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Edited by Stalkholm:
12/10/2025 12:59:58 AM
9
Portal difficulty levels are either rewarding or fun, but not both.
Everyone has different skill levels, we know this. I've come to the realization that I'm at about the Grandmaster skill level myself, that's about the level of content I can complete reliably, in Ultimate levels I'm just fodder.
Here's the problem: At LL530 I'm too high of a Light Level to get any kind of rewarding rewards from Grandmaster content, I'm spending ten minutes busting my butt in GM content (because yes, GM is still a challenge for me) to get a single, random LL500 Tier 5 reward. I have fun in GM content, that's right on the edge of my skill level, but the rewards aren't worth the time.
Meanwhile, Ultimate, the level I "should" be playing at, is just a bloodbath. I'll run out my revives, restart, try again, run out my revives again, and eventually muddle through. Ultimate isn't fun for me, it's a death simulator, I'm not at that skill level; but Ultimate is where I have to play to get the rewarding rewards. The only way I can get a B score is in Ultimate, that's the only place I can still get Bonus drops. (And I'll note here that as often as I die and reset, Ultimate still doesn't end up being that rewarding; it can take me a half hour to clear a ten minute Solo Op just from starting over.)
The stuff I find fun (Grandmaster level), isn't rewarding, and the stuff that is rewarding (Ultimate level), isn't fun. I'm in this no-man's land where the Portal just doesn't feel worth playing, either I'm having fun and not getting rewarded with decent loot, or I'm having a lousy time.
I'd love it if I could run Grandmaster content and get Tier 4 bonus drops, I can delete the armor and keep the weapons. Make Grandmaster level rewarding, just not as rewarding as Ultimate, keep the Ultimate loot a literal Tier above the rest. Let me play the content I find fun, and get fun loot, too.
(Also: How am I supposed to "rapidly" defeat enemies with an SMG when it takes an entire magazine to kill a red bar in Ultimate? I can't "rapidly" defeat anything!)
Edit: The changes to Quickplay are exactly what I was hoping for, now more of this, please!
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2 RepliesI just find it funny that despite many many iterations of the levelling system, they've somehow come up with the single worst system ever created. You get weaker as you level up, that's not how things should work.
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A lot of the times its neither
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2 RepliesYeah, it's doable but never fun. They seem to have made it worse with Renegades too because I cant remember getting one-shot by a shank from half across the map in the past. Also, the artifact anti-champ weapons are not ideal with the current portal difficulty - and certainly not for daily activities. The game will be dead once the interest in Renegades falls off, because no one in their right mind will grind the portal with the way it is now.
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ObelixMenhir - 12/10/2025 12:36:22 AM
Same experience here. And as discussed in several threads already, Ultimate feels even worse this season. And you’re spot on, the rewards system is broken as it has been intrinsically tied to difficulty and level. As you level up, you get less loot, unless you keep pushing difficulty. I don’t know the solution, but striking the balance will be key in player retention, as most people will eventually grow tired of Stronghold + Praxic to cheese content. -
1 ReplyEdited by SpoonieEzMode: 12/9/2025 5:34:58 AMI am having the same struggle. I don't do solo anything anymore - it's a nightmare. But matchmaking used to be a good compromise. Not anymore! Every single activity I do is a sweat, everything requires me to be on point at all times, and since I pride myself on being the One Who Lived and being able to revive other people, I'm either leaving people where they are now because the revives are too costly or I'm the poor sod who is Last Guardian Standing that everyone hangs their hopes on in a six man when everyone else is dead. "Go play the lower version" oh sure, so then I get to do an activity for no reward at all. I didn't pay £40 for a part time job application as an e-sports player. I just want to do things, have fun, and if I want a challenge I know where the challenging content was: I don't raid, I don't do dungeons, these little world events were my bread and butter. Now, I log in once, try to do an activity, everyone dies and ragequits, and I log out because I realise I'm not going to be able to play. Tell ya what: if you ever see around, hmu. I don't normally do this, and I am selective mute (I don't use mics unless it's people I know well). But if you see Spoonie, give me an emote and I will keep you alive, come hell or high water, in whatever event you're in. And if I can't, we'll try again.
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At this point you might want to jump ship. So far I'm having both fun and rewarding in Dead Frontier 2
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Here’s the thing that most people won’t admit is that most of us are grandmaster level not ultimate. The ultimate are for the sweaty players. Not sure why bungee decided to turn up the difficulty and make enemies more of a bullet sponge. It doesn’t feel like you’re progressing.
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Edited by BackdoorBacon: 12/9/2025 8:14:36 PMI’m 500 and I’m at the point where I don’t want any more powerful rewards. There’s no real advantage to being 550 anyway because of forced deltas and I’m cool with a C+ rank getting me an “at power” tier 5 drop
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They can be both when harder content is balanced and rewarding. Bungie's problem with that issue is they want to make everything hard they don't care about quality.
