lower levels nerfed heavily in one tamriel

pjb21 · September 2016

so I've been doing some experimenting on the pts with some of my characters. one of them is a level 39 NB who can kill much higher level enemies in a short amount of time. on the pts however it seems that the enemies have 2-3 times the amount of health, meaning it takes that much longer to kill them. these are meant to be on equal footing to me, meaning they shouldn't be this much of a challenge. what is going on here?

Dymence · September 2016

The definition of equal footed changes over the course of the game.

If you currently go into any of the DLC zones on live, you will be scaled up to the level of the zone (like every zone is in one tamriel) and you will see the same phenomenon there.

If you are currently max level and fighting mobs in max level zones, it also takes much longer to kill mobs than it took you at level 39.

It's simply the way of the game.

CasNation · September 2016

Because you were scaled as well. So if you were fighting level 48 mobs or something as a 39 before, now you are fighting cp160 mobs. The difference is that you are scaled this way too, just like in the dlc.

RoyJade · September 2016

It's normal.
Actually, in non level areas, the mobs are easy and you can slay them without thinking about your stuff and build. In dlc and high-level areas, you need a little more thinking, since the mobs have higher health and hit a little harder (well, not really, but still the health thing is sure). With OT, every part of the game will be like dlc areas, so without thinking about your build you won't find the same sensation. But it's not difficult either.

Iselin · September 2016

The bolstering of all mobs to CP160 levels is a net buff for the mobs with respect to time to kill because health pools and mitigation are bolstered better than damage dealing.

If you have a build that kills them one at a time, you'll notice a slight increase in that TTK when fighting just one but you'll notice it a lot more when fighting packs of 3+ because you won't be killing them in one or two shots so they'll have more time to hurt you. This cumulative effect is easiest to see in Public Dungeons with packs that are 6+.

Characters built around AOE damage and AOE CC will have a much easier transition than those that are single target focused, but everyone is going to notice a slightly increased difficulty... long needed change, IMO. (EDIT: as a side note, the Brawler morph of the first 2HD ability really shines in One Tamriel because the more mobs you hit with a swing the stronger the damage shield it procs is - it's still the same as on live but it helps a lot more now with packs that are taking that many more shots at you.)

To give new players with their level 4 characters a fighting chance, they've added an additional buff to their damage against mobs. A couple of weeks ago when 2.60 first made it to the PTS you could actually see this extra buff number on the character screen. It started out as a +97% damage at level 1 and went down by 3% per level (which you more than make-up with active abilities, morphs and passives and you definitely feel stronger as you level despite that 3% per level loss) until it reaches 0% at level 34. The latest patch, 2.62 removed the ability to see this extra, behind the scenes buff but it's still there.

I don't think new players or those with no CP leveling an alt will have a hard time due to this extra buff and they will get adjusted to the new difficulty gradually. That has been my experience leveling several low player characters on the PTS. The change is going to be most jarring for those who haven't been on the PTS and go into One Tamriel when it goes live and find that the leveling groove they were on doesn't work quite the same any more.

Like others have said, the whole game will be more like going to Orsinium with a low-level character now on live.

Sigtric · September 2016

Have had some slight concern about this, but have not had the opportunity to look on the pts and see for myself.

Taking lvl 10 toons to Wrothgar/Gold Coast/Hews Bane on live has proven to be a content difficulty level that didn't seem to be worth the time when xp and progression was much faster in the non scaled low level Stonefalls/Glenumbra

Iselin · September 2016

Sigtric wrote: »

Have had some slight concern about this, but have not had the opportunity to look on the pts and see for myself.

Taking lvl 10 toons to Wrothgar/Gold Coast/Hews Bane on live has proven to be a content difficulty level that didn't seem to be worth the time when xp and progression was much faster in the non scaled low level Stonefalls/Glenumbra

It's easier on the PTS because of that extra damage buff for low level characters I talked about in my post above. I took a level 10 stamsorc to Wrothgar (with no CP used) and soloed a delve, including the mini-boss just fine.