07-15-2003, 05:58 AM
The difficulty at single player in Hell Difficulty should require a well planned, well played character who gets reasonably decent gear. The game does require a certain equippage, and the single player from start to finish who does not give a shot at equipping his character reasonably well, Murphy notwithstanding, ought to have to go to strenuous lengths to win, or even fail. This is not to say "uber gear required" but given the cube recipes and rune word options, something decent can be made, found, bought etc.
Scaling up cannot simply be numerical. Playing 5 players does two things.
1. It allows each set of skills to overlap complimentarily, and it gives the monsters a completely different tactical frontage to deal with. More skill combinations give the monsters a far harder time at giving the sorceress, for example, the sheer fight or flight problem, so that once she is behind her row of tanks, she can devote every moment to pure damage output. The Druid and Barbarian synergy, for example, puts quadruple hit point totals in everyone's globes. The compounding of player effects is but one facet to how much easier the game is, as is the less 'swarming' of mobs.
2. We then get to tactics. Even moderately effective parties can set up 2. particular mismatches that ensure the monster/player matchups are optimized in a way that you simply cant in SP, save possibly with the Amazon or Necro. Amazon, who can build Bow?javelin, and has two summonables, Necro due to his summonables, curses, and variety of ways that turn the monsters against one another, or simply contain them.
3. Merely running up the HP's, DR and AR of monsters in higher player count games is not enough. Higher play count games need to, IMO< trigger better AI choices, or more complex mob pairs. That then at least will test the ability of players to apply their synergy to its best effect. I'd even recommend that drops be better in the 3-5 player range games, with XP being optimized in 8 player games, so that parties also have to choose: is today an item day, or an XP day?
There are a lot of ways to avoid a straight line simplicity that falls before player synergy, better player monster ratio, and skill complement (such as Conviction and Chain Lighting, for example.)
We can dream, I suppose.
Scaling up cannot simply be numerical. Playing 5 players does two things.
1. It allows each set of skills to overlap complimentarily, and it gives the monsters a completely different tactical frontage to deal with. More skill combinations give the monsters a far harder time at giving the sorceress, for example, the sheer fight or flight problem, so that once she is behind her row of tanks, she can devote every moment to pure damage output. The Druid and Barbarian synergy, for example, puts quadruple hit point totals in everyone's globes. The compounding of player effects is but one facet to how much easier the game is, as is the less 'swarming' of mobs.
2. We then get to tactics. Even moderately effective parties can set up 2. particular mismatches that ensure the monster/player matchups are optimized in a way that you simply cant in SP, save possibly with the Amazon or Necro. Amazon, who can build Bow?javelin, and has two summonables, Necro due to his summonables, curses, and variety of ways that turn the monsters against one another, or simply contain them.
3. Merely running up the HP's, DR and AR of monsters in higher player count games is not enough. Higher play count games need to, IMO< trigger better AI choices, or more complex mob pairs. That then at least will test the ability of players to apply their synergy to its best effect. I'd even recommend that drops be better in the 3-5 player range games, with XP being optimized in 8 player games, so that parties also have to choose: is today an item day, or an XP day?
There are a lot of ways to avoid a straight line simplicity that falls before player synergy, better player monster ratio, and skill complement (such as Conviction and Chain Lighting, for example.)
We can dream, I suppose.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete