Guild Wars 2

Ryan Diederich.8179:

Hi, thanks for bringing this up.

I’ve looked into the down-scaling calculations and identified the bug that is causing this issue. There’s definitely a lot of stats being lost when scaled down that isn’t intended.

Praise be.

MuteTM.6428:

Ryan Diederich.8179:

Hi, thanks for bringing this up.

I’ve looked into the down-scaling calculations and identified the bug that is causing this issue. There’s definitely a lot of stats being lost when scaled down that isn’t intended.

Thanks for looking into it. Will we see smoothing of the stat increases? The game goes from easy -> difficult -> easy as you progress through the levels, (likely) due to your stats coming in large portions.

There’s an inherent issue with using step-functions for leveling and whole-number stats. That creates breakpoints, i.e. combinations of numbers where “one point less” creates a difference of kind (not just of degree).

I hope that the next iteration of leveling can smooth progress: there shouldn’t be sudden changes in difficult from L20 to L22 or moving from an L5 area of the map to an L7, outside of whatever mechanics are added at each step along the way. Wearing better gear should always be better, too; we shouldn’t have to read the wiki to learn when rare armor isn’t really better than masterwork.

glad to hear that Ryan

So happy to hear this is a bug and not an “intended feature”.

MikaHR.1978:

Errant Venture.9371:

MikaHR.1978:

Tulki.1458:

Tried a little experiment with the new system.

At level 21, in a level 17 zone. I hit level 22 and got +40 to all base attributes. Whoo, now I’m more powerful! This turned out to be about +35ish due to the downscaling but still. More powerful.

Then I hit level 23 in the same area, and lost 8 power and 7 from my other stats. Then I gained another level… and lost 8 power and 7 from the other stats. Wait a minute. What?

With the old system, downscaling made you weaker, but it was gradual as you levelled. With this one, you get a huge spike in stats that makes the game easier, but between these big stat spikes the game difficulty rises quickly. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Going from level 22 to 23 caused me to lose 80 max HP. It’s very weirdly designed. With all the stuff introduced in this patch about introducing new players, this change in particular makes absolutely no sense. The game difficulty wobbles violently from level to level.

Did you experiment with the old system since you have something to compare it to?

What were your stats as lvl 22-23 in lvl 17 zone before change? No? Sheesh.

Yes, it ALSO went down since your gear was worse for your level.

In the old system, downscaling was on the same curve as stat distribution so you actually increased in strength as your level increased. In the current system, base stats are distributed in big “chunks” every few levels, instead of in a steadily increasing curve every level. This means that, due to the down-scaling system not changing to mirror the new stat distribution, you go from being seriously for several levels in between a “stat chunk” being awarded to very, very strong for a single level. Then the cycle repeats.

No you didnt increase in strenght while downscaling. I have 12 lvl 80ies. If you didnt upgrade your gear regularly you were weakling as you lost stats on each level (while dowscaled)

But please, since you have teh numbers show us how your stats behaved from going from lvl 22 to lvl 24 in lvl 17 zone so we can compare it ot now.

While you are correct, the previous effect wasn’t as severe as people are currently reporting.

From example level 22 in level 17 area would lose 1-104/140 = 26% of his stats.

Level 23 in level 17 area would lose 1 – 104/148 = 30% of his stats.

Losing 8 power would mean that his power from gear was about 8 / 4% = 8 / 0.04 = 200. Which is much higher than what you normally have at that point (no trinkets, etc). Also he lost stats from all attributes which can’t be explained by gear.

Resubian.5823:

This new system makes the game feel like an MMO in its early beta stages, not an MMO that has been around for 2 years.

It is like being in a beta. In fact, on 9/9 the game was almost as buggy as it was at launch. And, this game had a LOT of bugs at launch.

crossoverAtt.9680:

It’s not a bug. This became an obvious obstacle the moment they announced their intentions regarding the update. Numerous people cited this as a potential problem in complaint posts leading up to the release. Just as the April trait system makes you weaker each level until you get to the next trait/stat boost, the new leveling system compounds that effect. Add in the natural armor and weapon level progression of new gear every 6-7 levels (rare/masterwork), and you have a very tedious mess that may not have a balance.

The easiest solution is to make monsters between those stat bumps all of equal power. So, all level 52-58 monsters have the same stats and relative difficulty. Actually, due to the numerous armor and weapon combinations the scattered levels at which they exist, you probably would have to make it a 3 level system (52-54 monsters all the same). Power players would be gearing up every 3 levels, instead of every 7.

I had assumed they would do as much with this release, but I haven’t heard anyone mention it. And of course, once you start doing this, why have a level 80 cap at all. The entire game is built on an 80 level system and now they are introducing features that are not entirely compatible with that concept. Questionable decision making to say the least.

Yep, I noticed this as an issue even before the patch. I was hanging onto a weapon for 6+ levels and noticed that I started feeling much weaker as I leveled up.