Armor shouldn't make you nigh invincible just by having it, especially on a difficulty that happens to be labeled "hard." Again, we're not advocating the removal of easy mode here. On the other hand, the current strength of armor and weapons makes enchanting pointless. I could make a suit of full diamond armor with level IV regular, fire, blast, and projectile protection enchanted on different pieces and be invincible if I really wanted to; but as awesome as that sounds, there is no motivation to do so when I can just make an unlimited supply of un-buffed leather armor and be reasonably assured that nothing will kill me. Without bumping up the difficulty on hard mode, you have a whole aspect of gameplay that you can safely ignore.
And yes, armor should be nerfed just a tad. Iron armor is sufficient for a skilled player to be basically invincible. You can find iron on day one. Later in the game, it is possible to make ridiculously tough armor, yet you can be untouchable from day one.
Now, since the folks who think the game is hard enough as-is seem to be a tad slow in the head, let me re-iterate once again: We only want hard mode to be harder. If you don't want a hard game, keep playing on easy. That's why it's called "easy:" Because it's easy! And for the folks I've seen who are in it for the building and don't want the huge challenge... the game has a creative mode and a peaceful difficulty: why the f*** are you playing survival? The feeling of accomplishment? It's a lot more satisfying when there is actual risk involved, folks. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
I realize this post is getting lengthy, but I feel the need to address the "go find a mod" argument. Minecraft has four difficulty settings: Peaceful, Easy, Normal, and Hard. The latter two would indicate, at least to me, that the game is intended to be challenging at higher difficulties. The addition of Hardcore would seem to further my point: The game is obviously meant to be challenging enough that at the highest difficulty setting even a skilled player should be at risk of dying. I should not have to modify the game to make it do what it's supposed to do in the first place! If it were possible to beat Halo on Legendary without a fair amount of skill, people would complain and would be right to do so. If the later puzzles in the Portal games could be easily passed on the first try, people would complain and would be right to do so. Minecraft has a difficulty called "hard" and a mode called "hardcore," both of which can be played by a moderately skilled player with reasonable assurance of survival. People are complaining, and are right to do so.
I've been playing since October of 2010 and been lurking these forums for most of that time.
I agree with the OP, the hard mode should actually be, er, hard. The monsters are not challenging even on that difficulty, and are more akin to nuisances. Hard mode should make you have to earn your resources. I and many others here are at the point where we don't so much earn our resources as casually waltz toward them whilst swatting the occasional annoying insect. Right now, the only difference between hard and peaceful is that on hard I have to stop what I'm doing every few minutes because a zombie is humping my legs.
If you want an easy game, play on easy mode. The rest of us would like hard mode to live up to its name.
4
And yes, armor should be nerfed just a tad. Iron armor is sufficient for a skilled player to be basically invincible. You can find iron on day one. Later in the game, it is possible to make ridiculously tough armor, yet you can be untouchable from day one.
Now, since the folks who think the game is hard enough as-is seem to be a tad slow in the head, let me re-iterate once again: We only want hard mode to be harder. If you don't want a hard game, keep playing on easy. That's why it's called "easy:" Because it's easy! And for the folks I've seen who are in it for the building and don't want the huge challenge... the game has a creative mode and a peaceful difficulty: why the f*** are you playing survival? The feeling of accomplishment? It's a lot more satisfying when there is actual risk involved, folks. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
I realize this post is getting lengthy, but I feel the need to address the "go find a mod" argument. Minecraft has four difficulty settings: Peaceful, Easy, Normal, and Hard. The latter two would indicate, at least to me, that the game is intended to be challenging at higher difficulties. The addition of Hardcore would seem to further my point: The game is obviously meant to be challenging enough that at the highest difficulty setting even a skilled player should be at risk of dying. I should not have to modify the game to make it do what it's supposed to do in the first place! If it were possible to beat Halo on Legendary without a fair amount of skill, people would complain and would be right to do so. If the later puzzles in the Portal games could be easily passed on the first try, people would complain and would be right to do so. Minecraft has a difficulty called "hard" and a mode called "hardcore," both of which can be played by a moderately skilled player with reasonable assurance of survival. People are complaining, and are right to do so.
3
I agree with the OP, the hard mode should actually be, er, hard. The monsters are not challenging even on that difficulty, and are more akin to nuisances. Hard mode should make you have to earn your resources. I and many others here are at the point where we don't so much earn our resources as casually waltz toward them whilst swatting the occasional annoying insect. Right now, the only difference between hard and peaceful is that on hard I have to stop what I'm doing every few minutes because a zombie is humping my legs.
If you want an easy game, play on easy mode. The rest of us would like hard mode to live up to its name.