Heresiarch
Prophet
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,451
After beaten the game as a level 46 pure mage, I must say people like Skyway that complain about level scaling are just of so much bullshit.
The thing with Skyrim is, while there IS scaling, like tougher bandit/draugr/falmer varieties will appear much more often when you've reached level 30-40, the scaling is LIMITED, which is vastly improved over Oblivion. All the normal monster/bandits have FIXED health and stats, and they all carry semi-fixed equipment (e.g bandit marauders mostly wear shitty bandit equipment, and will carry at most 1 piece of ebony armor very rarely), so for one, if you can one shot bandit marauder/falmer shadowmaster at say level 45, then you can consistently one shot them even if you've reached level 70. For another, you'll never able to rely on killing bandits to complete your ebony set, because even after you've reached level 80, they are still stuck at level 35ish, and their loot table are still stuck at there.
This is the same with trolls, animals, and even dragons - apparently ancient dragons have a fixed 3k-ish health and 300 melee damage, and don't improve as you level up.
However there ARE a few specific NPC that will scale with your level, like the occasional ambushing thief, they are always wearing glass armor and have a higher and higher HP each time I kill them. Such cases are few and far between though.
While shopkeepers DO sell better material equipment at higher level (which can be seen very silly as Riverwood blacksmith can sell ebony armor), fortunately they are pretty rare. In fact, I've played over 20 hours to look for the ebony boots to complete the set for Lydia.
From a gameplay balance perceptive, I think the level scaling in Skyrim is pretty well done. While some of you may praise that if the world's bandits consist of the weakest variety at 90%, and one shotting them after you've past level 15 can make you feel powerful, it will also make the game very boring. Right now, there WILL have a moment that you feel overpowering anything, but that's past level 40+, a level that you should have maxed a few skills, and you should really deserve the power you've gained.
BTW, I've found Destruction spells actually usable even after level 40. Yes, the damage doesn't improve, which is really a shame compared the insane damage melee can do, but don't forget enemy health is fixed too. And with all the perks, at adept, you can 3 shot bandit marauders, and 5 shot draughr deathlords, which should be pretty balanced between "spamming hundreds of weak magic" to "one shotting everything". Now I'll use my remaining perks to improve my alchemy skill, and with +XX% fortify Destruction pots I can now consistently one or two shot all the toughest minions.
The thing with Skyrim is, while there IS scaling, like tougher bandit/draugr/falmer varieties will appear much more often when you've reached level 30-40, the scaling is LIMITED, which is vastly improved over Oblivion. All the normal monster/bandits have FIXED health and stats, and they all carry semi-fixed equipment (e.g bandit marauders mostly wear shitty bandit equipment, and will carry at most 1 piece of ebony armor very rarely), so for one, if you can one shot bandit marauder/falmer shadowmaster at say level 45, then you can consistently one shot them even if you've reached level 70. For another, you'll never able to rely on killing bandits to complete your ebony set, because even after you've reached level 80, they are still stuck at level 35ish, and their loot table are still stuck at there.
This is the same with trolls, animals, and even dragons - apparently ancient dragons have a fixed 3k-ish health and 300 melee damage, and don't improve as you level up.
However there ARE a few specific NPC that will scale with your level, like the occasional ambushing thief, they are always wearing glass armor and have a higher and higher HP each time I kill them. Such cases are few and far between though.
While shopkeepers DO sell better material equipment at higher level (which can be seen very silly as Riverwood blacksmith can sell ebony armor), fortunately they are pretty rare. In fact, I've played over 20 hours to look for the ebony boots to complete the set for Lydia.
From a gameplay balance perceptive, I think the level scaling in Skyrim is pretty well done. While some of you may praise that if the world's bandits consist of the weakest variety at 90%, and one shotting them after you've past level 15 can make you feel powerful, it will also make the game very boring. Right now, there WILL have a moment that you feel overpowering anything, but that's past level 40+, a level that you should have maxed a few skills, and you should really deserve the power you've gained.
BTW, I've found Destruction spells actually usable even after level 40. Yes, the damage doesn't improve, which is really a shame compared the insane damage melee can do, but don't forget enemy health is fixed too. And with all the perks, at adept, you can 3 shot bandit marauders, and 5 shot draughr deathlords, which should be pretty balanced between "spamming hundreds of weak magic" to "one shotting everything". Now I'll use my remaining perks to improve my alchemy skill, and with +XX% fortify Destruction pots I can now consistently one or two shot all the toughest minions.