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ESO Scaling Difficulty
laxie
Member RarePosts: 1,123
I picked up ESO again recently. A lot has changed since launch.
I'm wondering how exactly the difficulty of encounters works. Could any of the knowledgeable people here enlighten me?
I'm wondering how exactly the difficulty of encounters works. Could any of the knowledgeable people here enlighten me?
- If a lvl 20 player goes into a starting zone, do they still find it challenging?
- If a starting player goes into a lvl 20 zone, will they get obliterated?
- Is there even such thing at a lvl 20 zone anymore?
- Can a lvl 20 player group with a starting player, in a balanced way?
- If a lvl 20 player goes into a starting zone, will they get lvl 20 drops? What incentive would there be to do this?
Comments
Also, the mats drops are scaled too.
I'm having a blast with it and going EVERY WHERE now!
Sz
The maximum CP level attainable is CP3600 and you'll see a few people walking around who are CP1000+. But only the first 561 are currently usable on the passive skills of the system. Every once in a while - every 6 months or so -- that maximum usable goes up by 30 points or so. The points do nothing unless they're used so anyone above CP561 is no more buffed than those who are at the CP561 max.
Every activity that gives you experience while you're leveling 1-50 will start to give you CP experience after 50. Advancement through the first couple of hundred CP points is quite fast and the closer you get to the usable cap the slower it gets (but never in a grindfest MMO kind of way) and once you go past the cap it slows down even more. You can theoretically keep on grinding your way to CP3600 but there's not much point since nothing beyond the current CP561 cap will help you in any way.
Champion points are also account wide. Whatever your current maximum CP level is on any character is the same amount of CP your brand new level 1 alt can use... or not - it's up to you. Which champion passives you choose to use them on is done on a per character basis.
If you're into PVP, the levels 10-50 campaign (Blackwater Blade in NA/PC) disables champion points in that campaign. It's done to keep a relatively even playing field between low level alts and true new players.
More than you wanted to know, I'm sure
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Sounds like a really nice system. This way, I can spend as much time in a zone as I'd like. I love desert environments in games, so I'll try to seek those out.
In this new version of ESO you go somewhere to level because you want to, not because you need to.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes, and the incentive would be Quest XP which scale with your level.
Enjoy
OMG! that is a HUGE correction... I am SO embarrassed
but I did know that something was scaling somewhere
Sz
To pick up on @laxie 's question:
- If a lvl 20 player goes into a starting zone, will they get lvl 20 drops? What incentive would there be to do this?
As mentioned there isn't a level 20 zone any more. Which is the key.Go where you want, drops scale accordingly (up to the maximum gear level - currently CP160).
Thanks for the answers. I've been enjoying ESO a lot so far. It's refreshing to have this amount of freedom.
I am currently level 10 and have a full set of gear. If I understand this correctly, as I level up, I'll be able to replace parts of the gear, within the same set, but with higher level and stats. Is that right?
The actual armor sets are tied to location, not levels at all, right?
~~ postlarval ~~
Key point: you don't need a full set to get decent bonuses - two or three items will help a lot - which means you might get three lots of three items - a mix of heavy/medium/light or maybe a mix from different zones.
This was, imo, a good move by Zenimax. Can be hard to explain to new people why "better as in non-white" crafted items are "not" for sale below max gear level. (Due to how reagents work of course).
If you join a guild as @filmoret says - not a bad idea - and ask for gear be happy with "basic" white gear. It will see you through.
If you follow the story or just change zones you will get items from different sets.
When you're in you inventory screen there is a panel next to the character portrait that shows your current stats. If you hover the mouse over something in your inventory some of the numbers will go red or green showing you the effect to your stats if you swap that for what you currently have equipped.
Normally you want to replace items that are more than 5 levels below you. But not always if, for example, replacing it causes you to lose a set-piece bonus and end up with worse stats. The numbers on that stats panel take the bonuses you're getting or losing into consideration. It's the best in-game guide to let you know what you should be equipping.
EDIT: I should also add that just like zones, each dungeon has its own 3 sets of armor, jewelry and weapons. Now that you're level 10 you have unlocked some of those. For example, one of the best sets in the game for medium armor wearers (i.e. stamina DPS types) comes from one of those first 3 dungeons, Fungal Grotto. It's called Viper's Sting and the 5-piece bonus is additional damage on any melee hit once every 4 seconds. It's a set that many use at end-game as well... that extra damage is noticeable.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
It is VERY important that you type C to see your character sheet. In the top right corner are stars. If your gear is 5 of 5 or 4 of 4 stars you are fine. If it drops to 3 of 4 you are middle class and I won't be allowed to hang out with you. If your gear is 2 of 4 you are really starting to smell. If your gear is 1 of 4 why do you even play ESO?
This should be all the technical info you need to play the game... have fun!!
Sz
When I level another character I just equip them with whatever drops. Other than food and maybe the odd glyph I don't bother making them any gear which they would simply out level.
Note: "alts" of people who already have a post-level 50 champion are - almost certainly - more powerful than "first time" characters. They get to use the "champion points" gained by the "main character" which will buff their stats.
So - as a result of collecting random drops - they might be at 4 stars say. And then they hit level 50. Suddenly their stars vanish and their rating becomes zero - they would have to leave your group!
What has happened is that on reaching level 50 they attain the champion level of a person's highest rated character. And so the star rating will check their level 40s gear against CP160 gear say. Which no longer looks that good! The good news is you don't suddenly become ultra-squishy. Absolutely time for new gear though.
ESO is very "alt" friendly. Or rather "multi-character" friendly since any new champion points gained by your "alt" will also be gained for your "main". So you can play different characters in different ways if you like in the knowledge that any benefits they gain will be spread across them all.
And yes, One Tamriel has definitely influenced how little crafting I now do for sub CP160 and even CP160 gear. It's mostly just food now.
Most crafted sets are now a bit lackluster when compared to some of the better zone or dungeon sets. My stamsorc main character for example, uses the Kra'gh monster set, 5 pieces of Spriggan and 5 pieces of Viper on his DW bar (2 sharpened Viper Daggers.) I could swap the Spriggan with Twice Born Star crafted but that's about it.
They really need to do a balancing pass on the crafted sets to make them relevant again.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
No matter how I look at it, it feels like the game holds your hand so you dont have your feelings hurt by strong enemies. If this is wrong, please explain to me where the challenge is. What challenge mechanics are being reinforced through combat?
Then there's ranks from normal to strong to elite to mini-boss to boss and to world boss and even the world bosses vary in difficulty with some being much tougher than others... and that's before you get into instanced group content that also has a range from fairly easy dungeons to extremely tough raids.
If you're thinking solo, the toughest content is the veteran version of Maelstrom Arena that is a solo 10-stage raid. Many people can't even complete the normal difficulty version never mind the veteran version.
And then there's the fact that skills you unlock for use are not character-level gated in ESO but individual skill lines need to be trained to unlock the better abilities and passives. So a level 5 player may be leveled up to the mob's level but his skill toolkit would suck compared to a level 40 or CP561 player. The same fight would take the level 5 guy a hell of a lot longer and will be more challenging than for a high level player.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I would then have to seek out a small number of instances (or is it just one?) and the few elite mobs/mini bosses for the potential of a challenge?
It does not seem like a very well thought out approach with combat mechanics in mind.
And that's without even getting into groups of mobs in the open world. One bandit should not be a problem for anyone... 6 of them and you better have some good skills.
And all of those things get easier as you unlock and use better skills.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Modern games apparently are designed for babies, and the new generation can't handle nothing. If mario 2 came out now, or link 2 it would get no attention because the babies couldn't handle it.
So yeah if you go to a modern game for entertainment, that is geared towards getting the most people, its gonna be baby garbage a 3 year old could master.
I quit eso, when the games only challenge was patients, you literally could just ball slap the keyboard, and your eventually gonna win. My only guess is the majority of gamers have down syndrome, and cant play video games well, so they have to make it easy.
Thats why eve is the only good mmo any more. In eve if you die shit happens, you lose something.
Except for those below each zone has multiple world bosses. And at least one public dungeon with "waves of mobs", several bosses and a challenge event; can be interesting to solo. Zones also have public delves - they get easier as you improve - and group delves designed for 4 people; group delves are rarely soloed.
Craglorn is essentially a giant public dungeon. Very tough world "bosses". Most delves are 4 people - and can be very difficult with 4 people if even one person is scaled. One Tamriel actually added some solo content!
Imperial City is a mixed PvE / PvP zone. so different challenges lurk.
Cyrodill is PvP.
The Thieve's Guild and Dark Brotherhood activity is different again - and if you end up fighting guards .......
And there are also solo challenges.
Is it easier at CP160 than at level 50? Yes. Is it easier again at CP561? Yes. (There is progression in the game despite the scaling). Are there still challenges for CP160 to CP561 characters? Yes. Many more than "one".
Edit: and getting the "best" standard of gear is hard to do as well.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED