Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Level scaling for zones and mentoring program?
I just got finished watching Pax East Panel and in the Q&A. They were asked about how people, once the server has been established, will keep going back to low level zones instead of just staying in high level zones. They said the starting zones are usually more established so it will keep a high level coming back for city services. They also said that they will have a mentor program to encourage high levels to help low level players out. I need more info.
So will people be scaled down to a certain zones level PVE wise? Or will there be content for even high levels in a place like Goldshire?
Its hard for me to think of why me, as a high level, would support a zone that has low level content and the unlocks would be less beneficial than me supporting a node that has been developed at some high level area where the danger is higher and the rewards are far better. Unless its to destroy them.
I really would love to see level scaling. As it makes going back to those quest you've never done before not as boring, and grouping with your friend who just started playing without having to make an alt.
https://youtu.be/NsPR_a2n5SM?t=40m9s --- Video I'm talking about
So will people be scaled down to a certain zones level PVE wise? Or will there be content for even high levels in a place like Goldshire?
Its hard for me to think of why me, as a high level, would support a zone that has low level content and the unlocks would be less beneficial than me supporting a node that has been developed at some high level area where the danger is higher and the rewards are far better. Unless its to destroy them.
I really would love to see level scaling. As it makes going back to those quest you've never done before not as boring, and grouping with your friend who just started playing without having to make an alt.
https://youtu.be/NsPR_a2n5SM?t=40m9s --- Video I'm talking about
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They also didn't say they will have mentoring, they said they will have other systems that could see higher level players benefit from helping (in group or not) lower level players.
One such system that we know of that will fill this role is the Bounty Hunter system, and I'm sure there will be more.
Also, Ashes doesn't have zones. It has nodes. The level of creatures within the zone of influence of each node changes based on the level of the node itself. PLayers will not level up a node in a high level zone, they will level up a node, and the zone of influence around that node will become high level as a result of the nodes level progress.
As to why you would want to go to a low level node, the simple answer is because not every node will have everything you want. Unless you are in the influence of a Merchant Metropolis, the market in your node only shows items listed in that same node. You may well have to go to different nodes simply to find the things you want to buy.
It is also perfectly reasonable to assume players will want to help level up nodes that they themselves are not citizens of. They may want to level up a specific node in order to unlock a specific dungeon that the whole server has not yet had access to. They may want to level up a specific node in order to gain the non-citizen benefits of that node. They may want to level up a node to prevent a neighboring node from leveling up past it. They may want to level up a node to encourage more farming from that node, lowering the local cost of those materials.
Honestly, the reasons a player may want to level up a node other than their home node are limitless.
For example, Guild Wars 2. When I first played at map level I fought a boss in a group and we nearly whiped. Went back at 80 to complete the map, met that boss and solo'd it, even as I was down leveled to the area level max.
That isn't confirmation of a mentoring system. Steven even used air-quotes when saying the word "mentorship".
There was no suggestion of a level shift at all, which is a hallmark of mentoring systems.
To me, that quote reads as I said in my above post. There will be systems in place that provide higher level players with a reason to assist lower level players.
Hello guys.
I realize this topic was created as a question. Regardless I would like to get my biased personal opinion out there. In hopes that it sparks a conversation about the topic in general which is what you think about Level or Stats Normalization or Scaling.
In short, I hate the feature. The why, is entirely personal, it has to do with why I like RPGs in the first place.
There is like 100 reasons why I like RPGs in general. The main reason is for the sense of progression and achievement. I get this feeling while leveling up and getting more powerful or better at a certain task.
If I’m placing any effort into leveling up my adventuring class, albeit by questing or grinding mobs I expect to feel stronger and when I go and attack a low-level mob, I want to be able to wipe the floor with them.
So, when the game decides to lower my stats and or level and make me weaker in order to make the enemies worth fighting, it takes away any meaning in having gained those levels in the first place, the inverse is just as annoying. When the game makes the enemies stronger at the same rate, I’m getting stronger. If everything grows with me then I feel like I’m not progressing at all and the main hook for me is gone.
I remember when level normalization or scaling was all the rage back in 2016 and it was the feature to have.
One of the arguments people had in favor of it was that there was no reason to fight low-level enemies or do low-level quests because you had out grown the content faster than you could consume it, so you left a ton of content undone just because it wasn’t worth it.
That said I have seen some sandbox and survival games tackle this issue by making the materials, and loot dropped by the lowest level enemies useful and sometimes indispensable even at the highest levels or gear (for those games that don’t have levels like terraria).
As an Example, maybe, an item dropped by a few level 1 enemies is necessary to craft potions of any level from the lowest potion to the most powerful one. And level 1 enemies are the only ones that drop it.
Mainly they make the lower level quests, and enemies useful to highest level / gear players through their reward, without making them stronger or harder to kill, this achieves the effect of keeping players coming back and interacting with lower level content constantly and happily without taking away their progression.
if i got that right, you hate when the game forcibly scales your lvl to the area or scales the area to your lvl, but from what i have read so far that doesnt seem to be the case here. and the method you talked about at the end of your........dialogue(since no word seems to come to me) seems like a good method of keeping low lvl areas still populated, it does run the chance of low lvl characters not being able to progress at the same rate as the higher lvl characters did because they are quickly clearing them before the low lvl characters get a chance to fight them. i guess a fix to that would be high spawn rates, but even that might not work. did the games you play have a countermeasure for that?
Other than having the stuff available across wide and multiple areas and from multiple low-level sources far apart from each other.
The only other thing that I remember working and incentivizing high-level players to stay in high-level enemy zones was that, while killing low-level enemies was still useful in some way, killing enemies their own level was more useful and time efficient to get other different materials.
So High-level players still farmed mostly high-level enemies and simply bought the low-level materials they needed form low-level players. Resorting to going and doing low-level content when there was a shortage of the materials for sale, or they simply didn’t have the money to buy it.
k, that makes sense, atleast to me it does.
@AutumnLeaf
no strict lvling zones doesnt mean absolutely no lvling zones, there are going to be areas were higher lvl content appears, its just going to be in higher lvl nodes. but the issue of high lvler players still being involved with lower lvl nodes should be mitigated by some resources only being available in different areas. as well as maybe wanting the server-wide benefits of having a particular kind of node.
Low level players couldnt collect them for a reason so it wouldnt cause competition between high and low levels.
*High Level Cool Geared Person gathering on low area*
*Noob walks in*
Noob: Hey, what are u doing there?
H.L.C.G.P: Im gathering [Extremely sensitive item that makes sense to require an specific rare and mysterious equipment]
Noob: Wow! Why cant I do that?
H.L.C.G.P: You need to be level 20 and do a quest for [Specific rare equipment].
Noob: Im already 14. Where do I get the quest?
H.L.C.G.P: From the hills of the frozen thunder.
Noob: Where is that? I havent unlocked that zone for my map yet.
H.L.C.G.P: Ill show it to u quickly, you could be leveling there already.
--The END--
If the level 21 noob goes back to gather, he realizes hes not getting any xp from that type of gathering and goes back to leveling