Guild Wars 2

(and how to fix it)

You guys recently changed the way dynamic leveling worked, in a bid to get players to play low level areas with high level characters. It might work, but I’ll tell you way it probably won’t, unique rewards. By this I mean two things that can be found in level 80-ish zones and nowhere else, high end resources and T6 materials.

Finding level 80 green weapons while fighting in the Wayfarer foothills is a nice perk, but the best harvesting nodes I’m likely to find are copper veins, blueberry bushes, and aspen trees. Fighting in Orr, on the other hand, I’ll find truffles, omnom berries, ori, mithril, etc. If the goal is to get high level characters into the lower level zones, there needs to be some method of delivering these resources to players traveling these zones. Maybe make it so that a level 80 in Wayfarer Foothills has a decent chance that instead of finding copper nodes he’ll find mithril ones, and an off chance of finding an Ori node (very rare). Maybe half the blueberry bushes are instead omnoms, and half the Aspens are Cypress, with a rare few being Ancient. At the bare minimum make it so that a single clump of ori or ancient wood can be found as a reasonably common “bonus” drop when harvesting low level nodes. So from a rich copper node you might find 10 coppers, 2 t6 gemstones, 2-3 mithril, and 1-2 ori.

The second issue is to make it so that drops contain a decent chance of containing t6 crafting materials, such as Ancient Bone, as well as a decent chance of t4-5 rare materials, like cores and lodestones. This may already be in the system somewhere, but I don’t recall pulling a lot of high-end crafting mats from lower-level zones in the past.

I think these chances would be necessary to convince players that low level zones can be rewarding enough to spend time in using higher level characters.

I’m just irritated that I do Jormag and get level 30-60 on my 80.

Now these events will be with weaker stats and harvesting drops are terrible.

I disagree with this thread, the whole point of levelling in low level areas is to help friends, or map completion or cuz your too qui shy, it’s not to farm mats. When your getting the top tier of mats, you should be in the right areas already.
Plus what happens if you didn’t craft from level one, or you are behind, but the mats match your level instead of what is required. It wouldn’t work, at least you know which areas to for certain materials. If your lvl 80 and you start crafting you go to starter areas, if they scaled then you would get top tier mats.

The current system works, and the proposed system has too many holes and would require to much coding to deal with level of crafter, if person if has crafting profession when scavenging. Too many variables that make it impossible to work.

The problem with Dynamic leveling is it is a one-system-fits-all solution.

I would like to suggest a more versatile solution: increase the amount of embedded higher level optional content (such as dungeon entrances and triggered events) in low level areas and ease off on the Dynamic Scaling.

This would draw experienced players into the region (enabling them to stumble onto on-going events and help lower-level players) while keeping an area (except for a localized, easily avoided event) friendly enough for players who wish less of a ‘challenge’.

Dynamic leveling as the sole solution includes the following assumptions:

1) all players become bored if foes are too easy to beat.
2) all players progress in gameplay ability as they progress through a game.
3) all players want a challenge.

This leaves out a surprisingly large segment of loyal GW1 players. Not a majority, by any means, and not a vocal segment, but a fair number of loyal players. (Okay… so I don’t know that for sure, but I do know that it leaves out me and a number of my friends and family.)

Those left out include:
1) those who are drawn to beautiful graphics and want to wander in an interactive gallery. (Kudos to Arenanet artists!) A relaxing stroll was possible in GW1 by clearing an area or being overpowered. It is impossible to stop and see the scenery in GW2 because foes respawn and are too ‘challenging’ to ignore even in low areas.

(Although I know it isn’t practical, I would gladly use a ‘non-interactive mode’: give up advancements and interacting with nodes, viewpoints, chests, etc to be able to wander as an invulnerable ghost.)

2) those who progressed slowly in gameplay ability. For example: seniors did not grow up gaming and it takes time to figure out all the mechanics. Sometimes things like hand tremors mean some game-skills (like double-clicking for dodge) will never be mastered.

(My 80+ year-old mother has a hand tremor. My 80plus year-old dad has had to make new characters because as his characters level, he just gets killed and can’t do anything. Dynamic scaling is scaling him right out of the game! After 6 years of GW1, I am still working on trying to kite while using skills. We represent a loyal, affluent player base.)

3) And those who sought the low areas of GW1 for the emotional and psycological benefits of power gaming. Having areas that represent little or no challenge can be very important when RL isn’t that great and one needs a boost of self confidence.

Did you know that there are counselors who recommended GW1 to clients?
Did you know people were playing GW1 as therapy for depression?
Did you know people were playing GW1 to help emotionally recover from serious illness?

GW characters always progress. Challenge level in GW1 (and therefore amount of frustration) could be controlled. These aspects meant GW1 could be used as encouragement and to regain a sense of control when RL sucked. (And a powerful avatar whose looks don’t have social ramifications can be a nice break, too.)

My rant/argument:

If you look at GW1’s gaming population, it attracted a larger percentage of older players than most games, a larger porportion of women players and a broader spectrum of players spread across all age groups and social/economic groups. I would venture to suggest they are an even larger porportion of the remaining players in GW1.

While the more typical gaming profile describes people who will play through a game and leave, these less typical gaming groups tend to ‘bond’ with their characters and game environment thereby making them very loyal.

Dynamic leveling, with its one-size-fits-all solution, risks alienating some of the very players that made GW1 so successful.

These are not a vocal segment of players and I question whether they are adequately represented here on the forums. Many are quiet, steady players who find it a challenge to play against low level foes and are embarassed by their play limitations. Because of their self-conciousness, they tend to play solo and do not chat much.

They won’t post on a forum because they are sure that their problems aren’t things other people have to deal with and they don’t want to impose on others. They rarely ask for help and struggle on or simply give up. These are the ‘internet introverts’.

Please, Arenanet, as you look for solutions to the challenges we players give you — Please don’t forget those of us who don’t fit the standard player profile.

Thank you.

Plus what happens if you didn’t craft from level one, or you are behind, but the mats match your level instead of what is required. It wouldn’t work, at least you know which areas to for certain materials. If your lvl 80 and you start crafting you go to starter areas, if they scaled then you would get top tier mats.

I didn’t say that they should replace the low level mats entirely, just that they should replace them some of the time, so that if you harvest every metal node in a starter zone, instead of getting ~40 copper ore, or for that matter 40 mithril+ ore, you’d get something like 25-30 copper ore and 10-25 mithril+ ore too. You would still be able to get a decent amount of the low level mats, and there’s already tons of the stuff in the marketplace. If it lead to any sort of shortage then they could always adjust the drop rates or the crafting costs to compensate, as they’ve already done in the past. Currently they aren’t even worth harvesting in most cases.