Since 1.0 is nearing, I wanted to give feedback regarding the difficulty on Path of the Unspoken. This is based purely on the Path of the Unspoken difficulty, and all suggestions and feedback are also directed at this mode. So for people who prefer a different difficulty, don’t worry, nothing would be affected.
This is also based on playthroughs of multiple different characters across the two most recent updates. I have played INT casters, DEX bow/spear builds, and STR 2-hand + sword-and-board builds.
TL;DR at the end.
With that out of the way: through all my playthroughs, the Path of the Unspoken difficulty still feels lacking in terms of challenge. I think this is due to several things:
Zone Scaling
The zones need to scale much more aggressively. Currently, it is way too easy to outlevel everything up until Lowland Meadows and Marin Woods. You outlevel everything far too quickly, and this happens just from exploring a bit; not from doing any heavy farming or grinding.
Enemies
I think the enemies are in a good place. Maybe they could use a bit more health and damage on Path of the Unspoken, but making zones scale faster and more aggressively should largely solve this.
Player Power / Progression
I feel like player power scales way too fast. Caster builds especially will destroy everything with basic runes. Upgrading Sacrament happens quickly, which in turn gives you better items and upgrades, further accelerating your power scaling.
Doing bounties and challenges can also provide extreme boosts. In general, the progression curve needs attention on Path of the Unspoken.
Balancing
Overall balance still needs some work. The last patch—which reduced the power of some enchantments and gave bows much-needed adjustments; was a step in the right direction.
I mainly played elemental casters (staves/wands), and this area really needs adjustments. Spells and runes scale far too quickly. You can completely trivialize the game with just a Magus Wand and Lightning Blast.
Adding charge mechanics to spells could be an option. For example, the longer you charge a spell, the more damage it does—creating more risk/reward scenarios.
In short: spells are still too strong, and other systems likely need to be toned down as well.
Death Penalty
This is a very divisive topic, but I think it’s an important one. At launch, repair costs could be impactful, but since then they’ve been made completely meaningless.
Love them or hate them, the old repair costs served a purpose: they helped keep player power progression in check. Currently, there is nothing stopping players from constant power progression. I can repeatedly attempt the hardest bounties early on with zero consequences and still reap all the rewards.
I understand not everyone likes a punishing death penalty, but it could help to have an optional middle ground between normal and hardcore—a “moderate” mode with significantly increased repair costs. This would help regulate progression and create more meaningful risk/reward scenarios, while remaining entirely optional.
TL;DR:
Path of the Unspoken does not offer enough challenge.
- Zone scaling needs to be more aggressive
- Enemies may need slight adjustments (especially more health)
- Player power scales far too quickly
- Balance still needs work (especially spells)
- An optional mode with harsher death penalties could help significantly