Game difficulty in public GR's

Bug Report
1

When 3 or fewer players are playing in a public GR, and another player joins who then cannot play in that game, the voice says that the game difficulty has increased, which is not the case; it stays the same. The same situation in reverse: when a non-playing player leaves it says that the monsters are weaker, which is not the case.

These constant meassges are also very distracting. Please cancel the announcements of players joining and leaving GR’s when games are in progress which they can’t play.

2

When it says “My enemies grow stronger”, it is referring to the health and damage of mobs in the world, and in regular rifts because another player has joined.

This is a true statement, and is not a bug.

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3

That’s rubbish…

4

The game’s always been that way. Difficulty absolutely does increase/decrease when others join the game you are in. It’s not rubbish, it’s fact. How would you even come to conclude this isn’t true unless you’ve not run any rift solo then, played as a team? Unless you’re new to the game and, are running very low-level rifts where you pretty much decimate everything. When you start pushing higher rifts to level gems, run a solo that’s difficult. Then add other players to the mix and see how much damage you’re doing in a group, in comparison. You can’t help but see the difference. And those messages are not a bug. They might be annoying at times but, they’ve always been a part of the game.

5

And not just in D3. But, in D1 and in D2 also.

1 Like
6

Not a bug. Difficulty does increase and decrease based on the number of players. GR’s are EXCLUDED from the difficulty and its difficulty scaler is dependant on the number of players that “STARTED” the Greater Rift. This means if someone leaves in a GR, the GR DOES NOT SCALE downwards.

Everything else in the world that is a fresh spawn is scaled up and down according to the current players. Only Greater Rifts are EXCLUDED from the immediate scaling and is determined the moment the rift is started and how many players accept it.

7

I’m only talking about greater rifts so what you’ve just said confirms that this is a bug:
GR’s are excluded from the difficulty scaler, that’s clear. A 4 man stays at 4 man level even if players leave. Same with a 3 man GR, stays as a 3 man.
So if you have a 3 man GR in progress, formally no one could join the game, but now they can. but that extra player does not change the difficulty level.
How could it? Why would a non-playing member increase the difficulty of the 3 man GR? It would be nonsense. One moment you’re playing at 3 man level then suddenly you’re at 4 man level?!?
So the voice is not correct; the monsters have not become stronger/weaker, the extra player leaving or joining has no effect on the game being played and should be removed.
If the non-playing player goes and does something then I suppose the difficulty may change, but that’s peripheral: the game is the GR, not someone looking for pools or whatever.

8

People joining Public GR’s is not a bug and nor is the difficulty level changing/not changing.
It was changed for people to join in progress GR games to allow the game to have a full group of 4 for the NEXT GR. However GR’s are NOT a seperate instance from the game world and thus the notification of the monsters getting stronger/weaker is NOT A BUG. The reason is that you can in theory leave the GR and go into the open world just fine. GR’s do NOT lock you out of the open world in which the notification of stronger/weaker IS TRUE. The notification is a reminder that somone has joined/left. This has been around since days of old Diablo.
This is NOT a bug. But hey you have reported it and blizz will take any approiate action if it is needed. They do not normally respond here.

4 Likes
9

It’s like having a bottle of 90 proof bourbon. You can invite your friends to have a drink. Three friends come over and drink with you. Twenty minutes into doing shots, you’re buzzed. One friend leaves (he has an actual job). Now it’s just the three of you to finish the bottle. As you advance, another friend passes out on the divan. You continue to drink to the end of the bottle. Now, it’s just the two of you. You’re head swims, your sight starts to blur as does your speech. It’s gotten harder to concentrate. “How many have I hadz? Wash that two or tree?” No matter. Onward!

The last friend melts into the floor. You struggle mightily to reach the end! “I kin does this!”, you say to no one out loud. You think. You reach for the bottle with shaking hands that’s really just your eye-sight. You stretch from your beanbag. Almooooost…there…

…your fingers brush the bottle closer and closer to the edge…almost got it…a little more, a little more…aaaaand, I got i- thunk

The bottle hits the floor, rolls away, coming to rest against (neck down) an old, worn copy of ‘Hustler’ your father handed down to you years ago as an birth-right, tears fall from your eyes as the last little bit trickles out onto the faux shag carpeting that no one else has anymore and…pass out. The GRift for the bottle has failed.

Regardless of the size of your group, as time went on and you progressed, people fell out (left the group) and, it became harder. One by one you leave your senses. You continue to push on, no matter how difficult it has become; time running out as you only have fourteen hours left to sleep, grab a bite from the convenience store and, get to your pizza delivery job. Now, only seven hours left. You struggle as it becomes harder and harder to slay the boss bottle of bourbon deftly fishered from the back of that light-less shelf at the bottom but, despite your best efforts, you run out of time, passing out with only three hours to sleep.

The bourbon was set at 90 Proof. It never increased. But, as time passed and drinkers left, it became harder to advance. Add more drinkers, the easier your goal to the bottom is to reach. The more that left, the harder it became.

Conversely, you throw a party and, invite twenty friends. You have only two bottles. As the night wears on it’s going to get more difficult. The drinks are running low as more of the regular, seasonal drinkers become angry that you invited them to a GRift so under-geared. What are you, a nOOb!? Before the night’s out, the bottles are empty, your friends list drops to two and, you have failed. Completely sober and, completely loser.

The proof never increased, just the number of people. It became increasingly easier or, harder depending on the given circumstances of the GRift.

Next week, we’ll cover ‘Everclear’ and, it’s impact on game difficulty.

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