Guild Wars 2

So they changed the formula for downscaling apparently. Has anyone found the increase in difficulty unusually tough? I took my L80 Engie back to Fireheart Rise to finish off the map and instead the mobs were finishing me. I couldn’t even get close to finishing some of the skill challenges and even small mobs were wiping me. I’ve never had that problem before and could usually solo this stuff.

It’s def tougher. I haven’t had it too bad yet but I def can’t run through the lower areas like I used to.

So it was too easy, faceroll, pointless etc. so far, now its too heavy and should we expect flood of co,plaints about how its too heavy? People complained its easy and not challanging, now they will complain its too hard…but really? This just goes as proof that taking forum complainers seriously is nothing but stupid and pointless.

Defnitely more challenging, although I don’t think it’s that pleasant to get killed by a level 16 veteran, being an actual level 80.
To make things fair they should also scale repair costs according to the level you were when KO’d.

The day before the patch I was playing on a lowbie warrior in metrica.

A warrior in AC gear came flying into my zone 3-shotting STRUCTURES.

From then on I got, at best, silver in all events until the guy left.

Yes, this was a necessary change.

I’ve heard of a few strange things happening at lower levels that might need a look, but it was definitely necessary.

kRiza krimos.1637:

So it was too easy, faceroll, pointless etc. so far, now its too heavy and should we expect flood of co,plaints about how its too heavy? People complained its easy and not challanging, now they will complain its too hard…but really? This just goes as proof that taking forum complainers seriously is nothing but stupid and pointless.

Great contribution. Due to the fact that the OP was hardly “trolling” or “ranting” about the subject your post is completely unwarranted. If, by your logic, people are not even capable of discussing mechanics at all without some useless opinion maybe they should just do away with the forums all together!

If anything, the only post so far in this thread that is even close to supporting the logic behind your post is yours.

Please stop, just stop.. srs.

I know it was too easy before. I know it needed a tweak. I’m not saying put it back the way it was. But when a L80 in full exotics gets killed by two L67 imps there’s something wrong. I couldn’t even get them down to half health before being downed. I tried twice. With the zone empty and it being this hard to solo I’m going to have to give it a miss and do something/somewhere else.

I’ve gone in to lower areas with my warrior, while some areas are just as easy, some areas have been tougher. Easy was when I went to lvl 1-15 zone, tougher than normal was when I was fighting lvl 53 jotuns who would not go down as quick as they used to.

I got down-leveled in an 80 zone, and I’m 80. And I got the crap kicked out of me by another 80 who was orange because I was down-leveled. Make sense?

jamesg.7128:

I know it was too easy before. I know it needed a tweak. I’m not saying put it back the way it was. But when a L80 in full exotics gets killed by two L67 imps there’s something wrong. I couldn’t even get them down to half health before being downed. I tried twice. With the zone empty and it being this hard to solo I’m going to have to give it a miss and do something/somewhere else.

In scalings defense, imps have always been a pain. They could easily chew through most characters before. You will have to play really smart to beat them/avoid their damage. Reflection abilities work here. I would try to fight a few other monsters before you give up.

Still pretty faceroll to me.

And yes, imps have always hurt like hell.

Yeah i still face role lower level stuff

Actually, They made the monsters a bit harder to kill but NOT by that much.
If anything, the fights just seem to last longer in my opinion. (Which I like)

If you are dying too fast and your lvl80 in a down scale zone, then there is something wrong with you. You need to learn to MOVE and DODGE.

I see to many people standing still and spamming their Skills without moving.
Yes you’ll die as a result.

If you guys check out my Thread regarding “GW2’s Combat system 101”
You wouldn’t be having this issue. That’s why I wrote the guide in the 1st place, to help people improve to not have these troubles all the time.

Anyways, I like this new build much better. Hopefully it teaches people to learn Not to rely on Armor and be more skill dependent and move more offten to avoid death.

Take care.

Well, I’m still one or two-shotting creatures in starter areas, effectively making them uninteresting.

I agree with Tauril. It’s totally uninteresting. Discovering things feels unrewarding and in the end I just walk through areas without a tactic, two-shotting everything (ele lvl 80).
I can fight up to 5 mons and more without breaking a sweat.

I don’t really get this point of view that we should be as wimpy as a lvl 15 in a lvl 15 zone. I’m a lvl 80 with full blown exotic armor, exotic gems, exotic weapons of rare magic in this world… why would I want to have difficulty killing a lvl 6 bandit. It’s fine that in higher lvl zones, which should be my zones, it’s difficult, but going into level 1-40 zones, I do expect to faceroll enemies. If I don’t, where is the progression of power in my character ?

I for one like it, it fits with my character’s looks that I own low lvl monsters, and it’s relaxing playing those zones. And there are still some champions or packs of event bosses in some zones that can give you a hard time, so I think it’s well balanced out. When I want more challenge, I run dungeons, do Orr zones, fractals, wvw, the end-game stuff.

The only thing with downscaling that bugs me is that we pay level 80 repair bills when out effective stats are dropped down to whatever zone we are in. Shouldnt repair costs go down aswell?

Oh and travel costs should be zone specific.

This also looks a bit like the story missions at low levels… you run with Rytlock, Eir, Caithe or Warmaster Forgal for crap missions, they die so easily… But they should be these powerful characters renowned through the land for almost killing a dragon… what the hell! They should be standing behind giving you orders or judging your abilities, then faceroll the low level mobs when kitten gets rough with those special skills that makes them so renowned!

its all fine and good they made it harder for lvl 80 in lower lvl zones by uping the mobs, but for my lower lvl as a result some of these events are un soloable wen it was not the case before the patch (i.e. kessex hill: event telling u to kill 3 amni lt. this area is now full of centuars and bandits along with a crap ton of bandit canons and trebs… why are there bandits in an amni camp?)…. anywayz they made it harder for our lvl 80s but kittened our lower lvls.

I don’t feel it’s rewarding playing in Lower Level zones. There is just no good rewards, not by events, not by drops, not by chests. This will not work in make people go explore the low level zones.

Give us an POINT to go there in first place and I will be more than happy to do so

Actually, I really like the new downscaling changes. It’s difficult enough to not make you yawn, but it still is pretty clear you’re more powerful than your downscaled level.

I can play the game with my boyfriend at all levels and not feel like he can’t hit anything, like last time. Before I would kill things before he even had a chance to tag them.

I really like how the rewards are always for your level now, I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time.

That is one of the biggest reasons why I love Guild Wars. Your level is honestly irrelevant, you don’t completely make all of the content obsolete just because you’re at max level.

I do realize that a lot of people prefer to feel strong and want to destroy everything, but there are plenty of other games that achieve that result. You can’t complain about something in Guild Wars 2 when it was heavily advertised before the game was even sold.

I agree with Nitram. If I want a challenge, I’ll be in level appropriate zones. If I’m in a low level zone, I expect to basically steam-roller whatever’s coming my way. My character is a hero, not some mutton-eating rube that just rolled off the cart, grabbed a pitchfork and started stabbing things with it.

That said, I’m still basically two-shotting things, but I found it a bit odd that creatures in Field of Ruin are hitting my tanking Guardian with a 30 valor/30 honor/10 virtues build harder than the zombie hookers in Orr. I think it’s fair to say the change is the right one, but needs to be adjusted a little more.

I’d be kind of cool with the agro dropping way down when my 80 is in a lower level zone. If I’m a 6th level bandit and I see Judge Dredd with a stick coming at me, I’m going to go find my little level 6 hideout and wait for better weather. It’s just annoying to have to fight EVERYTHING in the zone just like I was a lowbie. Pappa Death should be given some slack for slumming.

I have returned to some low level zones and I still think it’s too faceroll, I wouldn’t mind a slightly nerf in stats again.

When does this increase in difficulty from the change start? What level range/map? I haven’t actually experienced any change but I’ve been leveling my glass cannon elementalist(lv56) before and after the update. I can’t imagine any situation where my elementalist would handle by my more defensive warrior(lv80) can not.

That is both ends of the extremes so maybe there are issues in the middle.

Edit: Actually I CAN imagine one situation.
Attempting to solo the Ascalonian Settlement event in Gendarran Fields. My warrior doesn’t have enough DPS to deal with the centaur spawn rate. My elementalist barely has enough but this has been the case before the patch as well.

Downleveled still seems pretty easy to me, regardless of whether its my lvl 80 or my lvl 17 being downleveled. I can die, but not easily.

I’m okay with the difficulty, but the rewards are still way too low. The costs for waypointing and repairs are incredibly expensive compared to the rewards you get. I think this will cause higher level characters to eventually avoid those areas even more than before.

They should also scale waypoints cost in those low level areas.

SneakyErvin.3056:

The only thing with downscaling that bugs me is that we pay level 80 repair bills when out effective stats are dropped down to whatever zone we are in. Shouldnt repair costs go down aswell?

Oh and travel costs should be zone specific.

very good point. i agree that if you are downleveled to 15 then your repair and travel cost should reflect that of a 15. or at least for the waypoints they could split the difference and make the cost midway between your effective and your actual level. so if you’re an 80 in a 10 area you’d pay like a 35, etc.

Ive found a problem with the scaling especially in wayfarer foothills not because of the new event but because of maw there is tons of lvl80s just camping there the whole day doing maw over and over.

Now that in itself is not a problem what causes a problem is that people actually of the level for the zone can barely get even a bronze award. Ive tested it on some of my lower level caracters. Lets take the shaman part of the event where you have to kill the 3 shamans because of scaling more damage needs to be done to kill these guys now this also increases the amount of damage each person must do to the mob for it to count and this is where the problem lies.

My poor low level damage output is just not enough to keep up with the level 80s in the zone hench i dont even get a bronze sometimes.

I like the change. Not really anything else to say.

Eh, I didn’t mind things not being very challenging if I returned to lower level areas in the game. Sometimes I just want to feel like a complete powerhouse and slay everything in front of me without even trying, or I just want to get my daily done in a hurry, so two hitting everything worked just fine for that.

That’s just my two euro-cents of course.

Hermes.7014:

Defnitely more challenging, although I don’t think it’s that pleasant to get killed by a level 16 veteran, being an actual level 80.
To make things fair they should also scale repair costs according to the level you were when KO’d.

If people can’t kill a lvl 16 veteran, THEY have a problem, not the game.

- People want to be challenged
- People want to faceroll
- People want achievement goals to work towards
- People hate being “forced” to do things to achieve something

It’s not easy being a developer

I really don’t see a difference in the 1-15 areas, above that it gets a little more difficult with each level.

DreamyAbaddon.3265:

Actually, They made the monsters a bit harder to kill but NOT by that much.
If anything, the fights just seem to last longer in my opinion. (Which I like)

If you are dying too fast and your lvl80 in a down scale zone, then there is something wrong with you. You need to learn to MOVE and DODGE.

I see to many people standing still and spamming their Skills without moving.
Yes you’ll die as a result.

If you guys check out my Thread regarding “GW2’s Combat system 101”
You wouldn’t be having this issue. That’s why I wrote the guide in the 1st place, to help people improve to not have these troubles all the time.

Anyways, I like this new build much better. Hopefully it teaches people to learn Not to rely on Armor and be more skill dependent and move more offten to avoid death.

Take care.

I’m pretty sure a guy who managed to get his Engineer to level 80 and decked out in exotics learned to dodge and move. Unless he leveled by crafting. As it was… I was an expert dodger by the time I got my engineer to level 30… as most fights with just a regular group of mobs could easily last into the 2-3 minute range.

jobah.7241:

Hermes.7014:

Defnitely more challenging, although I don’t think it’s that pleasant to get killed by a level 16 veteran, being an actual level 80.
To make things fair they should also scale repair costs according to the level you were when KO’d.

If people can’t kill a lvl 16 veteran, THEY have a problem, not the game.

- People want to be challenged
- People want to faceroll
- People want achievement goals to work towards
- People hate being “forced” to do things to achieve something

It’s not easy being a developer

There have been times even before any of these changes that I would go back to a place I had spent some time in while levelling, and found it harder than it had been when I was level appropriate. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still the case that some conditions (in the literal sense, not the game one) scaled strangely, nor that it might be more pronounced now than it was before.

Some particular skills/traits as well, like the warrior’s healing reacts weirdly. I could have a build that I was using to fight blobs of enemies in Orr, then go back to a lower level area and suddenly I’m being annihilated… until I swap out healing surge for the signet, which would have been a terrible idea when not scaled.

Yes, scaling was one area where I gave Anet credit for nailing it. That said, it’s come unhinged in the last patch. Scaling for a level 80 has gone too far the other way. What’s maddening about it is that it needed no change. There are stability and balance issues that are glaring in their obviousity and they remain unaddressed. The dailies are fine so they address them as well.

And, it’s not just in scaling either, but level specific difficulty. I have 7 level 80 characters and have played the same areas numerous times. I’m currently leveling a character through Bloodtide and the mobs are much more difficult than they were previously. Difficulty and scaling, things that were fine, are no longer fine. They’ve improved it worse.

This can’t possibly be a simple task for the devs and there’s just no way to expect them to have nailed it on the first, second, or even third try. Since everyone has there own level of compentency the devs will continue to have difficulty adjusting the ratio’s involved in order to find that happy medium. Give them time, as long as they continue to try, and give them feedback…eventually it should feel just about right no matter who you are.

Having said that, I still find it way too easy no matter what level I downscale to. But that’s just me and I wouldn’t expect everyone to feel the same about it. Personal experience, skill, talent, etc…will have a huge impact on how this system feels to any specific person.

Nitram.7836:

This also looks a bit like the story missions at low levels… you run with Rytlock, Eir, Caithe or Warmaster Forgal for crap missions, they die so easily… But they should be these powerful characters renowned through the land for almost killing a dragon… what the hell! They should be standing behind giving you orders or judging your abilities, then faceroll the low level mobs when kitten gets rough with those special skills that makes them so renowned!

They die easy because they’re scrubs! Jk, but then again…you even say they almost downed a dragon…spoiler ahead When clearly we did so with ease. We did with a couple of peons in a very short time what the entire Dwarf race has failed to do for 250years

I haven’t really noticed any difference to be honest.

Hermes.7014:

To make things fair they should also scale repair costs according to the level you were when KO’d.

havoc.6814:

The costs for waypointing and repairs are incredibly expensive compared to the rewards you get. I think this will cause higher level characters to eventually avoid those areas even more than before.

I think it’s funny that some people are trying to relate this to being a reason to reduce gold-sink costs.

I have had no problems in the past week post-patch.

I’m playing my 70+ Thief in Caledon Forest while waiting for my TA group to fill, and I think the difficult increase was exactly what’s needed.
The difference is subtle, but I am finding it a little bit more engaging now, and I like it.

—

If you’re dying enough that repairs or waypoint costs are a concern, it just means you (or your gear) sucks.

Practice or update your gear. Neither of which are hard to do.

If you have time for either option, then you should focus on that super complicated life that’s keeping you so busy. Priorities!

Akari Storm.6809:

They die easy because they’re scrubs! Jk, but then again…you even say they almost downed a dragon…spoiler ahead When clearly we did so with ease. We did with a couple of peons in a very short time what the entire Dwarf race has failed to do for 250years

I would prefer it be too hard than too easily like it was. Before it was getting boring. You think “Oh, being uber is so much fun!”. No, no it’s not. >_> Eventually it just becomes an endless grind of hitting the same key over and over without a care in the world as to whether you get hit by the mobs or not. Why care, since you won’t die either way?

So I personally like the change, but that’s just my personal opinion.

jamesg.7128:

So they changed the formula for downscaling apparently. Has anyone found the increase in difficulty unusually tough? I took my L80 Engie back to Fireheart Rise to finish off the map and instead the mobs were finishing me. I couldn’t even get close to finishing some of the skill challenges and even small mobs were wiping me. I’ve never had that problem before and could usually solo this stuff.

Anytime an mmo tries to fix something, they make it worse. where I haven’t been to a lower level area, I can say Orr has been dumbed down and boring.