Currently, the campaign is very easy for players who follow leveling guides or have a solid understanding of skills and damage scaling. This accessibility is great for new or casual players, but it leaves veteran players with little challenge—especially since we replay much of the campaign on new characters.
I’d like to suggest adding an optional “Hard Mode” campaign designed specifically for experienced players.
Goals of Hard Mode:
- Provide a meaningful challenge during the campaign
- Keep gameplay engaging rather than trivial
- Offer appropriate rewards for the increased difficulty
Ideas for implementation:
- Increased difficulty scaling: Stronger enemies, more elites/champions, and added mechanics like frequent ambushes to keep encounters engaging. Ideally, this mode should feel challenging even when following optimized guides.
- Reduced XP gain: Slower leveling to balance the increased rewards and maintain progression pacing.
- Dynamic/alternate paths: Some level variation or randomized routing to make repeat playthroughs feel less repetitive while still respecting core quest progression.
- Improved rewards: Completing the Hard Mode campaign could grant additional crafting materials (shards, runes, glyphs), gold, or other bonuses to provide a meaningful incentive.
Unlocking:
- Hard Mode should unlock after completing the campaign once per account (not per season), allowing experienced players to opt in immediately on future characters.
This would give returning players a way to enjoy the campaign again in a more engaging and rewarding way, rather than simply rushing through content that poses little challenge.
To be clear, this is separate from Hardcore mode—it’s about difficulty and engagement, not permadeath.
Thank you for considering!