Pros and cons of enemy level scaling.

[Eric the Orange]

Pros:

*Makes all previously completed areas re-playable for relevant to level loot. Lessening the tedium of grinding.

*Keeps difficulty balanced for differing play types. People who do all the quests and those who rush through.

Cons:

*Lose sense of progression through leveling. Enemies will always feel as difficult as they were in the beginning. Characters without good gear will feel relatively weaker as the game progresses.

*Makes multiple difficulty levels redundant.



Anyway these were just some thoughts going through my head. I don't know if you had any plans on implementing enemy level scaling or not.

[Chameleon]

I am sure there is limited enemy scaling. For example the beginner area has monsters scale to a maximum level of 20 or 30 or something.

eisprinzessin will fill you in with the details.

[eisprinzessin]

Will I? ... Here you go ... and one more.

[Eric the Orange]

Ah I see. So each area has like it's own mini scale. like the first area may go lvls 1-15, the second 4-20, the third 10-30, and so on.

[bug77]

Here's my take:

Monster scaling (global) -> always the same challenge -> no incentive to level up -> Oblivion (yucky), people would finish the game at clvl2
No monster scaling -> various challenges -> always looking forward to level up (just to see if you can finally take down that orc) -> Gothic (uber yummy).

Limited scaling should work just as well (or better).

[Eric the Orange]

Originally Posted by bug77

Here's my take:
No monster scaling -> Gothic (uber yummy).

How does no monster scaling=Gothic? Unless by Gothic you mean something other than what I'm thinking of.

[yerkyerk]

Gothic had no scaling monsters, they always had a fixed level. Which, from experience, was quite interesting to play. It had an awesome sense of progression, much better than any scaling game (mostly comparing it to Elder Scrolls now).

Anyway, I think a playthrough x.5 is the best solution, much like Borderlands did. After finishing the game on the highest difficulty, all enemies spawn at max level. So after you finished the game, each area is as challenging as the other. Before that, you can feel your character's progression.

[Eric the Orange]

Originally Posted by yerkyerk

Gothic had no scaling monsters, they always had a fixed level. Which, from experience, was quite interesting to play. It had an awesome sense of progression, much better than any scaling game (mostly comparing it to Elder Scrolls now).

Oh, Gothic is a game. I thought he meant Gothic as is a Gothic setting.

[bug77]

Originally Posted by Eric the Orange

Oh, Gothic is a game. I thought he meant Gothic as is a Gothic setting.

No sir. Gothic is one of the best RPGs in history. Together with Gothic2.
They are not action RPGs though, so they didn't need to offer any incentives once you finished the story, which is why yerkyerk's idea is better for an action RPG (but I'd like those monsters to max out as an option - maybe I like running around one shotting monsters that gave me grief previously). Limited scaling on a regular playthrough still makes sense as it assures not every imp goes down just as easily as the previous one.

[Keyrock]

I am generally anti-level scaling, it was the aspect about TES IV: Oblivion that bothered me the most. If I'm playing a level 1 character and I'm stupid enough to wander into the dark cave with the big sign out front stating "Warning: Big scary trolls inside" I should get brutally ripped apart by said trolls rather than encountering a bunch of weak level 1 trolls. On the other end of the spectrum I enjoy feeling godlike returning to a low level area as a level 50 character and stomping goblins beneath my boot. The limited level scaling that's going to be implemented in Grim Dawn sounds good though because it still allows for the godlike or getting torn apart scenarios.