Where do you activate the new Level Scaling feature for White March?

[Cimmerian999]

What exactly does it do?

 

Thanks.

[Heijoushin]

I hate the very idea of level-scaling. Where can we kill and burn it turn it off?

[celliott]

Hello all.  When you transfer to the new areas you are given the option of scaling or not.  Thanks!

[Delicieuxz]

Does that refer to the first White March village, or one of the subsequent areas?

[Hassat Hunter]

Haven't seen it happen for the merc camp (which is hard, you know). White March areas only?

[Delicieuxz]

It hasn't happened for me upon entering the first village in WM, or when I went to the lake area to the left of the village.

[Katarack21]

Haven't seen it happen for the merc camp (which is hard, you know). White March areas only?

This is a good question. Scaling for Cragholdt's Bluff would be a good idea, IMHO. I can't be the only person that went there first and got frustrated by a good, solid face-stomping.

[celliott]

Hello all.  Upon entering Stalwart Village you should have been given an option to Upscale the content if you were playing with a higher level party.  Cragholdt's Bluff is designed for higher level parties and there is no current plan to provide Downscaling of content difficulty.  Thanks!

[Delicieuxz]

celliott, what is the expected base level for players to reach Stalwart Village, and what is the level at which the game asks the player if they'd like to scale the difficulty up?

[celliott]

Hello again.  

The player is expected to be level 12 before attempting Cragholdt's content.  At level 9 the party is asked if they want to Upscale the Stalwart content.  Thanks!

 

[Delicieuxz]

Thanks for that information.

 

 

I was level 8 upon entering Stalwart, with one of my characters having an unspent level up. When I entered Stalwart, I received 3 new level ups within a few minutes, so I then had 4 level 9 characters, and 2 level 8s - and this was still within 5 minutes of entering Stalwart.

 

In this situation I wasn't asked to upscale the difficulty, and I wonder if there's a way which I can still do it (maybe editing an ini file?). Do you know if this is possible?

 

[celliott]

Hello again.  I'm sorry I have no answer to that question.  Do you still have a save from right before entering?  Perhaps leveling up before hand will give you the difficulty you desire?  Thanks!

[Gs11]

Is it possible to start off with unscaled White March content,recruit some companions, back to the main plot  and  still choose to scale WM up if you come back later at high level?

Edited September 23, 2015 by Gs11

[Elerond]

Is it possible to start off with unscaled White March content,recruit some companions, back to the main plot  and  still choose to scale WM up if you come back later at high level?

 

In my understanding no. Game checks your level when you first time go in Stalwart and if you are level 9+ then it gives you option to rise levels of the enemies in White March areas and you can't reverse that choice you made and if you weren't high enough levels when you enter Stalwart first time you will never see the question.

[unfriendly_cat]

This is an annoying issue; started a new playthrough when the expansion came out, and went to the White March as early as possible simply to recruit the new companions. However, it looks like this will make it impossible to experience the high-level version of the content, which I was looking forward to.

 

Echoing an earlier question, is there a way (for instance via console, or by editing some files) to turn the scaling on for those who want to give it a shot?  As it stands, it is a strange and questionable design choice that one has to choose between going through the main game with the new companions, and attempting the challenge of the scaled-up version during the endgame.

 

By the way, couldn't check the 2.02 patch yet due to using GOG, so not sure if anything changed there in this respect; any feedback would be apreciated.

[Elerond]

This is an annoying issue; started a new playthrough when the expansion came out, and went to the White March as early as possible simply to recruit the new companions. However, it looks like this will make it impossible to experience the high-level version of the content, which I was looking forward to.

 

Echoing an earlier question, is there a way (for instance via console, or by editing some files) to turn the scaling on for those who want to give it a shot?  As it stands, it is a strange and questionable design choice that one has to choose between going through the main game with the new companions, and attempting the challenge of the scaled-up version during the endgame.

 

By the way, couldn't check the 2.02 patch yet due to using GOG, so not sure if anything changed there in this respect; any feedback would be apreciated.

 

Scaling option is/was meant in first place for those people that had already finished the game and want to use their character(s) which they used to finish the game to play the expansion also, but not have it to be too easy as expansion was designed to be mid game content. 

[Gs11]

So only options what are left are  :

-not doing WM until main complement's finish, then scaled it up  which  give us possibility to  experience the high-level version of the game with new 12-14 lvl, skills, companions in Wihite March and Cragholdt's Bluff  

 

-go into and start  WM  mid game at  around 7lvl as designed  with 50% exp increase IE Mod PotD and back to the main plot. or maybe    even with 50% exp IE mod  after finishing WM    main plot still stays to easy?

 

even if it would work,(complete WM at 7 lvl with IE mod  50% exp nerf ) and give us reasonable/satisfying main plot game  we could experience   high-level content  with new lvl and skills only in Cragholdt's Bluf?

Edited September 23, 2015 by Gs11

[Elerond]

So only options what are left are  :

-not doing WM until main complement's finish, then scaled it up  which  give us possibility to  experience the high-level version of the game with new 12-14 lvl, skills, companions in Wihite March and Cragholdt's Bluff  

 

-go into and start  WM  mid game at  around 7lvl as designed  with 50% exp increase IE Mod PotD and back to the main plot. or maybe    even with 50% exp IE mod  after finishing WM    main plot still stays to easy?

 

even if it would work,(complete WM at 7 lvl with IE mod  50% exp nerf ) and give us reasonable/satisfying main plot game  we could experience   high-level content  with new lvl and skills only in Cragholdt's Bluf?

 

WM don't become high level content even with scaling, it just make monsters there bit more challenging, but it is still quite easy for high level characters.

 

Main plot is always been easy for high level characters, WM didn't really change that any way.

 

Some side content in WM and other places in world is aimed to high level characters, which can offer one some challenge addition to Cragholdt's Bluf, but there isn't really encounters that are challenging for party of six well build max level characters.

[Gs11]

 

So only options what are left are  :

-not doing WM until main complement's finish, then scaled it up  which  give us possibility to  experience the high-level version of the game with new 12-14 lvl, skills, companions in Wihite March and Cragholdt's Bluff  

 

-go into and start  WM  mid game at  around 7lvl as designed  with 50% exp increase IE Mod PotD and back to the main plot. or maybe    even with 50% exp IE mod  after finishing WM    main plot still stays to easy?

 

even if it would work,(complete WM at 7 lvl with IE mod  50% exp nerf ) and give us reasonable/satisfying main plot game  we could experience   high-level content  with new lvl and skills only in Cragholdt's Bluf?

 

WM don't become high level content even with scaling, it just make monsters there bit more challenging, but it is still quite easy for high level characters.

 

Main plot is always been easy for high level characters, WM didn't really change that any way.

 

Some side content in WM and other places in world is aimed to high level characters, which can offer one some challenge addition to Cragholdt's Bluf, but there isn't really encounters that are challenging for party of six well build max level characters.

 

Yep, I know it. But main thing and my problem/question is that,  in what order and with which modifictions(Hard,PoTD,exp nerf 25/50% IE mod) I should visit and complete respective locations. I heard that completing WM+additional subquest(Old Nua,bounties) give us too much exp with reference to finishing main plot in satisfying way,game is too easy. And players have  to choose between  leaving WM/new companions for the end of gamethrogh or use WM content, but later on fighting  in main story is boring and not challenging even with PoTD. That's why  my question come from .

Edited September 23, 2015 by Gs11

[Elerond]

 

 

So only options what are left are  :

-not doing WM until main complement's finish, then scaled it up  which  give us possibility to  experience the high-level version of the game with new 12-14 lvl, skills, companions in Wihite March and Cragholdt's Bluff  

 

-go into and start  WM  mid game at  around 7lvl as designed  with 50% exp increase IE Mod PotD and back to the main plot. or maybe    even with 50% exp IE mod  after finishing WM    main plot still stays to easy?

 

even if it would work,(complete WM at 7 lvl with IE mod  50% exp nerf ) and give us reasonable/satisfying main plot game  we could experience   high-level content  with new lvl and skills only in Cragholdt's Bluf?

 

WM don't become high level content even with scaling, it just make monsters there bit more challenging, but it is still quite easy for high level characters.

 

Main plot is always been easy for high level characters, WM didn't really change that any way.

 

Some side content in WM and other places in world is aimed to high level characters, which can offer one some challenge addition to Cragholdt's Bluf, but there isn't really encounters that are challenging for party of six well build max level characters.

 

Yep, I know it. But main thing and my problem/question is that,  in what order and with which modifictions(Hard,PoTD,exp nerf 25/50% IE mod) I should visit and complete respective locations. I heard that completing WM+additional subquest(Old Nua,bounties) give us too much exp with reference to finishing main plot in satisfying way,game is too easy. And players have  to choose between  leaving WM/new companions for the end of gamethrogh or use WM content, but later on fighting  in main story is boring and not challenging even with PoTD. That's why  my question come from .

 

 

If you do side content in vanilla campaign you can level up so much that plot advancing quests become cake walk, this is because plot quest are designed so that people that skip most of side content still can finish the game, which means that they just can't offer that much challenge for max level parties..

[unfriendly_cat]

The way I see it is very simple. The most challenging currently available content for high-level parties (apart from Cragholdt) is the scaled-up stuff, which you won't have access to if you recruit the new companions early. There is no good reason (balance or otherwise) for this restriction, and it puts arbitrarily limits on the experience for some players.

 

Having already played the base game, there are two motivations for a second playthrough (at least for me). First, additional challenge (which might include playing on POTD with a non-optimized party); obviously access to scaled-up high level content is an important part in making the game challenging. Second, experiencing the new content (the parts I've seen so far are lovely by the way); in particular, going through the story with the new companions. Right now these two are incompatible.

 

Resolving this issue by making the scaling option available later in the game (after first entering Stalwart), or making it available initially regardless of the current level (with a clear warning of course), would significantly improve the experience for some players (like myself), without breaking anything or altering the balance for anyone else. Since it is an easy change to implement, I don't see any valid arguments against it (while acknowledging that it might not be important or necessary for many others).

 

As a final point, and to simplify things even further: if someone is playing on POTD, the hardest version of every encounter should at the very least be available to them no matter which sequence they pick up the companions in the early game.

[Elerond]

The way I see it is very simple. The most challenging currently available content for high-level parties (apart from Cragholdt) is the scaled-up stuff, which you won't have access to if you recruit the new companions early. There is no good reason (balance or otherwise) for this restriction, and it puts arbitrarily limits on the experience for some players.

 

 

Scaled stuff is not actually that challenging for high level party as bonus that scaling gives enemies is not that great. Meaning that encounters which are actually designed (meaning adra dragon, bounties, etc.) for high level parties are still more challenging. 

 

If you want to scale the game just drop 10 (or 15) points from all your defenses and accuracy and you have about replicated what that scaling does.