What's the point in leveling up if enemies always level up 2-3 tiers higher than you?

[VESPA5]

I think after 40+ hours into this, I started to realize how much this game thrives on the player eternally GRINDING. No matter how high you grind up, you will always come across enemies that are 2-3 tiers higher/tougher than you. You're almost never overpowering. Even the missions where it states the recommended level you should be before taking the task are misleading. The mission bosses are always 2-3 levels higher than you. I can see how this game can be addicting, but I think the game is unfair to the point where regardless of how much you level up, all the baddies you beat to get to level 20 are now level 23 or higher. Major frustation. Anyone else sort've got burned out on level grinding?

[CrUsHeR]

Just do quests in Normal and TVHM, no need to grind anything. That's just a question later in UVHM. If normal enemies are 3 level above you, go back to town and start some of the optional quests.

[VESPA5]

Thanks for the tip. I already tried that. For example, I'd re-visit towns that had enemies that were like level 20 (and I'm level 18) at the time and when I come back where my character is finally level 20, the SAME enemies that used to be at level 20 are now level 23-25 in that SAME town! Did the enemies do push-ups and took performance enhancing drugs while I was gone (lol)?

[davidb11]

Originally posted by VESPA5:

Thanks for the tip. I already tried that. For example, I'd re-visit towns that had enemies that were like level 20 (and I'm level 18) at the time and when I come back where my character is finally level 20, the SAME enemies that used to be at level 20 are now level 23-25 in that SAME town! Did the enemies do push-ups and took performance enhancing drugs while I was gone (lol)?

That almost seems like a bug.
Enemies don't scale in Normal and TVHM from quests until you beat the game, where they set at 30 and 50 respecfully.

You can notice this really easily, by starting the Captain SCarlet DLC at level 15, and beating it arounf level 20.
Everything in the base game when you go back to it will still be around level 15-17. Even Bosses.

I've never heard of any enemies scaling to youer level or much higher in Normal Difficulty.
The game should not sync up enemies like that.

[Waste_of_skin]

Originally posted by VESPA5:

For example, I'd re-visit towns that had enemies that were like level 20 (and I'm level 18) at the time and when I come back where my character is finally level 20, the SAME enemies that used to be at level 20 are now level 23-25 in that SAME town!

That's not normal for most areas. The level for some maps in the main game (eg. Dust) will increase as you progress through the story, but most maps don't change. For example, the enemies around Liar's Berg (Southern Shelf) will stay around level 4. Which areas had the enemies with increasing levels?

[VESPA5]

I'm on the mission to rescue Mordecai's bird (Bloodwing). At the time, I was level 20 and the friggin' mutated Bloodwing was level 23 and totally powning me. So I backtracked, did about an hour of grinding to get to level 23 to make it somewhat of a fair fight. Guess what? I get back to rescuing Bloodwing again and the damn bird is now Level 26. W.... T.... F....

[Carmac]

Caustic Caverns scales to your current Level when picking a mission in Sawtooth Cauldron which leads you back to Caverns.

[davidb11]

Originally posted by Carmac:

Caustic Caverns scales to your current Level when picking a mission in Sawtooth Cauldron which leads you back to Caverns.

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't explain why the Bloodwing fight would scale to 3 levels higher than the player.
Especially since areas aren't supposed to scale like that in Normal difficulty.

[CrUsHeR]

Lynchwood does scale with your level in Normal Mode in the same manner like UVHM, also gave me a really hard time on my first character. Usually you are a few levels higher than the quests, if you were doing every sidequest available. But your gear is a lot lower, so once you meet enemies 1-3 levels above you, you are in trouble. Weapon damage approximately doubles every 5 levels, so you might only pack half the intended firepower.

Other places like The Dust might scale temporarily as well if you're on a higher level quest leading you back there.

[Waste_of_skin]

Originally posted by VESPA5:

I get back to rescuing Bloodwing again and the damn bird is now Level 26. W.... T.... F....

That really doesn't sound right. I took a couple of higher level characters back through WEP today and the map was around level 21 or 22. If BW was 26 for you, the map level was probably 24, and that really seems too high. Even if the map level was going to change, it wouldn't happen until you had progressed farther in the story, not when you were still working on the same mission.

You could try verifying the game cache, just in case. That has seemed to fix some odd problems with the game for some people. 1 file seems to usually/always fail, so if that's all you get, the files are probably fine.

[Nevander]

Borderlands 1 was a lot more balanced and you slowly became able to handle anything the game could throw at you solo no problem, except for maybe Crawmerax.

Borderlands 2, to me, feels like the AI is leaps and bounds more deadly even in normal modes. I know for a fact I've died more in BL2 in a single playthrough than I have in all my playthroughs of BL1 combined.

Just recently I played BL1 through again as Roland in playthrough 1 and 2 and only died a couple times due to bulls**t. Wasn't even really an enemy vs me situation that I died because of.

This is all that happens to me in BL2. I must be playing the game wrong or something. Winning solo in BL2 without exploits is like a chore to me.

[davidb11]

Honestly, I died a lot in Borderlands 1. It was not an easy game.
This game, sure, I die a bunch too, but Borderlands 1 kills me with Pyscho grenade trolling 23 times for every one times I get trolled by it in Borderlands 2. :)

Not really joking.
And beating Borderlands 2 without cheating isn't that difficult, Gaige and Deathtrap combos very well. :)

[azxcvbnm321]

Some bosses are always a few levels above you because they are bosses. The Warrior was level 52 or 53 for me in UVHM when I was capped at level 50. It's just how they make bosses and certain "badasses" be actually badasses.

[davidb11]

Originally posted by azxcvbnm321:

Some bosses are always a few levels above you because they are bosses. The Warrior was level 52 or 53 for me in UVHM when I was capped at level 50. It's just how they make bosses and certain "badasses" be actually badasses.

Yeah, but we're talking about an enemy that shouldn't be as high level as it is.
This would be like fighting the Warrior at level 30 in Normal, and him being level 35. :)
That just does not happen normally. :)

[deadsmoke]

When I was doing normal mode I went into Badass Crater, just to see what it was like, when I came back to Sanctuary the missions had moved up a couple of levels. But I've never seen it happen if you stay on the main storyline.

[VESPA5]

Well, thanks for all the tips and pointers everyone. I finally beat the "rescue Bloodwing" mission. Seems like after you reach around Level 25 (this is in Normal single player campaign), the game starts to be a tad more manageable. It's never too easy and it's never too difficult. The game does a fair job of keeping you on your toes. Geez, it was such a grind to get to level 25 and getting my butt handed to me. Then again, this is after taking a break from Battlefield 4 to detox from the monotony "and relax" with a non-competitive atmosphere in this game. So far, it's loads of fun!