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So instance "scaling" is completely and utterly broken, isn't it?

fizbadfizbad Member Posts: 202 Arc User
edited June 2015 in General Discussion (PC)
So I'm mucking around Icespear Peak @L61 with blue gear trying to kick some quests from ToD out of the way. I have ~25% crit, ~20% DR, and perhaps 40% RI.

I get scaled down to L45 at the dragon, and all of a sudden I am looking at 27+ crit, 30% DR, and 12% RI (!!!). Content is (still) a joke.

I walk into the lair instance, I get scaled up to L70 -- crit and RI are 20%, DR is down to 10 or 12. Dungeon is absolutely unplayable. I would have probably had better chance with my L61 stats and without the extra 20% or so hit points.

Still, the behavior of level scaling seems haphazard, and there is little explanation why it changes the relative power of characters so abruptly when the idea is that it should do exactly the opposite.
Post edited by Unknown User on

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    drkbodhidrkbodhi Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,378 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    It really doesn't scale properly unless you are 70.

    I hope they move all of the ToD instances to 60 gain.
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    Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
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    karakla1karakla1 Member Posts: 1,355 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    it scales proper for monsters from "beat the <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> out of you" to "anhilate this mother* with one strike".
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    Platypus wielding a giant hammer, your argument is invalild!
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    fizbadfizbad Member Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    drkbodhi wrote: »
    It really doesn't scale properly unless you are 70.
    Lairs don't _have_ to scale if you're 70. The problem I am facing is that it scales my L61 gear in a manner in which it makes me substantially weaker than I am at my current level, which is mind-boggling.
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    plasticbatplasticbat Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 12,223 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    For me, it seems: if they scale you up, you run away. If they scale you down, you can do everything you like.
    I can even solo a dragon when it scale my char down and my character is way far from BiS.
    *** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
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    drkbodhidrkbodhi Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,378 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    I haven't solo'd a dragon... I have 3-manned a couple.
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    Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
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    silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Ok, lets review, your damage is scaled up, but your base stats are not..

    so say you have a 15k power, 10k crit 4-5k all other stat person..

    your lvl 60 with old t2 armour

    will have like 8 k power, 3k all other stats..

    In addition my lvl 70 toons have somewhere between 70-100k hps..

    my lvl 60.. 20-40 depending on toons.

    My lvl 60 damage artifact gear is several HUNDRED points lower.

    Do you see the issue, the issue is that THEY allow you to fight them, but you are significantly worse stat wise by 20-30 or 40% damage wise and are like 50-60% less hit points.

    You are fighting lvl 73 mobs with a upscaled lvl 70, but its like a FRESH 70 with none of the 70 armor/weapons on, so ya.. go put a lvl 60 armor and lvl 60 weapons back on your lvl 70 and its nearly the same.

    ITs not woth the time per se.

    However if its sub lvl 73, its doable by some classes, its simply the 3 level difference that makes them uniquely hard. A lvl 63 can upscale in dread ring and sharandar and fight lvl 70-72 mobs easy enough.
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    drkbodhidrkbodhi Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,378 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Just join a group for the lairs. Although I can solo many of them, I choose to join a group to make it faster. I have been in groups with under 70 players...
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    Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
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    fizbadfizbad Member Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    silverkelt wrote: »
    Ok, lets review, your damage is scaled up, but your base stats are not..

    so say you have a 15k power, 10k crit 4-5k all other stat person..

    your lvl 60 with old t2 armour

    will have like 8 k power, 3k all other stats..
    No. Stats have scaled up/down, but the scaling factor seems ... bizarre, to say the least. As a minimum, the adjustment per level is insufficient -- which technically results in a "pseudo-overgeared" character when scaling down, and "pseudo-undergeared" character when scaling up.

    Sure, you get more HP and power damage, but overall it defeats the purpose of level scaling. I think they should just adjust the gear stats to retain all percentages as they are at current level.

    Also, I wear L61 blue gear, so I have 50-60k hps after scaling. The problem is not HPs, the problem is that I lose half of my DR and RI percentages for no good reason.
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    forcemajureforcemajure Member Posts: 72 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Correct, the scaling is <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> in both directions.

    From 60-70 there is a decrease in all of the output per ability point curves. This is offset by the gear giving tons more ability points. Nobody at Cryptic has ever explained why they did it this way and clearly it does not even make sense to whoever they put in charge of the scaling. Because the scaling only adjusts one of those two.

    So, "scaling up" really means they are applying LESS of your points into abilities (no change to gear) = less powerful character than if they did nothing.

    And, "scaling down" really means they are applying MORE of your points to abilities (again not changing the gear) = wildly overpowered for the zones.

    The only thing they should have changed was the hidden third lever mod 6 introduced for punishing level up. There is now also a penalty for level imbalance between characters and mobs. Presumably, that was added to keep people from power leveling. But, if you don't want under- or over-leveled people in a zone, why scale them to that zone? Presumably, this was what the scaling was supposed to address - turning the penalty off selectively - but they missed badly with the whole concept.
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    plasticbatplasticbat Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 12,223 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    From barely able to solo the smallest HE in IWD (that shows my char is not a super charged BiS char and I myself am not a skillful gamer in non-scale situation) to able to solo a dragon when it scales down, there is something really wrong.
    *** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
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    beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Now think of how it feels to be a level 6 player scaled up to 60 for a CTA.
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    fizbadfizbad Member Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    jimmyhar wrote: »
    Yeah, I think I saw a few of those last weekend. They seemed to, erm, lie down quite often.
    Well, the problem there is not scaling per se, but the fact that you're operating with 1 daily, 2 encounters, and no feats whatsoever.
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    silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    fizbad wrote: »
    Well, the problem there is not scaling per se, but the fact that you're operating with 1 daily, 2 encounters, and no feats whatsoever.

    IT moves base encounter and at will feats to that level, it moves the resistance cap to that level..

    It simply doesnt do anything.

    Btw.. who the heck cant get a alt to like 11 in 20 mins, even without any twink gear.. who are these people =P
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    azlanfoxazlanfox Member Posts: 436 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Ensorceled Mulhorandi (or whatever the name is), dragonbone, Ring of Dragon Slaying, Slayer gear, and all other 'leveling' items will scale down to the instance level or up (to their limit) based on where you are. This can help cope somewhat and I've verified that most of these operate as intended.
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    angryspriteangrysprite Member Posts: 4,982 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    It's the way scaling works: you keep your existing stats; they stay at your true level. Your HP and base stats are lowered or raised, the added stats (Enchantments, etc.) are then recalculated to what they would be based in iLevel and the new level you're playing with.

    So at level 61 and being dropped down a few levels your percentages are increased (because they are the same stats) - if leveled up then they decrease (because they are the same stats). Basically a "proration of stats based on new promoted or demoted "skill" level".

    I'm not saying this is right (it isn't). Im not saying it's WAI (it could be) but it most certainly is "WAD" (Works As Designed).
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    suicidalgodotsuicidalgodot Member Posts: 2,465 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    The problem is: Your damage, HP,... are scaled. Your gear's stat bonus, +HP, Enchantments aren't.

    Now guess why the Lvl 6 with a grand total stat buff of +200 die often, and why the Lvl 70 with +20+k stats and +25-45kHP don't even die when they only spam their weakest encounter...
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    fizbadfizbad Member Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    It's the way scaling works: you keep your existing stats; they stay at your true level. Your HP and base stats are lowered or raised, the added stats (Enchantments, etc.) are then recalculated to what they would be based in iLevel and the new level you're playing with.

    So at level 61 and being dropped down a few levels your percentages are increased (because they are the same stats) - if leveled up then they decrease (because they are the same stats). Basically a "proration of stats based on new promoted or demoted "skill" level".

    I'm not saying this is right (it isn't). Im not saying it's WAI (it could be) but it most certainly is "WAD" (Works As Designed).
    Again, unless I am misunderstanding what you state, this is not how it works. I can see my stats go down substantially when I am docked from L61 to L45. For example, my 3,000+ recovery is now 1,600 or so. I am in fact not 100% sure whether scaling up increased stats accordingly, so I will have to double-check that.
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    ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Enemies need to scale to your level again. Downscaling is completely broken. I remember when the dragons could actually hurt you, now they're a joke. And non epic dungeons are full of harmless mobs. You could fight 30 of them and not fear death. T2s are too hard and not fun, these are too easy and not fun. There is no middle in all of this to enjoy.

    It was BALANCED before! It WORKED before! There was no need to change it!
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    suicidalgodotsuicidalgodot Member Posts: 2,465 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    fizbad wrote: »
    Again, unless I am misunderstanding what you state, this is not how it works. I can see my stats go down substantially when I am docked from L61 to L45. For example, my 3,000+ recovery is now 1,600 or so. I am in fact not 100% sure whether scaling up increased stats accordingly, so I will have to double-check that.

    Do you have any Level-adaptive gear equipped? Like Dragon Bone, Mulhorand, Dragonslayer, Xvim, the Ardent Coin Weapons,...

    ...because for those the level change seemingly does work.
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    drkbodhidrkbodhi Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,378 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Now think of how it feels to be a level 6 player scaled up to 60 for a CTA.

    I can only imagine how that feels to be completely carried. In the 30 or so that I ran in the last one, I was #2 in Paingiver and Executioner... 1 time. No bragging but many of them commented that it sucked to be so lame and need to be carried through by one character.

    I, for one, do not believe that there should be scaled areas because the erroneously inflate the stats or inadequately nerf the stats. It is best to just leave them alone.
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    Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
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