Guild Wars 2

So it is all in the title, one thing players expected from gw2 was the downscaling system in open world making going back to low level areas challenging and rewarding. But the problem I remarked is that even while downscaled (to avoid the one hit problem) our players are still wrecking balls. If i play a zerker build I am able to 2-3 shot enemies while being able to eat a lot of attacks, and this problem is also present if higher level areas: with the stats we can achieve through for example exotics most mobs will be literally a faceroll to kill, while we definitely out damage them they don’t seem to be able to retaliate.
I now kind of understand why slaying unworthy enemies while leveling felt a lot better than killing enemies at max level, fighting a bunch of lv 28 centaurs at level 28 with lv 27 greens feels much more engaging than auto attacking undeads , grawls and icebroods to death with a grossly overstatted charracter.
So my point is that anet should rethink the result players can reach when using best in slot gears and also re implement the downscaling system, if they want it to be engaging they need to make going back as an higher level character be about having more tricks up your sleeve, not about brainlessly inflicting affliction, pain and desolation in the enemies troops.

Since there is no real consistency in the difficulty of content that question is unanswerable. It is both yes and no at the same time and depends on build, class, specific event, location on a particular map, etc.

Game isn’t even challenging if you’re a couple levels below the recommended level.

Its because as a real level 27 you have no traits, ascended gear stats to downscale, access to pro consumables, Superior sigils, etc…so the game makes the monsters hard enough to fight people without that. You come in with souped up stats, even downscaled is way more than they can anticipate.

So your saying, Anet should grief the legit new players in these zones so it isnt as easy for you, with your legendary and ascended armor vs little newbies who still have level 5 white gear on at level 30…yea…

Against regular enemies yes you’re going to be a little bit too powerful. But the downscaling is sort of expecting you to be participating in events with other players, in which case it actually works pretty well..

Personally I’m happy with how downscaling is at the moment. You have to remember that not everyone is playing zerker.

JJBigs.8456:

So your saying, Anet should grief the legit new players in these zones so it isnt as easy for you, with your legendary and ascended armor vs little newbies who still have level 5 white gear on at level 30…yea…

Not asking for mobs to be stronger just for me not to bee that tanky / offensive. As you say with my exo and ascended item i completely roll not only through downscalled content but also max level zone (except for some particular champions)
and even group content.

If you want the game to be tougher then you can take armor off and make the game tougher for yourself.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Against regular enemies yes you’re going to be a little bit too powerful. But the downscaling is sort of expecting you to be participating in events with other players, in which case it actually works pretty well..

Personally I’m happy with how downscaling is at the moment. You have to remember that not everyone is playing zerker.

Well it’s also very inconsistent.

I guess it’s a bug but there are many places where you end up several levels above the mobs and some areas where you end up several levels below. Some are transition areas but others are just like that for the whole sector.

I’m with the OP. I don’t feel downscaled enough.

Maybe you’re playing classes which are “upscaled” with every patch, try some of the other not “facerolly” ones

The only problem I see with downscaling is that with all our traits and armor bonuses, we are only downscaled in level, not in gear. This doesn’t make the content “more challenging.” This only makes us receive the same rewards as if we were hitting level appropriate mobs. The big difference is that we can steamroll the lower mobs.

The downscaling isn’t far off what it needs to be. One level 80 character can be 100% stronger than another level 80 through traits, gear, skills, etc, and open world PvE is exactly the place where the downscaling should match the profile of the weaker players (low skill, green equipment). Dungeons are the place where the downscaling should match the profile of some stronger players (experienced, rare equipment). Players with high skill in ascended gear are a number of tiers above all of that and will be able to carve through PvE easily.

Some people seems to think that it is just about the fact that we can destroy enemies while downscaled, but i don’t think it is the only problem if i start playing a really tanky build, I can AFK and make my warrior immortal (even in lv 80 zones), have my enemies kill themselves If they attack my guardian , have my pets kill them if i play a ranger, and this is only if i afk, if i start to play except in really rare case i simply wont die(even while playing zerker).

Teckos.1305:

Some people seems to think that it is just about the fact that we can destroy enemies while downscaled, but i don’t think it is the only problem if i start playing a really tanky build, I can AFK and make my warrior immortal (even in lv 80 zones), have my enemies kill themselves If they attack my guardian , have my pets kill them if i play a ranger, and this is only if i afk, if i start to play except in really rare case i simply wont die(even while playing zerker).

Highlighted your problems, it’s not a downscaling fault, it’s the class balance fault, like i stated earlier in this topic…..

STRanger.5120:

Highlighted your problems, it’s not a downscaling fault, it’s the class balance fault, like i stated earlier in this topic…..

OK i’ll give example with all classes: not about tankiness cause only a few have the ability to kill while afk. But If i play exotic berserker In any downsclalled (implying that my physical health is not threatened) content with:
guardian : I need 2 AA chains with any weapons maximum (maybe 6 AA with staff/scepter).
warrior: AA overkill.
ranger: sword,short/longbows AA.
engineer: bombs, grenades (here #2 and 4), riffle AA.
mesmer: sword AA(which are supposed to hit for really low amounts), gs maybe a zerker then shatter or #2.
elementalist: for staff fire AA, scepter/X fresh air combo, D/X fire/air AA.
necromancer: dagger AA, weel of power if you are this type of guy.
thief: AA to death.

So i don’t really see how it is unmanageable to other than certain class, they all have a really glassy build. But due to the stat advantage they are able to attain while downscalled they will just wreck faced even multiple faces at once.
I don’t feel like writing about condition builds, but just to give an example rampager ranger with traps (yeah i like those) will AA pretty much any mob in downscalled open world content without even feeling threatened (it was my principal solo champ build ).

Teckos.1305:

STRanger.5120:

Highlighted your problems, it’s not a downscaling fault, it’s the class balance fault, like i stated earlier in this topic…..

OK i’ll give example with all classes: not about tankiness cause only a few have the ability to kill while afk. But If i play exotic berserker In any downsclalled (implying that my physical health is not threatened) content with:
guardian : I need 2 AA chains with any weapons maximum (maybe 6 AA with staff/scepter).
warrior: AA overkill.
ranger: sword,short/longbows AA.
engineer: bombs, grenades (here #2 and 4), riffle AA.
mesmer: sword AA(which are supposed to hit for really low amounts), gs maybe a zerker then shatter or #2.
elementalist: for staff fire AA, scepter/X fresh air combo, D/X fire/air AA.
necromancer: dagger AA, weel of power if you are this type of guy.
thief: AA to death.

So i don’t really see how it is unmanageable to other than certain class, they all have a really glassy build. But due to the stat advantage they are able to attain while downscalled they will just wreck faced even multiple faces at once.
I don’t feel like writing about condition builds, but just to give an example rampager ranger with traps (yeah i like those) will AA pretty much any mob in downscalled open world content without even feeling threatened (it was my principal solo champ build ).

Well, you were AFK at first, now you’re using at least AA if you take other classes as well, I guess it can be called a progress
Also, Zerker Ele is really different from Zerker Warrior/Necro/Guardian, because you won’t survive more than a few hits (the higher the level of the zone is, the less you endure), but Warrior can facetank practically anything with his precious signet. And that was kinda my point, actually.
On the other side, I still don’t get where exactly is the problem? Downlevelled character should be stronger than a character which is on par with the zone. Downlevelled character will always have more traitpoints, most probably even skillpoints (skills unlocked) and equipment.
It would feel really weird if the downlevelled character would be weaker/on par with low lvl character imho.

OP, this sounds more like a Suggestion than a Discussion. Wrong forum.

But if you truly want to feel properly downscaled:

Look at the level of the map youre in and work out the average level.
Wear only blue armor of the same level or under.
Use only blue weapons of the same level or under.
Retrain all traits and only spend points up to that level or under.
Only use consumables of that level or under.
Only use skills that could be unlocked by that level or less.

The only real trouble I ever had with on-level stuff was before I learned (and could afford) to update my gear regularly. That said, despite the change to down-leveling, the system still does not adjust a fully-geared-with-exotics-80 down to have the same experience as an on-or-just-below-level character with blue gear. Once I throw on-level green gear onto that on-level character, the experience feels very similar — with maybe one more hit required for the on-level character.

There’s an unfortunate side-effect to the math behind the game. If the game is designed so that characters are expected to face multiple mobs, a single mob cannot represent a challenge to even an average player. If that single mob did represent a challenge, then a group of such mobs would faceroll the player’s character :O.

Since many events in GW2 involve groups of 3 or more mobs at a time, the math behind the challenge level of the game is set for such a group of mobs. Once you throw the variations in player math in, challenge requires even more mobs. Finally, throw in invulnerability frames and highly skilled players are going to find a lack of challenge in most PvE.

Teckos.1305:

So it is all in the title, one thing players expected from gw2 was the downscaling system in open world making going back to low level areas challenging and rewarding. But the problem I remarked is that even while downscaled (to avoid the one hit problem) our players are still wrecking balls. If i play a zerker build I am able to 2-3 shot enemies while being able to eat a lot of attacks, and this problem is also present if higher level areas: with the stats we can achieve through for example exotics most mobs will be literally a faceroll to kill, while we definitely out damage them they don’t seem to be able to retaliate.
I now kind of understand why slaying unworthy enemies while leveling felt a lot better than killing enemies at max level, fighting a bunch of lv 28 centaurs at level 28 with lv 27 greens feels much more engaging than auto attacking undeads , grawls and icebroods to death with a grossly overstatted charracter.
So my point is that anet should rethink the result players can reach when using best in slot gears and also re implement the downscaling system, if they want it to be engaging they need to make going back as an higher level character be about having more tricks up your sleeve, not about brainlessly inflicting affliction, pain and desolation in the enemies troops.

For the target audience, the downlevel system is perfect. It lets you play with lower level friends, while at the same time maintaining a slightly higher threshold of power.

It’s in a good spot imo.