PvE Difficulty based on Node's Level ? ... VS ... PvE Difficulty independently increasing ? Both ?

ArchivedUser

Allow PvE Opponents' Difficulty to slowly, yet gradually increase . So far, its set to where the NPCs difficulty entirely dependent on the Node's Level. 

If it remains that way, then , at some point, Players might purposely " cheese their way through " content by simply not doing any sort of activity that'll increasing the Node's Level. Sure, a handful of Players might continue to level-up the Node, but if Most players are trying to " rush-through " the MMO, then it might happen

EDIT: If a Players' Level is 30, but the Node Level is ... 2. If that corresponds to that Node's Z.O.I NPCs Opponents Level ranging in between 20 - 29 ... then that Higher Level might have an advantage

 ( depending on how much emphasis (Player) Level will have .. hoping that it won't )

Where as, of those same PvE Opponents ranging in between 20 - 29 .. a  small handful of those Creatures might be slightly above the Node's Level restrictions.

• i.e. 3 - 7 Creatures  might be level 32 - 36 ) specifically because those Creatures live in the wild . As such, they proved themselves by being able to stay alive & grow stronger than the rest of the bunch/ from the rest of their Species/ " Pac "  ( etc ... )
• Likewise, a small few being below the " Level-Spectrum "  ( some being below lvl 20 but not to far off ) 

You might be asking ...

• " But everything we do level's up Node - how can someone not level the Node if EVERYTHING we do levels it up ? "  

Trust me ... I've seen it happen before. Where other MMO Devs caters to those who wants to Speed-Rush through it and incentivizng Speedsters ....

Intrepid,  I'm not asking to " remove the Universal-Node-Leveling " , but rather ... allow PvE Opponents' Difficulty to gain/ increase independently from one another IN ADDITION to the " universal-node-leveling " already in place.

ArchivedUser

Okay soo ...i edited a big piece in, feel free to refresh the page

finished editing it 

ArchivedUser

I think all node states will include a diverse variety of monster lvls but the monsters in more developed nodes will be more aggressive.
Imagine an inofficial pve server in which noone attacks nodes - at some point you couldnt create alts otherwise because each mob will onehit you 

ArchivedUser

^^^ Like @Uao says, the impression I get is that all specific monsters are fixed levels.
The tougher monsters though are further off the beaten track.
These monsters dont spawn until the node progresses.

So what you are left with is an array of beast levels, with higher ones released as and when the players are there to cope with them.
This also means there is adversaries for levelling players to feast on as well as more challenging adversaries for higher levels.

ArchivedUser

@Rune_Relic  I hope because thats the entirety of my First post is just ...

" an assumption "
 ( hence: the reason why i underlined ...  " if "

I'm assuming thats how NPC Opponents will be, but if its more Dynamic/ Adaptive, then that'll be awesome  

ArchivedUser

I hope its more adaptive too. Not necessarily in levels but species migration. Even NPC migration. I would be disappointed to see the same NPC and the same beasts in the same place every minute, day, month, year. Especially as the seasons change.

Dont these things look for food and stuff when it runs out

ArchivedUser

NPC difficulty is entirely dependent upon the level of the node. And we won't know how much activity will trigger a node to grow.
At PAX, Morrow's Meade became a village just by picking some mushrooms. 

It's perfectly fair for high level players to try to keep a zone at the village level...  but, they're going to have to get the mats needed to maintain their gear from some where.
There really isn't anything to rush through. Ashes doesn't have an endgame. We don't hit max level and then rush to obtain max level gear...and we're done.

In addition to node advancement, we also have environmental hazards causing events - which will entice other players to travel to the region to end those events.
So, it won't just be one group of players controlling the leveling of a node.
Though, in many instances, the level of a node will be restricted by nearby towns and cities. That is integral to the design anyways.

(I don't think the NPC AI will be so robust that they're migrating based on availability of food and resources, but the spawn tables may be adjusted to mimic that to some degree.)