Dynamically Scaled Difficulty

The Dynamically Scaled Difficulty system allows players to choose the Scene Difficulty when entering some locations. This will not only scale the tier level of spawns, but also the experience awarded for each opponent defeated. Chests and gathering nodes also scale.

Tier Markers
With dynamically scaled difficulty in Episode 2 adventure scenes, players will see a difficulty tier marker to provide a graphical representation of the player selected difficulty just inside the entrance of each applicable scene. The difficulty levels available are “Easy,” “Normal,” “Hard,” and “Extreme.” The old tier markers had up to 5 skulls on a spike–the more skulls, the harder the difficulty. Also, a ribbon on the top meant “plus” in that there was at least one large section (not just one enemy) within that same scene that was a notably higher difficulty.

These new tier markers include five shelves. A skull on the bottom shelf means you’re in the Easy version of the scene. A skull in the second shelf from the bottom means you’re in the Normal difficulty. Third from the bottom means Hard. Fourth from the bottom means Extreme. The top shelf is reserved for the “plus” marker or some other future use.

Tier markers also appear in the overworld, and Mistrendur’s tier markers are handled in a special way. For example, if the scene has a Normal and a Hard difficulty, the overworld tier marker will have skulls both on the Normal shelf and the Hard shelf to let you know both modes are available. We hope you enjoy these new tier markers. These tier markers are a great indicator to the dangers players are about to face.