loot level scaling and level zones?

[Včelí medvídek]

Hi Folks,

so I sunk some time in W3 and found 2 things annoy me:

1) there are not clear "level zones". On one hand I like there is not level scaling of enemies (worked perfectly in old games like Gothic 1) but to my suprise world is nto always logicaly build - like why the hack there is bandit camp of level 7 bandits near level 15 monsters? I simply evaded such places at beginning and now if I explore all places I keep coming to places far below my level it is annoying - it take quest level as well (why the heck Nilfgaard camp so far on the map is below level 10.. and so on.)

So jsut curious - is there some randomness in this or it is realy by design?

2) Following - the monsters are not level scaling but the loot is? is nto strange defeat monster few levels above and get "no reward" other than good feeling? Strange..

[♠.brT]

for your first question: it is done that way by design.

as for your second problem. i don't get it, not all enemies drop loot, it's that simple, and the fact that the loot scales with you is good otherwise you will constantly ignore loot from enemies bellow your level (which you will be dealing with a lot if you do not have enemy upscalling on)

[Arturia]

The best part for me was being level 5, getting a quest for Griffin school's gear (level 11), and heading to a lighthouse with a Wyvern (level 14). CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

[v0]

I wouldnt mind at all challenging fights if at least loot were appropriate for enemy any weapons you get out of their cold dead hands were actually something they used against you and you could use it without having to wait until you've sufficient lvl :P Loot's just broken in TW3 they couldve saved most my time and just give me gold instead :/

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

Originally posted by Včelí medvídek:

Hi Folks,

so I sunk some time in W3 and found 2 things annoy me:

1) there are not clear "level zones". On one hand I like there is not level scaling of enemies (worked perfectly in old games like Gothic 1) but to my suprise world is nto always logicaly build - like why the hack there is bandit camp of level 7 bandits near level 15 monsters? I simply evaded such places at beginning and now if I explore all places I keep coming to places far below my level it is annoying - it take quest level as well (why the heck Nilfgaard camp so far on the map is below level 10.. and so on.)

So jsut curious - is there some randomness in this or it is realy by design?

2) Following - the monsters are not level scaling but the loot is? is nto strange defeat monster few levels above and get "no reward" other than good feeling? Strange..

Here's a good site that maps out the levels in specific areas. It has a decent walkthrough, which you don't have to look at if you dont' want to and it has maps of each region, highlighting important ares you need to do in the game.

http://guides.gamepressure.com/thewitcher3/guide.asp?ID=30695

It also has color-coded maps of enemy levels and where they are located for each region: This one's for White Orchard but you can find one for each region by clicking on the appropriate "Map of Enemies in... " selection on the left.

http://guides.gamepressure.com/thewitcher3/guide.asp?ID=30892

And yeah brT is correct. It's done that way by design. The devs figured you'd explore some, do some quests, move on with the main story, go back again, etc. Not the brightest way to do things but that's how they did it.

As for your second question, the devs, for the most part, are a bunch of idiots who couldn't code their way out of a paper bag. The loot is random and does not reflect the monster's level that dropped it. You can also thank the devs for that one.

You'd think about spending 14 years doing nothing but Witcher games, they would have learned a thing or two, but they haven't. They just learned how to pull the wool over everyone's eyes into believing that this game was some sort of masterpiece that other gaming companies should emulate. Lord help us all if they do.

Yeh, thanks for info. I jsut feel it is kinda inconsistent - for example main quest leading to Skellige is level 15 but have also 2 sidequests there already for elvel 11 and 12.. kinda annoying already knew it will be another quests fot just story experience but no XP or other real reward (Actually I just finished Velen / Baron and Dandelion part and I am level 19.. so long I get close to zero XP from everzthing just because I overleveleed content.. I was always angry for this in MMO as this leads you to jsut skip content and keep leveling.. and even as world and side quests in W3 are far more itneresting, game wise it push me the same way.. which is sad.

Well, W3 is very, very good game.. Would not say masterpiece though. I postponed playing it by some year having it in library and realy enjoying it after all, but more I play it it is closer and closer some MMO experience which is not so good.. and the "book" (story telling) is nice, amazing actually with all that good wrtings and dialogues, consequences and everything.. but starting to consider read real book instead could offer more.. I jsut hope I will have strength to finish the game and not give up in middle / as it can maybe happen because I catch mzself I am jsut losing interest in exploring and side quests.. (what is greatest hapiness for me is good game of Gwent though - took some time but now I think I enjoy it most of all things and each game is refreshing)

Well, the enahnced edition of Planescape Torment was released recently (and that IS masterpiece RPG for me:p

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by ♠.brT:

for your first question: it is done that way by design.

as for your second problem. i don't get it, not all enemies drop loot, it's that simple, and the fact that the loot scales with you is good otherwise you will constantly ignore loot from enemies bellow your level (which you will be dealing with a lot if you do not have enemy upscalling on)

Thing is, in my opinion you should still progress in game / which means situation you keep fight enemies below you level should not happen so often. Sadly for me it is quite opposite - at the beginning I did quests and everything at about my level or 1 to 2 above. If I saw some stronger enemies I told myself "ok, it is supposed to go there later" - I came later and at "proper" level just to find right behind corner same place is everything few levels lower. It was ok to some point finishing Blood baron story, but since that I hardly found anything about my level (14-18) - either there was everyhing too low (like very often even below 10 - which I found realy stupid as quest leading you such zones was let say 12 or more - or too strong (25+ or ??) / I still got new levels as I got xp for some quests where some semes have fixed amount.

And it should work in opposite as well - if monsters dont scale up, the loot should not as well / what is the point do hard fight and kill wywern 10 level above you if it protect/drop the same thing as bandit 10 levels below you... thats realy strange design, that also somehow discourage from exploring.

I already mentioned Gothic (1 and 2, rest was.. meh) that did realy good job with leading you through story and world by strength of enemies and your weapons - and if you steped aside from such apth (eg you found some strong spell scrolls to get rid of that damn big troll) it was rewarding giving you something realys tronger than you could find by doing "your level conten".

I realy miss and wish to find similar experience and feelings in W3.

[♠.brT]

Originally posted by Včelí medvídek:

Originally posted by ♠.brT:

for your first question: it is done that way by design.

as for your second problem. i don't get it, not all enemies drop loot, it's that simple, and the fact that the loot scales with you is good otherwise you will constantly ignore loot from enemies bellow your level (which you will be dealing with a lot if you do not have enemy upscalling on)

Thing is, in my opinion you should still progress in game / which means situation you keep fight enemies below you level should not happen so often. Sadly for me it is quite opposite - at the beginning I did quests and everything at about my level or 1 to 2 above. If I saw some stronger enemies I told myself "ok, it is supposed to go there later" - I came later and at "proper" level just to find right behind corner same place is everything few levels lower. It was ok to some point finishing Blood baron story, but since that I hardly found anything about my level (14-18) - either there was everyhing too low (like very often even below 10 - which I found realy stupid as quest leading you such zones was let say 12 or more - or too strong (25+ or ??) / I still got new levels as I got xp for some quests where some semes have fixed amount.

And it should work in opposite as well - if monsters dont scale up, the loot should not as well / what is the point do hard fight and kill wywern 10 level above you if it protect/drop the same thing as bandit 10 levels below you... thats realy strange design, that also somehow discourage from exploring.

I already mentioned Gothic that did realy good job with leading you through story and world by strength of enemies and your weapons - and if you steped aside from such apth (eg you found some strong spell scrolls to get rid of that damn big troll) it was rewarding giving you something realys tronger than you could find by doing "your level conten".

I realy miss and wish to find similar experience and feelings in W3.

There is a simple fix for your first point, and that is enemy upscaling, it's an option you can turn it on if you want.

your second point, they do drop different stuff than the bandits, you don't kill a bandit for its skin or body part, you kill him because of some other reason (xp, maybe to loot some armor/weapon etc..) however the primary reason to hunt monters in this game is for the stuff that they drop, like mutagens or ingredients, they also drop relic swords/armor equipament ocasionally, that's not something that a level 10 bandit will drop.

to your third point, this is not gothic.

And since the main complaint i see from your post is that the enemies don't scale with your level i'll say it again, the enemies can scale with your level, it's an option you can enable in the menu called Enemy Upscaling, beware this option can break the difficulty IN CERTAIN areas (like rats can become deadly killing machines which is why it is recommended to turn off enemy upscaling if you are fighting rats)