Orbus has been amazingly successful, but even though it’s so popular it can be tough to find groups along the way to 20. Most people seem to prefer playing alone doing quests, but those of us who do want to group are having a hard time with it. I think this is contributed to two key factors.
People either do not know about the LFG Tool or don’t want to use it.
People are segregated because of level.
Educating people about the LFG Tool could happen easily enough with a tutorial or more robust signage. Encouraging people to use it is another beast entirely but I think that beast can be slain, along with issue of level segregation, by allowing people to temporarily lower their level (and stats) in order to group up with lower level players. Many games have employed a similar feature such as City of Heroes’ Sidekick, RIFT’s Mentor, Final Fantasy XI’s Level-Sync, Guild Wars 2’s Dynamic Level Adjustment, and so on. A system like this not only allows people to play together, it revitalizes old content by allowing players to access all areas of the game again if they want to. This would be especially helpful for areas like Shard Dungeons. It also prevents the dreaded MMO philosophy of, “The game actually starts at max level” which gives players the desire to speed through early content as quickly as possible and not enjoy the journey.
Orbus really shines as a social game, and I’m slightly disheartened to see so much focus on solo play. I don’t believe this was the game’s intention, and I believe removing one’s level as a barrier between people who want to play together will not only encourage more people to play together, but also keep the game from becoming too quiet in earlier areas.
yea WoW just did this (in PTR) by a dynamic scale “up” for other players. Meaning the monster I’m fighting is level 5, but my friend who is level 30 sees it as level 20 (etc). That way we’re working on content together in the same areas, even though we’re levels apart. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea in this game either.
But don’t forget you now have a new factor with VR to deal with. You’re physically (vocally) talking to others near you. Most players in VR that have been there for a while are used to this. But it’s pretty daunting to any introverts just starting in VR. Incentives to group up - gear, xp boosts, abilities etc - might help entice them into not soloing for everything.
This is a fantastic idea! There’s nothing worse than not being able to play with friends or random people you meet because you’re not the same level, and it would help a lot with finding groups despite a small player base.
As someone who doesn’t get a ton of time to play it sucks to find great people to quest with one evening, add them as friends, then return later to find you are all different levels and will never be able to group up until lvl 20.
I don’t think we are ever going to go to a system of full-blown level scaling like WoW has, to where I see a monster as Level 20 and you see it as Level 5. I would not be in favor of, for example, Level 5’s being able to just go into the high-level or Wilds zones and take on Aberrations that are Level 5 to them.
However, the game does have a mechanic which isn’t fully working as intended right now where if you are more than 3 levels higher than a creature, your attacks are scaled down (and the monsters scaled up) so that while it’s still an “Easy” fight, it’s not a one-shot type of a deal. That’s something I need to go back and re-work to make it work properly. That at least lets higher-level players go back and do content (including dungeons) with their lower-level friends and have it be still somewhat challenging and fun.
I hate to be that guy, but ask that you reconsider (especially worried about removing ability to one shot). If I’m devoting my time to doing lower level content, it’s usually as either a favor (helping out friends/noobies) or catching up on a quest. I probably don’t speak for everyone but the challenge is already there for me in the sense that its keeping me away from content it’s rather be doing, so making it more challenging means time consuming, which disincentives my participation in lower level content.
No need to respond just giving my thoughts. Great game BTW - you’ve successfully destroyed my desire to play fallout or doom.
I think being able to change classes is a brilliant indirect level scaling. One of my friends IRL is about to start playing. I can join him as a level 1 warrior or use my level 5 mage. That’s much better than my 13 musketeer.
Actual level scaling may take away some incentive to play the other classes. Something to consider.
If it is implemented, I’d like the option to turn it off.
What if it worked the other way? Instead of scaling monsters up what if you could scale your level down. This could have a few benefits:
Would allow you to still earn xp that would contribute to your level in low level areas
You no longer waste your time hanging out with your low level friends
This can’t be the new main form of leveling, as you won’t be able to get drops that are for your actual level
The content will be the same challenge as it was when you first worked through it
Downsides:
Your gear might not be able to easily scale down (maybe there could be training armor that scales when you’re in this mode)
People could level off the same mobs all the way to 20 with worthwhile xp
People could find the easiest mobs and just farm them forever
Maybe there could be some sort of restriction where you could only decrease to a lower level when you were in party with a lower level, that way you would actually need to have a reason to decrease your level IE helping a party instead of just being able to do it whenever for your own leveling.
My 2 cents. I hate any sort of scaling. The hole reason to level is to be stronger. If I want to go 1 shot low level stuff for no exp gain I should be able to do that. JUst my thoughts.
Warhammer online had an option to temporarily make a lower character the same level as a higher party member. So the reverse might work, let a level 20 mage imprint on a level 5 player, and temporarily become level 5 again, only if they want to do it, only if they stay grouped.
I agree level scaling shouldn’t be forced on anyone. I think it should absolutely be an option that would lower the level of a veteran character instead of increasing the level of a newer character. Ideally the veteran character could still receive exp/drops equivalent to their level as some sort of incentive. What I really want to see is more people being free to group up and play together wherever, and whenever without it being charity (or too easy) on the part of the high level character.
Thanks everyone for your input too, I feel this is something that could positively affect the game’s future so it’s great to see everyone weighing in!
You do have the option of equipping lower level gear on your high level character to achieve an effect similar to this. For example, a level 20 warrior using their beginner sword would have greatly reduced damage output to the point that the redtails at Cenn’s Farm would take a few swings. You would still have the benefit of having an increased health pool though.
All true, the downside for the higher level people is just that going back to help lower level results in a waste of time, although in your example there isn’t any more xp for them to gather on that class anyway. Just trying to think of a way people could continue leveling while helping their lower level friends, as that is a common problem people try to solve with MMOs recently.
You’re assuming that not gaining XP while helping friends is a problem. It isn’t. It’s an opportunity cost. Which would you rather have: a friend, or more XP. Choose the friend and lose a little grind, so what? It’s not a waste of time. There’s still loot drops for lure ingredients, gear you can shard, and the possible reagent drop. You’re not getting nothing for your efforts. Asking for extra XP while helping a friend much lower than you on levels makes you sound entitled and selfish.
If helping others is so inconvenient, why do it in the first place?
I was liturally just about to make a post asking for an LFG tool because I don’t know an effective way to gather people.
I don’t remember this being in the tutorial and should REALLY be elaborated more early on. Personally I prefer group focuses MMOs coming off FFXI but its definitely not made clear here how and what the benefits are.
Also in terms of scaling for playing with others FFXI had a lvl sync system you turned on in a group to make higher lvl players scale down to the chosen person.
Why is choosing between helping friends and xp a choice we have to make? Does a game have to continue to operate in a specific way just because it started that way? Which has more positive outcomes? What about promoting playing with other lower levels that aren’t your friends? I’m not sure how making a suggestion to make a game better equals feeling entitled or selfishness. That really has no place in a discussion where no one is demanding anything.
By allowing them to continue to earn exp an, incentive is created to help lower levels for the same reasons you would play the game people your own level, to earn/grind xp. Everything else you claim makes it worth while doesn’t matter if the player doesn’t get value out of the professions that use those materials, however everyone can benefit from a combination of materials + xp. The original idea of this post is to help promote doing group content when a major part of the player base is already past the initial levels since level segregates what activities you want to do. So that would indicate people are facing some sort of problem, even if it doesn’t matter to you.
If you’re level 20 and trying to help a friend, there’s no need for XP, so for max level players the bonus XP is a moot point and there is never any incentive with regard to in-game rewards except loot.
For those that aren’t max, it should still be easy to help friends burn through quests lightning fast, essentially power-leveling to a point, and bringing them up to your level, or near it, so that you can both get XP rewards.
As has been said, you can always put on lower level gear and play on their level. No XP gains still, but the game is more challenging and fun for you and your friend(s).
The way I see it, the game owes you nothing more than entertainment for your dollar. If there’s a part of the game that’s not entertaining to you, e.g. helping low-levels and receiving nothing but thanks and a developed relationship with a potential ally, by all means play solo or find groups at your stage of progression. Sure, if it’s something that really needs fixing, the devs can look into it, but this isn’t something that’s needed by everyone for the game to be fun and rewarding.
But that is the entire point of this post, and discussion. People are playing solo or just grouping with people their level, and it takes its toll on on the newer players as they have a harder time doing content intended for groups. From here on out the leveling progression will be something every new player will have to go through or when max level people decide to level a different class, so I think it’s safe to assume this challenge will extend to more new players and existing players who want to do group content. The the solution proposed isn’t perfect, but it at least introduces additional incentives which is one way to help the issue. Your current solution to change nothing keeps the problem in the same state it is now, which doesn’t seem ideal for the leveling experience of lower level players.
I’ll probably do what I do for all of my friends that join WoW, I’ll make an Alt and level up with them. Then when they’re top level or close, I’ll sell all the stuff from the Alt and transfer the money and tradeables to them and then delete the character. I used to do that all the time in WoW.
I wonder why i did group up with Lvl 18 and 19 while being 12 myself.
Shouldnt i have done that? Got Lvl 14 that session just by killing mobs.
I dont get why this has to become WoW. I like this system alot how it is
and it actually works just fine for me.
