I remember starting the game off in Normal too as I thought Hard would be hard, very hard would be very hard etc. Clearly wasn't the case, but some games actually cared about keeping their actual difficulty consistent with the difficulty name, you clearly didn't after my first half campaign.

But after that I dipped my toes into hard for 20 turns or so before settling for Very Hard or Legendary. Legend was cool until I noticed how lore unfriendly it got when units who should be winning a match up ended up losing but Very Hard was anything but hard, so it's been a swing between the two ever since.

But for a lot of players who newly just bought your game, odds are they assumed Normal would be a "normal" difficulty 

I wouldn't call myself a new player and I play normal exclusively.

increasing the difficulty does give you some camps debuffs. I can see people playing on normal just to avoid that. I know I did for awhile. Point is, i don’t think it’s just new players playing on normal. 

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:
Mar 13, 2025, 6:59:48 PM Also, most people just play the game the way it was meant to be played.

How is it "meant" to be played?

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:
Mar 13, 2025, 6:59:48 PM Also, most people just play the game the way it was meant to be played.

How is it "meant" to be played?

Do you not understand the definition of normal?  Here you go I did the research for you:

"standard; usual, typical, or expected"

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:

Do you not understand the definition of normal?  Here you go I did the research for you:

"standard; usual, typical, or expected"

That is not an answer to my question.

How is this game "meant" to be played? Please describe this "standard" playthrough in exhausting detail.

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:

Do you not understand the definition of normal?  Here you go I did the research for you:

"standard; usual, typical, or expected"

That is not an answer to my question.

How is this game "meant" to be played? Please describe this "standard" playthrough in exhausting detail.

The game is meant to be played under the normal conditions.  

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:

The game is meant to be played under the normal conditions.  

So I take it you have actually no idea how this game is "meant" to be played then?

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:

The game is meant to be played under the normal conditions.  

So I take it you have actually no idea how this game is "meant" to be played then?

I’m assuming he means no buff or debuffs for you & the AI so it’s the most pure experience I guess.

​

SigfridKKP#2523 wrote:

I’m assuming he means no buff or debuffs for you & the AI so it’s the most pure experience I guess.

So not on normal then because the player is favored there and the AI is in an almost permanent coma.

​

SigfridKKP#2523 wrote:

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:

​

lauera9482#8602 wrote:

The game is meant to be played under the normal conditions.  

So I take it you have actually no idea how this game is "meant" to be played then?

I’m assuming he means no buff or debuffs for you & the AI so it’s the most pure experience I guess.

That 100% wouldn't be on normal difficulty then as the player bias is pretty intense in that difficulty level.

I think experienced players sometimes struggle to grasp how difficult the game is, due to the fact that they have been playing it for 10 years and know the AI and all its weaknesses better than the people who actually programmed it.
And I can't blame them. I have played Total War games for more than 20 years now, I know how that feels.
But over the years I also got a few other people into these games, 2 of which are my sons and all of them struggle HARD to even get a normal campaign off the ground. That was less of a problem in Rome or Medieval 2 times, since those games had rather simple mechanics, but with Warhammer it basically takes 100 hours for them to even understand the basics of the game. Whenever they learn how Dwarves work and how they can succeed against the Greenskins, they encounter Skaven which counter every battlefield strategy they got used to and they start struggling for another 10 hours until they figured that out too.
They take surprisingly long to even realize that rather simple mechanics like army stances even exist.

I think its the same with the AI.
We complain about weak AI, but when we are honest we are actually complaining about the fact that we simply know the AI too well, to the point that we can effectively manipulate it. The vast majority of players probably isn't really better in playing the game than the AI.
Long story short, it would make sense for us who played Total War for 20 years and Warhammer for 10 of those, to sometimes reflect that we might indeed not be the most average player out there and that our experience isn't necessarily as representative as we sometimes think.

​One of the reasons I choose Very Hard is that it allows me to unlock two achievements at once.

​

Vrooktar#4671 wrote:

I think experienced players sometimes struggle to grasp how difficult the game is, due to the fact that they have been playing it for 10 years and know the AI and all its weaknesses better than the people who actually programmed it.
And I can't blame them. I have played Total War games for more than 20 years now, I know how that feels.
But over the years I also got a few other people into these games, 2 of which are my sons and all of them struggle HARD to even get a normal campaign off the ground. That was less of a problem in Rome or Medieval 2 times, since those games had rather simple mechanics, but with Warhammer it basically takes 100 hours for them to even understand the basics of the game. Whenever they learn how Dwarves work and how they can succeed against the Greenskins, they encounter Skaven which counter every battlefield strategy they got used to and they start struggling for another 10 hours until they figured that out too.
They take surprisingly long to even realize that rather simple mechanics like army stances even exist.

I think its the same with the AI.
We complain about weak AI, but when we are honest we are actually complaining about the fact that we simply know the AI too well, to the point that we can effectively manipulate it. The vast majority of players probably isn't really better in playing the game than the AI.
Long story short, it would make sense for us who played Total War for 20 years and Warhammer for 10 of those, to sometimes reflect that we might indeed not be the most average player out there and that our experience isn't necessarily as representative as we sometimes think.

Yup. 

I played TW1 and 2 on the hardest difficulty exclusively, and we are talking thousands of hours there. For TW3 I decided I'd had enough of it and I've been enjoying normal difficulty ever since. I'm glad I went through the highest difficulty just to experience it and I may go back to it for the challenge if I get bored, but it isn't enjoyable and I'm glad I realised that for TW3. 

What changed my mind was watching a streamer explain why the highest difficulties are not enjoyable. Even then it took me awhile to get on board because of the stigma attached to playing these games on normal difficulty. In that very stream there were people complaining in chat that they were watching a campaign and it wasn't on the highest difficulty. Their pointless complaining is what really changed my mind on the whole thing.

​

AspectWarrior#3817 wrote:
What changed my mind was watching a streamer explain why the highest difficulties are not enjoyable.

So, you played the game on the highest difficulty and apparently enjoyed it until someone told you you didn't?

That's why no one respects gamers, folks.

I love the world of Warhammer and this game, but I'm very bad at it, so I always play in normal, and I fully enjoy it. Pleas don't talk for all of us.