How do you feel about dynamic difficulty?

[devindog23]

There have been a few songs where I have appreciated dd, but for the most part I would do away with it. I hate relearning parts. How do you feel about it?

[MarineIguana]

Erm... this always gets me into trouble with the old folk who learned the hard way.

 

 

It got me to try and learn guitar now after 1yr and a half, I can see why someone who has never learned with it would say its stupid but for me it made playing a guitar easy to learn (take that with a pince of salt), I can do without it now and just go with the flow if any thing stops me playing I'll just slow it down a bit and see whats where.

[spawn666]

I think it's a really good idea. People can bypass it anyway using the manual adjustment in the riff repeater 'trick'.

 

Everyone learns differently - I've even seen some people asking for the old style mode - cant remember what it's called - the old 'you must hit each note otherwise the song stops'

 

The more options we have the better.

[Jamie]

When I first started playing Rocksmith 2012 on xbox I just played through it all as it is, I didn't even think about the difficulty, then when I started playing Rocksmith 2014 I was a lot better at guitar (From practicing by myself, not through the game) so the songs we're harder, but I still never really used the Riff Repeater or anything, I don't even think I knew it existed, il just played things as they came to me.

 

Then when my Girlfriend discovered Smithy's through Unleashed (My Girlfriend and Unleashed's wife are best friends) and then a few weeks later CustomsForge got set up and I became a member of the team, I actually saw how many customs there was I ended up getting the PC version of the game, so I could play all the custom songs, and 9 times out of 10, these are songs I already know quite well, so playing them on a lower difficulty, like only hitting certain notes, or certain chords I found really hard, and in most cases I ended up getting a really low score, because I was playing the song in full, as I knew, even if the game was telling me not too, it was then I discovered the riff repeater, and since then, what ever song I play, I just automatically put in on 100% and jump straight into the deep end with it, I prefer to play it on full dificulty, and full speed, and maybe not get a decent score, than play on a lower difficulty.

 

But on the other hand, I know some people rely on the DD to play the song, if a custom hasn't got DD my girlfriend tries to add it her self through the DDC in the toolkit, but that doesn't always work, and if it doesn't, unless its a song she loves, she won't bother playing it, just because it doesn't have any DD, and if she does play it, she might end up rage quitting when she see's it at full difficulty (And I've done that myself when playing some songs on 100%)

 

But also, when she's played a song a few times on a lower difficulty, she will play the song again, but on 100%, and most of the time, she does end up getting a decent score.

[Ally]

But on the other hand, I know some people rely on the DD to play the song, if a custom hasn't got DD my girlfriend tries to add it her self through the DDC in the toolkit, but that doesn't always work, and if it doesn't, unless its a song she loves, she won't bother playing it, just because it doesn't have any DD, and if she does play it, she might end up rage quitting when she see's it at full difficulty (And I've done that myself when playing some songs on 100%)

 

But also, when she's played a song a few times on a lower difficulty, she will play the song again, but on 100%, and most of the time, she does end up getting a decent score.

 

Not 100% true, i will attempt a song without DD, if it's like pop punk or something and know it will only use power chords :P But if I can't do it, i will rage quit and go and put DD on it myself (then when it breaks the game i will delete it :P)

[papillon]

It depends on the difficulty of the song and your skill level - some hate DD and others love it (freedom of choice).

The old way of RR where it stopped until you hit the correct note was not my taste - the new features in RR of 2k14 are ok, but I'm missing a way to switch DD off and keep the song on 100% even if you can't play it 100%. This would stop levelling down the sections you did not play well.

[Alex360]

@@papillon, you can use RR, select whole song and set it DD lvl to 100%, play in RR and then quit, I know that its not so good as play ndd version of the song, but something, I'd like to disable DD changes like you can disable master mode in RR settings.About DDC issues - that's because someone didn't follow this rules:

For best results :  - during the synchronization process in EOF, do not move the notes, just move the main measures (vertical bars)  - create sections and phrases in EOF carefully because they strongly influence DDC process  - All sections and phrases must start on the main beat of a measure   If these rules are bypassed, DDC can work, but the results are not guaranteed ...

I personally like NDD and I'm happy that Rocksmith support manual setup for DD lvl.

[Tmlt]

I personally dont like DD and I believe it only makes your(my) learning process slower and longer.

That being said I do think that if you´re are just beginning to learn guitar/bass and rocksmith it might be a good way to get into this method of learning, the colours of the strings and symbols for harmonics, mutes etc. without making you quit and give up in seconds and throw your instrument and RS in the trash, because you could easilly get overwhelmed with all the notes etc. coming at you.

 

I do wish DD could be disabled completely, like MM, cause some songs just wont remember that I maxed out all sections, and next session I have to do it again.

[a.peter]

When i really want to learn a song, i switch off DD and learn the song section by section with slow tempo.

 

When i just want to make a little bit music, i turn on "nonstop play" and play with DD just to have fun.

[MilkmanDan]

I think DD is a good idea that helps make Rocksmith more accessible to true novices.  BUT, for me personally, I wish that there was an option to always load up songs with DD maxed out unless the profile has intentionally turned down the difficulty in RR.

 

Although I understand the attraction of DD for some, in general I feel like RR with slowdown + accelerate is almost always a much more effective way for me personally to learn a tough song.  It annoys me that I have to pause, select all, and crank up the difficulty to max on new songs with DD.  It annoys me MORE when I haven't played a song for a while (few weeks or more) but I have a personal best in the 99-100% mastery range, and Rocksmith apparently "forgets" that I can clearly manage the song and drops down the DD so I have to crank it up again.  A checkbox for "always use max difficulty" would be much more convenient.

 

I'd imagine that will be a pretty common request to Ubisoft, so it will probably make it into either a patch for RS2014 (like the "never use Master Mode" godsend they added a while back) or the next version of RS.  Fingers crossed.

[Azrael]

I like dynamic difficulty very much for the following reasons:

- Seeing how difficult the parts of the song are in the top of the screen is nice to have

- It looks better! In a song without DD I always feel uncomfortable because of that unesthetic straight line in the top

- It's great when you want to get to know a new song withouht beeing overwhelmed by it's complexity.

- Also, lately I found myself trying to fill the gaps in the notes (due to lower DD) on my own, just by listening. When I found out that I was right, that was really cool!

 

When you really want to learn the whole of a song in the shortest possible time, of course in terms of effectivity it's best to set the difficulty to 100 % and accelarate every part on it's own until you play it perfectly.

BUT there is an important difference between effectivity and motivation.

- I feel like a lot of advanced players tend to forget what it feels like when you're a beginner. There is simply no chance you can play that song on 100 % difficulty - no way - it will just be frustrating. When you are at this stage, dynamic difficulty is super important for your motivation! When I played Rocksmith for the first time, I fired up "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden. And even though I would only play every 20th note or whatever, I felt like a superstar. It was awesome, just rocking along to the music. This feeling is extremely important for the motivation, and it's something that is unique to Rocksmith (you cannot to it with TABs)!

 

The last point is my most important one, and the reason why I think everyone should include DD in their CDLCs.

[Old_Spanner]

I like dynamic difficulty very much for the following reasons:

- Seeing how difficult the parts of the song are in the top of the screen is nice to have

- It looks better! In a song without DD I always feel uncomfortable because of that unesthetic straight line in the top

- It's great when you want to get to know a new song withouht beeing overwhelmed by it's complexity.

- Also, lately I found myself trying to fill the gaps in the notes (due to lower DD) on my own, just by listening. When I found out that I was right, that was really cool!

 

When you really want to learn the whole of a song in the shortest possible time, of course in terms of effectivity it's best to set the difficulty to 100 % and accelarate every part on it's own until you play it perfectly.

BUT there is an important difference between effectivity and motivation.

- I feel like a lot of advanced players tend to forget what it feels like when you're a beginner. There is simply no chance you can play that song on 100 % difficulty - no way - it will just be frustrating. When you are at this stage, dynamic difficulty is super important for your motivation! When I played Rocksmith for the first time, I fired up "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden. And even though I would only play every 20th note or whatever, I felt like a superstar. It was awesome, just rocking along to the music. This feeling is extremely important for the motivation, and it's something that is unique to Rocksmith (you cannot to it with TABs)!

 

The last point is my most important one, and the reason why I think everyone should include DD in their CDLCs.

I could't agree more.  I personally think DD has a place in RS, An option to toggle it on / off would be extremely good, maybe a future patch can put that option in.

[SmellyOrc]

- I feel like a lot of advanced players tend to forget what it feels like when you're a beginner. There is simply no chance you can play that song on 100 % difficulty - no way - it will just be frustrating.

 

Of course beginners won't be able to play Iron Maiden or Dragonforce. That's why they don't.  They play and practice songs that are at their skill level. they master those, then they move on to more difficult songs.

 

My own opinion: I hate DD. Even though I have level-up turned off, I have to do that every time a song starts or it will level me down if i make mistakes. So annoying.

 

Having said that, I only use RS2014 to learn the rhythm parts of the songs. If I want to learn a solo, I can do that 100x faster just using tabs. Why? Cause I can pause on every note, I can think of how I will place my fingers. I can repeat a series of how-many-notes-I-want at a speed that I decide, without having to enter some menu. So for me, tabs > RS for learning solos. For rhythms, Rocksmith 2014 is better, imo.

[BeZi]

Same as @up...

IMO it's useless. Wanna learn song? Then learn it - not a 25% of it, not a 50% - whole song, all notes.

It's too hrad? Slow down - first try to play with 50% tempo, then increase it slowly.

[dazedandbemused]

Meh. It's kinda useful for a first runthrough of an unfamiliar song.

[RdBass4]

...(you cannot to it with TABs)!...

 

Well said. But I disagree slightly with the statement above. I think you can play like that with tab, especially if you edit the tabs or create your own "simplified version" which I have done (long before the days of RS). But I do agree that it is much easier with RS and DD. I don't think it's a problem to turn off DD, even if I do it every time. I would prefer to have the option, than to not have it.

 

When I create bass cdlc, I always include DD, and I hand-code it. I have tried DDC, but I don't like it, and it is not THAT hard to hand-code 4 levels, and allow RS to fill in the gaps. I think you get a better sense of what notes really can be filtered while still allowing someone to play along.  When I do guitar, though, I do not include DD because I don't play guitar and can't try out my Frankenstein-chords, and I am not really sure how to simplify the guitar tracks.

 

Anyway, thanks for a great post.

[raynebc]

When i really want to learn a song, i switch off DD and learn the song section by section with slow tempo. When i just want to make a little bit music, i turn on "nonstop play" and play with DD just to have fun.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I will only make a strong effort to practice songs I really like.

[dragargameguler]

I personally don't use it. I preffer to learn the song by slowing it down with 100% difficulty.

[devindog23]

 

it hashen i really want to learn a song, i switch off DD and learn the song section by section with slow tempo.When i just want to make a little bit music, i turn on "nonstop play" and play with DD just to have fun.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I will only make a strong effort to practice songs I really like.

Agreed. Thanks to this community I have access to thousands of songs, but I only really dig in to a hundred or so. If it has dd I make it a game to max it. If I can't I turn it off.

[Jamie]

In the past I've tried slowing songs down to 50% or 75% in the RR and trying to learn them that way, but I just couldn't do it, couldn't get the rhythm right, thats why I just play them at normal speed and on 100% difficulty, I find it easier than playing it at a lower speed

[firekorn]

It depends on what are you trying to accomplish with Rocksmith, if you just want to have fun and not really care about learning the song or such, DD can be usefull, you can play the song with a little challenge but not too much. It's also a good way to see your progression for perfect beginner because the mastery will relate to what you can do or not and it can be really good to see that you finally get to 100% mastery.

 

But it's clear it isn't for people that just want to learn and master a song where playing it slowly at 100% mastery will allow you to memorize the riffs and solos more quickly and more efficiently but can be less fun for a perfect beginner that just want to play.

 

It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish for many player who wants to get better quickly slowing down at 100% mastery will be more efficient to learn so DD will be useless, but if you just playing for fun and not for challenging yourself, DD can be good to use so that you won't get frustrated with hard solos/riffs that you can't play at the moment.

[TomSawyer2112]

What's missing in Rocksmith tool Riffrepeater, turn off the DD,

but also video functions like stop, forward and rewind , setting your own start and ending points.

And a zoom function. Sometimes, notes are so close together, you can hardly decypher, or why you miss that bend.

Sometimes I download or create the playthrough video, cut out the hard parts and practice complexe solos with the kmplayer.

 

In fact you can practice without RS just using youtube.

[andrake]

I find that I use DD when there is a long arpegio that I am having trouble getting.  Most of the time I set the skill level at 100 and slow the song down to about 80.  Just like any tool is a time an place for DD.  You wouldn't use a slege hammer to hang dry wall (well, I wouldn't).

 

My daughter, age 11, relies on DD to make playing guitar fun.  I set all her songs down to 0 on DD and let them play at 100 speed.  She get DD to level up to the point that chords start showing up fairly quickly.  He next challenge is to get to the chord positions before they get past.  If she had to start off with jumping from chord to chord she would quit playing again.

[SkepticSquid]

I dont mind DD. Generally, I'll turn a song up the whole way and play it like that unless I am legitimately learning the song to use in my band or it's really complex.

 

Personally, I think DD is better to have for beginners and other people, and it's not a problem if you want to turn it up anyway because it's really easy to put it to hardest.

 

I just think it's handy to have but not required for all songs. c:

[Azrael]

I think we can all agree that we desperately want the ability to set a gobal value of 100% DD ingame, just like master mode can be turned on and off. (As someone mentioned before.)

Then everyone could include DD (thanks to the awesome DDC), and those who don't like it would still not be offended by its presence.

 

Is there a "useful" way to contact the developer studio to request such a feature as a patch or for the next release of Rocksmith?

If so, we should write them lots of mails :-)

[noahfence]

There have been a few songs where I have appreciated dd, but for the most part I would do away with it. I hate relearning parts. How do you feel about it?

 

 

I think it, combined with RR, is vital for noobs to learn quickly.  Honestly when I see a custom with no difficulty levels, I'll think twice about downloading it.