Guild Wars 2

I have no problem with bosses getting stronger based on player amount and player skill/gear. This was advertised repeatedly and is a very nice thing.

Upscaling of events – Fantastic. I like to see things stay difficult and like to see events work well.

Downscaling of the player further than we already are is my problem.

Events should stay challenging, especially bosses.

It comes down to letting the player feel they have been rewarded at least slightly for their effort while still keeping things challenging and making sure you don’t -need- a zerg for most things. I like the thought that skill can overcome zergs.

However, personal downscaling being tougher than it is would cause an increased incentive to create zergs. Currently, things get more difficult in higher level zones. thats how it should be because the rewards are greater and the rewards should stay greater. The drop rate of lvl 80 stuff in low level zones encourages people to explore them. If the event is scaled up properly (rather than player scaled down), then we won’t be 1 shotting mobs or stealing kills.

Zergs are not the equivalent of teams, they are blindly hacking away and simply overpower the events by using numbers.

In other words, yes.. it makes more sense to fix the problem at the source (events scaling) rather than put a bandaid on it (nerfing people who put hard work into the game).

There are two ways to solve the issue and events are the place to do it.

Several things recently introduced already provided incentive to zerg, and we see them constantly now. I knew this would happen, and due to the way it has been done the events provide -less- of a challenge. Its elementary: Edit the player: Zerg up. Edit the event: Zerg down.

Sahfur.5612:

However, personal downscaling being tougher than it is would cause an increased incentive to create zergs. Currently, things get more difficult in higher level zones. thats how it should be because the rewards are greater and the rewards should stay greater. The drop rate of lvl 80 stuff in low level zones encourages people to explore them. If the event is scaled up properly (rather than player scaled down), then we won’t be 1 shotting mobs or stealing kills.

You’re forgetting all those people who are at the area at the “intended” level – if you upscale the event so that all those 80 exotic people have a challenge you make it unplayable for those who are at the regular level in the armour their level allows.

…No I’m -not-, it uses the modifier “dynamic” for a reason. If the level 80/zerg isn’t there, the event doesn’t scale up so high.

While I really welcome the changes to the dynamic leveling system, I can’t seem to find a real evidence of those changes either.
I don’t have an exact comparison, but I have the feeling that I’m still killing mobs far too easily with my lvl 80 guardian (who isn’t solely skilled on damage at all) in low level areas.
A friend of mine who’s playing an elementalist is reporting the same.

I really love the low-level areas and if the downscaling gets refined a bit more, this would really put the fun back into those areas!

I’d rather them change it back or leave it alone. If it changes much further no one will ever go to a lower level zone again. Why take the same time to kill a level one when you can kill a level 80 and get better stuff. Yeah I feel I should be way more powerful at 80 then the level 15 beside me…….

Reaver.9256 you have a point there.
Of course it shouldn’t take you the same time to kill a lvl 5 enemy as it takes to kill one undead in orr. However, one- or two-hitting enemies just feels like brainlessly rushing through and isn’t entertaining for me personally.

I did some more testing and it seems that areas starting around level 15 got a bit better. Seems like the downscaling needs to be tweaked especially below that cap a bit further.

I’m on my level 7 as we speak 2 hitting everything in the level 1-7 area I’m at. The scaling seems pretty on to me. Even not scaled players in the starting zones 2 hit everything. I should never be as weak on my level 80 as I am on my level 7.

Mahe.7321:

Reaver.9256 you have a point there.
Of course it shouldn’t take you the same time to kill a lvl 5 enemy as it takes to kill one undead in orr. However, one- or two-hitting enemies just feels like brainlessly rushing through and isn’t entertaining for me personally.

I did some more testing and it seems that areas starting around level 15 got a bit better. Seems like the downscaling needs to be tweaked especially below that cap a bit further.

The lv1-15 zones should be left alone. They are basically the game’s tutorial. Learning curve shouldn’t start with a vertical cliff.

It would be nice if the scaling can be set different for a lv80 vs someone in the range listed for the zone. Even better would be if each person can set their own scaling, a bit like fractals applied to the open world(and like fractals higher scale = higher loot multiplier). It would be a way to implement the equivalent of hard mode.

What I tried to express has been posted already:

the whole game is endgame, I should be able to play with my friends and still feel as playing the game and not afk-shooting everything.

and

High level characters can still rip through enemies before level appropriate characters even have a chance to land a hit on them for kill credit.

I think they’re heading into the right direction with the changes. Which got me back into the game after all :)

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

from the update notes: [spoiler=Notes]Dynamic Leveling

Attribute calculations for dynamic level scaling have been rebalanced. In general, this means weaker when adjusted down, stronger when adjusted up. Rewards when adjusted down have been increased to compensate. It is now possible to receive your own level of loot from any level of enemy.[/spoiler]

I don’t think it’s working, I still 2-Shot a lot of low enemies as lv.80. No challenge against Veterans and Champions on lower levels either. Tequatl as lv.80 is more than trivial, stand in front of him and spam 1 without any fear of losing health.

If you want challenge go to Orr, these areas are designed to introduced new players to the game, these new players dont have all the skills unlocked or have not mastered the combos or have not unlocked all the weapons skill yet. So please there are more urging matters for A-Net than to focus on your complaint about how easy these areas or how downscaling is not working, again go to Orr and see wwhat happens or go and fight Karkas so you can prove you are a worthy challenge.

ThatOneArtistGamer.2914:

I have yet to see a valid argument on why skill potency has been diminished outside of personal preference, only evidence to support scaling down in general- which is a fine idea in and of itself. However, this is a very specific, very legitimate complaint to a system that provides less reward and weakens your abilities for exploration to lower zones.

This change is one element of the “Oblivion” effect- where just about any encounter feels roughly the same. You never truly feel a form of progression, because the game constantly makes an effort to eliminate any sense of it. A battle with a goblin will feel the same as one with an end-game demon- and so on. There are technically tougher enemies in later areas of the game, yes, but the area in which they feel different is slowly getting thinner and thinner. Essentially, you will be fighting the “same fight” time and time again- and all that will be different is the model and color palette.

I’m not saying there are zero benefits to a system SIMILAR to this with more refined tuning, but if this type of progression continues, the scenario I just described will be a common thing for everyone. And while the novelty of it may, theoretically, sound like a “constant challenge”, any player worth their mettle will easily become bored of it in time due to lack of variety and difficulty. It’s been proven to not be a very enjoyed scaling system in terms of balancing.

Battles should range from easy, to hard, to incredibly tough- not roughly the same given a few enemy spells.

This… describes exactly how I feel.