DanceDanceRevolution A (AC)

I expect every player in the world to disagree with several comparisons in that list for all tiers under 19.
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On every difficulty below a 19, I guarantee you will find yourself disagreeing with several comparisons.

Actually, I've found no one can agree in what order the difficulties for the four 19's are, agreement mostly coming from the fact that at only 4 of them there's only 24 ways to order them uniquely.

From what I know, making a difficulty tier list that is universally agreed upon is basically impossible. In fact, not only do I expect some disagreements, I expect every player in the world to disagree with several comparisons in that list for all tiers under 19.

The list you shared appears to have been organized according to PFC difficulty, as wrsw pointed out. While it is one thing to try compiling a difficulty list for clearing a song, it is a completely different ball game when you try to bring in timing difficulty. Timing difficulty for a song usually has more to do with the song itself (syncing, BPM changes, stops, etc.) than any of the stepcharts for said song. Even before we touch stepcharts, we already know that some players are 1) better at timing a certain BPM than at another and 2) better able to handle stops and slowdowns really well compared to others.

When you start going into specific stepcharts, though, it gets even more complicated. We need to take things into account as ability to stay on rhythm during jump streams or shock arrows, ability to perform certain patterns (e.g. playing one-footed while holding down a freeze arrow with the other foot), etc. Furthermore, it is possible for some individuals to have difficulty PFCing a chart because of a single arrow in the entire stepchart (Beautiful Dream S- is an example). Regardless of what basis you use to compile PFC difficulties (e.g. number of players who attained a Perfect Full Combo on a certain stepchart), the basis of individual comparisons will simply not suffice.

Someone else on that page attempted to compile a clear list, but for the same reasons as above, it is certainly a not a list you can blindly follow. On every difficulty below a 19, I guarantee you will find yourself disagreeing with several comparisons. For one, POSSESSION S- is most certainly not 14.4 on a clear difficulty...

What would you rate POSSESSION S- as?
Personally, I'd rate it 14.7 (half of the chart resembles a nerfed I'm So Happy S- ), but it's very straightforward and not too hard to BS.

It seems that the clear difficulty ratings all stem from a "flail around to clear" perspective, and a lot of the ratings are not far from how I'd rate them. Of course, some of the ratings are IMO off (Snow Prism S- at 16.0 when it's more like 16.4, Night of Knights and Lovely Radio both being 15.6 (15.1 and 15.9 respectively seem better ratings)), but that's to be expected of any subjective list.

Even then, I find the list to generally lack any sort of consistency for the most part. Perhaps that is also to be expected, I guess.

I would say that the lack of consistent guidelines or an objective standard in the ratings is the reason why so many ratings would seem off. What would make for a more consistent standard is to put all charts of a difficulty level (all 15s, 16s, etc.), select two of them randomly, and have a poll on which is harder to pass. The chart that wins the poll is assigned a greater value than the other, and a sorting algorithm (maybe a quicksort or merge sort) can be used after each poll to sort the difficulty subratings.

One important thing to note is that in general, the difficulty variation within a level in DDR is far less than that seen in games like IIDX, pop'n, or even SDVX and ITG. If someone passes their first 14, if they keep playing, it likely won't be long (a few weeks tops) before they can pass all the 14s and some of the 15s. Conversely, many people could (and would) be stuck for months on the IIDX level 11 folder, even with consistent practice.

I'm just going to assume I'm probably one of the only people who thinks of Rising Fire Hawk as being a 13 or even a high 12 rather than a 14. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm just going to assume I'm probably one of the only people who thinks of Rising Fire Hawk as being a 13 or even a high 12 rather than a 14. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I am on the train of Rising Fire Hawk being over rated. I figured I would have an issue just listening to it, and got a AA my first try. I'm not trying to play down anyone's accomplishments, however. Maybe there is something others find difficult about the chart that I am particularly good at.

I am on the train of Rising Fire Hawk being over rated. I figured I would have an issue just listening to it, and got a AA my first try. I'm not trying to play down anyone's accomplishments, however. Maybe there is something others find difficult about the chart that I am particularly good at.

Stamina.

I'm just going to assume I'm probably one of the only people who thinks of Rising Fire Hawk as being a 13 or even a high 12 rather than a 14. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Weeeell, apparently ddrcommunity.com created tier levels for all songs rated 15+. Idk if what they decided upon is universally agreed, but according to their website, Illegal Function call is among the easiest of 16's (at 16.0), while On the Bounce is only one tier more difficult (at 16.1). PSMO is a mid-16, at 16.5.

http://www.ddrcommunity.com/ddr-difficulty-tier-list-single-play-level-16