Where to farm XP? Huge Mission Level Jump Once Unlock "The Magic of Umami"

[Woland]

I have been traveling all over the universe looking for side missions around my level, because after I unlocked "The Magic of Umami" all my missions jumped to level 12 and I am only level 7. Where can I farm XP to catch back up to the main storyline, and why such a dramatic jump in difficulty?

[Woland]

I have a few side missions in my list but one of them is level 8 and it says to complete The Magic of Umami first, yet that one is level 12?! The other side missions are level 11 and I get absolutely destroyed the moment I engage any enemies.

I think I broke something, and seemed trapped... HELP!

[Nokturnal]

If side missions aren't viable you could always just do exploration side content instead. While traveling at light speed around the map random points of interest will spawn like Distress Beacons and Unknown Signals, that content should be around your level range but if not, invest in Rail Guns and just outdistance the enemies in order to kill them.

[Pappy]

Did you do any side missions in Ceto? Did you hit every location in Ceto? Doesn't sound like it. You can probably get a lot of XP and levels going back to Ceto and completing everything there that you can.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Pappy:

Did you do any side missions in Ceto? Did you hit every location in Ceto? Doesn't sound like it. You can probably get a lot of XP and levels going back to Ceto and completing everything there that you can.

I did everything I could find in Ceto prior to the jumpgate in the storyline, but because I unlocked this quest, when I go back to Ceto now, everything is level 11+, so no way to progress there either.

Seems like a major design flaw. I have upgraded everything I can and I still get absolutely demolished within 5-10 seconds after engaging combat with anything.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Nokturnal:

If side missions aren't viable you could always just do exploration side content instead. While traveling at light speed around the map random points of interest will spawn like Distress Beacons and Unknown Signals, that content should be around your level range but if not, invest in Rail Guns and just outdistance the enemies in order to kill them.

That's what I've been trying for a few hours now, but it's the same thing: everything is 4-6 levels higher than me.

[Nokturnal]

Originally posted by Woland:

I did everything I could find in Ceto prior to the jumpgate in the storyline, but because I unlocked this quest, when I go back to Ceto now, everything is level 11+, so no way to progress there either.

Seems like a major design flaw. I have upgraded everything I can and I still get absolutely demolished within 5-10 seconds after engaging combat with anything.

Unless you want to just restart the game and not rush the main storyline the 2nd time around, your best bet is setting the difficulty to it's lowest and using cheese tactics like the Stealth fighter + Rail Gun and 2 movement/defensive Devices installed. That should allow you to outdistance the enemies and keep you safe.

Seems the devs didn't want you to speed through the main questline.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Nokturnal:

Originally posted by Woland:

I did everything I could find in Ceto prior to the jumpgate in the storyline, but because I unlocked this quest, when I go back to Ceto now, everything is level 11+, so no way to progress there either.

Seems like a major design flaw. I have upgraded everything I can and I still get absolutely demolished within 5-10 seconds after engaging combat with anything.

Unless you want to just restart the game and not rush the main storyline the 2nd time around, your best bet is setting the difficulty to it's lowest and using cheese tactics like the Stealth fighter + Rail Gun and 2 movement/defensive Devices installed. That should allow you to outdistance the enemies and keep you safe.

Seems the devs didn't want you to speed through the main questline.

Seems, rather, like they have a seriously flawed game design here. I don't want to cheese or set difficulty levels throughout the game. I want a reasonably challenging game at Normal difficulty, but the normal flow of the storyline and breadcrumbs brought me to this place. I didn't do anything unusual at all. I followed exactly where they wanted me to go, and the game essentially broke all of a sudden. I thoroughly enjoyed myself up until this point, but I've spent the last 5 hours trying to account for the broken design, and get back on some sort of reasonable difficulty curve, but it seems the entire level scaling is broken, and I can't break out of it.

[Pappy]

Originally posted by Woland:

I did everything I could find in Ceto prior to the jumpgate in the storyline, but because I unlocked this quest, when I go back to Ceto now, everything is level 11+, so no way to progress there either.

Seems like a major design flaw. I have upgraded everything I can and I still get absolutely demolished within 5-10 seconds after engaging combat with anything.

You have a couple options:

1) Lower the difficulty as far as you can and see if that helps.

2) Go into Supralite travel and when "Unknown locations" or "Distress signals" pop up, navigate to them. Those locations are procedurally generated at your level so you should be able to handle them.

3) Load a previous save prior to going through the jumpgate so Ceto won't have leveled up or start a new game and stay in Ceto till you are ready to move forward.

It's not a design flaw, it's what the players in Early Access begged and pleaded for over and over. Initially the game had dynamically generated mobs just like the procedurally generated areas do and people complained that when you level up, the mobs leveled with you. They got their wish and now you have the problem that you are experiencing. I fought hard against the change, but lost that battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/5/3763353492969151305/

So the next time someone says that dyanamic enemy level scaling is bad, you can tell them why it's not.

[Pharalax]

Not wanting to have players speedrun is fine and all, but it does seem like something is missing. Either a smooth transition or information, such as a warning about rising difficulty.
I haven't gotten to that point myself, but I am a slow player and usually I tend to be overleveled in other games, because I cannot leave a questionmark unexplored.
All goes to say, that it sounds like I won't have a problem due to my particular playstyle, which I can certainly understand is not everyones cup of tea.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Pappy:

Originally posted by Woland:

It's not a design flaw, it's what the players in Early Access begged and pleaded for over and over. Initially the game had dynamically generated mobs just like the procedurally generated areas do and people complained that when you level up, the mobs leveled with you. They got their wish and now you have the problem that you are experiencing. I fought hard against the change, but lost that battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/5/3763353492969151305/

I don't like enemies scaling to my level in game, so I probably would have agreed with what many asked for in that regard (sorry ;)), but to design for that, you provide sufficient content to ramp a player up to be able to engage with that content. By no means would proper game design ever lead players down a path where difficulty immediately spikes globally - throughout the entire game - with no means to properly prepare for that spike.

My entire game is now 4-5 levels ahead of me and I have no content left at my level with which to gain XP to engage with the rest of the game. I die immediately everywhere, even in areas where I previously decimated enemies, 30 minutes prior. I can't imagine they could possibly design a difficulty curve this way, so I have to assume I am experiencing a bug.

[Pharalax]

Originally posted by Pappy:

Originally posted by Woland:

I did everything I could find in Ceto prior to the jumpgate in the storyline, but because I unlocked this quest, when I go back to Ceto now, everything is level 11+, so no way to progress there either.

Seems like a major design flaw. I have upgraded everything I can and I still get absolutely demolished within 5-10 seconds after engaging combat with anything.

You have a couple options:

1) Lower the difficulty as far as you can and see if that helps.

2) Go into Supralite travel and when "Unknown locations" or "Distress signals" pop up, navigate to them. Those locations are procedurally generated at your level so you should be able to handle them.

3) Load a previous save prior to going through the jumpgate so Ceto won't have leveled up or start a new game and stay in Ceto till you are ready to move forward.

It's not a design flaw, it's what the players in Early Access begged and pleaded for over and over. Initially the game had dynamically generated mobs just like the procedurally generated areas do and people complained that when you level up, the mobs leveled with you. They got their wish and now you have the problem that you are experiencing. I fought hard against the change, but lost that battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/5/3763353492969151305/

What you are saying is fine and all. But comparing the OP's experience with my own: I am level 9 and exploring everything and because I haven't played a particular main quest, I see a lot of areas with underleveled ships. All the way down to level 2 and 3.
So it seems that when you play a certain main quest, they ALL upgrade to level 12 or so (going by OP and others experience).
That is not a good way to do it. They could handle it in many different ways that made the transition smoother, even when it isn't directly scaling to your level.
For instance:
1. Make the main quest harder so it scales up to around level 10-12 just before the transition.
2. Make it so it rises each zone level by a certain amount instead of just going to 12+. Example: Level 1 zones will be 6+. Level 2 zones will be 7+ and so on.
That way, if people are too fast, then they have to grind... but at least give the possibility to grind.
3. Have a warning before doing that quest. This is literally the least they could do (except for nothing).

There are certainly other ways too, but I don't think it can be considered good game design when people are stranded. Just to be clear: I find the game very good! I just don't buy into that this particular thing is "as intended"... or if it is, then I would certainly say that it is bad game design.

[McLovin]

I dont have this mission yet and i am lvl 12 so instead of babbling of design flaws maybe the flaw is on your side.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Pappy:

Originally posted by Woland:

It's not a design flaw, it's what the players in Early Access begged and pleaded for over and over. Initially the game had dynamically generated mobs just like the procedurally generated areas do and people complained that when you level up, the mobs leveled with you. They got their wish and now you have the problem that you are experiencing. I fought hard against the change, but lost that battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/5/3763353492969151305/

So the next time someone says that dyanamic enemy level scaling is bad, you can tell them why it's not.

Very sorry Pappy, I misread what you said. I COMPLETELY agree with you! Level scaling is lazy, poor game design. But it appears that whatever sort of level scaling they have implemented in this game is actually bugged. If it scaled according to your level that would just be poor game design, but I think what I am experiencing is a bug where the level difficulty scaling SPIKES HARD and GLOBALLY, so now there's no way forward, and my game is now literally broken. Apologies for the confusion, and any perceived offense. I am with you on the game design aspect, but I think they've not only got a bad design, but a serious game-breaking bug.

[Adalon]

Originally posted by Woland:

Originally posted by Nokturnal:

Unless you want to just restart the game and not rush the main storyline the 2nd time around, your best bet is setting the difficulty to it's lowest and using cheese tactics like the Stealth fighter + Rail Gun and 2 movement/defensive Devices installed. That should allow you to outdistance the enemies and keep you safe.

Seems the devs didn't want you to speed through the main questline.

Seems, rather, like they have a seriously flawed game design here. I don't want to cheese or set difficulty levels throughout the game. I want a reasonably challenging game at Normal difficulty, but the normal flow of the storyline and breadcrumbs brought me to this place. I didn't do anything unusual at all. I followed exactly where they wanted me to go, and the game essentially broke all of a sudden. I thoroughly enjoyed myself up until this point, but I've spent the last 5 hours trying to account for the broken design, and get back on some sort of reasonable difficulty curve, but it seems the entire level scaling is broken, and I can't break out of it.

Nah, sounds like you break neck rushed an open world ARPG and are eating ♥♥♥♥ for it. Skill issue.

[Woland]

Originally posted by Pharalax:

Originally posted by Pappy:

You have a couple options:

1) Lower the difficulty as far as you can and see if that helps.

2) Go into Supralite travel and when "Unknown locations" or "Distress signals" pop up, navigate to them. Those locations are procedurally generated at your level so you should be able to handle them.

3) Load a previous save prior to going through the jumpgate so Ceto won't have leveled up or start a new game and stay in Ceto till you are ready to move forward.

It's not a design flaw, it's what the players in Early Access begged and pleaded for over and over. Initially the game had dynamically generated mobs just like the procedurally generated areas do and people complained that when you level up, the mobs leveled with you. They got their wish and now you have the problem that you are experiencing. I fought hard against the change, but lost that battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/5/3763353492969151305/

What you are saying is fine and all. But comparing the OP's experience with my own: I am level 9 and exploring everything and because I haven't played a particular main quest, I see a lot of areas with underleveled ships. All the way down to level 2 and 3.
So it seems that when you play a certain main quest, they ALL upgrade to level 12 or so (going by OP and others experience).
That is not a good way to do it. They could handle it in many different ways that made the transition smoother, even when it isn't directly scaling to your level.
For instance:
1. Make the main quest harder so it scales up to around level 10-12 just before the transition.
2. Make it so it rises each zone level by a certain amount instead of just going to 12+. Example: Level 1 zones will be 6+. Level 2 zones will be 7+ and so on.
That way, if people are too fast, then they have to grind... but at least give the possibility to grind.
3. Have a warning before doing that quest. This is literally the least they could do (except for nothing).

There are certainly other ways too, but I don't think it can be considered good game design when people are stranded. Just to be clear: I find the game very good! I just don't buy into that this particular thing is "as intended"... or if it is, then I would certainly say that it is bad game design.

Agreed on all points.