QCF Design Community

Now that threat levels are indicated by symbols instead of just normal, medium, hard it would be great if they were changed to actually more closely represent the difficulty level of the dungeons.
I understand the words used before represent the actual stat differences of the monsters within the dungeons, however threat level varies greatly even among those stat differences.
For instance I am betting Namtar's Lair is far more difficult than vicious halls, and rock garden is objectively harder than doubledoom for sure. I understood when they were both "hard" but now that it is a "threat level" I feel like the sliding scale should be more finely tuned.

On the other hand that might be a bunch more art and programming than is necessary this late in development

So here is a question for the experienced who have completed the game: Can you rank the dungeons in order of difficulty?
Either a list from 1 Hardest dungeon to 20 (or however many dungeons their are) easiest dungeon, or maybe give categories for the Hardest Vicious Dungeons vice Easiest Vicious Dungeons etc.

I would love to see where the dungeons I have unlocked fall

It's kind of hard to rank a dungeon. Some dungeons are difficult, but easy for one class. Some are kind of hard for all classes. What it then boils down to is whether you are ranking by how hard it is to win with 1 class, or how tough it is to win with all classes. For lack of direction I will go with how hard it is to win with all classes.
Vicious
1. VGT
2. NL
3. DL
4. NC
5. VHoS
Hard
6. CO
7. Slime Pits
8. GT
9. Ick Swanp
10. Shifting Passages
11. Magma Mines
12. The Labyrinth
13. Grimm's Grotto
14. Hexx Ruins
15. Creeplight Ruins
16. HHoS
17. Havendale Bridge
18. Rock Garden
19. Berserker Camp
20. Doubledoom
Normal
21. Eastern Tundra
22. Northern Desert
23. Southern Swamp
24. Western Jungle
25. Den of Danger
26. Venture Cave
Easy
27. Hobbler's Hold

There. It's close for a lot of them, but that is my quick list. I'm curious as to what others think.

Interesting I actually found Halls of Steel significantly harder than the Magma Mines, but I am probably just playing more solidly now.
Ick Swamp has been giving me tons of trouble so I'm glad to see it in the top 10 hardest dungeons on your list

So according to the there are 5 vicious dungeons eh? Hmm I am going to start unlocking some items and then head that way I think

The labyrinth has a sub dungeon.

Personally, the joke dungeon for me is HHoS. The indomitable is killable incredibly early and easily (I'd compare him to the Aeq in Northern Desert, more exp than boss).

Looking at Lujo's reasons and looking back over mine, I would reorder hard as
1. CO--This is much more me than it being hard. I really never played it when it came out, so I've yet to come up with a definite strategy for it.
2. Shifting Passages--I really hate this. I tend to go through the motions when I play because I know the game rather well, but you can't really do that here. I hate it when you have to kill every other high level guy mid fight vs Evolvia.
3. Slime Pits--Just read Lujo's. It couldn't be truer.
4. Labyrinth--Really a pain if you can't deal with the walls. A dungeon very likely to screw you over.
5. Grimm's--Boosted stats and nasty layout. Not even tricky, just flat out hard.
6. Creeplight--I've never found it too tough, but its effects and boss are very tough.
7. Hexx--Really annoying if you can't deal with the trick.
8. Havendale--This has a huge chance to screw you with that troll, but still not very tough.
9. Magma Mines--Just retried it and beat it easily. Frankly, the two bodyguards are exp boosts in disguise.
10. Ick Swamp--I hadn't played this one since I was bad at the game, and I absolutely destroyed it. This is much more of a newbie trap, but getting off the ground can be tough.
11. HHoS--See above
12. Rock Garden--3 wimpy bosses and is always easy.
13. Doubledoom--Variable, fun and easy.
14.Berserker Camp--A helpful gimmick and a joke boss.

Lujo, it seems unfair to rate and normals higher than hards, simply because the hard has higher stats, the same boss potential as normal (one random), plus one more.

For vicious, I think we're mostly in agreement. I like Lujo's list for vicious (might swap a few of them, but I wouldn't move anything more than one position).

As for hard difficulty

1) Slime Pits - Lujo has already paraphrased my opinion of it quite well
2) Cursed Oasis - a very dangerous dungeon that can screw you over in interesting ways
3) Ick Swamp - you'll choke on all the plants here, which kills a run before it even gets started
4) Labyrinth - one of the worst maps for arbitrary screw-overs
5) Magma Mines - very annoying dungeon; you can't start the boss fight until you've located the pair of lieutenants, leaving you with precious little blackspace on a dungeon that's already very fatty.
6) Grimm's Grotto - the worst map for arbitrary screw-overs (but that's why we love you)
7) Shifting Passages - a dangerous dungeon, but one which you can work around if you're careful enough (plus you're more likely to find an altar or glyph to help out before things close up on you.
8) Creeplight Ruins - the boss is tricky, but his forms are all relatively weak. So long as you start the boss battle early enough and have decent melee and spellcasting abilities, he's a pushover.
9) Hard Halls of Steel - a bit fatty of a dungeon, but hard Indomitable has been nerfed so many times he's a bit of a joke now
10) Double-Doom - a well-balanced dungeon with a tricky layout
11) Rock Garden - three very weak bosses. The layout can occasionally screw you over.
12) Havensdale Bridge - if you can beat the Troll, then you'll easily win with the extra CP. Probably a tough one for beginners, but a veteran shouldn't break a sweat.
13) Berserker Camp - the boss is a weakling; it can occasionally screw you over with layout, but it's otherwise a pushover dungeon.
14) Hexx Ruins - its trick is nasty, but once you've learned it the dungeon is actually quite easy.


As for normal dungeons, I'd say
1) Northern Desert - the addition of a second boss has made it trickier than any of the others
2) Western Jungle - the layout can screw you over occasionally, especially with the teleporting boss
3) Den of Danger - same as above, except minus the teleporting boss
4) Eastern Tundra - fairly straightforward dungeon; boss can be tricky, but he's static so you know what you're getting into.
5) Venture Cave - as close to a "vanilla" dungeon as you're going to get
6) Southern Swamp - ludicrously easy dungeon; wide open with only harmless Murkshades blocking exploration, and a fairly weak static boss

Funny, now that I've played Ick (it scared me as a new player, so I'd avoided it since), it really doesn't seem that bad. If you can get off the ground, you've already won, and that's not to hard as long as you're willing to fight some level 1s.

Do we need confirmation that Berserker Camp is too easy?



Hoarder/Parched Goatperson on my first attempt on the dungeon. I did prep Namtar's Ward, but I barely used it. Fireball magnet was far more significant.

Deities were Mystera, Earthmother, and Tikki Tooki. The only decent item in the shops was a crystal ball. Reflex and Quicksilver weren't needed for the bosses, though I did need to use them to hit unstoppable without tapping parched.