Guild Wars 2

Isaiah Cartwright:

“We had a few issues with this system that we made adjustments to. When high-level characters played in lower level zones, they were a bit too powerful, so the content was not as challenging as it could be. As a result of this, we also scaled down the rewards a bit too much.

As of the January 28 build, we made some changes to the dynamic scaling system to address these issues:

1.) We changed the formula for how attributes are calculated when the dynamic leveling adjustment system scales you down. This makes returning to lower level zones more fun and better balanced.
2.) We changed the formula for how rewards are calculated when scaled down to make it more rewarding for high-level players to visit lower level areas."

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Bingo! I haven’t tested enough to say it’s perfect or not, but both of those are in the right direction. Thanks.

I disagree.
The reason?
For a Guardian, and probably a Warrior, both of whom haven’t been nuked, I mean nerfed, to death trying to balance PvP & WvW play, have never had much of a challenge in PvE. The professions which have been nerfed to death had such a hard time in PvE, that the new changes make it even harder for them.
I’ve played my Guardian, Mesmer, and Thieves since the changes, and my Guardian can still take on a Champion, and his mobs, while the others can barely handle one or two normal monsters at a time. (fewer than before)

Loving the change.

Warzog.6315:

I’ve played my Guardian, Mesmer, and Thieves since the changes, and my Guardian can still take on a Champion, and his mobs, while the others can barely handle one or two normal monsters at a time. (fewer than before)

Guardians are suppose to be incredibly good at surviving. They’re the “immovable rock” amongst the professions.

As for your Mesmer and Thief, I think you’re just doing something wrong and need more practice dodging and watching for attack cues.

I’m playing my Thief and enjoying it very much. No problems what so ever, even when it comes to veterans. I’d honestly question whether or not there was a change if I weren’t actually finding level80 rares in Caldeon Forest and Queensdale.

More rewarding ? If from lvl 80 maps and dungeons uou only get crap and maybe a green or two what the hell are you going to get from said low lvl areas ? I’ll tell you what…..instead of the usual kitten loot you get the new scaled kitten loot . This is like giving someone for his birthayd a lovely box with all sorts of colors and ribbons and when you open it you realize it’s a box of kittening nothing

Horrorscope.7632:

Isaiah Cartwright:

“We had a few issues with this system that we made adjustments to. When high-level characters played in lower level zones, they were a bit too powerful, so the content was not as challenging as it could be. As a result of this, we also scaled down the rewards a bit too much.

As of the January 28 build, we made some changes to the dynamic scaling system to address these issues:

1.) We changed the formula for how attributes are calculated when the dynamic leveling adjustment system scales you down. This makes returning to lower level zones more fun and better balanced.
2.) We changed the formula for how rewards are calculated when scaled down to make it more rewarding for high-level players to visit lower level areas."

===

Bingo! I haven’t tested enough to say it’s perfect or not, but both of those are in the right direction. Thanks.

This is one recent change that I’m very happy with. I was getting bored to tears doing low level content. But now? Yea, it’s a lot more enjoyable. This and the Orr change have reignited my interest in GW2, just a bit.

I for one disagree with these changes because:
(1) What’s wrong with being more powerful in lower level zones? After putting in the time, effort and money to level my character I feel I deserve to be rewarded by actually BEING more powerful in lower areas.

(2) I believe the game is actually lacking any real incentive to level up and with these new changes what little incentive there may have been is reduced even further. Who really believes that constantly struggling to stay alive in each and every battle is fun and exciting ? I don’t – the reason I look(ed) forward to getting to a higher level is precisely because I would be more powerful and able to cope with those tougher fights a little easier. This change takes that away and makes every map and every level a constant and meaningless struggle.

Now some classes might not have an issue with these changes (guardians and warriors) because they usually have very little challenge in normal PvE anyway, but for light and medium armor classes, who may not be as super-skilled as some players but just average will now find that their misery as feeling under powered already will only be exacerbated by these changes and they’ll need to either work harder at becoming super-skilled or put up with multiple deaths while moving both up and down in the levels – and of course accept the inevitable cost of gear repairs due to death.

I don’t see how anyone can define fun (and certainly not exciting) as being constantly overwhelmed by the game’s content regardless of level.

This is a game .. yes “G A M E” … and as such it needs to reward players for their effort not punish them as this change seems to do for the average player.

Scaling is a great idea if implemented properly and by properly i feel that the scaling should be somewhat proportional to the true level of the player. By that I mean, a true level 20 character and a true level 80 character playing on a level 20 map should NOT be scaled down to the SAME degree. The level 80 SHOULD have an advantage simply because they have already invested a truck load of time and effort into their characters and deserve this reward. The amount of the advantage is debatable, but perhaps something like +25% or even +50% would make playing those areas more satisfying and hence fun.

As for the loot side – I couldn’t care less if the loot scaled or did not scale. Personally I believe that if you’re in a level 20 zone, you get level 20 loot pure and simple.

End of rant!

Warzog.6315:

I disagree.
The reason?
For a Guardian, and probably a Warrior, both of whom haven’t been nuked, I mean nerfed, to death trying to balance PvP & WvW play, have never had much of a challenge in PvE. The professions which have been nerfed to death had such a hard time in PvE, that the new changes make it even harder for them.
I’ve played my Guardian, Mesmer, and Thieves since the changes, and my Guardian can still take on a Champion, and his mobs, while the others can barely handle one or two normal monsters at a time. (fewer than before)

Tend to agree here. I haven’t noticed much on my guardian but my warrior almost died from a 20-something pack that normally wouldn’t have survived a 100b opener. And, yeah, the trailing classes are noticeably just more underpowered now, probably not a good feeling for a hero to have in lower level areas. I liked the dynamic scaling previously and thought they had pretty much arrived at a good balancing (not counting starting areas). The idea of adding level appropriate rewards was good in theory, but working harder for my bones and shattered lockpicks has not been a, well, rewarding experience in conjunction with the new realignment of players and environment. More than anything, it should not have been prioritized ahead of actually balancing the classes (bringing the red-haired stepchildren up to standard) and fixing the glaring problems like culling. Culling, if anything, is far worse in open world PvE after the patch. It might have looked like low-hanging fruit to them but I just take it as a bad design decision.

Xennon.7568:

I for one disagree with these changes because:
(1) What’s wrong with being more powerful in lower level zones? After putting in the time, effort and money to level my character I feel I deserve to be rewarded by actually BEING more powerful in lower area

There’s nothing unusual about your desire and it’s certainly the case in many MMOs. But not this one. And ArenaNet has made no attempt to hide their Dynamic Leveling feature. In fact, that is how they promote it, as a feature.

In this game your reward for leveling up is being able to access more cosmetic options, more gameplay, and more areas of the world to adventure in. Without that, you would be confined to the likes of Queensdale and Metrica Province, simpler event mechanics, and low level outfits, and that would get old fast.

Personally, I love the Dynamic Leveling feature and it is one of the main elements that attracted me to Guild Wars 2. I only wish it did a better job at scaling a level 80 character down to the same level of power as the area you’re in, as I currently feel it’s still far too lenient (even with the recent patch).

I stopped playing SWTOR mainly for one reason: it was impossible for me to enjoy the game’s content to its full extent without out-leveling said content in the process, and I find the act of face-rolling through gray-con mobs (NPCs that are too far below my level to be worth XP) to be completely non-challenging and boring. It tanked my interest in that game. I totally love the fact that I can take my level 80 GW2 character to a zone I’ve never visited, even a low level zone, and find challenging content easily.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with your opinion.. but there are plenty of MMOs that do it the way you prefer, and really only one that doesn’t (GW2), and I prefer it stay as is.

Why not just get rid of Levels?

This isnt a sub based game. its B2p, so no need for useless time sinks like this when the game doesnt even have a sub fee.

make everything the same level, and challenging, and no need for scaling anymore.

Xennon.7568:

I for one disagree with these changes because:
(1) What’s wrong with being more powerful in lower level zones? After putting in the time, effort and money to level my character I feel I deserve to be rewarded by actually BEING more powerful in lower areas.

Picture this:

You go into an event in Queensdale as a level 80, you sneeze, and you kill all of the mobs related to an event before the people who actually require these events for XP get a chance to tag the mobs. Now, if you aren’t the only level 80 there, the people who actually need the events are screwed out of their participation reward. This also goes for if you want to play with a friend who has only just joined, but you don’t want to roll a new character. You can’t join in with the events because you’ll be killing everything before he/she gets a chance.

Also, they’d have to remove level-appropriate drops from the area, since all people will do is use the lower level areas for easy loot.

Hence, down-scaling.

This was a perfectly timed adjustment. A lot of my old guildmates from other games just started playing, and it feels really nice to be able to help them out and still get those sweet 78-80 rares no matter where I am.

Difficulty wise I’m not noticing a lot of difference outside of Orr being extremely easy now, but the loot is most definitely better. I pull in 4-5 L80 rares a day just helping my lowbie friends clear stuff and MFing my greens.

Dynamic Leveling – This has got to be the #1 thing I LIKE about GW2 and something they could license to makers of most games as they all NEED something like this.

Example? Boarderlands2 – similar respawn rates, useless gear, one shot deaths and costs in game ca$h for being ‘revived’. However – try standing in a low level mob after you’ve reached max level – your GOD – you one shot kill anything in your path – fun for a few minutes until the novelty wears off then – boring as heck.

The DLS in this game is making my 100% map completion at least interesting. If anything I’d say they they still don’t go far enough especially in Dungeons.

The NPC’’s labeled “Champion” in this game are not all created equal. (same goes with ‘Veteran’) While there are some that are a bit ‘challenging’ to solo, others have HP pools that require at least 3-4 players to take out no matter what the level.

M