Guild Wars 2

I don’t care how adamant ANet and NCSoft are about this mechanic of the game, it’s absolutely horrid.

With Dynamic Level Adjustment, level numbers are completely arbitrary. What’s the point of leveling from 1 to 80 if I’m just going to be whatever level the zone is limited at? There’s no reward or advantage to being level 80 over level 50, and no advantage to being level 50 over being level 1. The only difference being what areas of the game we can enter.

I shouldn’t be limited to being a certain level in a zone because my actual level is higher. I should be allowed to be stronger than the mobs in an area because I put the time and effort into leveling. I shouldn’t have the time and effort I put into leveling my character thrown back in my face and told it doesn’t matter how much I put in, the game is only going to limit how much I get out.

If the dynamic level adjustment system isn’t going to be removed, then at least change the way it operates by 1 of 2 ways:

1. Scaling up the amount of EXP that’s handed out for events in lower level zones to match the required EXP to level up for higher level players.

2. Scale levels to the maximum level allowed in a zone, and not in areas of the zone. If a player is level 60, in a zone like Dreadnaught Cliffs which I believe is a 40 – 50 zone, then the player only gets scaled down to level 50 while in that zone. This means that their level does not scale to 43, or 47, or 49 depending on where they are in the zone, it’s capped at 50 no matter where in the zone they are. This also means that players who are level 41, 43 or any level between 40 and 50 get capped at 50 in that zone but don’t scale depending on an area of the zone as well. The second part to this system is that once a player reaches the level cap of that zone, they no longer gain experience in that zone and have to move to a zone meant for their next 5 or 10 levels to gain experience again.

The second option works far better than the current one which scales to all sorts of wacky levels with sub areas of zones and removes the feeling that levels are arbitrary numbers while in the zones you’re supposed to be in.

GW2 was supposed to be a game about playing the way you wanted to, but it’s become the complete opposite of what it tries to be. Limit leveling, no P2P trading, didn’t bother to put in quests, no mounts, fast travel has a cost… This isn’t a game about playing your way, this is a game that can only be played one way, the way we’re being told to.

No.

Its a central point to the game and a brilliant feature.

However, it needs being made harsher so its not so faceroll when you out level a zone.

There are advantages in levelling, its called abilities and traits, not to mention access to realllly nice looking gear!, levelling acts more as gating than arbitrary power in this game, which is good.

It was a central point of the game, so you knew it when you bought it, if you dont like it, leave.

No, this is one of the best things about this game.

No! No! No! In DDO, for example, I cannot play with a friend if they are +/- 2 levels of me. Here, I can play with anyone on a map what won’t kill me instantly.

This is a message from The League of Kitten Huggers

Exclamatory.8351:

No, this is one of the best things about this game.

This, times a million.

Yes, it has its flaws, but overall it’s an amazing system and it would be pretty awful if they took it out.

Not to mention, DEs would get really annoying with level 80s facerolling them just to be obnoxious, which is what a lot of level capped players did in low level zones in Rift. Incredibly annoying and I’d rather not have this.

+1 OP. I am for its removal too.

However, I’d be 100% staisfied if loot/karma/XP scaled to a players ACTUAL level. Why on earth would anyone want to battle with a level 20 creature at level 80 only to get shafted on the rewards? It makes no sense.

While I disagree with the OP, I do think that the dynamic level adjustment system may need some tweaks. There have been some cases where I’m adjusted to below the level of creatures in the area (even if I’m like 20 levels above or something). I’ve read other people suggesting being able to manually lower themselves further for a hard-mode-like experience which would be fine. However, I’d like to at least remain AT level with mobs I’m fighting… especially when I’m just farming for crafting mats.

Have to disagree with you OP. The downleveling system is brilliant and one of the best features of the game.

SHM.7628:

+1 OP. I am for its removal too.

However, I’d be 100% staisfied if loot/karma/XP scaled to a players ACTUAL level. Why on earth would anyone want to battle with a level 20 creature at level 80 only to get shafted on the rewards? It makes no sense.

Why should a level 80 player get a level 80 reward for killing a level 20 critter? I’m a blonde and even I can tell that makes no kitten-licking sense!

Sponsored by the Don’t Kick A Kitten Foundation

Sorry. But I’d prefer to stay mortal. I don’t find any fun in running around one-shotting 7 much lower leveled mobs on my own.

+ What if I were to help a friend of mine level up? Should I just run around one-shotting all of his/her mobs after they hit it once? Where is the fun in that?

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s much more fun to actually be the proper level for the content I’m doing. I like completing all of the quests in the game, and I absolutely hate steamrolling everything because I’m too high level.

The level adjustment system in this game is amazing, and lets me do everything in the game at the level it’s meant to be done without having to create a different character for each piece of the world.

I can play with my friends in a way that’s actually fun, rather than just wiping the floor with all of the mobs and having them follow along soaking up XP and loot.

Not to mention when you ARE a low-level character and your questing is interrupted by some level 80 who runs past murdering everything so that you have to wait for it to respawn.

I had enough of all of this in WoW, and it’s great to see a game that fixes it.

If you don’t want to dynamically downlevel, there are a million MMOs out there that don’t have this feature.

You should get informed.

Stats from gear get also scaled, but the bigger the stats in the gear, the less they get scaled.

A level 80 with level 80 gear has it REALLY easy against levels 1-40. And quite easy from 40 to 70 or so.

But although it’s quite easier, it’s not trivial. They can kill you if you are not careful enough.
Anything can kill you if you are careful enough.

If they removed dynamic scaling, I could, as an elementalist with enough points in water, stand in the middle of a massive level 1-40 fray taking hits, yet recovering enough health to laugh at the enemies.

Also, thanks to this system they make make random drops for your level in lower level areas. Most drops are for the level of the area, but you can get for level 80 gear anywhere, with time.

That is invaluable, as it allows players to play anywhere they want, at their own pace, taking their time (scaled waypoint costs would help with that too).

“The second part to this system is that once a player reaches the level cap of that zone, they no longer gain experience in that zone and have to move to a zone meant for their next 5 or 10 levels to gain experience again.”

The reason why Anet did the level adjustments is so that people can return to those old places and experience something they might have missed while leveling, while still actually gaining something out of it, other than the experience itself, along with just a little bit of a fight.

I have still yet to meet that big bad creature that lies in the dormant swamp in (was it Queensdale?) and I can’t wait to face it and take it down! But I am only excited about this, because I know it might be a challange. I wouldn’t even bother to even look at it or think about that monster, if I knew that I could one-shot it.

SHM.7628:

+1 OP. I am for its removal too.

However, I’d be 100% staisfied if loot/karma/XP scaled to a players ACTUAL level. Why on earth would anyone want to battle with a level 20 creature at level 80 only to get shafted on the rewards? It makes no sense.

The loot does scale. I have gotten lvl 70-80 stuff in 1-15 areas

hahaha uhhh yeaa no. DEFINITELY should not be removed. It is a brilliant feature that is working quite well at the moment, although your 2 points wouldnt hurt it.

Thing is this only works if they restrict your access to lower levels thus completly limiting your access to the game.. Why? because from that point forward someone like yourself as a lev 80 can come into a beginner zone and sweep the entire area of everything thus cutting all the enjoyment out of the game for everyone thats new that comes after you. This form of Grief denial makes things bad for everyone cause not only are you getting 0exp 0 loot and 0 achievements but your also denying others this privilege as well. by leveling out all players in the zones everyone gets something, everyone is working towards a reward and the experience of playing never suffers from a Griefer GOD coming in and 1 touch killing everything in sight. At least right now everyone gets something for their efforts, may nto be what you want but its something… AND that being said I have been playing in higher level areas with a low level toon i a specific healer type mode as long as I am with a group and participating I can be there. the trick is to know when to heal when to buff and when to RUN. Such activity ensures even as a low level character I can get rewards from my actions I take with a team, wither as a pickup or as a member of a guild or even just running in teh wild and finding a group to help out… This added challenge is by far one of my favorite things to do. I’m like lev 25 or 30 fighting off lev 50 or 60s with my friends. And even then the rewards for ME are balanced to my level so I get to use them most of the time. The result some awesome skins early in the game from random drops… Still, once all that is too much I can zone away and go back where I belong and have a little something something from the region to distinguish myself a little… Now imagine if your a lev 80 and you want some item skin from a lev 20 zone. if there is no malefactor system in place your out of luck you get nothing, and cause your there grief wiping the zone neither will anyone else… So I ask you which method is more justified for all players?

no thanks. dynamic scaling makes all areas worth something and makes it worth it to me to help people out that are in my guild and are at lower levels. i don’t want to go back to MMO’s where areas become obsolete. I like that I get XP, can help out, etc.

so again, no thanks. there are myriad games that have it that way. this game is different and it’s a breath of fresh air.

-1 OP

The downleveling is so ingenious it’s actually quite ridiculous this hasn’t been a standard feature in MMO’s for years.

Leveling up should unlock new areas without trivializing the lower level ones. The OP also doesn’t realize how beneficial the downleveling feature is for the economy.

I like how I don’t have to pick and choose which content I want to play. I can eventually do all of it when I am ready without the stuff I missed being so easy.

OP also doesn’t realize that the downleveling means that you still get decent rewards from low level areas. Skill points are an especially desirable currency that you can get from low level areas.

I don’t think running through a low level area and steamrolling everything in sight should ever be in an MMO. It’s a silly thing and GW2 is paving the way to making these online worlds have more “weight.”

Sorry OP, don’t break my game with your suggestion.

Bandersnatch.3610:

What’s the point of leveling from 1 to 80

the point of leveling up is to be able to go play in the higher level zones….

see, if you did not level up, how would you be able to play in a level 80 zone? =P

robinsiebler.3801:

SHM.7628:

+1 OP. I am for its removal too.

However, I’d be 100% staisfied if loot/karma/XP scaled to a players ACTUAL level. Why on earth would anyone want to battle with a level 20 creature at level 80 only to get shafted on the rewards? It makes no sense.

Why should a level 80 player get a level 80 reward for killing a level 20 critter? I’m a blonde and even I can tell that makes no kitten-licking sense!

Sponsored by the Don’t Kick A Kitten Foundation

Hmm, ok blondie. How about map completion? jumping puzzles? points of interest? How about gathering crafting materials that are from only a particullar zone? (there are more than a few) How about playing with lower level friends and guildies?

I don’t like the system. I’ve stated it more than once. I’d rather have the enemies not aggro. I’d rather be my own actual level in all areas I play. However, until that happens I have to play by the system in place or not play at all. (it quickly getting to that point) If I have to kill them then I want a level appropriate reward.

understand?

The Meat Wagon.7194:

SHM.7628:

+1 OP. I am for its removal too.

However, I’d be 100% staisfied if loot/karma/XP scaled to a players ACTUAL level. Why on earth would anyone want to battle with a level 20 creature at level 80 only to get shafted on the rewards? It makes no sense.

The loot does scale. I have gotten lvl 70-80 stuff in 1-15 areas

I wish you were right. I have never even one time gotten scaling loot. This is one of those times I’d prefer to be wrong, Sadly, I am not. Loot doesn’t scale, XP doesn’t scale and worst of all Karma does not scale. Rather the opposite. Now with diminishing rewards they scale the wrong way more than ever.

EDIT: From what i read, It appears that there is an infinitesimal chance that you can get a drop scaled to your level. If it is in fact true (I’ve never seen it happen) Then I apologize and retract the statement that it never happens. Still if we are talking about a microscopic chance of a loot scale then its pretty pointless anyway.

The dynamic scaling system is a key feature of GW2 and everybody knew about it before he/she bought the game. No reason to complain here.

As for the loot:
I’m fine with how it currently works. If I would only get drops at my real level, I would have no chance to get lowlevel crafting mats, which would suck.

Sierra.6352:

Sorry. But I’d prefer to stay mortal. I don’t find any fun in running around one-shotting 7 much lower leveled mobs on my own.

+ What if I were to help a friend of mine level up? Should I just run around one-shotting all of his/her mobs after they hit it once? Where is the fun in that?

So don’t do that. Use a lower level character to help or don’t help at all. Just because you can one hot kill doesn’t mean you have to. friends don’t get XP if you do most of the damage anyway. Your point on that is moot.

I feel like you do. I don’t want to run around one shot killing weak enemies either. I’d rather them leave me alone and vice-versa.

My point is and will always be on this subject this: If You are going to make me battle everywhere I go then you should appropriately reward me for it. I want rewards to my level and if the creature is of higher level then I want rewards to their level.

No way! This is one of my favorite features about this game. I love going to help my friends who just got the game, and still being able to play on their level. I always felt bored in MMOs where I had friends help me, but they were 20 levels over, so I wouldn’t get experience from what they did, didn’t get a challenge from the enemies, etc. I don’t want higher level players running in and nuking everything. I want to COOPERATE!

Levels matter in terms of stat boosts and skills and traits. While those get scaled down too, you still reap their benefits far more than a person of a lower level and it does show. It’s just not a oneshot fest, is all. If you want that, go play any other MMO.

The rewards could use some balancing, I agree there. I do occasionally get drops that are my level but in terms of coinage and exp, yeah.

The system can stay—no, needs to stay—but it could use some tweaks!

OP, I think you bought the wrong game.

You’re still more powerful than an actual level X on max level (hell, I’m nearly one shotting stuff in starter areas), it’s more fun/challenging, you get properly rewarded, you get to play with your lowbie friends without making them feel completely useless. I don’t see why would you want to not be downscaled. Wanna feel super powerful, go kill critters. Why bother farming low level crafting materials if you can just buy them on TP, they’re super cheap for a level 80.

There, all the arguments I could think about.
Now go buy mists of pandaria and play your “own” way". (“Quests”, lol)

No no no! The level scaling is one of the best (and core) features in the game! Better gear does make a difference even scaled down. And you do get higher level drops.

I’m not saying the system is perfect – no doubt there are areas that will be tweaked as the game settles down. The point someone made about not being lower level than some of the creatures is a v. good point for example.

Nope. The scaling is done intentionally (even in these sub-zones as you call them) to avoid high level players disrupting the dynamic events.

I’m pretty sure they monitor the difficulty of every event, and throwing a few players in the mix who are 5+ levels higher then they are supposed to be, would mess the balance for the players at level.

So, I mean, sure! We can just make everyone max zone level and then have reports come in of the disrespectful higher levels coming in and griefing/trolling dynamic events in zone or fast killing heart mobs and all those various fun things those people do.

Haha the suggestion forum has become the dump for terrible ideas. Seriously add this to that list.

Bandersnatch.3610:

I don’t care how adamant ANet and NCSoft are about this mechanic of the game, it’s absolutely horrid.

With Dynamic Level Adjustment, level numbers are completely arbitrary. What’s the point of leveling from 1 to 80 if I’m just going to be whatever level the zone is limited at? There’s no reward or advantage to being level 80 over level 50, and no advantage to being level 50 over being level 1. The only difference being what areas of the game we can enter.

What’s the difference? At lvl1 you dont have any utility/second bar skills, you dont have any traits, you dont get to enter any but newbie zones, and you look a lot worse compared to higher level, at least less epic. Oh and you dont have weapon sigils. Or gear runes. Or titles. Etc, you get the point…

This is one of the best features of the game. In other mmorpgs the rest of the world except end-game zones become USELESS after you level up. With level scaling you can enjoy the full world at lvl80 + have improved character Vs. the lowbies to show off :)

LOL You are SO wrong. If you don’t notice the difference between a level 80 and a level 50 you need to go back to WoW. SERIOUSLY, the dynamic leveling is genius.

Just because you can’t run around a starting zone and gank every creature doesn’t mean you have to get all butt hurt about an AMAZING system.

SHM.7628:

Sierra.6352:

Sorry. But I’d prefer to stay mortal. I don’t find any fun in running around one-shotting 7 much lower leveled mobs on my own.

+ What if I were to help a friend of mine level up? Should I just run around one-shotting all of his/her mobs after they hit it once? Where is the fun in that?

Use a lower level character to help or don’t help at all.

the system was put in so ppl did NOT have to re-roll in order to play with their friends who join the game later then they do…

that is the ENTIRE point of the system

its not going to be taken out because ppl WANT to be able to play together with their friends and NOT have to re-roll to do so…

OP is mad that he power leveled and skipped crafting and he realizes he has to go backwards to collect crafting mats.

Bandersnatch.3610:

The second part to this system is that once a player reaches the level cap of that zone, they no longer gain experience in that zone and have to move to a zone meant for their next 5 or 10 levels to gain experience again.

So instead of arbitrarily limiting the player, you want to… arbitrarily limit the player.

Absolute genius.