Difficulty


 * This article is about quest difficulty. For the difficulty of skill checks and saving throws, see Difficulty Class.

Difficulty
There are six different quest difficulty settings in DDO. Starting from easiest, these are Solo, Casual (essentially tied with Solo), Normal, Hard, Elite, and Epic. Higher settings are more challenging but more rewarding in terms of Experience, Favor, and loot from within the quest. Not all quests are available at all difficulties.

Initially, only Solo/Casual and Normal difficulty are available to Free To Play and Premium players who have never completed that quest before. VIP subscribers also have access to Elite (Update 7). Completing a quest on any difficulty unlocks all difficulties up to and including one setting higher.

While in a party, the first player to enter a quest can choose from any difficulty that any of his teammates has unlocked.

No quest features both Solo and Casual difficulty. Update 3 replaced the Solo setting with Casual on all quests except those that featured only Solo and added Casual to many higher-level quests that originally featured nothing below Normal.

Solo

 * Favor is 1/2 of Normal, dropping fractions.
 * Main quest XP is 0.5 to 0.8 × Normal.
 * There may be fewer and/or smaller encounters than Normal.
 * The quest's level may be reduced for purposes of generating chest loot. Rewards from the quest's giver are unaffected.
 * Enemies and traps are lowered in difficulty.
 * Difficulty Scaling does not apply. The dungeon is already easier due to other factors.
 * Enemy misses become Grazing Hits on raw die rolls of 19.
 * Some enemy special attacks, like scorpion poison, have no effect.
 * Rest shrines can be used every 5 minutes.
 * In some dungeons, there is an additional pair of Shrines somewhere.
 * You must solo. You cannot have teammates or hirelings.
 * You must solo. You cannot have teammates or hirelings.

Casual

 * Favor is 1/2 of Normal, dropping fractions.
 * Main quest XP is roughly 0.45 to 0.5 × Normal.
 * There may be fewer and/or smaller encounters than Normal.
 * The quest's level is reduced by 1 (if possible) for purposes of generating chest loot and comparing against the party's level for XP adjustment. Rewards from the quest's giver are unaffected.
 * Enemies and traps are lowered in difficulty "by about two levels" according to an interview with Tolero.
 * Rest shrines can be used every 5 minutes.
 * In some dungeons, there is an additional pair of Shrines somewhere.
 * There is no XP penalty for re-entering the dungeon, though the XP bonus for not re-entering at all can still be lost.
 * Some chest loot that is guaranteed to appear at other difficulty settings has only a chance of appearing.
 * Optional XP bonuses are worth double their normal values.
 * Optional XP bonuses are worth double their normal values.

Normal

 * Difficulty Scaling is in full effect for smaller teams, unless the quest is a raid.
 * Enemy misses become Grazing Hits on raw die rolls of 17-19.
 * Rest Shrines can be used every 15 minutes.

Hard

 * Favor is 2 × Normal.
 * Main XP is roughly 1.05 to 1.08 × Normal.
 * There may be more and/or larger encounters than Normal.
 * The quest's level is increased by 1 for purposes of generating chest loot and comparing against the party's level for XP adjustment. Rewards from the quest's giver are unaffected.
 * Enemies, traps, and hidden doors are increased in difficulty by 2 or more levels. The increase is larger at higher quest levels.
 * Difficulty Scaling is in partial effect for smaller teams, unless the quest is a raid.
 * Enemy misses become Grazing Hits on raw die rolls of 15-19.
 * Rest Shrines can only be used once.

Elite

 * Favor is 3 × Normal.
 * Main XP is roughly 1.10 to 1.16 × Normal.
 * There may be more and/or larger encounters than Hard.
 * The quest's level is increased by 2 for purposes of generating chest loot and comparing against the party's level for XP adjustment. Rewards from the quest's giver are unaffected.
 * Enemies, traps, and hidden doors are increased in difficulty by 5 or more levels. The increase is larger at higher quest levels.
 * Difficulty Scaling should not occur according to official release notes, but apparently does to some extent.
 * Enemy misses become Grazing Hits on raw die rolls of 13-19.
 * Rest Shrines can only be used once.

Epic
(work in progress)
 * Only level 20 characters may enter.
 * Favor is 3 × Normal (same as Elite).
 * Quest is worth no XP due to maximum character levels.
 * Enemies have deathward.