Reaver’s Rest Design Document

Page 6: Difficulty, Threat Scoring & Enemy Scaling

Core Philosophy

PvE in Reaver’s Rest is intentionally difficult and risky, but players should feel meaningful power creep through better extracted gear and augments. The system must reward smart risk-taking while punishing overconfidence.

Threat Score System

Threat Score determines enemy difficulty, health, damage, density, types, and behavior in each dungeon run.

How Threat Score is Calculated

Individual Threat Score is based on equipped gear only:

• Base stats from gear rarity (Common = 1.0× → Legendary = 3.0×)
• Bonus from random affixes
• Bonus from equipped augments (each slot adds value)
• Bonus from the single equipped Ability Tome

Party Threat Score = Average of all group members’ individual scores (with small bonuses for balanced group composition).

Enemy Scaling

Enemies scale dynamically based on the party’s Threat Score + the chosen portal mode:

• Health & Damage Multipliers increase with Threat Score.
• Enemy density, types, and behavior also shift — higher Threat Score pulls in tougher variants, more elite enemies, and more aggressive AI patterns.
• Bosses scale using the same formula as regular enemies (no special exemption).
• Portal mode adds a baseline difficulty floor:
  • Unstable: Low floor, forgiving scaling.
  • Stable: Medium floor.
  • Empowered: High floor with significantly better loot potential.

Solo Queue Warning

Solo players receive no special buffs or reductions. The system warns them clearly that survival odds are lower due to lack of teammate support and resurrection potential.

Dungeon Portal Modes & Difficulty

Portal choice directly affects enemy pool, dungeon size, density, and overall danger:

• Empowered mode is PvPvE only and pulls from the most dangerous enemy pools.
• Larger dungeons (especially Empowered) naturally support more enemies and longer engagements.

Matchmaking Philosophy

• No hidden MMR or skill-based matchmaking. Players are matched primarily by queue type and group size.
• A duo will preferably face other small teams, but the hard cap is 8 players per dungeon.
• PvE-only queues are available for players who want safer, cooperative runs (max 4 players).
• The system favors filling dungeons quickly over perfect fairness — this encourages natural alliances and rivalries.

Power Creep vs Risk Curve

• Better gear → higher Threat Score → tougher enemies (including higher density and more dangerous types), but also access to better portal modes with higher rewards.
• Players should feel noticeably stronger with good loot, yet never truly safe.
• The risk/reward tension is the heart of the game: strong gear lets you push Empowered runs, but death still means losing everything equipped.

Testing & Tuning Notes

• Threat Score formulas, enemy multipliers, density curves, and behavior shifts will require extensive playtesting.
• Portal mode enemy pools, spawn rates, and scaling curves will be iterated on after initial prototypes.
• Solo queue danger should feel real but not completely punishing for skilled players.

Design Guardrails

• Difficulty must always feel fair and readable on the small Miyoo screen.
• Power creep should be exciting and visible through gear, never hidden behind numbers.
• Keep the system simple enough that players intuitively understand why a run feels harder or easier.
• No artificial handicaps — the void and the dungeons are dangerous to everyone equally.

Version 0.4 • April 2026 Previous: Page 5 – Social Interactions, Trading & Loot Sharing Next: Page 7 – Tasks & Rewards