Source
r/thedivision•
332

So, does anyone else think that Massive's solution for PvE with groups of varying level is ridiculous?

I have friends who have, due to sheer circumstance, been able to put about double the time that I have into the game. The result is that they're approaching max level while I'm hovering around 17.

As it stands, we can't play together anymore because of how the enemies scale to the highest level party member.

What they should have done is to temporarily cap all party members to the level of the group leader, including weapons and gear. So, basically all weapons and gear will temporarily handle as if they were the same level as the group leader, normalizing both the damage given and damage taken to reasonable levels.

If you still want to run missions ridiculously under-leveled, you can just have the higher ranking player be group leader and things will work exactly the same as they currently do.

But if you actually want to play because you want to have fun with your friends and are not just grinding for levels or progress (crazy concept, I know), you can.

Posted Mar 15, 2016, 8:51 AM UTC

016
BadRice89•

This has been requested quite a lot... im on my phone but its in the request thread in this subreddit. Im sure someone will link it

3
332OP•

Thanks, found it. Here's the post for reference.

1
HavikP13PC•

Yea, I had to leave two of my friends to it last night, as me joining their game made it too difficult for them - I was just constantly reviving them from being one-shotted :/

They way Borderlands did it was fine. Just keep everything at the host's level. Nice and simple, everyone knows what they're getting.

2
stevejtabPlaystation•

I think 'scaling down' to the group leader is an acceptable solution... as long as it still allows lower level player the chance to play with higher-level group leaders (with no 'scaling up').

Personally I don't want to nerf my higher-leveled friends so they can play with me... but I would like to be afforded the opportunity to nerf myself to play with lower-level friends, if I want to.

2
ntgotenSeeker•

If you ask me, enemies should always scale to the group leader's level. So basically just using the group leader's instance without any type of scaling.

1
332OP•

Well, that'd be better than it is now, but then higher level friends could just carry the lower-level group-leader through whatever mission they're doing, pretty much one-shotting every enemy.

That's not fun for anyone. Hence my proposed level scaling.

1
DKazua•

IMO the only acceptable solution nowadays is how Guild Wars 2 handled it. Which was if a higher level player joined a lower level player they had the ability to scale all their stats down to the zone difficulty. They would maintain skills unlocked, gear talents, etc but it would be as if you found that high end at level 10 or 15 or w/e. All content would continue to be a 'challenge' (despite being waay stronger than any normal lowbie could actually be) but you could still die due to poor play

2
332OP•

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly how I'd want it to work.

1
DKazua•

Though I don't remember if it was optional or not. Say when you join the group it was asked of you.. And you couldn't change it without resetting the instance?

1
ntgotenSeeker•

You could always use a low level gun to fix that.

1
332OP•

Which would take care of the damage output, but not your damage resistance. You'd be able to tank everything.

And yeah, of course you could change into low level gear as well, but the whole point of this is to make it easier for people to play together, and this is not exactly convenient.

1
ntgotenSeeker•

I dont see that as a problem considering your goal is to complete the mission and you cant eliminate that anyway without jumping into lower level gear, since with or without scaling the higher level character will be able to tank more and dps more no matter what.

2
HavikP13PC•

Yea, at least then you have a choice. At the moment, we can't play with friends that have just got the game, or don't get to play as much.

1
kaLARSnikovLittle ball of fur.•

While I'm not opposed to another solution to this, I don't feel it's a big issue at this time. Getting to level 30 only takes 20-30 hours at a "normal" pace and then you can play together as much as you like.

That said, I also feel it's better to implement some good solution now rather than postponing the issue until at time when it will be a bigger problem. (If they eventually increase the level cap at some point.)

1
SixcharPC•

I heard that just playing through story mode can get you to level 30 if you do all the wings and side mission.

1
EppingMarky•

No.

-2