Hi everyone - we’ve made some sweeping changes to the way enemies scaled to your level and how your character reacts to it. You can read the full patch notes here but the passage regarding this is such:
Matched and Unmatched Content
Based on the feedback that we received from the community during the last test, we are making some major changes to the way that combat will work in the overworld in Reborn. We are calling the new system “Matched and Unmatched Content”.
Matched Content
Matched content will replace the old dynamic scaling system that we were previously using. This content will still scale, but it uses a new system that scales from -4 to +4 levels relative to the monster. As an example, if there is a monster that is Level 20, and you are Level 5, your damage will be scaled up to do the “minimum” damage of a Level 16 against that monster, and the monster’s damage will be scaled down to do a “maximum” of Level 9 damage against you. You will see these monsters show up in the world as either “Very Easy” (-4 or lower), “Easy” (-3 or -2), “Even Match” (-1, 0 or +1), “Difficult” (+2 or +3), or “Very Difficult” (+4 or more).
This system preserves the desire of the community to have a power fantasy while leveling. Rather than having all monsters in the overworld be “the same level”, we have gone back to a more traditional MMO setting where the monsters in the zone closest to Highsteppe are Level 0-3, then farther away they are 4-6, etc. all the way to Level 30 in the farthest zones. This means that a new player starting the game will essentially be facing a world full of “Very Difficult” monsters. As they level up, more and more of the world will open up to them and become an “Even Match”, and then even “Easy.”
However, by capping the maximum difficulty at a -4 disadvantage, it should still be possible for newer players to be escorted by higher-level players into some of the farther-out zones. So for example if you have a new player who has a mission that you also have, you can do that content together without the newer player being one-shot. The goal is to make it so that Very Difficult content is essentially impossible to solo, but a group of players could tackle it together.
Likewise, as a solo player you should now have no problem going back to lower-level zones without fear of the monsters giving you much trouble, although you will still not be one-shotting them, and fighting 3 or 4 of them at once would be a bad idea.
Public Events, Dungeons, and many overworld areas (such as those featured in monster hunting missions) will feature Matched Content creatures.
Unmatched Content
Unmatched content, on the other hand, is content which has been assigned a specific level and which will not scale at all. So if it’s a Level 30 monster, and you are Level 5, you will be killed before you have a chance to really do anything. On the other hand, if you are a Level 30 coming back to harvest resources guarded by Level 8 unmatched enemies, you will have no problem dispatching them quickly and easily.
The overworld will now feature some unmatched content as well. In particular, places where there are monsters guarding resources such as ore or harvestable ingredients will feature unmatched content. As another example, there is now a giant corrupted nature brute which wanders around in the Highsteppe area. This mini-boss will not aggro players unless attacked first, but it is a high-level unmatched content creature, so it will require a high-level group playing effectively to defeat it. Unmatched creatures have a special symbol in addition to the difficulty symbol on top of their healthbar.
Our goal with this content is to provide a further version of power fantasy, in that there is now content in each zone that you can’t do the first time through, giving you something to look forward to as you level up and come back to tackle these tougher challenges.
In addition to this overworld content, Shard Dungeons and Raids will be unmatched content.
Testing This Content
In the current Beta, the level cap is 15. We want to show a “slice” of how this new system will work, so basically we are treating Level 15 the same as Level 30 would be in the full game. As such, you will see the wandering giant is around Level 15. The first zone goes up to Level 5, the next to Level 10, and the last to Level 15. These may not be the actual spreads as they will exist in the final game, but hopefully that should give you an opportunity to level up to “max level” and then return to the starting zone and get a feel for how the content will change as you advance through the world.
Note that we are not planning to wipe characters from here on out until we reach a point in the Beta where you can import your existing characters from the main game, so if you put in the time now to get to 15 you should be good to go for a bit.
Play around with the system for a while, get some levels and let us know what you think about it, particularly compared to the first Beta session’s system. Thanks!