A Scaling Idea

[Boomstick720]

So as I am sure many of you are aware, there have been a lot of complains about the difficulty of the game now that update 9 has rolled around, particularly in the beginning planets.  However, in the past there has been a steady stream of complaints that the game is far too easy, so I hardly think dialing back the difficulty to what it once was is not really an option.

 

Therefore, my proposal is to have a difficulty system that scales with the group/ player depending on 4 things.

 

1. The highest level equipment owned by the player (or at least an average of all equipment currently being used).

 

2. The planet that the player is on.

 

3. The number of players in a group.

 

4. Whether the enemy is standard, elite, or a boss.

 

One such equation I have come up with utilizes these 4 components to decide the appropriate level for either the enemies, or the bosses, and utilizes a variety of factors to determine the appropriate "scaling" for the player.

 

This equation is simply xy+z^yp in which

 

x is the highest level/ average level equipment owned by the player

 

y is a number between 1.0 and 2.0 that varies based on what planet you are on (mercury= 1.0, pluto=2.0)

 

z is the number of players in the group

 

p is a number that denotes the type of enemy (.5 for normal, .75 for elite, 1.0 for boss) 

 

 

For example, to determine the level of Captain Vor on Mercury, when playing with 4 players with equipment at level 4, the equation would be-

 

4*1+4^1*1

 

which comes out to mean that captain vor will be level 8 when fighting him.  In addition to this, you can determine that the enemies will be level 6 and the elites will be around level 7.

 

However, its not exactly fun to have enemies that are all consistently the same level, so there should be a slight margin added to this to give some leeway.  For the standard enemies, you could take the number ascertained from the equation as the highest number an enemy can be, and create a random probability of an enemy being that level, or 2-4 levels lower.

 

The only hitch I see is nightmare mode, which I honestly don't know what would be the best thing for this circumstance.  I'm tempted to say to just take the final number given in the equation and multiply it by 2, but that would make mercury nightmare missions too easy, and pluto nightmare missions too ungodly difficult.

 

If anyone does come up with an idea on that, post it.

 

I suppose in conclusion, the scaling system needs a bit of work.  In the past it has favored new players and offered no rewards for veterans, while now it favors veterans but can punish new players.  From what I can tell, I think this system would help alleviate some of the scaling issues without making the game too difficult or too easy.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PsychedelicSnake]

Scaling is a fine idea. It appeases both sides of the spectrum, those that feel the game is too easy, and those that think it is too hard.

[Boomstick720]

Anyone else?