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RPG98 › Design Docs › Difficulty — Difficulty, Threat Scoring & Enemy Scaling

RPG98 Design Document

Page 9: Difficulty, Threat Scoring & Enemy Scaling

Core Philosophy

PvE must always feel dangerous and risky, even as players experience meaningful power creep through gear, augments, and abilities. The game should never feel "solved." Stronger gear should make the player feel powerful, but choosing higher portal modes and pushing deeper should keep tension high.

Difficulty is achieved through two layered systems:

  • Portal Mode sets the base difficulty and enemy pool.
  • Threat Score provides dynamic, player-driven scaling on top of the base.

Threat Score System

Individual Threat Score (per player)

Calculated from currently equipped gear and abilities:

  • Rarity Multiplier:

    • Common: 1.0
    • Uncommon: 1.35
    • Rare: 1.8
    • Epic: 2.4
    • Legendary: 3.2

  • Affix Bonus: +0.15 per affix (maximum +0.6 for 4 affixes)

  • Augment Slot Bonus: +0.25 per filled augment slot (maximum +0.75 for 3 slots)

  • Ability Tome Bonus:

    • Starter abilities: +0.0
    • Common tome: +0.4
    • Rare tome: +0.8
    • Epic tome: +1.3
    • Legendary tome: +2.0

Individual Threat Score = Rarity Multiplier + Affix Bonus + Augment Bonus + Ability Tome Bonus

Party Threat Score = Average of all players currently in the dungeon (max 8 players).

Enemy Scaling Formula

All enemies receive the following modifiers based on the Party Threat Score:

  • Health Multiplier = 1.0 + (Party Threat Score - 2.0) × 0.22
  • Damage Multiplier = 1.0 + (Party Threat Score - 2.0) × 0.18

Additional subtle bonuses may include:

  • Slightly increased movement speed and aggression above Threat Score 3.0
  • Higher chance of elite variants as Threat Score increases

Bosses use the exact same scaling formula as regular enemies (no special multiplier for now).

Portal Mode as Base Difficulty & Enemy Pool

Portal mode sets the floor for difficulty and determines which enemies can spawn:

  • Unstable (Free)

    • Smallest dungeon size
    • Easiest enemy pool (weaker basic enemies, fewer elites)
    • Minimal Threat Score impact
    • Lowest loot quality

  • Stable (20 Aether)

    • Medium dungeon size
    • Standard enemy pool
    • Balanced Threat Score scaling
    • Standard loot quality

  • Empowered (1 Aether Core)

    • Largest dungeon size
    • Hardest enemy pool (more elites, tougher variants, occasional mini-bosses)
    • Aggressive Threat Score scaling
    • Highest loot quality and drop rates
    • PvPvE only (no PvE-only option)

Solo vs Group Play

  • No defensive buffs or reductions for solo players.
  • Solo queuing is intentionally risky and should feel dangerous, especially in Stable and Empowered modes.
  • Group play provides natural advantages through shared threat, healing support, and loot retrieval.

Power Creep vs Risk Curve

  • Early game (Threat Score ~1.5–2.5): PvE feels hard and punishing. Every successful extraction feels like a real achievement.
  • Mid game (Threat Score ~3.0–4.0): Players feel noticeably stronger thanks to better rarity, affixes, augments, and new Ability Tomes. Power spikes are exciting.
  • Late game (Threat Score 5.0+): Players feel powerful, but Empowered runs remain tense because the higher base enemy pool + scaling keeps enemies dangerous. One mistake or bad PvPvE encounter can still end the run.

This creates a healthy loop: better gear → desire to push higher portal modes → increased challenge → bigger rewards.

Matchmaking Philosophy

RPG98 deliberately avoids hidden MMR or skill-based matchmaking systems.

  • The PvE-only queue (max 4 players) exists specifically for players who want a safer, more cooperative experience.
  • PvPvE queues are intentionally chaotic and emergent. The fun comes from unpredictable player interactions — alliances formed and broken in the moment — rather than pre-sorted "peaceful" vs "aggressive" lobbies.
  • Gear level and portal mode choice already provide natural matchmaking separation:
    • Low-gear players tend to stay in Unstable/Stable.
    • High-gear players are incentivized to enter Empowered runs, where the risk is highest.
  • Adding MMR would add unnecessary complexity, increase queue times on a small platform, and reduce the raw, unpredictable nature that makes PvPvE exciting.

A very light, optional "playstyle preference" flag (Co-op Preferred / PvP Preferred / Mixed) may be considered post-launch if the community strongly requests it, but it will always remain soft and transparent — never a hard matchmaking rule.

Tuning & Testing Notes

All multipliers and formulas are starting values only and will require extensive playtesting:

  • Enemy base stats in each portal mode must be tuned so that a fresh character in Stable mode feels appropriately challenged.
  • Power creep between rarity tiers should feel meaningful (roughly 15–25% effective power increase per major rarity step).
  • Empowered mode should feel noticeably harder than Stable even for well-geared players.
  • Boss difficulty must remain threatening at all gear levels.
  • Threat Score scaling should never make combat feel trivial, even at high gear levels.

Testing will focus on:

  • Solo vs small group runs at different Threat Scores
  • How quickly new players can reach "comfortable" power levels
  • Whether Empowered runs feel rewarding but not impossible for geared players

Adjustments to multipliers, enemy pools, and portal-specific modifiers will be made based on real gameplay data.

Version 0.2 • April 2026