Originally posted by Cooperal:

Most of the suggestions I see here (purposely use worse gear, give enemies more stars etc) don't really work for me. The enemies are too slow and stupid. Whether an enemy does 100 damage or 300 damage, if you multiply that by the number of times they actually land a hit, it usually calculates at zero.

I would be more inclined to suggest something that improves the enemies movement speed and attack speeds. I THINK Valheim Plus can do that but I mainly plan to wait until around 2040, when the game is a little nearer to leaving early access.

Love comments like this lol.. this game has a clear road-map with 3 more biomes till completion.. the first one laid the ground work.. the updates should be between 10-14 months.. love your exaggeration like this is Star Citizen or something.. get a grip.. wow.

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I agree that no-map doesn't really change the difficulty... until you get to Mistlands, assuming you're also playing no-portal. You can get lost extremely easily, and, besides the obvious issues of having to scramble for a place to sleep at night, you can also get into situations when you're food is running out and/or your weapons and armor are breaking. Not to mention the difficulty in acquiring wood.

I think no-portal makes even more of a difference, for all of the reasons listed above, but also having to potentially run across dangerous territory multiple times, rather than taking the express flight. Not to mention just being able to go to your main base at night to restock and reload, and being able hop in your portal at the first sign of danger to do the same.

For me, though, I don't think any real difficulty increase is very meaningful unless you're playing permadeath. I played permadeath until ML came out, and stopped because I thought it would be difficult to get all the way to ML without dyeing once, and I was probably right.

I think I'm about ready to switch back to playing PD because, any time I get into a difficult situation, or contemplate something challenging, I always have it in the back of my mind that it really doesn't matter, since I'll just respawn and have to work through getting my stuff back (or not).

For me, without PD, nothing really seems like a challenge. Take on a 2* soldier with knives and Fenris armor? Sure! It's not like it's going to be game-over.

I'm currently following a PD YT series where the guy is currently exploring mistlands so definitely possible.

Based on some other comments I feel like we would need to agree on a definition of "difficulty" first.

What is PD?

Originally posted by Veseljko:

Mods can change difficulty a lot. Specifically Creature Level and Loot Control mod.
This mod scales difficulty on 3 basis:
1. Stronger enemies further away from start point
2. Enemies become stronger with each boss killed
3. Enemies become stronger based on days passed in your world

There are also zone levels - Enemies become stronger when you keep slaying them in the same zone. It goes up to level 3 which means more starred enemies will be spawned in that zone. And cooldown timer for zones to reset to level 0 is really long (dont remember exactly, but this can be configured). Also, if you increase one zone to level 3, all the neighboring zones will be increased to level 2 and their neighboring zones to level 1.

And if this is not enough for you, it also has two more tweaks for enemies - colors and infusions. So you will be fighting armored fire infused greydwarfs, regenerating frost infused trolls etc…

Everything is adjustable and if you want to set enemies to more than 2 stars, i suggest to add another mod that will improve your stats. Epic loot or jewel crafting mod is a good choice, together with honey+ mod for a slightly better foods.

What mod allows infused greydwarfs?

PD is permadeath, meaning when you die its game over. You start again with a new character and in a new world.

Creature Level and Loot Control is the mod with infused enemies. Check Youtube for some videos if you are interested.

Mods can change difficulty a lot. Specifically Creature Level and Loot Control mod.
This mod scales difficulty on 3 basis:
1. Stronger enemies further away from start point
2. Enemies become stronger with each boss killed
3. Enemies become stronger based on days passed in your world

There are also zone levels - Enemies become stronger when you keep slaying them in the same zone. It goes up to level 3 which means more starred enemies will be spawned in that zone. And cooldown timer for zones to reset to level 0 is really long (dont remember exactly, but this can be configured). Also, if you increase one zone to level 3, all the neighboring zones will be increased to level 2 and their neighboring zones to level 1.

And if this is not enough for you, it also has two more tweaks for enemies - colors and infusions. So you will be fighting armored fire infused greydwarfs, regenerating frost infused trolls etc…

Everything is adjustable and if you want to set enemies to more than 2 stars, i suggest to add another mod that will improve your stats. Epic loot or jewel crafting mod is a good choice, together with honey+ mod for a slightly better foods.

They've said they are working on world difficulty settings that can make the game easier/casual or more difficult.

Most of the suggestions I see here (purposely use worse gear, give enemies more stars etc) don't really work for me. The enemies are too slow and stupid. Whether an enemy does 100 damage or 300 damage, if you multiply that by the number of times they actually land a hit, it usually calculates at zero.

I would be more inclined to suggest something that improves the enemies movement speed and attack speeds. I THINK Valheim Plus can do that but I mainly plan to wait until around 2040, when the game is a little nearer to leaving early access.

Originally posted by Cooperal:

Most of the suggestions I see here (purposely use worse gear, give enemies more stars etc) don't really work for me. The enemies are too slow and stupid. Whether an enemy does 100 damage or 300 damage, if you multiply that by the number of times they actually land a hit, it usually calculates at zero.

I would be more inclined to suggest something that improves the enemies movement speed and attack speeds. I THINK Valheim Plus can do that but I mainly plan to wait until around 2040, when the game is a little nearer to leaving early access.

Other things were suggested like playing without maps or portals.

There is also a challenge where you only live in 1 biome at a time and only progress after killing the boss and cannot go back.

I find your lack of imagination disturbing :)

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Originally posted by Cooperal:

Most of the suggestions I see here (purposely use worse gear, give enemies more stars etc) don't really work for me. The enemies are too slow and stupid. Whether an enemy does 100 damage or 300 damage, if you multiply that by the number of times they actually land a hit, it usually calculates at zero.

I would be more inclined to suggest something that improves the enemies movement speed and attack speeds. I THINK Valheim Plus can do that but I mainly plan to wait until around 2040, when the game is a little nearer to leaving early access.

Other things were suggested like playing without maps or portals.

There is also a challenge where you only live in 1 biome at a time and only progress after killing the boss and cannot go back.

I find your lack of imagination disturbing :)

No map is fun, but very limiting. Good for multiplayer, complete nightmare for solo.
No portals is even worse - a lot of time wasted running and sailing around. This one is actually better for solo than for multiplayer.
I tried both. It doesn’t change the difficulty at all. It changes only your approach to sailing/exploring.
The third option you gave is some kind of nomad life. Sounds fun, but still no change in difficulty.
There are also other options like no cooking in cauldron, or vegan life that can actually impact the difficulty more than no portal and no map.
Those are all self inflicted rules that can be broken easily.
In my opinion, only mods can properly scale the difficulty.

Originally posted by Cooperal:

I mainly plan to wait until around 2040, when the game is a little nearer to leaving early access.

LMAO, you just had to get a dig in at the devs. Perhaps the game just isn't 'lit enough for you. and BTW go to the Mistlands.

I agree that no-map doesn't really change the difficulty... until you get to Mistlands, assuming you're also playing no-portal. You can get lost extremely easily, and, besides the obvious issues of having to scramble for a place to sleep at night, you can also get into situations when you're food is running out and/or your weapons and armor are breaking. Not to mention the difficulty in acquiring wood.

I think no-portal makes even more of a difference, for all of the reasons listed above, but also having to potentially run across dangerous territory multiple times, rather than taking the express flight. Not to mention just being able to go to your main base at night to restock and reload, and being able hop in your portal at the first sign of danger to do the same.

For me, though, I don't think any real difficulty increase is very meaningful unless you're playing permadeath. I played permadeath until ML came out, and stopped because I thought it would be difficult to get all the way to ML without dyeing once, and I was probably right.

I think I'm about ready to switch back to playing PD because, any time I get into a difficult situation, or contemplate something challenging, I always have it in the back of my mind that it really doesn't matter, since I'll just respawn and have to work through getting my stuff back (or not).

For me, without PD, nothing really seems like a challenge. Take on a 2* soldier with knives and Fenris armor? Sure! It's not like it's going to be game-over.

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I agree that no-map doesn't really change the difficulty... until you get to Mistlands, assuming you're also playing no-portal. You can get lost extremely easily, and, besides the obvious issues of having to scramble for a place to sleep at night, you can also get into situations when you're food is running out and/or your weapons and armor are breaking. Not to mention the difficulty in acquiring wood.

I think no-portal makes even more of a difference, for all of the reasons listed above, but also having to potentially run across dangerous territory multiple times, rather than taking the express flight. Not to mention just being able to go to your main base at night to restock and reload, and being able hop in your portal at the first sign of danger to do the same.

For me, though, I don't think any real difficulty increase is very meaningful unless you're playing permadeath. I played permadeath until ML came out, and stopped because I thought it would be difficult to get all the way to ML without dyeing once, and I was probably right.

I think I'm about ready to switch back to playing PD because, any time I get into a difficult situation, or contemplate something challenging, I always have it in the back of my mind that it really doesn't matter, since I'll just respawn and have to work through getting my stuff back (or not).

For me, without PD, nothing really seems like a challenge. Take on a 2* soldier with knives and Fenris armor? Sure! It's not like it's going to be game-over.

I'm currently following a PD YT series where the guy is currently exploring mistlands so definitely possible.

Based on some other comments I feel like we would need to agree on a definition of "difficulty" first.

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Based on some other comments I feel like we would need to agree on a definition of "difficulty" first.

Yeah, I think OP should say what he meant by more challenging.
He mentioned mods, that why I thought he is seeking for something more than vanilla experience.

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I agree that no-map doesn't really change the difficulty... until you get to Mistlands, assuming you're also playing no-portal. You can get lost extremely easily, and, besides the obvious issues of having to scramble for a place to sleep at night, you can also get into situations when you're food is running out and/or your weapons and armor are breaking. Not to mention the difficulty in acquiring wood.

I stand corrected.
We just hit mistlands for the first time yesterday on our no-map world. We spent 3 hours sailing around searching for the good spot for a new base with farm. We still don't have wisplight and it was the horror. So easy to get lost. In all the other biomes we could explore a lot without killing the previous boss first. In mistlands, it's almost impossible to explore without killing Yagluth first.
Luckily, we have portals enabled so we cannot actually get stuck in there, but it's crazy how it is easy to get lost.

House rules. Downgrade your gear to a lower level.

You can use mods to make ennemies stronger (think 3 4 5 stars).

You can do self imposed challenges. A good one is "no portal". I found that it ups the difficulty a lot when you can't just teleport home with your pocket portal whenever you need more food, more rest or to repair your stuff.

hone skills
collects materials
prepared for the next biome
clean fog map
get more bees

I have been upping my solo run's difficulty for some time now, perhaps you'll find inspiration here. :-)

*** POTENTIAL END GAME SPOILERS AHEAD ***

- I switched Jotun Bane (already believed to be inferior to other weapons of its tier) for flint axe (kept the carapace buckler though)

- I am out and about at night (more eerie, more enemies, higher chance of starred mobs)

- I eat food unfit for the biome (for a time, when I lived on sausages from infested mines, I was dying a lot more, now I regularly get by on cooked seeker meat as my only health food, just because it is so plentiful)

- I prefer to explore mistlands closer to the edge of the world (higher chance of starred mobs, more difficult to keep the boat intact amidst the deep north blizzard)

- I will do a temporary no-portal mini run (dock at a new mistlands area at night, start surveying the coastline, go as far as I dare for days and nights, just until I almost run out of food, get my 8-10 minutes of 'rested' as and where appropriate, get back to my boat and sail back to my portal of choice)

- I raise my blocking skill to about 60-70 and only use the staves as my weapon/shield + I only hit back with a single ice shot after a successful parry. If I am overrun, I switch to the fire staff (anything higher than regular seekers and soldiers will give you a massive hard time, regular seekers in groups of 3 or more will be similarly difficult to deal with). No dodge rolling.

- I protect the lone dverger (I try to aggro the seekers and kill them with staves without turning the dverger hostile. It is not possible to do this with soldiers, because their ground slams obliterate the dverger who always try to get close to them)

- I face a 1-/2-star soldier with a flint axe (and carapace buckler) just to test how many successful parries I can pull off in a row, I'm taking them on face to face without exploiting their weak spot (with a 2-star, my hands are sometimes shaking and sweating so much that I indeed miss a parry or two and I died to 2-stars more than once)

As I am trying to show here, most of the difficulty can really be adjusted by the player not using the best options that are available to them, given the biome they are in. If you combine the less-than-ideal options to your liking, you can significantly spice up your ability to traverse mistlands.

Other than these self-imposed hurdles, the obvious choices for a seasoned viking are /nomap and /noportal -- these two command line parameters, when used together, finally turn the game into the brutal survival adventure that it claims to be. In fact, after 650 hours in, I am still not convinced I am skilled enough to even attempt that kind of a run.

Enjoy the game. :-)