Home » Site News » The Difficulty Slider
STO needed this badly. The game was often boringly easy, but a sudden, across-the-board hike in difficulty would have been jarring and unrealistic. Cryptic solution -- a series of three difficulty settings -- was just what the emergency medical hologram ordered.
You can adjust mission difficulty on the Episodes tab of the Communications Log. Hit J to open the Episodes menu, and then look at the bottom of the pane. In the middle you will notice a dropdown menu, which should say Normal if you have never messed with the difficulty settings. This is where you can select sto gold.
Normal: The default combat settings prior to this update with no injuries as a result of defeat.
Advanced: Increases combat difficulty and introduces injuries as a result of defeat.
Elite: Significantly increases combat difficulty with an increased chance of injury as a result of defeat.
Increased difficulty levels offer increased drop rates and higher-quality drops. But they include some conditions.
If you are in a group, the Team Leader difficulty setting prior to entering the system determines the difficulty of the mission.
Difficulty settings do not apply to Fleet Actions, PVP, Social Maps, and Deeps pace Encounters or any other non-instance map.
