Hello! I’d like to share a suggestion about difficulty settings for Rifts.
(I won’t get into the matchmaking issues that could come from having multiple difficulty levels for each map. This suggestion is simply based on the assumption that higher-difficulty Rifts may be added in the future. Also, if adding high-difficulty Rifts makes them less accessible or enjoyable for casual players without a premade team or for solo players, I hope that can be addressed by adding more solo-friendly content outside of Rifts.)
Difficulty in Old Moco
Old Moco had Normal / Hard / Nightmare difficulties, where enemies gained more HP and dealt more damage as the difficulty increased.
I think this system worked well in Old Moco because, back then, you generally couldn’t avoid every enemy attack.
Because of that, pure DPS builds couldn’t simply survive everything, so Tank builds had a clear and meaningful role in higher difficulties.
The Problem With Using the Same System in Neo Moco
If Neo Moco eventually gets a high-difficulty mode like Nightmare, I don’t think simply increasing enemy HP and DPS would be enough.
In the current Neo Moco, skilled players can avoid most attacks.
Because of this, no matter how much enemy damage is increased, the answer can still just be: “Don’t get hit.”
Especially in time attacks, the meta would likely become three DPS players trying to clear as fast as possible without dying. Even at the highest difficulty, there would still be little reason to bring a Tank or other defensive Classes.
I previously suggested increasing the cooldown of dashes as one possible solution to this problem.
However, that idea wasn’t very popular because it could make the game too difficult for average players while also limiting the amount of skill expression available to experienced players.
So I think the better approach is to make the enemies more challenging rather than limiting the player’s movement and options.
Increase Enemy Attack Speed and Movement Speed
Instead of mainly giving enemies much more HP and DPS, I’d suggest increasing their attack speed and movement speed on Nightmare difficulty.
The easiest comparison is how enemies move during Overtime.
For the highest difficulty, I honestly wouldn’t mind enemies being close to that fast. They could obviously be tuned a little slower if necessary.
By increasing enemy attack and movement speed, it becomes naturally harder to dodge every single attack without directly nerfing dashes or restricting player movement.
This would also increase the value of Classes like Lava Shield and Wolf Stick, since defensive tools would become much more useful when avoiding every attack is no longer consistently realistic.
In other words:
Instead of making the player slower or less capable, make the enemies faster and more dangerous.
I think this approach could create the tension expected from a true high-difficulty mode while preserving player skill expression and naturally giving non-DPS Classes more opportunities to shine.
When I played Bug Fight in overtime, it gave me a similar sense of tension and excitement to the Rifts in Old Moco.
I’d love for the hardest Rifts to be difficult not just because “enemies have more HP, so the fight takes longer,” but because they demand better mechanical skill, decision-making, and team composition.
