Do areas and mobs scale in level?

[Cacophonix]

One thing I never really found was this answer. 

 

None of the 3rd party sites tell you the 'approximate' lvl for the area or the lvl of the mobs there. 

 

For example my party is 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 5. I was going to head on into the Sanitarium and clear it out in search of Ravenwing for my Pally. 

 

Does it make sense to wait a bit before trying this or does it make any difference at all?

[AndreaColombo]

Content in POE does not scale with level. Only expansion content and act IV give you the option to scale up their content if you're over-leveled.

 

That said, I'll leave your other question to someone else as I can't honestly recall what level I was when I did the Sanitarium quest.

[Cacophonix]

Ok, for some reason I thought it did. Why do not the websites like 'GamePressure which have excellent maps and guides not say, 'HEY THIS IS BEST IF YOU ARE AT LEAST LVL 4 or 5"

 

I know you can get quests which are waaay to high for you. 

 

Thanks for the response. 

 

Does anyone know what is a good level to enter the '.....Sanitarium'...'leave me be'...Sanitarium.....(ok enough Metallica)....

[pi2repsion]

Ok, for some reason I thought it did. Why do not the websites like 'GamePressure which have excellent maps and guides not say, 'HEY THIS IS BEST IF YOU ARE AT LEAST LVL 4 or 5"

Possibly because in most cases just how hard encounters are for you depends less on your level and more on your party composition; Most of the content you have available to you at any given time is of roughly the same overall difficulty if you do side quests as you follow the main quest. When act 2 starts and you get three different main quests to complete, you can do them in any order, and whichever you pursue first is going to feel a bit tough (if you don't do a lot of sidequests first), while whichever you do last is going to be trivial.

 

There are cases where this isn't the case; As an example, the White March content can if you pursue the main quest relentlessly become available considerably before you are likely to be able to deal with it, but there you'll likely be stopped by the very first zone, which starts with a battle that is a pretty good measure for whether you'll be able to deal with the rest of the content. Likewise, you get access to all of the Endless Paths from the moment you retake Caed Nua, but you are unable to plow through all 15 levels in a row without doing a lot of other questing to level up and gain equipment. And the optional dragon encounters are, as they should be, killers for the unprepared.

 

In general it is the case that every area you have access to is one that you should be able to deal with if you've got a sensible party composition of six members and the player skill to match the difficulty you've chosen.

Edited September 16, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Cacophonix]

Thanks. This is a good answer. I have my gear as upgraded as I can allow and use as intelligent tactics as the game will let me. I am obvioiusly still learning but lots of tricks carried over from when I played NWN and Baldurs gate. The pause, look, reposition, cast or attack, unpause are all part of the learning curve. 

[pi2repsion]

And if you are in doubt, make sure to enter scouting mode, position your characters, and THEN start the encounter by e.g. having somebody shoot a ranged weapon. (Pause on start of encounter on, of course.)

 

This allows you to cast the very best of your protective or buff spells first with no wasted time and means you won't have to waste time repositioning your casters at battle start, which can make a huge difference in otherwise tricky encounters. Then as enemies move to engage and you are getting nicely buffed up, hit them with ranged CC... and so on and so forth. Pretty standard, really, for an IE veteran, once one has adjusted to buffing being in-combat.

 

And if you are finding encounters to be too hairy, enabling the "pause on ability use" to allow you to maximize the use of your abilities with a minimum of wasted time can make a huge difference. It is too much pausing for trivial encounters, but when push comes to shove, it is invaluable, and it can freely be toggled on and off in the options.

 

Pillars of Eternity is a great game, but rudimentary tactics are enough to carry the day, just like it was in BG and NWN, so as a veteran of those games you should have few problems once you get settled in.

[Tigranes]

The simple answer is that you shouldn't worry so much. Just go where you like and do what you like. If you get wiped, try a few different tactics... if you are getting roadkilled, leave and come back later. As stated above, tactics and party composition (and player skill) has such a huge variation on difficulty that any "level 4 area" designation would be difficult. 

 

If you still wanted to know, one rough way to figure it out is to check out the defenses and accuracy of enemies in that area; if you try fighting one group and you see their accuracy consistently overwhelms your defences (which you can check in the combat log) and you can't land anything on them, that's a good sign to come back later.

 

Oh, and there is zero level scaling except for White March content, which is scaled for any party of level ~8 upwards.

 

This isn't directed at you as your query was reasonable enough, but in general it confounds me that so many people want to read exactly what to do and how to do it and where to go, and whenever they get killed they moan that the game should have told them it was going to be difficult. It strikes me that reading a website and obeying its instructions isn't particularly fun way to play, and that if you die a lot, coming back later would be a pretty obvious solution. But apparently not...

[Cacophonix]

Again thanks for the replies. I by no means use the website to play the game but if I cant find an NPC I will head there. Ill head on into the Sanitarium and play with the stuff in t here. 

 

Fire...fire fixes everything...

[Oralaina]

Again thanks for the replies. I by no means use the website to play the game but if I cant find an NPC I will head there. Ill head on into the Sanitarium and play with the stuff in t here. 

 

Fire...fire fixes everything...

 

Um.... I could say something, but I'm not going there....  Anyway....  What's "Ravenwing"?  I don't seem to have ever had that....

[Skie Nightfall]

What's "Ravenwing"?  I don't seem to have ever had that....

 

Ravenwing 16-23

• DR Reduction: 3 DR bypass
• Coordinating: +4 Accuracy and x1.25 Damage when attacking same target as an ally
• Damaging 3: x1.45 Damage

Found on lower floor of Brackenbury Sanitarium, Brackenbury, Defiance Bay

Edited September 17, 2015 by Skie Nightfall