Expert Drums - Is the 9th tier really the hardest?

[dcowne]

I can beat "Next to You" "Tom Sawyer" "Flirting with the Disaster" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on Expert drums with relative ease. However, I can't even come close on "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Foreplay/Longtime." Is it just me or are some of the 8th tier songs MUCH harder than some of the 9th tier songs?

By the way, does anyone have any pointers for "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Foreplay/Longtime" with the exception of practice?

[Flawless]

I've basically given up at the moment trying to be the "Terrible" ten anymore, songs that I have trouble with even if I squeeked by the first time, lol

[Knights_of_Ni]

Ya those last 2 tiers need some reworking IMO. Don't Fear the Reaper should of been replaced with Flirtin with Disaster because I can gold star FWD but only manage 4 strars on DFtR. As for Foreplay its really just the intro that is super hard. The rest of the song is a breeze but the intro is ridiculous so I'd say that songs in the right place.

[GarryMar]

I found some of the earlier songs had parts in them that where hard, but over all, the rest of the song would be easy, like don't fear the reaper for example, its an easy song, the only hard part is the guitar solo when you have a lot of bass hits and the snare roll, apart from the its an easy song, same with foreplay/longtime, only the intro is difficult, after that the song is simple. i find the second half of the song is great fun to play too.
Won't get fooled again is tricky at around 75-90%, but its passable by saving your overdrive till then if you're struggling.
In general most songs are in the correct places, except i'd maybe swap flirting with disaster with something else. there isn't really any hard parts in that song. i'd put fall out boy there or something, that song should be in a harder difficulty tier.

[BigMonkE]

For the FP/LT intro just try focusing on hitting one of the reds, then the blue or green/bass. You'll pass if you do that the entire intro.

[m0n0lith]

I think the whole list needs reworking. I think Dead On Arrival is harder than some songs in the next tier up, Don't Fear The Reaper should be higher up Flirtin' With Disaster needs to move down along with Highway Star. I think Next To You is only hard until you figure out the patern.

[dcowne]

alot of the above reasoning makes sense. i wish i could make it past those uberhard parts on DFtR and FP/LT, so i could get to the ninth tier.

by the way, thanks for the pointer on foreplay....i think that could be a BIG help.

[WingsOfSteel]

The thing that I find to be the biggest help with Foreplay is to focus on the bass hits.

When I try to hit red, then bass + right arm, I suck, but when I hit bass and then red, I can keep the beat OK.

For some arbitrary reason, my brain can do RLLRLLRLL, but not LLRLLRLLR

[Rhystic_1]

I have the same problem...I can beat FP/LT, Tom Sawyer and Next To You, but I can't beat (D)FtR!!

[hawaiianpunch22]

Pretty much the only thing correct about the 9th tier is BBF. WGFA isn't harder than Blackened and Perfect Drug.

Run to the Hills is still the only song I can't get above a 3 star on and it pisses me off.

[princeofcups777]

I can beat "Next to You" "Tom Sawyer" "Flirting with the Disaster" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on Expert drums with relative ease. However, I can't even come close on "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Foreplay/Longtime." Is it just me or are some of the 8th tier songs MUCH harder than some of the 9th tier songs?

By the way, does anyone have any pointers for "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Foreplay/Longtime" with the exception of practice?

The tiering of expert drums is all messed up. There have been several threads about this.

[whypick1]

Keep in mind that tiering is based on difficulty on all levels (it's the only sane reason why Enter Sandman is Tier 8). For the main setlist songs, they had to stick with 5 songs per tier, so it's much more of a relative difficulty; with DLC, they can tier a song without having to consider its position relative to others.

[drumingfreak5150]

I have the same problem I just can't beat don't fear the reaper. But my friend can he has a ps3 so I'll have him beat it. Then I can finish everything else. I have beaten blackened on expert but can't pass don't fear the reaper. Flirtin' with disaster should be in a lower teir.

[drag_racer]

Yea, to me some songs like FWD are a breeze to play compared to some songs 1 or 2 tiers below it.

[xRite Aidex]

Run to the hills is absolutly dreadful...and about dftr...

cant get through solo: if your in this boat then your gonna have to waste the overdrive before the outro which, focus on more reds than anything, sinceyour rolling try to hit every other bass beat.

cant get through outro:YOU MUST SAVE OVERDRIVE...this is a must, this part it quicker than the rest of song. so have quicker hands, just try to focus on the bass beats since theres 3 of them. then try to fill them with the 3 snares.

[hollowsins]

i think the tiers are meant to show th order on medium difficulty

[Shimmiy]

tips for dftr:

on the drum roll, do NOT focus on the reds. anyone can bang the red rapidly. focus on the pedal on that, if you get off pedal you will crash and burn.

on the outtro... i found it to be rather easy. im not sure why people struggle with it. practice it a bit to get the pattern down, and then do it in-song.

FP/LT to this day the intro is hit or miss. sometimes i absolutely kill it, others it kills me. its all about keeping in beat and hitting your kick pedals. kick pedal in this game is vastly more important than anything else.

run to the hills, funny story. i tried it literally about 75 times, and gave up. i forever said to my friends "it will never be passed"

then my friend who was visiting me from out of town was here, i said "watch me fail this song" and i beat it, having not tried it for well over a month. i then beat it again, and now its actually not difficult for me at all.

the key? relax. dont try to hit every note. just dont. go at a pace that keeps you alive, not a pace that keeps you maxed. if you relax your arms wont wear out in 2 seconds and you will be able to focus easier. the key is again, the kick pedal. keep it in beat and your success chances climb.

i used to practice the beat at work using my fingers tapping on the desk, and i think it might have actually helped.

most songs are just evil the first 10 tries or so. i almost gave up completely on a number of songs:

dont fear the reaper
detroit rock city
run to the hills

nothing else gave me even slightly as much hell as those three did. but i prevailed eventually.

now if i could just beat the perfect drug, i could die a happy man.

also, ive beat blackened but have yet to beat super sprode. how pathetic is that?

[insertname155]

Drums, much like vocals can't really chart difficulty perfectly, people are better at different aspects of the game.

[angry_jonny]

also, ive beat blackened but have yet to beat super sprode. how pathetic is that?
Sprode messes me up, too. I can finally consistently 3* it, but it's ugly. That chorus part (with all the double blues and weird kicks) just does not make any sense to me and my meter drops like a rock.

As far as the tiering goes, I think it was meant as an aggregate across all levels, so you see some oddities here and there. I wonder, too, if part of the tier assignment was the difficulty in terms of 5* versus merely passing it. That doesn't fully explain Flirtin' With Disaster or Enter Sandman (worst offender, IMO), but it might help rationalize Tom Sawyer and Dead on Arrival (which is tough, but has only the one ridiculous fill).

[54x]

Drums, much like vocals can't really chart difficulty perfectly, people are better at different aspects of the game.

Yeah... vocals has the problem that it's not easy to predict which songs will fall within your natural range, wheras drums have the problem that it's not really that easy to predict which part of limb co-ordination or independence you're going to have the most trouble with. To some degree they can tier difficulty based on how difficult the breathing pauses and how thin the note pipes in vocals are, and simply how much stuff there is to keep track of at once for drums, though, and I think they could certainly have done a lot worse in that regard.