albeit still difficult) in CQC scenarios to still make the objective and/or escape, hide, flank, etc. if you were thoughtful about your movements.

With the simplified mechanics and damage modeling, I really believe they could have concentrated on other aspects of the game to make this Tier mode more challenging for players. Instead, I believe these enemy perks only serve to show these shortcomings in the game's design. The core game just felt more balanced IMO.

[UbiInsulin]

And I don't mean how hard it is.. the AI is completely screwed.. Guys spotting you while facing away from you.. one member of the team gets spotted, the enemy INSTANTLY KNOW where all of you are.. It's a bit cheap? I've actually had an enemy walking away from me spot me.. and I've also had it where I got spotted and killed all within the same 0.2 seconds, then watched in awe as enemies have started charging over to my AFK team mate 350 meters away.. I'm all for a challenge but for the love of God make it a logical challenge.. It's kinda ruining the tier one mode having to contend against this army of psychic sharp shooters. It starts to leave a bad taste in the mouth when you get shot, in cover, by a dude 200 meters away running along firing a PKM from the hip..

Hi Nyxzy, I'm not aware of any plans to change Tier 1 at this time - but we'll definitely pass your feedback along to the team. Can you let us know at what Tier level you're playing at?

[SERPENT 1333]

Even on advanced (without Tier One turned on) the enemy AI has ridiculous spotting abilities. Numerous times I've been hiding deep in the jungle and they've known exactly where to look for me. I've even had Unidad choppers spawn and fly right over me after I've gone hundreds of meters away from the engagement, seeing me through not only the bushes but also the tree canopy... when I couldn't see them at all; I could only see the icon.

I am all in favor of realistic bullet damage, but to get that you have to use a setting in which the enemy has superhuman spotting abilities that limit your tactical options. It's terribly unbalanced, and Tier one mode just makes it even more ridiculous.

[jmlaneCA]

[...]Instead, I believe these enemy perks only serve to show these shortcomings in the game's design. The core game just felt more balanced IMO.

Agreed. I think it is just hard to add challenge within the constraints of how the core game encounters were designed without padding numbers somehow.

[Kean_1]

Agreed. I think it is just hard to add challenge within the constraints of how the core game encounters were designed without padding numbers somehow.

I mentioned this in other threads but I think they could have done something with the players own skills (e.g. stamina, explosion resistance, etc.), drone abilities, rebel assistance, ammo capacity, limiting ammo availability in the game world (e.g. not being able to pick up ammo off dead enemies), audible alerts (e.g. turning off audible warnings of being spotted), limiting weapon loadout and so on. ....and then of course some tweaks to the enemy AI but not to the point of making them appear super-human (e.g. perhaps more reinforcements, patrols, etc.).

That's just off the top of my head but they are all examples of things that are existing components in the design that could be easily be modified I would think. If those other aspects of the game (or similar) played a role in the design of the Tier mode, it would have been more challenging and (just as important) fun IMO.

[jmlaneCA]

Definitely some good thoughts.

[D-from-Oxford]

I mentioned this in other threads but I think they could have done something with the players own skills (e.g. stamina, explosion resistance, etc.), drone abilities, rebel assistance, ammo capacity, limiting ammo availability in the game world (e.g. not being able to pick up ammo off dead enemies), audible alerts (e.g. turning off audible warnings of being spotted), limiting weapon loadout and so on. ....and then of course some tweaks to the enemy AI but not to the point of making them appear super-human (e.g. perhaps more reinforcements, patrols, etc.).

That's just off the top of my head but they are all examples of things that are existing components in the design that could be easily be modified I would think. If those other aspects of the game (or similar) played a role in the design of the Tier mode, it would have been more challenging and (just as important) fun IMO.

^This. Anybody that has played a lot of tactical shooters should agree, and yet here we are.
It was just poor decision making (yet again) - something they won't admit to though, obviously.