Solution for No New HCL in 2024

[mbartol]

And this is where the disconnect is.

I, and many others, find the game quite challenging enough on Elite/reaper1. Witness all the death messages to Hera, AMB and Kobold shamen at levels below 6.

Good on you that you don't. But what you would find challenging, we would find impossible. If you got your wish, HC would be a ghost town as many of the folks below the top 5% would give up in frustration.

There are ways to increase your challenge level on your own, but gods forbid anyone mentions that, you want the devs to make the game harder for you, completely forgetting those not in the top 5% would then find the game impossible. I respect your skill and knowledge, but your attitude is often off-putting.

I myself am a soloist, and limit myself to Elite on the HC server. Leveling is slow for me, so when I die at L8, that’s a lot of time lost. I wouldn’t consider myself a power player, and am actually promoting a less harsh penalty for dying in HC—stay dead for a matter of hours in the land of lost souls.

The reason why is that I think the biggest draw of the HC server is the grouping aspect, based on a lot of the posts I’ve read going back to the first season.

Maybe the permadeath aspect is more popular than I believed, and the hard enforcement of it is a big draw on the HC server. If so, than the idea of the One Life To Live feat on the regular servers would be a cool feature to implement.

 

[Sheikra]

And this is where the disconnect is.

I, and many others, find the game quite challenging enough on Elite/reaper1. Witness all the death messages to Hera, AMB and Kobold shamen at levels below 6.

Good on you that you don't. But what you would find challenging, we would find impossible. If you got your wish, HC would be a ghost town as many of the folks below the top 5% would give up in frustration.

There are ways to increase your challenge level on your own, but gods forbid anyone mentions that, you want the devs to make the game harder for you, completely forgetting those not in the top 5% would then find the game impossible. I respect your skill and knowledge, but your attitude is often off-putting.

I'd be OK with HC being a ghost town for a season if it meant it would be really challenging. Something like +0 level lockout, reaper mode only, extra Champs or hounds or whatever. A mode that promoted 6 player full parties of people filling roles.

As it is now, it's groups that are 4 levels over a quest, running on elite. It's pretty hard to die in a group of level 16s running a level 12 elite quest. Something like 3/4 deaths (based on anecdotal evidence) are level 6~ and under. Once you make it past the initial few levels, dying basically means you aggroed a dungeon and then stopped looking at the monitor, or you ran into a trap repeatedly.

No hate on anyone who struggles on HC on elite, but for one season I'd love to stop playing to the lowest common denominator and have a HARDcore season. Call it Impossiblecore. But that's just me.

 

[Marshal_Lannes]

I would suggest that it's not the permadeath that is so attractive about HC, it is that everyone starts at zero. You aren't grouping with people that have 156 past lives and tumbling through quests so fast you barely have time to get in before V gets typed in chat. Because everyone starts at zero, parties tend to work together and function like an actual D&D group. For me, that is amazing DDO gameplay. Hardcore has been the only way to replicate that for the general player base.

 

[Notadrizztvariant]

Many people like HC, some play it exclusively, but it is undeniable HC puts a noticeable drain on the normal servers. A solution could be: Leave the HC server up permanently, remove one or two main servers to make up for the loss by consolidating the population.

 

[Sheikra]

I would suggest that it's not the permadeath that is so attractive about HC, it is that everyone starts at zero. You aren't grouping with people that have 156 past lives and tumbling through quests so fast you barely have time to get in before V gets typed in chat. Because everyone starts at zero, parties tend to work together and function like an actual D&D group. For me, that is amazing DDO gameplay. Hardcore has been the only way to replicate that for the general player base.

I love this sentiment, and this is the reason I'm a proponent of increasing HC difficulty. Because on a decent first life (not an archer or tank basically) you can zoom through elite quests, ESPECIALLY when you are 4 levels over. The group becomes unnecessary very quickly, which blows.

I ran a paladin and a fighter through elites up to epics, without using hirelings (occasionally but not often), with lfms up (but often no one joined so i was solo), and it was never hard.

 

[Coffey]

I'd be OK with HC being a ghost town for a season if it meant it would be really challenging. Something like +0 level lockout, reaper mode only, extra Champs or hounds or whatever. A mode that promoted 6 player full parties of people filling roles.

As it is now, it's groups that are 4 levels over a quest, running on elite. It's pretty hard to die in a group of level 16s running a level 12 elite quest. Something like 3/4 deaths (based on anecdotal evidence) are level 6~ and under. Once you make it past the initial few levels, dying basically means you aggroed a dungeon and then stopped looking at the monitor, or you ran into a trap repeatedly.

No hate on anyone who struggles on HC on elite, but for one season I'd love to stop playing to the lowest common denominator and have a HARDcore season. Call it Impossiblecore. But that's just me.

And this is where the disconnect is.

I, and many others, find the game quite challenging enough on Elite/reaper1. Witness all the death messages to Hera, AMB and Kobold shamen at levels below 6.

Good on you that you don't. But what you would find challenging, we would find impossible. If you got your wish, HC would be a ghost town as many of the folks below the top 5% would give up in frustration.

There are ways to increase your challenge level on your own, but gods forbid anyone mentions that, you want the devs to make the game harder for you, completely forgetting those not in the top 5% would then find the game impossible. I respect your skill and knowledge, but your attitude is often off-putting.

 

[Br4d]

Perhaps this has been suggested, but why not just add a free lvl 1 feat that enforces permadeath and is only available during character creation? This feat would essentially be an extra feat you can add at creation. If your toon takes the feat during character creation, the toon is flagged so that death is permanent, perhaps also enforces lvl lockouts on quests as well. Presence of the feat is visible if someone examines the toon. If the toon dies, and then revives, the feat is removed automatically so easy to track. Solves the cheating problem and since can be removed by rezzing, means anything spent/invested in the toon remains available to player should they choose to revive. It would mean that a dedicated HC server wouldn't be such a big deal, so could be monetary reasons for SS to not implement.

As long as the feat publicly displays somehow this would be a good option.

 

[Hobgoblin]

but if i do that i cant cast grease on the level 3 sorc thats trying to run away from the orc barb he just hit for 3 points of damage....

 

[Nebless]

As long as the feat publicly displays somehow this would be a good option.

Would that just be for Group leaders so they know the make up of their Party? Othewise I'm not sure why it would matter.

 

[Br4d]

Would that just be for Group leaders so they know the make up of their Party? Othewise I'm not sure why it would matter.

Because otherwise people could claim they were hardcore when in fact they had not taken the feat and were not.

This particularly matters in griefing scenarios.

 

[Coffey]

Perhaps this has been suggested, but why not just add a free lvl 1 feat that enforces permadeath and is only available during character creation? This feat would essentially be an extra feat you can add at creation. If your toon takes the feat during character creation, the toon is flagged so that death is permanent, perhaps also enforces lvl lockouts on quests as well. Presence of the feat is visible if someone examines the toon. If the toon dies, and then revives, the feat is removed automatically so easy to track. Solves the cheating problem and since can be removed by rezzing, means anything spent/invested in the toon remains available to player should they choose to revive. It would mean that a dedicated HC server wouldn't be such a big deal, so could be monetary reasons for SS to not implement.

Sorry i overlooked your post. This has great potential. There are a lot of things to look at.

What is the goal? 5K Favor, Reaper Points, PLs run, Leader Board, Prizes, New prizes added for selection every three months?

The HC character can only take the feat at level 1 not level 4, 7, or 15. This would exclude Iconics?

The HC player can only play with other HC players with some sort of lockout? The potential for PK is always there but less likely.

Reaper only setting? Non Reaper then 4 level lockout?

Are you starting with nothing? Or are you running to your bank to get all the prepared items in your bank after character creation?