How Does Battle Level Actually Work (Specific Mechanics)?

rb2001 · September 2015

Hi all,

I'm wondering what all of the changes Battle Level causes and what the mechanics and scaling for the changes are.

Who gets Battle Leveled, who doesn't, by how much, do your existing stats get adjusted/scaled, or just completely blown out and replaced?

Does "competitive" mean "based on the players currently in the alliance war instance - some kind of average", or does it mean based on some predetermined preset stats that "Are competitive"?

I'm interested to know these technical details from anyone who has done the testing and digging.

My character has more magicka than health, and not much stamina, but was battle leveled to have basically the same magicka, but tons more health and stamina.

Do VR16 players actually get battle-leveled, too? Is it only level dependent? Does it in any way factor in gear, champ points, etc.?

Is playing without battle level once you are top level "a thing" (i.e. is having battle level off simply gimping yourself and you will always have less stats than others, or is it an option only for when you aren't top level yet, and at top level, it becomes meaningless or doesn't affect much)?

Thanks in advance.

Merlin13KAGL · September 2015

rb2001 wrote: »

Asmael wrote: »

There are many mechanics involved with Battle leveling.

It used to apply to characters pre-v1, it now applies up to v13 (correct me if it applies to v14 as well).

It sets a fixed amount of certain stats for all characters, no matter what you play, as follow:

Health: 30k~w
Magicka: 17k~
Stamina: 17k~
Physical resist / spell resistance: 8-9k~

Your current armor becomes irrelevant, but not all the traits. If you wear a level 1 light armor, you still have as much as someone wearing a v13 heavy armor. Same goes for weapons, a level 1 weapon still does as much damage as a gold v13 weapon.

Some traits simply do not work. Divines (+% mundus bonus), Nirhoned weapons (+% spell resist / penetration) are the most commonly used.

You don't get extra stats from enchants: having glyphs that increase max stam/magicka/health will do nothing. Sets that give you extra weapon damage / spell power will not apply, but special effects on sets still apply (like the Death wind's proc). You can, however, increase your resource recovery. Note that attribute points are irrelevant.

You do not get extra skill points. Bonuses you get from skills, however, all apply. Racial bonuses work as well.

Food, drinks and potions and also battle-leveled, but only if they are close to your level: using a level 20 potion when you're level 40 will do very little, but using it if you're level 20 will give stats on par to higher level potions.

That's all i can think about for now...

Thanks, @Asmael. This is what I was looking for.

Battle Level is quite a conundrum.

It's seems like it effectively throws character individuality out the window unless you are above what it gives.

It also seems like you could engineer a build to work better by giving up things you would normally need (health enchants on gear) to gain bonuses elsewhere, and I really don't like that.

I really don't like this idea of having two versions of your playable stats (which is the real me?).

I would have preferred it to do a uniform scale factor on your existing stats only, or to not exist at all.

@rb2001, you are correct. In fact, at some point in your build, you will likely see Battle Leveling make your stats (the ones you've focused on, at least) go down. This will happen more and more as you approach VR14.

(It's also why you used to see people go to Cyrodiil buck naked, as their armor didn't matter.)

When you're lower level, <<VR9, it's likely to make your numbers better than what they are by themselves, which is ultimately the goal. However, nothing says you have to turn it on. Go in with your character as is, and if you can hold your own, have at it.

If you seem to have some trouble, then either turn BL on, or do a little less front line and a little more support.

CGPsaint · September 2015

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Battle leveling can only be toggled on or off outside of Cyrodiil (for obvious exploit reasons while in PVP). If you want to see stat changes that Battle leveling does, you should zone out of Cyrodiil, take a screenshot of your stats in the Character panel, then zone back to Cyrodiil with the Battle Level option toggled on (in Options\Gameplay\combat) to see the stat differences.

From that point, you can choose if you want Battle leveling on or off, but in some cases stats will be higher or lower than your native stats you see with it off. EG. You may have higher Magicka with the Battle level buff on, but lower Armor if you just wear light armor all the time.

Source

rb2001 · September 2015

CGPsaint wrote: »

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Battle leveling can only be toggled on or off outside of Cyrodiil (for obvious exploit reasons while in PVP). If you want to see stat changes that Battle leveling does, you should zone out of Cyrodiil, take a screenshot of your stats in the Character panel, then zone back to Cyrodiil with the Battle Level option toggled on (in Options\Gameplay\combat) to see the stat differences.

From that point, you can choose if you want Battle leveling on or off, but in some cases stats will be higher or lower than your native stats you see with it off. EG. You may have higher Magicka with the Battle level buff on, but lower Armor if you just wear light armor all the time.

Source

Thanks. That thread seems to have outdated information.

I don't see on my stats sheet happening what is described in there.

I see even my spell damage be the exact same on both bars when Battle Level is on, even when the second bar is dual blades and first is a staff. I see unexplained changes.

I don't understand the way this mechanic is implemented, but it seems sort of spotty, to me.

Nestor · September 2015

IIRC, Battle Leveling will take you to L50. But maybe not give you are many skill points as you would have as you may or may not have gathered as many Skyhsards as you could. Or, it could just leave your skill points alone and adjust your Attributes. I went into Cyrodiil once as an L10 and noticed the stat increases, but did not study them. I can't remember if I was given any extra skill points either, I was just there long enough to do the training and left. However the post above would be the best method to see exactly how it works, as this is something you can undo, or change and it goes away once your back in the PvE world.

CGPsaint · September 2015

rb2001 wrote: »

Thanks. That thread seems to have outdated information.

I don't see on my stats sheet happening what is described in there.

I see even my spell damage be the exact same on both bars when Battle Level is on, even when the second bar is dual blades and first is a staff. I see unexplained changes.

I don't understand the way this mechanic is implemented, but it seems sort of spotty, to me.

I would ignore the thread and just take the quoted portion from ZOS_BrianWheeler with a large grain of salt.

rb2001 · September 2015

Nestor wrote: »

IIRC, Battle Leveling will take you to L50. But maybe not give you are many skill points as you would have as you may or may not have gathered as many Skyhsards as you could. Or, it could just leave your skill points alone and adjust your Attributes. I went into Cyrodiil once as an L10 and noticed the stat increases, but did not study them. I can't remember if I was given any extra skill points either, I was just there long enough to do the training and left. However the post above would be the best method to see exactly how it works, as this is something you can undo, or change and it goes away once your back in the PvE world.

Strange that there doesn't seem to be much solid info on this mechanic.

I find it very strange that all of us are being adjusted by not only Battle Spirit but also Battle Level, when toggled on (and because its a buff that's on by default, I doubt many have it off), and yet we are trying to figure out how to balance combat.

Battle Level doesn't seem to work in a straightforward fashion, and for the record, my character is VR9, but when I tested with it on, was being Battle Leveled like crazy into some stats set that is basically not even the character I set up.

Asmael · September 2015

There are many mechanics involved with Battle leveling.

It used to apply to characters pre-v1, it now applies up to v13 (correct me if it applies to v14 as well).

It sets a fixed amount of certain stats for all characters, no matter what you play, as follow:

Health: 30k~w
Magicka: 17k~
Stamina: 17k~
Physical resist / spell resistance: 8-9k~

Your current armor becomes irrelevant, but not all the traits. If you wear a level 1 light armor, you still have as much as someone wearing a v13 heavy armor. Same goes for weapons, a level 1 weapon still does as much damage as a gold v13 weapon.

Some traits simply do not work. Divines (+% mundus bonus), Nirhoned weapons (+% spell resist / penetration) are the most commonly used.

You don't get extra stats from enchants: having glyphs that increase max stam/magicka/health will do nothing. Sets that give you extra weapon damage / spell power will not apply, but special effects on sets still apply (like the Death wind's proc). You can, however, increase your resource recovery. Note that attribute points are irrelevant.

You do not get extra skill points. Bonuses you get from skills, however, all apply. Racial bonuses work as well.

Food, drinks and potions and also battle-leveled, but only if they are close to your level: using a level 20 potion when you're level 40 will do very little, but using it if you're level 20 will give stats on par to higher level potions.

That's all i can think about for now...

rb2001 · September 2015

Asmael wrote: »

There are many mechanics involved with Battle leveling.

It used to apply to characters pre-v1, it now applies up to v13 (correct me if it applies to v14 as well).

It sets a fixed amount of certain stats for all characters, no matter what you play, as follow:

Health: 30k~w
Magicka: 17k~
Stamina: 17k~
Physical resist / spell resistance: 8-9k~

Your current armor becomes irrelevant, but not all the traits. If you wear a level 1 light armor, you still have as much as someone wearing a v13 heavy armor. Same goes for weapons, a level 1 weapon still does as much damage as a gold v13 weapon.

Some traits simply do not work. Divines (+% mundus bonus), Nirhoned weapons (+% spell resist / penetration) are the most commonly used.

You don't get extra stats from enchants: having glyphs that increase max stam/magicka/health will do nothing. Sets that give you extra weapon damage / spell power will not apply, but special effects on sets still apply (like the Death wind's proc). You can, however, increase your resource recovery. Note that attribute points are irrelevant.

You do not get extra skill points. Bonuses you get from skills, however, all apply. Racial bonuses work as well.

Food, drinks and potions and also battle-leveled, but only if they are close to your level: using a level 20 potion when you're level 40 will do very little, but using it if you're level 20 will give stats on par to higher level potions.

That's all i can think about for now...

Thanks, @Asmael. This is what I was looking for.

Battle Level is quite a conundrum.

It's seems like it effectively throws character individuality out the window unless you are above what it gives.

It also seems like you could engineer a build to work better by giving up things you would normally need (health enchants on gear) to gain bonuses elsewhere, and I really don't like that.

I really don't like this idea of having two versions of your playable stats (which is the real me?).

I would have preferred it to do a uniform scale factor on your existing stats only, or to not exist at all.

d3nbark3r · September 2015

Asmael wrote: »

There are many mechanics involved with Battle leveling.

It used to apply to characters pre-v1, it now applies up to v13 (correct me if it applies to v14 as well).

It sets a fixed amount of certain stats for all characters, no matter what you play, as follow:

Health: 30k~w
Magicka: 17k~
Stamina: 17k~
Physical resist / spell resistance: 8-9k~

Your current armor becomes irrelevant, but not all the traits. If you wear a level 1 light armor, you still have as much as someone wearing a v13 heavy armor. Same goes for weapons, a level 1 weapon still does as much damage as a gold v13 weapon.

Some traits simply do not work. Divines (+% mundus bonus), Nirhoned weapons (+% spell resist / penetration) are the most commonly used.

You don't get extra stats from enchants: having glyphs that increase max stam/magicka/health will do nothing. Sets that give you extra weapon damage / spell power will not apply, but special effects on sets still apply (like the Death wind's proc). You can, however, increase your resource recovery. Note that attribute points are irrelevant.

You do not get extra skill points. Bonuses you get from skills, however, all apply. Racial bonuses work as well.

Food, drinks and potions and also battle-leveled, but only if they are close to your level: using a level 20 potion when you're level 40 will do very little, but using it if you're level 20 will give stats on par to higher level potions.

That's all i can think about for now...

This is all correct.

So basically if you're running decent gear where the set bonus' and various other stat increases out weigh that of the extra HP and about average STAM and MAG bonus' that Battle Leveling gives you, it's probably a good idea to turn it off.

One of my vet 13 characters sits on 21k health, 24k stamina, 9k magika, 2400 stam recovery, 3100 physical damage with 52% crit chance.... if I were to put battle leveling on despite the higher amount of resources my stam recover and damage will be half of what it is now.... so in my case I won't be having battle leveling turned on.

This isn't the case for everyone though which is why they're implementing it.

I'm not bothered if people have more HP if they haven't even got the stats or player skill to take me down. So I'm all for a bunch of 30k HPers with 1.2k spell damage and physical damage with 1300 recovery running around

rb2001 · September 2015

Sounds good. Thanks, all. I'll continue rolling without it and working towards building my character(s) incrementally.

zornyan · September 2015

Not to mention 8k resistance is pretty poor, most vr15-16 are hitting 33k hard cap for 50% mitigation, at 8k your only getting what? 12%?

That'll make a huge difference, battle leveled characters are cannon fodder for high level vets

Chrlynsch · September 2015

How does battle leveling work? Very carefully....

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How Does Battle Level Actually Work (Specific Mechanics)?

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