Skyrim's level scaling.. hmmm.

[Azure-Supernova]

It's nowhere near as bad as Oblivion but still... does anyone else think the enemy scaling could use just a teeny tiny bit of toning down, to make higher levels less of a drag?

My first character, yes. I screwed around with the skill leveling and perks to create a frankenstein abomination incapable of killing anything. My second character was a bit more specialised and I think I've actually broken the difficulty now. Even on Master difficulty it's a breeze, because by level 35 I'm 100 in Smithing and Enchanting, resistant to most things and I can buff my combat skills with enchants. That's on top of the skill boosts I get when actually using the skill.

The problem is this 'no classes' approach that Bethesda took to Skyrim, it just doesn't work. You can be a smithing, enchanted potion salesman with a penchant for picking pockets, but that won't get you far in terms of combat. Seeing as there's no peaceful ways to deal with conflicts of the human kind, you're strong armed into honing an offensive skill, or at least a school of magic that will halt or postpone fighting.

 

[willis888]

Types of dragons might be as well, not sure. But basically, the farther into the story you are, the more dragons you get. Not sure what happens if you beat it. I know they're still around, but I don't know the spawn rate.

After you beat the main quest line, you encounter fewer dragons, and not all of them are hostile. Some will be neutral until you get too close, like a Giant, and others will start off hostile (same as they were before you beat the main quest). They still respawn near the dragon walls, so if you need souls for unlocking shouts or dragon-bits for making armor, you can still get them reliably after beating the main quest line.

 

[Starke]

Also, dragon spawns are linked to your progress in the main story. Types of dragons might be as well, not sure. But basically, the farther into the story you are, the more dragons you get. Not sure what happens if you beat it. I know they're still around, but I don't know the spawn rate.

Without digging into the game files, or getting a strat guide... it seems to work like this. Certain main quest points allow dragons to spawn in the world. What will spawn seems to be off a leveled list.

If this works the way it looks like, then the Dragons work something like the gates in Oblivion. Dragons start at set nodes, but they can roam off of these quite some distance. As the game begins there is a 0% chance of dragons spawning. Completing either "Bleak Falls Barrow" or "The Way of The Voice" increases this chance by 25% (not sure which, maybe both), completing "Alduin's Wall" seems to set this to 75%, with "Elder Knowledge" setting it to 100%. Once a dragon is killed on a given node, there's a timeframe before the node rolls to respawn. I'm not sure on what this interval is, it seems to be 7 days, but it's possible this works like the 3 day timers in Morrowind did, IE if you load a cell on a timer, it resets the timer, making the actual number difficult to test.

There are certain quest tied dragons, that I do not think respawn, though they may be replaced by generic dragons on a successful respawn, but I haven't noticed this happening. The first two you encounter on the main quest after the tutorial come to mind here.

 

[Starke]

I'm telling you, it's going to be Elsweyr and Valenwood together. Combined, roughly the same size as the other regions we've been to so far in the series, and natural to take it to the (pretty much) extreme opposite of Skyrim. From mountains and tundra to plains and forests.

That would be awesome. Doesn't Elsweyr have desert regions too?

"May you walk on warm ssandssss."

But, yes, explicitly it does, with a slight middle eastern/Arabian Nights aesthetic.

 

[JET1971]

Yo developers, Pro tip: When you do that... The challenge is the exact same. You just repeat the same process more times.

Can you please explain this to the guy above... he seems to have a problem understanding why this is an issue.

I wouldnt bother, he saw you are a paid contributor and is baiting you. Nothing like getting an employee pissed off and yet not break any rules to feed the...

Anyway i am against level scaling in sandbox games. the only time it works is in linear games where you never see the high levels until you reach that level and low levels become non exhistant or just a few to annoy the player.

in an Eldar Scroll game set level for dungeons is the way to go, but level scaling could work well for the radiant quests such as side misions for each guild, main quests should be level set though. say you want to complete all guild and the main quest line, the first few quests in each should be the same level. low level for a newbie and the last quest the same level as a veteran. this would force the player to level to higher levels to complete the main quest line wich in Skyrim you can complete in less than level 10 if thats all you do. And you would be hard pressed to complete each line in a linear fashion, decreases the boredom considerably.

other thoughts about level scaling are they could do it via the amount of damage taken and given rather than the actual level. the same number scale could be applied to enemies to make them more challenging. this would be better than having all high level enemies in a dungeon when you are high level but many same level as you and the "higher levels" for a challenge. base HP and damage based on the players +/- based on the NPC type.

Myself I would rather have the location leveled and not the mobs inside.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

I'm telling you, it's going to be Elsweyr and Valenwood together. Combined, roughly the same size as the other regions we've been to so far in the series, and natural to take it to the (pretty much) extreme opposite of Skyrim. From mountains and tundra to plains and forests.

That would be awesome. Doesn't Elsweyr have desert regions too?

I'd think it's more like the steppes of Africa. Harsh badlands and dry plains, with some fertile rainforest like areas on the southern coast, at least according to the wiki. I'm sure there would be some desert like areas, but the true desert of Tamriel is Hammerfell. A combination of High Rock and Hammerfell could also be cool, though not as exotic.