Advanced Difficulty
Summary
Advanced Difficulty (or 'Hard Mode') is a system that was introduced in Issue 27 Page 3 alongside the Dr. Aeon Strike Force, as a means to introduce optional increased challenges into Task Forces. While originally limited to the Dr. Aeon Strike Force, the system is planned to be rolled out to the Imperious Task Force in Issue 27 Page 4. While individual Task Forces and Strike Forces with the system have a general set of modifiers, they also have unique individual changes that are affected by the Difficulty Options.
Difficulty Options
As of Issue 27 Page 3, these are the effects of selecting each difficulty in the Advanced Difficulty Options menu:
Heroic/Villainous (Default)
- The default, Normal difficulty of a Task Force with Advanced Difficulty settings.
- No additional rewards or challenges.
Tenacious/Malicious (☆)
General Effects
- Boss rank or higher enemies have access to additional powers, including those needed to earn certain challenge badges.
- Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses spawn in place of Bosses in regular enemy spawns.
- Certain static encounters have rank increases such as Lieutenants spawning as Bosses instead.
- Arch-villains have Praetorian base ToHit (63.75%).
- Certain powerful Arch-villains have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers).
Additional Rewards
- In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 1 Empyrean Merit.
Rugged/Vicious (☆☆)
General Effects
- The minimum mission difficulty is locked at +2 and the team size at x8.
- Boss rank or higher enemies have access to additional powers, including those needed to earn certain challenge badges.
- Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses spawn in place of Bosses in regular enemy spawns.
- Certain static encounters have rank increases such as Lieutenants spawning as Bosses instead.
- All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +10% Resistance[All], +15% Defense[All], +20% Damage[All], +10% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius
- Arch-villain ranked enemies have Praetorian base ToHit (63.75%).
- Certain powerful Arch-villains have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers).
- Players will be unable to use non-revive large/super Inspirations.
Additional Rewards
- Arch-villain ranked enemies will reward 1 Astral Merit per defeat.
- Certain powerful Arch-villains will reward 2 Astral Merits per defeat.
- In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 2 Empyrean Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of: A random Incarnate Component, an Empyrean Merit, or two Super Inspirations.
Unyielding/Ruthless (☆☆☆)
General Effects
- The minimum mission difficulty is locked at +3 and the team size at x8.
- Boss rank or higher enemies have access to additional powers, including those needed to earn certain challenge badges.
- Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses spawn in place of Bosses in regular enemy spawns.
- Certain static encounters have rank increases such as Lieutenants spawning as Bosses instead.
- All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +15% Resistance[Lethal/Smashing], +20% Resistance[All but S/L], +20% Defense[All], +30% Damage[All], +20% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius
- Arch-villain ranked enemies have Praetorian base ToHit (63.75%).
- Certain powerful Arch-villains have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers).
- Players will be unable to use Temporary Powers or non-revive medium/large/super Inspirations.
Additional Rewards
- Arch-villain ranked enemies will reward 2 Astral Merits per defeat.
- Certain powerful Arch-villains will reward 3 Astral Merits per defeat.
- In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 3 Empyrean Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of: A random Incarnate Component, an Empyrean Merit, or two Super Inspirations.
Invincible/Relentless (☆☆☆☆)
General Effects
- The mission difficulty is locked at +4 and the team size at x8.
- Boss rank or higher enemies have access to additional powers, including those needed to earn certain challenge badges.
- Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses spawn in place of Bosses in regular enemy spawns.
- Certain static encounters have rank increases such as Lieutenants spawning as Bosses instead.
- All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +20% Resistance[Lethal/Smashing], +30% Resistance[All but S/L], +30% Defense[All], +40% Damage[All], +30% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius
- Arch-villain ranked enemies have Praetorian base ToHit (63.75%).
- Certain powerful Arch-villains have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers).
- Players will be unable to use Temporary Powers or any non-revive Inspirations.
Additional Rewards
- Arch-villain ranked enemies will reward 3 Astral Merits per defeat.
- Certain powerful Arch-villains will reward will reward 1 Empyrean Merit per defeat.
- In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 4 Empyrean Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of: A random Incarnate Component, an Empyrean Merit, or two Super Inspirations.
Task Forces
The following Task Forces currently have access to Advanced Difficulty settings:
The following Task Forces have been confirmed to be receiving Advanced Difficulty settings in a future update:
Imperious Task Force - (Issue 27 Page 4)
Badges
Dr. Aeon Strike Force
The following badges are exclusively obtainable through Advanced Difficulty mode in Dr. Aeon's Strike Force, and are required for the Master of Dr. Aeon's Strike Force Badge:
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Unfriendly Fire | Hit a Golden Brickernaut with the Dimensional Grounding Ray or Golden Throwing Wrench to disable the limiter on their self-destruct, then use it to hit Mission 4's final objective boss while she is under 10% health on Malicious difficulty or higher. |
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Power Overwhelming | Defeat the final objective boss of Mission 6 while it is empowered from standing in the residual energy left behind from consuming the energy it summons while on Malicious difficulty or higher. |
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Can't Touch This | Defeat the final objective boss in Mission 7 without any members of the team being hit by their targeted attack during the length of the fight on Malicious difficulty or higher. |
Future Changes
In Issue 27 Page 4, it has been confirmed that Advanced Difficulty mode is undergoing changes in structure and rewards. Please note that any following information may be heavily subject to change, as it is taken from the Open Beta servers on Page 4, Build 2.
Difficulty Adjustments
- ☆ 1-Star will no longer allow use of non-revive Super Inspirations.
- Higher Advanced Difficulty modes will include increased Confuse and Knockdown protection based on difficulty.
- Arch-villains now have a +1 level shift, and all modifiers will also apply to Giant Monsters.
- Advanced Difficulty may now include exclusive challenge encounters and mechanics not found in default difficulty.
- The ToHit buff granted to enemies by Tactics in Advanced Difficulty will have a maximum stack count to match the star count of the difficulty level chosen.
- Challenge Arch-villains with doubled HP are having their regeneration reduced by ~20%, fixing a miscalculation in original tuning.
- All Disable Modes are now infinite duration and persist through death, eliminating certain circumstances where disabled Inspirations or Temporary Powers could be used.
Additional Rewards
Additional XP/Influence
Advanced Difficulty mode content played at ☆☆ 2-Star or higher will include additional reward modifiers to all experience and influence earned from enemy defeats:
- ☆☆ 2-Star = 20% increase
- ☆☆☆ 3-Star = 30% increase
- ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = 40% increase
Prismatic Aether Particles
Prismatic Aether Particles are a new form of Salvage being introduced as a reward, primarily obtained through Advanced Difficulty settings - though also available via Incarnate Trials and the Weekly Strike Target in much smaller amounts. This salvage can be traded or used to purchase permanent costume powers to make a character look like NPC enemies from various factions.
Prismatic Aether payouts in Advanced Difficulty Task Forces work on a four-tiered drop system, where there are four difficulty level rewards each with their own 18-hour drop lockouts. Completing content on Advanced Difficulty rewards the maximum value of the difficulty minus any completions of lower values from the character on the same day.
Planned Drop Totals
Advanced Difficulty - Dr. Aeon's Strike Force:
- ☆ 1-Star = 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆ 2-Star = (2+5) 7 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆☆ 3-Star = (2+5+6) 13 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = (2+5+6+7) 20 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
Advanced Difficulty - Imperious Task Force:
- ☆ 1-Star = 1 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆ 2-Star = (1+2) 3 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆☆ 3-Star = (1+2+3) 6 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
- ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = (1+2+3+4) 10 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.