It seems like this thread is rather dead, but . . .
I seem to be having the opposite problem from a lot of people when it comes to the level scaling; that is, certain content is actually harder at a higher-level-scaled-down than at the proper level. In Kessex Hills, for instance, my level 55 Norn warrior has trouble facing more than one or two level 20-25 bandits or Krait (but, for some reason, I can kill centaurs all day long and survive — how is it that a puny human is more powerful speedy than a giant horse-person?). Earlier in the game, between levels 1 and 15, my warrior was able to use its “crowd-pleaser” combat moves to take out a lot of enemies, no sweat. Now, doing something like clearing a pass of level 21 bandits has me hitting the read-line almost immediately, and often dying. This totally seems to be a product of downscaling. It seems like, when the character is level-scaled, the numbers are to the lowest mean possible, as opposed to a relative state of power.
I understand that a lot of areas within a zone are meant for group-only activities; I can also see how the way level-scaling is done is there to discourage lone-gun playing after a certain point. However, that really seems like a deal-breaker for me (and a few other people I’ve talked to), especially since missions generally seem to have a really good free-form dynamic participation model.
For instance, when the Krait are kidnapping the villagers in Viathan’s Arm, I was there with four other random players, and we were still all dying . . . and we were all level-scaled (little down arrow next to the names, and everything). To me, this seems ridiculous. Four players should be able to do that mission without constantly hitting the red line. Instead, people kept dying, and having to re-spawn at the nearest waypoint (which, in that area, is about a two minute run) and spending coppers. Does it become worth it to keep dying and respawning just to tick a mission off of your docket when it keeps costing coppers and silvers (currency is also way too difficult to get in the game, but that’s another issue).
In theory, the level scaling idea is great, but it doesn’t work well in practice. Why not scale to something slightly higher and/or more robust for those people who have reached a higher level? Give higher level characters a sort-of accomplishment status over those at proper level. Nothing too major, just enough so that a more than one bandit doesn’t off your character because your defense score might as well be the equivalent of rice paper. The way it is, it basically seems like you can only do certain missions/quests (even some Renown Heart missions) if you have a party of 5-10 people in zones that are higher than level 18-or-so. This is totally ridiculous. Why not pad it a bit for higher level people, so that they can feel some sense of heroic presence in the game?
And with the dungeons, it the level scaling is especially ridiculous. Even when someone is part of a guild, it’s nearly impossible to find enough people to go into a dungeon together so that people won’t just immediately die because their level is scaled so poorly. Why not set up a queue system, like Neverwinter has, where you go to the dungeon door and sign up to go in as soon as there are 5-to-10 people who are interested? Randomly coming across that many people who are willing to work in concert seems to be a near impossibility in this game. Ugh.
Overall, I really love the world, and I really love that it’s the first MMO to really put story into the general world in a way that doesn’t seem like a second thought (WoW, though it has a lot of lore, is really lame, as far as story goes). Further, I’ll continue to play. That said, most of what I find myself doing now that I’m above level 25, is going back to low-level areas, treating them as a sandbox, and helping out other people complete missions at random. The idea of actually progressing to level 80 or whatever through the story just sound awful, if all it means is that my poorly re-scaled character just dies every time I face more than one fodder-style enemy (bandits, for instance :P ).
I know that I’m not the first person to talk about this issue. It should really be addressed. Otherwise, I’ll feel like I spent my money on a really nice, well intentioned idea, not a really great game.
P.S. Here’s a link to a pretty kitten ed good blog entry about why level scaling hurts play: http://www.devilsmmo.com/blog/guild-wars-2-diary-28-level-scaling-problem