Guild Wars 2

Anet should increase the quality of loot. If they are going the make downscaled areas harder.

So, I made a level 1 Elementalist to do a simple test. Go out of Queensdale and start killing mobs. I’m level 7 at the moment and I’m using mostly the starter gear, without head gear (I transmuted the skin on another char), without shoulders. I think I have a blue chest armor and nothing else, obviously no traits and just a single utility skill.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised that it takes this character faaaaaar less time to kill mobs of the same level than any of my level 80 take to kill mobs in Orr… I don’t see an issue with those low level mobs being easy to kill, they are already easy to kill for low level characters, keep in mind that at low levels people are still training, they are not masters of the game mechanics, especially if it’s their first character.

So all the suggestions about making content harder are from people who actually want content to be a lot harder for a level 80 than for a level 1? How would that make any sense? My level 7 kills level 7 mobs almost as fast as my level 80, there is no challenge for me (but those without experience will have trouble). Maybe they should normalize difficulty for mobs at level 30 and up, maybe it was a huge mistake to make mobs at levels 1-30 offer level 80 drops.
Remember when the game was released there was a cap in the game, you couldn’t NOT get level 80 gear/rewards from killing very low level mobs, maybe they should revert that, and also make even daily achievements work only on “relevant” mobs (30+ for level 80s) and not for everywhere. That way you can keep the game hard, as hard as it is at level 80, but at the same time give new players the chance of learning the game mechanics first, as the first levels 1-30 could be used as a tutorial of shorts.

maddoctor.2738:

So, I made a level 1 Elementalist to do a simple test. Go out of Queensdale and start killing mobs. I’m level 7 at the moment and I’m using mostly the starter gear, without head gear (I transmuted the skin on another char), without shoulders. I think I have a blue chest armor and nothing else, obviously no traits and just a single utility skill.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised that it takes this character faaaaaar less time to kill mobs of the same level than any of my level 80 take to kill mobs in Orr… I don’t see an issue with those low level mobs being easy to kill, they are already easy to kill for low level characters, keep in mind that at low levels people are still training, they are not masters of the game mechanics, especially if it’s their first character.

So all the suggestions about making content harder are from people who actually want content to be a lot harder for a level 80 than for a level 1? How would that make any sense? My level 7 kills level 7 mobs almost as fast as my level 80, there is no challenge for me (but those without experience will have trouble). Maybe they should normalize difficulty for mobs at level 30 and up, maybe it was a huge mistake to make mobs at levels 1-30 offer level 80 drops.
Remember when the game was released there was a cap in the game, you couldn’t NOT get level 80 gear/rewards from killing very low level mobs, maybe they should revert that, and also make even daily achievements work only on “relevant” mobs (30+ for level 80s) and not for everywhere. That way you can keep the game hard, as hard as it is at level 80, but at the same time give new players the chance of learning the game mechanics first, as the first levels 1-30 could be used as a tutorial of shorts.

Levels are only for traits, armor and to help guide players through zones in this game.

I like obtaining high level items in low level zones. This encourages players to revisit those zones. Also why should a the whole game Ever become obsolete? Anet wants zones to evolve over time.

Onshidesigns.1069:

I like obtaining high level items in low level zones. This encourages players to revisit those zones. Also why should a the whole game Ever become obsolete? Anet wants zone to evolve over time.

I have no issue with getting high levels in low level zones, no zone should ever become obsolete, but that goes against the “the whole game should be hard” which was the whole point of my post. You can’t have everything on the same difficulty level as Orr for a level 80, it will be extremely hard for new players.

And I gave an example that is very easy to confirm, get a level 1 character and see how stupidly easy it is to kill level 1 mobs, it’s seriously faster than a level 80 killing level 80 mobs, and that’s to be expected of course, it’s the “tutorial” up to to around level 30.

Why has no one mentioned the Krait? If you did, sorry I missed it. Waiting for Teq to spawn, I’ve never seen so many dead downscaled 80s as what the Krait can manage. What’s the point? Well, I guess watch what you ask for as they might over do it just a tad.

Use weaker armor/weapons or fight naked.

There have been topics in the past about difficulty downscaling and leveling speed.

I think the thing the OP isn’t considering is that, regardless of what level you are, the low level content is simply easy. Even on on-level character will quickly mop up foes in seconds. Much less if they wear the best appropriate gear for their level.

That probably isn’t the issue though. Difficulty shifts seem right for the open world content. You go to Queensdale to, just about, own the zone, vets and champs alike. You want your foes with a bit more substance, pick a lvl 30 area…still easy to kill but harder to survive….so on until you get to Orr which should have the most difficult open world events.

I think what might be the issue though is leveling speed…or the effect of it. Once one reaches max level and starts collecting rare and exotic equipment, most of the earlier content gets dramatically easier and the challenge to be had is lessened since you cannot tackle foes higher than you without a trip to Cursed Shore.

I didn’t read all the conclusions for the threads made on the subject, but the one I created, I believe the conclusion we came to was to allow you control of your effective level. Currently, content simply is equal to your effective level -1 but if you could boost the content to +3 or 4 of your effective level, more challenge could be had without directly nerfing you.

Although I can also see the point that how downscaling is determined could be looked into again..

You can’t really make it even for the higher levels without taking their talents and utility/elite slots which I don’t think they should do because it’d throw off your game, but it certainly feels like the actual stat downscaling is way to lenient.

I offer you a challenge… try Kessex Hills on your full Exotics level 80 character, and solo the underwater Blood Witch. Since you are so “powerful”, feel free to “faceroll” her at your leisure (no offense intended, and just so you see that you are making a very wide generalization.) Or solo the Blood Witch at the Hylek village, Caledon Forest (a tad easier, but an enormous challenge, probably even as a Guardian.)

To be honest, I like it as-is, as some bosses can still give you trouble (some are easy, of course.) You can still party with low level friends and feel useful, without feeling THAT powerful (the higher the level of the zones, the less likely you are to one-shot stuff.) They even toned it down a little, as down-leveled characters were more powerful than they are right now.

Funset.7893:

Killing a level 14-16 creatures on a level 14-16 toon does not take any longer.

Mungrul.9358:

I’d like the game to be just as difficult in Queensdale as it is for the same character in Orr.

You mean, a content designed for players that do not have all their skills yet unlocked, nor their traits (and probably newcomers), should have the same difficulty as Orr? What?

Hes talking about downscaled, as in a lvl 80 player should have a similar challenge in Orr and queensdale alike. Obviously some differences like mob density and map structure would make it alot easier to traverse, yet the OP wants a fight to still be a good fight.

Did you just not read the topic title or something?

I find that downscaling is exactly how it was designed for and shouldn’t be changed. It puts the player level at the content level, but doesn’t change the fact that speced players at max have more stat power behind them as well as more through gear.

It’s still a far, far greater system than other games like WoW where your level is consistent throughout and basically makes old world content obsolete 100% of the time. Even quests 5 level below you are obsolete in that game…that sucked because I had many dozens in my log that were out-leveled.

looking for challenge in AI in low lvl areas????

dafq go play WvW, pvp, high lvl fractals with non exp players, dungeons with non exp players if you want challenge

You want the game to be harder for downscaled characters… fine.

Please detail how you’d do this without screwing up the difficulty levels of Guild Bounties, Guild Challenges and Dungeons, all of which were designed to be hard with the current downscaling system. Or how you’d do it so a level 80 downscaled character can actually be useful during events compared to a level 5 character, when the events are balanced around the level 5 character, if the level 80 character is supposed to have a harder time.

It’s fine if a level 80 character works out being equal to the level they’re downscaled to, but ultimately the issue is that the zone was designed to be a certain level of difficulty, and making characters weaker than the appropriate level means they can’t contribute as effectively to content that they, by their presence, are scaling up (making the game harder for everyone, including the low-level players the content is designed for).

If you want harder downscaled content downgrade your exotics to blues since that is what the content is balanced around.

He’s the real question. Why are you doing down scaled content if it is too easy for you?

danbuter.2314:

Or maybe there’s nothing wrong with the current situation. You guys might want to consider adventuring in Orr or other level 80 areas. Oh wait, that would be too hard!

LOL—That was the perfect as well as only answer.

low level zones are meant to be easy so new players can actually get used to the game and its mechanics.

they can only do it so much but if you full exotics, using +200 power food, + 10 percent dmg vs ghosts food, full traits, pro tactics as a level 80 would, theres no reason level 1-30’s etc should have to go through all that.

try doing low areas without traits, without exotics, without nourshiment and while “forgetting” to dodge alot.

downscaled characters are much too strong!

I agree with the overall sentiment that downscaled level 80s are so powerful that it removes the fun. When I go back and do lower level content, I faceroll through it on my engineer. Autoattack and the #2 skill over and over and over. No need for utilities. No need for heals. No need for anything but #2.

Tab → 2.

That’s all I have to press in lower level zones.

There are definitely some things that are odd about downscaling. As a for instance, my berserker ax warrior, 2300+ power, using ax, can kill a level 80 mob in Orr with 5-6 hits, and an on-my-downscaled-level mob in Queensdale with 2-3 hits. My Carrion geared Engineer, ~1750 Power and using flamethrower, needs to use Flame Blast, then auto-attack through 7-8 maintains to kill a level 80 mob, but Flame Blast one-shots an on-downscaled-level mob in Queensdale.

They might as well just have not implemented the scaling system. It doesn’t do any good and is taking up Anet’s valuable time when they could be producing meaningful content for once.

Hmm…I understand your point, OP. Downscaled characters are certainly very powerful and they get more so the lower the zone level. I’m just not sure I want that changed. Depending on what kind of day I’ve had, I can find the total obliteration of scrubs somewhat cathartic. Plus, it’s a significant reminder that yes, my character has actually become much more powerful since she was struggling her way past those bandits…er, actually…let’s go with centaurs. And if I’m not in that mood but I have a need to be in the low level zone anyway, I just madly overaggro everything in sight (except bandits).

If I am reading the comments correctly, much of the sentiment is “for a level 80, I would like Queensdale to be just as challenging as Orr.” In other words, when we downscale to an area, it should be as if we were still in an 80 area…just has a different name and appearance. Perhaps I am misreading…but that is what I am getting out of many of these posts.

So, my own personal response is…not really. I spend a bit of time in Orr and really enjoy it (die a lot…but still fun)…there is no question that it is challenging for me as a solo player. But sometimes I like to go back into lower areas. Sometimes to uncover parts of the map; sometimes in pursuit of daily achievements; sometimes to help my wife with parts that she is struggling with. I personally would prefer that this be a little less intense for me than trying to plug through Orr.

In other MMOs that I have played, there is no downscaling (although I am sure there is downscaling in some others…I just haven’t seen it before). And yes, going back into Teldrasill as a level 90 in WoW is a bit overkill. I would hope there could be some middle ground. Downscaling to make it a bit more relevant but not so brutal as to make every single zone the constant high intensity combat – constant threat of death experience. overall, I am okay with what is in place now, although it seems clear that I am in the minority, at least in this thread.

Mencius.7180:

In this post I am referring to “downscaled” content which I have experienced as a level 80 character. Simply put, I find it trivial. While fighting in an area with level 14 – 16 creatures I timed how long it took me to kill things and I found that it was consistently <2 seconds. To me that meets the description of trivial.

- Don’t worry. They’re just about to release Ascended weapons which will trivialize even more content. Content trivialization will continue after that in the form of Ascended armor.

But what gear level should their downscale be based upon?

• If they downscale so that level 80 players with rares experience challenging content, then those with exotics will find it too easy.

• If they downscale so that players with exotics experience challenging content, then those with fully Ascended gear (future) will find it too easy.

• If they downscale so that players with Ascended gear (future) experience challenging content then all our fears about gear treadmill will have come true.

Ideally, Anet should have used the model from GW1 (Factions and on) where pretty much all content was max level (with much lower max level). But players wouldn’t have accepted that (look at all the people who want Anet to raise the level cap lol).