Thread: Difference in Difficulty Level?

While there is some randomness to every level and every difficulty, there do seem to be some trends I've noticed on the higher difficulties.

Numero uno, like people have said, are a lot more bosses. Hunters, smokers, and boomers are seen very frequently, and you can pretty much bet on at least one tank and one witch as well, if not more. Hunters seem to show up with every horde, while boomers show up every other horde and smokers show up at random in between hordes. Granted, there are, of course, exceptions to this, as there are no set rules with the AI Director, only random dice rolls. However, they do seem to be more prevalent in the cases noted. I've been recording boss appearances since the most recent patch was released, and on average, their appearances seem to match my theory. I'll post some definitive stats later this week.

Secondly, weapon and item placement is another major point to consider. On the lower difficulty levels, it's not uncommon to run across the tier two weapons in the first, pre-subway level, or at the very beginning of the subway level. On higher difficulties, I've seen the tier two weapons right before the final turbine room fight on the subway level more often than not. Occasionally, they'll be on the table in the turnstile room, but I've found them in the aforementioned location at least 75% of the time. Item placement is slightly different. There are usually only one or two of any given item in any location, and those locations tend to be more out of the way on higher difficulties than they are on lower ones. Closets, bathrooms, side alleys, all the places that people tend to skip over when running through the level seem to be prime hiding spots for secondary and support items.

Third, again, as people have stated, the interaction between PCs and NPC zombies is drastically different. Aside from the zombies doing more damage to the PCs, and having more health, the way the boss zombies act also varies. Tanks have higher health and tend to use environmental weapons more often on higher difficulties, while witches' startle ranges are increased, as well as their health and melee damage. Hunters seem to land on target sooner, as opposed to leaping around first and giving the PCs ample opportunity to take them down before they tackle someone. Smokers seem to constrict their victims faster, and boomers seem to call in larger hordes, depending on how high the difficulty is. Granted, these observations are based on the co-op mode only, and may be completely different in versus mode, if there is even a difficulty mode associated with versus in the first place.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a definitive guide to playing on expert, or on the variations between difficulty levels. It's only a list of my own personal observations combined with a very basic law of averages. One of the key selling points of this game is the AI Director, which does a fantastic job of mixing things up and keeping you guessing. However, just like any random dice roll, events can be predicted based on their probability, hence the law of averages come into play. Doll a 6 sided die 20 times, and you'll more than likely come up with an average of 3. Roll a 20 sided die, and you'll get an average of 10. Obviously, random chance is a factor, but this should serve as a very basic guide to difficulty levels, and what you can expect, and hopefully prepare for.

Good luck. Catch you on the flip side of the apocalypse. :2

In Versus mode, bosses are on like a 20 second respawn timer.

It takes like 20 seconds just to deal with a zombie rush.... so any bosses you kill at the beginning of the rush can possibly pop up at the end of the rush too

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Yeah, the difficulty level isn't the problem; it's when the AI Director realizes, "Hey, these guys are playing too well for my liking. Begin the horde and boss zombie spawns from hell. Then after they've cleared them and moved through that subway car, do it again."

The AI Director can be very cruel.