Guild Wars 2

Edge.4180:

When a game is heavily advertised to favor skill over gear, but gear differences are allowing one person to dominate compared to the other, how can you claim “working as intended” when that’s not the advertised intention? And I’m not talking about a case where one character is wearing junk that is not appropriate for his level, but instead about two characters wearing gear appropriate for their level but one of them being so much more powerful because the scaling mechanic that is meant to put them on roughly equal footing is failing to come reasonable close to that.

You seriously believe the skill>gear thing? Like, for real? I’m not sure if you are delusional, naive or just new to MMOs. The only reason people get exotics in the first place is because it matters. Gear will always make a difference if it gives stats. Same with skills. If they don’t make you stronger than those who don’t have them…what’s the point in getting them?

The developers love to discuss how every feature in their game is aimed at making you excited to have other players around (rather than dread their competitive presence). Whether it’s resource node sharing to events scaling according to population, you’re supposed to be happy when another player shows up. But the fun that many associate with challenging gameplay is easily ruined when someone (or a bunch of someones) enters an event and their overpowered nature turns that challenge into a cakewalk. Again, how can you claim “working as intended” when that’s not the advertised intention?

Really? I spent 50% of my time in CF(as a lvl 80 staff ele in full exotics) and till now only got “ty for helping” and a few lowbies asked me if I needed a staff, cause they just dropped a lvl 5 one(that was rly cute xD). Been reading these topics for a few days now and still waiting for someone, anyone, to complain that I ruined their experience(from what I’ve seen MMO players aren’t just too polite or shy to say when smth annoys them).

And, finally, the whole concept of us earning rewards that are appropriate for our actual level (even when we’re playing a max level character in a zone aimed at players half our level) is based on the idea that the precious balance of “risk versus reward” is being maintained. And yet, a max level character can decimate low level content so much more easily than someone of the appropriate level, and yet still earn rewards appropriate for his true level. Do I really need to explain why that’s broken? Because this is basic game balance I would think any MMO player would be familiar with.

I’m still waiting to hear what lvl appropriate rewards does a lvl 80 get in a lvl 1-15 zone. Yall keep talking bout them, yet I never saw a single one….

What exactly are you afraid of here? That you’ll visit a level 20 zone on your level 80 character and find it nearly as challenging as the level 20 players playing around you? I hate to break it to you.. but that’s pretty much how it was supposed to work. And, no, that’s not an opinion. Maybe you’re just not familiar with the design (and that would certainly explain your point of view).

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of. That I spent the last 2 months leveling, unlocking skills, perfecting my build, getting gear and it was all for absolutely nothing. Other questions?

I think you forgot to log into your GW2 team member account before posting.

Two Comments on this:

1. Lower levels are easier than you remember, which makes it seem that scaling isn’t working as well as it is. I Have three level 80s I had been alternating between as I leveled them up. I recently went back and started a couple of alts and couldn’t believe how easy low level encounters are even for low level characters.

Now, I’m not saying that low level players are often going to be able to solo group bosses, (some builds with very careful play may be able to do so), but when lower level encounters are already pretty easy for on level players, there is going to be a limit as to how much a maxed out level 80 can be scaled down.

2. Exotics. If you want more of a challenge doing lower level content, you might want to consider getting a lower power set of gear for your lower level adventures. Perfect area of the game for a high Magic Find, low power set of gear. Lower level gear is pretty cheap and it might actually be fun to test out the scaling system by trying gear from different level ranges.

That said, I don’t completely disagree with the OP. I would actually like a little more down scaling in certain level ranges, coupled with a little higher reward. The ideal would be for the balance to be so perfect that you could earn almost as much per hour doing level 20 content as level 80 content as a level 80 character, because the down scaling difficulty level would be appropriate for those kinds of rewards.

Some sort of optional mechanic might work too. Maybe a toggle for level 80 characters that adjusts their scaling for “expert mode”, making lower level content more challenging due to more severe down scaling, in exchange for better loot rolls and coin drops. Or even a potion that would scale your stats down in exchange for high magic find and monster gold boosts?

TWMagimay.9057:

You seriously believe the skill>gear thing? Like, for real? I’m not sure if you are delusional, naive or just new to MMOs. The only reason people get exotics in the first place is because it matters. Gear will always make a difference if it gives stats. Same with skills. If they don’t make you stronger than those who don’t have them…what’s the point in getting them?

Serious question: where have you been? This is what much of the rage surrounding Ascended gear was about. Yes, I think it’s safe to say that most players bought into the promise of skill mattering more than gear. It’s a philosophy that has its hands in so many different areas of the game for a reason. I’m not sure why you bring up exotics because they’re accessible to everyone at that level and so everyone can be on equal footing (until you factor in personal skill). Where as you can’t claim the same about a high level character in a low level event.

TWMagimay.9057:

Really? I spent 50% of my time in CF(as a lvl 80 staff ele in full exotics) and till now only got “ty for helping” and a few lowbies asked me if I needed a staff, cause they just dropped a lvl 5 one(that was rly cute xD). Been reading these topics for a few days now and still waiting for someone, anyone, to complain that I ruined their experience(from what I’ve seen MMO players aren’t just too polite or shy to say when smth annoys them).

I also don’t think you’re likely to find anyone griping to you in the game that you’re ruining the challenge for them. Most (like myself and my friends) will just complain about the an event being spoiled privately, over voice chat amongst ourselves and leave it at that. I think it’s also safe to say most people would prefer that their character not die when things hit the fan, and so external help (when needed) in that area is always going to feel welcome – but you don’t need to be a max level character swooping in in order to render assistance. It’s like you’re suggesting people are thanking you for attending these lower level events on your maxed out character because it’s a maxed out character, when they’re likely just thanking you for lending a hand regardless of your level.

Believe it or not, some people prefer challenges. It keeps things exciting and prevents them from becoming bored with the game. I stopped playing SWTOR because that need was incompatible with the completionist in me. It put me in a position where I was trying to complete every quest on every planet along my path, but the end result had me always facing grey-con mobs that were too low level for me. I couldn’t even earn XP off of them anymore. And because of the level difference the fights were stupid-easy and boring.

So, GW2’s scaling system is a breath of fresh air. And while I can (and did) take steps to keep myself from feeling overpowered, it only works so far. While leveling my character up in GW2 I only crafted (and wore) gear appropriate for the level of the zone I was in, rather than the level of my character (which always seemed to be ~10 levels ahead of the curve). If I was a level 50 character working on level 40 heart tasks, I only allowed myself to spend trait points that a level 40 character would have rather than all the ones that were available for me. This was stuff I felt I had to do to maintain any semblance of a challenge because the scaling mechanic is just too forgiving.

So, yes, I took steps to help myself, but (again) that doesn’t protect me from players like you. If I’m working really hard on a level 20 character to beat a level 20 challenge and you waltz in half-way through with your level 80 character and turn my little epic battle into a joke of a fight, don’t think for a moment that I’m excited by your arrival. But I will turn to you and say “thanks for the help” all the same because I suspect your intentions, at least, were good. That’s just me being polite. But then I’ll make a point of moving in the opposite direction of you and hope I can get back to having fun.

So some of you want to do dailies in Queensdale because it’s fast and easy but the drops are terrible and you feel overpowered in your god-gear because it’s a starter area. o.O

I say leave downleveling the way it is. For those who want to be in a starter area and still feel challenge than I say go visit the Plains of Ashford and visit the vaults at the Old Duke’s Estate or the Ascalon City Ruins. If you’re real lucky a ghost boss mob will also spawn near the stairs leading to the skill point. Caledon Forest and Metrica Province also have some heavy hitters.

But no, go to Queensdale and then complain that it’s too easy and the drops are bad. Snicker.

Due to the inflammatory tone of this thread, it will be closed. Please keep in mind that if you want to discuss issues on our forums, you have to do it in a constructive way.