peter_plankskull Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Nice for you, but not so much for people at lower skill levels. There's plenty of places in the game wiht higher difficulty than the story. Core story missions are no place for "difficulty." They need to be open to the lowest level of skill the devs want playing the game. At any rate, for the vast majority of the game, LEvel Sync effectively brought the difficulty floor up to the minimum for many players because it made the enemies no longer unable to hurt you. Literally 50%, and that's lowballing, of the game is solo content... and I'm not a NIM/HM prog raider, and I myself kind of prefer doing solo content by myself that is rather trivial. Kind of limited on what I can do here... While they make the game so you can no longer be injured by lower levels, does it really matter when you have god mode companions to carry you through everything? That window of not being able to NOT be injured by mobs was small at times, but that small window gave difficulty, difficulty that is lost within todays game. Not to mention end game solo content still had some iffy parts here and their, Oricon namely being one, which actually required a bump in skills. Yeah their were those who grouped for it and cheesed their way through it, but their was actually difficulty end game, now, their is nothing, and imo comps need another nerf. They should NOT be able to solo elites unless their extremely high level, and even then I would prefer not being able to solo them at all, but imo that would be to large of a nerf for the overall community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Literally 50%, and that's lowballing, of the game is solo content... and I'm not a NIM/HM prog raider, and I myself kind of prefer doing solo content by myself that is rather trivial. Kind of limited on what I can do here... While they make the game so you can no longer be injured by lower levels, does it really matter when you have god mode companions to carry you through everything? That window of not being able to NOT be injured by mobs was small at times, but that small window gave difficulty, difficulty that is lost within todays game. Not to mention end game solo content still had some iffy parts here and their, Oricon namely being one, which actually required a bump in skills. Yeah their were those who grouped for it and cheesed their way through it, but their was actually difficulty end game, now, their is nothing, and imo comps need another nerf. They should NOT be able to solo elites unless their extremely high level, and even then I would prefer not being able to solo them at all, but imo that would be to large of a nerf for the overall community. You are not the entry-level player in your skill level. (Neither am I). And you can be injured by lower levels right now; which literally was nto the case once you overleveled the content by around 7 level s(I forget the exact threshold). Sure, if you set your comp to heals, the scratch damage won't stick in most of the content. Answer: don't set comp to heals. And you can even die through carelessness with a comp today, though you have to work at it. FWIW, I jsut had a Inf 28 Aric Jorgan, set on heals, get killed by a single group in one of the NS heroics, while I had to step AFK (and then proceeded to nearly die myself, incidentally). So comps are not invulnerable. PArticularly if you don't have a max-presence legacy. What you want, my wife, who is a self-admitted Leeroy Jenkins type, would not enjoy the game, and possibly throw her mouse through the screen and quit. She's never going to do the "homework" necessary to deal with the level of difficulty you do. SHe does well enough at the current level of difficulty, and did OK at the 3.0 level; but a difficulty level sufficient to challenge people who can handle HMFP content (or more difficult), that's not going to happen. If you want challenge, go find it in the optional parts of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_plankskull Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 You are not the entry-level player in your skill level. (Neither am I). And you can be injured by lower levels right now; which literally was nto the case once you overleveled the content by around 7 level s(I forget the exact threshold). Sure, if you set your comp to heals, the scratch damage won't stick in most of the content. Answer: don't set comp to heals. And you can even die through carelessness with a comp today, though you have to work at it. FWIW, I jsut had a Inf 28 Aric Jorgan, set on heals, get killed by a single group in one of the NS heroics, while I had to step AFK (and then proceeded to nearly die myself, incidentally). So comps are not invulnerable. PArticularly if you don't have a max-presence legacy. I always put my comp on DPS, only set it on heals for a fight that's impossible otherwise, IE a few select champs/EC last boss. Not to mention... to be fair... heroics aren't solo content... their full of two-three strongs, sometimes one strong substituted as a elite. What you want, my wife, who is a self-admitted Leeroy Jenkins type, would not enjoy the game, and possibly throw her mouse through the screen and quit. She's never going to do the "homework" necessary to deal with the level of difficulty you do. SHe does well enough at the current level of difficulty, and did OK at the 3.0 level; but a difficulty level sufficient to challenge people who can handle HMFP content (or more difficult), that's not going to happen. If you want challenge, go find it in the optional parts of the game. No, I don't want anyone to be unhappy, that's why I would prefer multiple difficulty options in the future. Yeah...it may make some content be slower, but their is virtually nothing outside of solo content already in the game besides the EC in 4.0, if we waited this long for operations/GSF update, we can wait a month longer to have more replay ability on the main focus of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I always put my comp on DPS, only set it on heals for a fight that's impossible otherwise, IE a few select champs/EC last boss. Not to mention... to be fair... heroics aren't solo content... their full of two-three strongs, sometimes one strong substituted as a elite. Heroics are retuned to be heroic content that has bonus rewards for grouping. No, I don't want anyone to be unhappy, that's why I would prefer multiple difficulty options in the future. Yeah...it may make some content be slower, but their is virtually nothing outside of solo content already in the game besides the EC in 4.0, if we waited this long for operations/GSF update, we can wait a month longer to have more replay ability on the main focus of the game. It's not the initial development (though there's some of that), it's the upkeep. For a "global" difficulty change, each "option" would require doing the entire test series to make sure new content works for every option. Simply having 2 options (normal and hard-mode), would double the QA load for every release going forward. Three options (normal. hard, and nightmare), triples the QA load. Plus additional overhead for the tests you need to run to make sure "transitioning" work properly. (Incidentally, this testing is the worst, most miserable, kind of grunt work involved in game development. But I digress) And that's not even touching the other complications - how do you handle groups in the open world who are set to different difficulties? And I'm sure there are other complications I haven't even thought of. If you want challenge, the game will give it to you; in the locations so designated. You can tune your difficulty somewhat by using less-efficient options, if you like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) This thread should be above the datamine threads that are not going anywhere and that we apparently need 3 of. I cannot believe they did not think of this when they implemented level sync....Cant imagine anyone would think a level 12 final boss is desirable. If you 'remove' most of the (optional) quests, then make sure that the quests people still do are good and teach you the game mechanics. Edited September 12, 2016 by Gokkus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Or they moved the mechanics classroom out of the story and into the Eternal Championship. Where it didn't interfere with solo story only folks playing through the story. The difference between fights at a level sync of 50 and a level sync of 12 when your character is 65 is fairly minor, at any rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Or they moved the mechanics classroom out of the story and into the Eternal Championship. Where it didn't interfere with solo story only folks playing through the story. The difference between fights at a level sync of 50 and a level sync of 12 when your character is 65 is fairly minor, at any rate. I respectfully disagree. Level 12 en 50 make quite a difference. Just as the starter planet heroics are far easier than the corellia heroics. As mentioned before, at level 12, fights can be over before you got through a single rotation. There is no epic feeling anywhere to be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I respectfully disagree. Level 12 en 50 make quite a difference. Just as the starter planet heroics are far easier than the corellia heroics. As mentioned before, at level 12, fights can be over before you got through a single rotation. There is no epic feeling anywhere to be found. I suppose I should have saidf my[p/i] character. Having done in recent succession a S.Inq and a Trooper, the difference between the two L50 fights and the one L12 fight was, while not quite unnoticeable, not really significant. The L50 fights took longer because they had relatively more hitpoints; but the outcome was never in doubt. The "epic feeling" went away when the level cap was raised to 55, and was completely destroyed when it went o L60. I recall soloing the Ilum FPs at L60, and it was a boring chore, because the enemies were big bags of hitpoints and they could not actually do any damage to me in the first place. Blaming the loss of "epic feeling" on level sync is a mistake. Level Sync is a necessary mechanism to offset that problem. (All that having been said, in a perfect world I'd like them to take the necessary steps to move the endgame fights that aren't L50 and synced to L50 and synced. I just don't think it will make enough of a difference to waste the resources on it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlasmaJohn Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 (All that having been said, in a perfect world I'd like them to take the necessary steps to move the endgame fights that aren't L50 and synced to L50 and synced. I just don't think it will make enough of a difference to waste the resources on it.) Really depends on how these fights were scaled. If they did it by hand, yeah, it might be more trouble than it's worth. Considering how utterly broken the fights are though I'd almost believe that some sort of auto-scaling algorithm is in use. If that's the case then re-flagging the area as L50 is about as trivial a change as it gets. Unfortunately past experience suggests their code monkeys hard coded their scaling tech on a planetary level. They'd probably have to relocate the instance to a level 50 planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Really depends on how these fights were scaled. If they did it by hand, yeah, it might be more trouble than it's worth. Considering how utterly broken the fights are though I'd almost believe that some sort of auto-scaling algorithm is in use. If that's the case then re-flagging the area as L50 is about as trivial a change as it gets. Unfortunately past experience suggests their code monkeys hard coded their scaling tech on a planetary level. They'd probably have to relocate the instance to a level 50 planet. I've been assuming they mean it when they refer to Planetary Level Sync by that name. And they could theoretically "move" the problematic zones into their own pocket-planet (the way the JKs final fight happens in a L50 zone that's storywise part of a L16 planet. OTOH, it's always been its own weird "planet"). Hand-tuning the fights to be more challenging under the stat cap would probably actually be easier than moving the zones, though. It's what they did for the dread-seeded areas and creatures within. Those used to be L55 threats regardless of planet, and are now set to the planetary cap, but the few times I've been in combat with a dread-seeded enemy, they've been notably more difficult than anything else on-planet but an actual worldboss or a handful of Heroic enemies. I don't recall, are Baras or Thanaton Elites? IIRC, General Rakton was a Gold, but I honestly wasn't paying that much attention. OTOH, bumping them to Elite would lengthen the fight without really making that much more difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlasmaJohn Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I don't recall, are Baras or Thanaton Elites? IIRC, General Rakton was a Gold, but I honestly wasn't paying that much attention. OTOH, bumping them to Elite would lengthen the fight without really making that much more difference. Pretty sure Baras was a Gold. It's possible that increasing his HP would help since that would give time for some of the fight's mechanics to activate. I remember his long cast really hurt if you let it go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Pretty sure Baras was a Gold. It's possible that increasing his HP would help since that would give time for some of the fight's mechanics to activate. I remember his long cast really hurt if you let it go off. Well, that'd be a quick-and-dirty way of bumping the difficulty, at any rate. Assuming that elites are allowed to have bigger stats under cap on that planet, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 Pretty sure Baras was a Gold. It's possible that increasing his HP would help since that would give time for some of the fight's mechanics to activate. I remember his long cast really hurt if you let it go off. They could shorten the casting time as well. More health, maybe a higher damage output, a buff to reduce Force Ability Damage Taken (SW-Class-end-of-Corellia-fight has one for lore reasons, but this could be a variation of that, call it "Dark Council Member For A Reason" Buff) in place of the more health, a higher chance of blocking/reflecting player attacks. Adding more combat mechanics with shorter CD times, and buffs might help make the easy fight less easy but still easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 They could shorten the casting time as well. More health, maybe a higher damage output, a buff to reduce Force Ability Damage Taken (SW-Class-end-of-Corellia-fight has one for lore reasons, but this could be a variation of that, call it "Dark Council Member For A Reason" Buff) in place of the more health, a higher chance of blocking/reflecting player attacks. Adding more combat mechanics with shorter CD times, and buffs might help make the easy fight less easy but still easy. Monkeying with the actual fight mechanics requires playtesting. And I was just reminded that F2P are still capped at 50, not 65, so you can't really tune high that (or any other story-ender) fight that much. L50 isn't what it used to be, even under level sync. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 Monkeying with the actual fight mechanics requires playtesting. And I was just reminded that F2P are still capped at 50, not 65, so you can't really tune high that (or any other story-ender) fight that much. L50 isn't what it used to be, even under level sync. Mainly, I was thinking of how to tune it to be more in-line with other level 50 fights. Either way, 65s will steamroll through it, of course. As for playtesting, I'm sure they could have a zone with the mechanics and then apply a different character model (say, generic Sith). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 Mainly, I was thinking of how to tune it to be more in-line with other level 50 fights. Either way, 65s will steamroll through it, of course. As for playtesting, I'm sure they could have a zone with the mechanics and then apply a different character model (say, generic Sith). You still have to spend the time to playtest it, and run the entire suite of QA for a class boss mission. Depending on their current protocols, their tools may not even be set up any more to only run one class's worth of tests. The point of my suggestion to bump them up to Elites was that requires the least testing, because it's just a stat boost, though IIRC Elites get immunity to physics normally, which they don't currently have as Golds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 BUMP Also, it cant be that hard to just revert the instances to their pre-level sync conditions. That seems to be the easiest way. The only thing left to do then is scaling the PC back to level 50, which should be even easier considering how level sync works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kajuratus Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) it cant be that hard to just revert the instances to their pre-level sync conditions. That seems to be the easiest way. The only thing left to do then is scaling the PC back to level 50, which should be even easier considering how level sync works. Yeah, I'd say that would be the ideal situation, since the work to do it is already there, they'd just need to adjust the level sync to the specific level inside the specific phases. Ofc, you might have the problems of people trying to exploit the level sync, and the subsequent QA to test all those possibilities out, but its only Korriban, what could possibly go wrong? Edited September 15, 2016 by Kajuratus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 You still have to spend the time to playtest it, and run the entire suite of QA for a class boss mission. Depending on their current protocols, their tools may not even be set up any more to only run one class's worth of tests. The point of my suggestion to bump them up to Elites was that requires the least testing, because it's just a stat boost, though IIRC Elites get immunity to physics normally, which they don't currently have as Golds. True true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_NovaBlast_ Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 I am not speaking for anyone but myself although I hope that a few of you do agree with me. Please Bioware adjust the end chapter boss fights back up to their relevant level. I want my Sith Warriors to fight a dangerous level 50 Baras not a level 12. As these fights are all in their own instance it should be very easy to separate them from the level sync of the planet they are on. Who agrees? i personally disagree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) BUMP Also, it cant be that hard to just revert the instances to their pre-level sync conditions. That seems to be the easiest way. The only thing left to do then is scaling the PC back to level 50, which should be even easier considering how level sync works. The full name of Level Sync is "Planetary Level Sync." Suggesting it's not so easy to set an instance to a different level cap than the rest of the planet... (It could still be done, but they'd have to create a "pocket dimension;" the way the JK's copy of Dromund Kaas is not the same as any Imp class's copy. Lotta work to do that). Edited September 16, 2016 by IanArgent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loadsamonie Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Nobody likes fighting Darth Baras at Level 12? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Nobody likes fighting Darth Baras at Level 12? It's a little silly. I'm not arguing against making it L50 on principle, but on practicality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 Nobody likes fighting Darth Baras at Level 12? Little anticlimactic to roflstomp a character you have been after pretty much since the moment you left Korriban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJHarman Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 i would personally love for level syncing to be a option. it really ruins alot or aspects of the game for me. for instance im a level 65 powertech and im getting my *** kicked by the grandfather. i used to be able to solo it, i wish i still could becasue that was one thing i loved was going back to low level worlds and kicking *** and killing world boss for the loot and the fun of it. please make syncing optional Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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