So in this thread: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/55245
I explained the reason why we are in dire need of a difficulty changing option.
Now of course this might be impossible to implement, but we can always dream while we wait to see what Danger Missions are like, possibly give some ideas ;)
I also explained in the OP of that thread a bit of the background behind the difficulty levels. We came to an agreement: difficulty cannot be changed by just manipulating the health / damage of monsters. We need new mechanics and, hopefully sometime in the future, more difficult puzzles / problem solving gameplay etc whatever the heck you want to call it.
Difficulty levels: Normal -> Danger -> Expert -> Master
Normal: Where we are stuck.
Danger: Zombies, Wolvers / Alphas, and Retrodes will now track their enemies, increasing their chances of successfully striking. Lumbers and Trojans will track their enemies to a small degree on smashes and charges. All turrets have a slightly shorter cooldown on their attacks. If there is ever a patch that removes devilite tracking, they regain their tracking abilities lol.
Expert: Monsters will gain slight increases in health, damage, and healing received. They will also begin to gain new special abilities. All non-status themes monsters have a small chance to stun on their attacks. Retain all monster buffs from Danger difficulty setting. All turret projectiles will move faster in velocity.
>>Wolvers: When a wolver burrows, it will release 4 thorns that shoot north, south, east, and west upon surfacing. There is no cooldown on this, it is simply whenever a wolver burrows. These thorns deal quite a bit less damage compared to their bit attack, but can still apply statuses. Alpha wolvers will shoot even more thorns upon surfacing after burrowing: The amount and direction shot is comparable to shard bombs. Damage on Alpha thorns are greater than regular wolver thorns as well
>>Retrodes: When a Retrode sneezes, it will now shoot out 3 lazers at once instead of one with a small amount of spread between each lazer. Upon death, a Retrode will actually explode for an amount of damage instead of just bursting then disappearing.... (a red circle will indicate the radius and fuse time. Think like enemy bombs in Lockdown). This explosion is not gigantic by any means, but enough to get swordsman to move.
>>Incinerators: All gremlins incinerators will no longer shoot three bullets. Instead, they shoot one bullet that moves slowly and tracks players until it reaches its maximum distance traveled.
These are only a few examples, there would definately be more.
Master: Monsters will gain another slight increase in damage, health, and healing received. In this difficulty, boss mechanics will be altered as well.
Master difficulty changes the game mechanics themselves (not so much the monsters).
1. You can no longer revive by any means at all (You die -> you go to Haven).
2. Monsters will not drop hearts. However, they WILL still drop vitas and pills. At the times in which they dropped hearts, they will instead be dropping a small amount of extra crowns or heat (nothing huge or game breaking).
3. Exploding Blocks now cause fire, and spike traps are now poisoned.
4. Shields are much less effective, requiring quicker reactions / better dodging.
Idea by Metagenic in other thread: There is a chance every time you step on a button to begin an event that the Swarm will try to attack you. This creates one swarm seed somewhere in the room, that acts as normal swarm seeds in SL boss rooms / unknown passage.
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Even if it is impossible to implement a changable difficulty, we can still give ideas for the future Danger Missions devs are making maybe.
Any comments or thoughts on what should be changed / added as well as opinions are welcome and appreciated.
A way that it can work is that as long as a good player is in a lower level , the difficulty increases (if a T1 player plays in T1 , the difficulty , if a T2 player plays in T1 , the difficulty is danger ,etc)