History Main / MultiplayerDifficultySpike

* The ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series has separate sets of quests for singleplayer and multiplayer. In the multiplayer quests, monsters have more health to compensate for allowing up to four players. Quests are divided into two or three distinct ranks of difficulty depending on the game, and highest available rank is only available in the multiplayer quests, featuring new monsters that are unavailable in the lower ranks. Of course, a sufficiently determined player can still take on all of the multiplayer quests alone, and having a full set of four players can make a multiplayer quest go faster than its singleplayer equivalent.

* The VideoGame/MonsterHunter series has separate sets of quests for singleplayer and multiplayer. In the multiplayer quests, monsters have more health to compensate for allowing up to four players. Quests are divided into two or three distinct ranks of difficulty depending on the game, and highest available rank is only available in the multiplayer quests, featuring new monsters that are unavailable in the lower ranks. Of course, a sufficiently determined player can still take on all of the multiplayer quests alone, and having a full set of four players can make a multiplayer quest go faster than its singleplayer equivalent.

* The VideoGame/MonsterHunter series has separate sets of quests for singleplayer and multiplayer. In the multiplayer quests, monsters have more health to compensate for allowing up to four players. Quests are divided into two or three distinct ranks of difficulty depending on the game, and highest available rank is only available in the multiplayer quests, featuring new monsters that are unavailable in the lower ranks. Of course, a sufficiently determined player can take on all of the multiplayer quests alone.

* The VideoGame/MonsterHunter series has this, buffing an enemy's health and damage output and ultimately having a bunch of super hard enemies you would otherwise never encounter in the single player mode. And you can still take on the multi-player mode by yourself, which a lot of people do.

** Most {{MOBA}} games also have an extended tutorial mode that allows players to acquaint themselves with the controls, the game mechanics and their characters' strategy and usage before they come out to the matchmaking queue. ''Dota2'' does this with 6 tutorial levels with increasingly complex games, whereas ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' does this by barring new players from playing against people and forcing them to play against the AI until their accounts have reached level 5.

* {{Fighting Game}}s in general as players research and exploit things the computer can't. Of course the computer has [[SNKBoss some]] [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard aces]] up it's sleeve.

* The MonsterHunter series has this, buffing an enemy's health and damage output and ultimately having a bunch of super hard enemies you would otherwise never encounter in the single player mode. And you can still take on the multi-player mode by yourself, which a lot of people do.

* VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV features enemies that become much, MUCH more precise and bullet-resistant once the player goes from the solo campaign to multiplayer. It's not uncommon to knock an enemy down with gunfire, then have to fire on his or her prone body several more times just to make sure.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' can become this on servers which have [=PvP=] enabled. A fully-armed player can slaughter many of the hostile mobs easily, but mindlessly attacking other fully-armed players (especially those with potions and/or weapon enhancements) can lead to a swift and embarrassing death. It can become even more difficult if the game mode is Survival, since players might have to compete with each other for resources. The game's wiki notably has [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Player_versus_Player a lengthy article]] written about how to deal with other people, flat-out calling [=PvP=] "a hard nut to crack for many players."

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' can become this on servers which have a keen focus on [=PvP=]. A fully-armed player can slaughter many of the hostile mobs easily, but mindlessly attacking other fully-armed players (especially those with potions and/or weapon enhancements) can lead to a swift and embarrassing death. It can become even more difficult if the game mode is Survival, since players might have to compete with each other for resources. The game's wiki notably has [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Player_versus_Player a lengthy article]] written about how to deal with other people, flat-out calling [=PvP=] "a hard nut to crack for many players."

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' can become this on servers which have a keen focus on [=PvP=]. A fully-armed player can slaughter many of the hostile mobs easily, but mindlessly attacking other fully-armed players (especially those with potions and/or weapon enhancements) can lead to a swift and embarrassing death. It can become even more difficult if the game mode is Survival, since players might have to compete with each other for resources. The game's wiki notably has [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Player_versus_Player a lengthy article]] written about how to deal with other players, flat-out calling [=PvP=] "a hard nut to crack for many players."

* GrandTheftAutoV features enemies that become much, MUCH more precise and bullet-resistant once the player goes from the solo campaign to multiplayer. It's not uncommon to knock an enemy down with gunfire, then have to fire on his or her prone body several more times just to make sure.

* ''WorldInConflict'' is actually a mixed example: by pitting teams of players against each other, it both gives them access to all the destructive potential only glimpsed in the campaign, ''and'' enforces CripplingOverspecialization mostly absent from the single-player.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': While most of the game is unaltered with co-op, the bosses will have a big chunk of extra HP for each additional person playing. Usually, though, the benefits of having multiple players outweighs the bosses' greater health pool.

* Strategy and shooter games (especially post-2000) are often geared towards competitive player-vs-player modes, with the campaign serving mainly as an extended TutorialLevel sequence. The campaign AI is often handicapped while the player is gradually introduced to game mechanics; the multiplayer/bot AI, on the other hand, is completely unhindered in its task of taking you down. And, of course, the human opponents are, in theory, the biggest challenge since most of them will have been playing longer than you have.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' battles against other players are NightmareFuel-inducingly difficult compared the battles against in-game [=NPCs=]. This is not only due to the absence of ArtificialStupidity, but also because Pokemon are capped at level 50 and cannot switch out freely after fainting an opponent. In Pokemon, PvP is quite possibly the highest difficulty spike an RPG can offer.

** Most {{MOBA}} games also have an extended tutorial mode that allows players to acquaint themselves with the controls, the game mechanics and their characters' strategy and usage before they come out to the matchmaking queue. ''Dota2'' does this with 6 tutorial levels with increasingly complex games, whereas ''LeagueOfLegends'' does this by barring new players from playing against people and forcing them to play against the AI until their accounts have reached level 5.

* {{MOBA}} games address this issue by giving each player a score that increases with victories and decreases with defeats, matching them with people with a similar score, and matching that team with a rival team that has a similar average score. This score is best known as "Elo", due to ''LeagueOfLegends''[='=]s use of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system Elo rating system]] during its first few years of existence, although new systems have since been developed. New players will as a result start out losing their first game badly, but subsequent games will be easier and easier as their Elo keeps decreasing with each passing defeat, until the day their Elo is low enough to match them against opponents who are unskilled enough to be defeatable; afterwards, as the player becomes more and more skilled and starts winning more and more games, their Elo score will increase with their new victories and as a result they will be matched against increasingly more competent opponents. Likewise, if a player's skill somehow decreases, e.g. after a long hiatus or by venturing into a role they don't usually play, the player's Elo will decrease and they will be matched against increasingly unskilled opponents.

* {{MOBA}} games address this issue by giving each player a score that increases with victories and decreases with defeats, matching them with people with a similar score, and matching that team with a rival team that has a similar average score. This score is best known as "Elo", due to ''LeagueOfLegends''[='=]s use of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system Elo rating system]] during its first few years of existence, although new systems have since been developed. New players will as a result start out losing their first game badly, but subsequent games will be easier and easier as their Elo keeps decreasing with each passing defeat, until the day their Elo is low enough to match them against opponents who are unskilled enough to be defeatable; afterwards, as the player becomes more and more skilled and starts winning more and more games, their Elo score will increase with their new victories and as a result they will be matched against increasingly more competent opponents.

* ''VideoGame/Destiny'' plays this straight for balance reasons. No matter you level difference (provided you're playing in a "Level Advantage Disabled" playlist), you are just as weak as the other player. This does make it harder to master [=PvP=], but it encourages you to get decent gear before then, then do [=PvP=], and then get good gear as a reward.

* ''VideoGame/Destiny'' averts this, thankfully. It's done to encourage co-op with friends and other players, to the point that doing Strikes, you are put into matchmaking to make sure you have a full Fireteam.