v.3.0 Feedback: Act III Upscaled content could be harder

[Enkeli]

Playing the 3.0. beta I entered act III at around level 13 and 1/2, having already completed the White March, Cragholdt and the Endless paths. Maybe that was too late because all of the encounters in Act III have been quite easy, even on POTD difficulty. I went straight for the Sky dragon encounter and even that was easy, over in a minute or so. I wish that the game could be upscaled even further for those playing on POTD or Hard difficulty. This is my second playthrough of the game and I am looking for a challenge this time.

[Enkeli]

Putting a little more detailed feedback on this here which I also posted in another thread:

I was waiting for this patch in Act II with my POTD savegame and jumped straight to testing the new upscaled Act III. I have not yet tested everything, but it feels like there are much fewer trashmobs, which is good. Instead there were a bit larger encounters. However, the encounters still feel too easy, not challenging at all. Mobs die quickly and I needed only a few spells in fights, would have won fights even just by autoattacking. Even the Sky Dragon was a pushover. In comparison, the White March content felt much more challenging.

It may be that I begun Act III too late - I had done almost every other quest that was available while waiting for the patch to hit, including Cragholdt and the Endless paths. So I was about level 13 and 1/2 by the time I entered Act III, with good endgame equipment as well. But it still feels strange that upscaled content was so easy. Maybe the game could check the player´s level and just adjust the scaling accordingly? As a POE newbie on my second playthrough it feels really hard to know what the proper time is to enter each area in order to experience it at the intended level. It would be more convenient if there was an option to always adjust the challenge upwards if my characters would otherwise be too high level for the area.

I can understand that there is a need to keep the main quest possible also for those players who do not complete sidequests and so are at a lower level when entering Act III. However, I am playing on POTD, so it feels like the game should know I am looking for a challenge, and will not get frustrated just because of a little challenge in Act III. If I was going to get frustrated by things like that I would have quit playing on POTD difficulty already in Acts I and II, which had much more challenging content in comparison.

[Aarik D]

Hello Enkeli,

 

As you have guessed, Act 3 is on the lower end of things compared to Cragholdt and late Endless path. So its no wonder that you steamrolled over Act 3. We really do appreciate your feedback and I do like the idea of high level scaled content should scale with your level instead of a static one which is meant for a party of level 10-12.

 

Thank you for your feedback and we appreciate you taking the time to participate in the beta.

[AndreaColombo]

I thought the original Act III was for characters around level 10-12 and the scaled-up version would be for levels 14-16. Josh did say it was meant for people who are "really amped up" from the expansion and levels 10-12 were easily attainable on a non-completionist run of base game.

[Nicholas Steel]

I figured it would scale relevant to your party levels (Lowest level party member), quest progression or something...

Edited January 27, 2016 by Nicholas Steel

[DarkFledgling]

I figured it would scale relevant to your party levels or something...

I would very much love this to be the case, or atleast have the option to scale the content further.

[Enkeli]

Thanks for the response, Aarik D! I hope you do implement level scaling so that it scales to the player´s level. Please also make this level scaling affect the bounties that become available in Act III in the same way. These are well designed encounters and I feel like I am missing out since I am too high level to get any challenge or much enjoyment from them. I imagine it must also be frustrating for designers to create such good content only to have players stomp through it at a higher level than was meant.

[AndreaColombo]

I second this request. Because scaling is optional, it would be nice to get some love for completionists who get to Act III and IV at level 14-16 and well equipped (including, as Enkeli said, the bounties.)