Philosophical Power Discrepancy

[kitchenslave]

So I wanted to ask the community / devs what the thought process is with regard to new players in greens vs a fully geared out toon in a Scenario as far as power difference. In tier 1 and tier 2, I would say it's somewhere around 50% more power to the fully geared out toon vs. the new freshly entered toon. It might be slightly more than that with a level 1 effectively naked and a geared, fully talisman slotted level 15, but i'm assuming a level 6 or 7 with green gear which you can achieve in an hour of SC's and RVR. I find the best example is a new level 16 vs. a fully soldiered out level 30 in a tier 2 SC. The level 30 feels about 50% more powerful. Two level 16's would have the advantage in my opinion.


Move onto the final tier and here's where the problems come in. Low to mid level 30's with full soldier gear or fodder to level 40's with high RR and gear. The power curve is like 200 to 400 percent more powerful. My damage seems to be massively mitigated way beyond armor should and they seem to tear right through me. And I understand the issue where Dev's are saying we try the best we can to bolster the lower level toons to actually compete but there are limitations on what we can do without client control or breaking something else. So my question is what is the targeted power discrepancy in a competitive environment like an SC in the final tier?


And yeah I have a lot of toons in the low to mid 30's that are kind of stuck getting steamrolled and yes it sucks. If I could permanently fight in tier 2 capped at level 30 I would spend all my play time in those SC's.


So i'm less interested in hey chalk it up get to 40 and then be competitive, and more want to understand the dynamic of coupling geared out toons with cannon fodder. i'm very interested in what the community thinks the power discrepancy should be? Like I said I feel 50% is a nice number.

[lefze]

You won't get anywhere with this. There should be minimal power differences between anyone that newly entered the last tier and someone in BiS gear, but seeing as this would effectively remove huge parts of the grind, it's not gonna happen. So we are stuck farming afk lvl 20's on Bos for the forseeable future.

[Reesh]

1. Get a full group going with a proper composition. lvl 31 toons with a good 2-2-2 will steamroll 40r pugs.
2. Get into decent guild and keep grouping with them.
3. It's an oldschool mmo, you won't stay in 3x forever while being weak. At the end same time You won't be powerful enough to beat players that invested a lot more time into their toon then you, simply because you logged in.

[peterthepan3]

The level discrepancy is hardly felt if you are with friends playing in a tight group/WB. Bolster helps immensely too.

If you're running into the lakes as a solo level 23 BW with no talis/good gear for your level, you're gonna have a bad time.

[kitchenslave]

The level discrepancy is hardly felt if you are with friends playing in a tight group/WB. Bolster helps immensely too.

If you're running into the lakes as a solo level 23 BW with no talis/good gear for your level, you're gonna have a bad time.

Peter I've been playing mmo's for 20 years. I don't care about the lakes there a whole different animal. Sc's are typically more fair as the numbers are about equal. I got the friends thing. That is not the issue. It's a very simple question, what do people think the power difference should be. If its get friends and get to 40, 200 to 400 percent is fine, well ok then.

[Darosh]

[...]
It's a very simple question, what do people think the power difference should be. If its get friends and get to 40, 200 to 400 percent is fine, well ok then.

Another appeal to popularity, it never gets old. Why don't you just make your case and get it over with?

See... if you use the search function you'll find about a bajillion threads tackling this topic - directly and indirectly -, some even contain statements from staff and almost every single one contains useful tips for new players, or basic breakdowns and debunking of (intentionally and unintentionally) widely spread missinformation, general myths (which persist since live) and so on.

[nebelwerfer]

I agree that the early 30's is really rough and I think maybe unlocking the points you have from RR from level 31+ would help mitigate the power difference. Could cause issues though, I am not very familiar with the bolster from 31-40.

Seems a little unfair to not have access to your renown points at level 31 when you're fighting opponents with 40-80 points available.

[kitchenslave]

[...]
It's a very simple question, what do people think the power difference should be. If its get friends and get to 40, 200 to 400 percent is fine, well ok then.

Another appeal to popularity, it never gets old. Why don't you just make your case and get it over with?

See... if you use the search function you'll find about a bajillion threads tackling this topic - directly and indirectly -, some even contain statements from staff and almost every single one contains useful tips for new players, or basic breakdowns and debunking of (intentionally and unintentionally) widely spread missinformation, general myths (which persist since live) and so on.

I made my case. I think it should be 50% and as the first replier to the thread said, that's probably too much but I think 50% is enough of an incentive to do the grind. I'm not a new player. I'm not trying to figure it out. There is no need for defensiveness. I would think that a lot of 40+ high RR players would want this addressed. I know I don't want to be in an SC or other competitive environment 2 shotting people, screaming "get Friends".

[Sulorie]

I don't see what you mean, being lvl 16-17 in sc queue feels like easy mode. Work on your character and you will have a good time too. The rank difference is a non-issue.

[Dabbart]

I love it when people bend over and pull numbers out of the usual spot.... 200-400% more powerful in t2 scenarios due to gear difference... rofl. Seriously. Go check the damn Wiki, the stats of gear are posted there. Go do the actual math. The differences between gear are negligible. 400% power difference... rofl. Stop making things up to suit your viewpoint. Go do the actual math.

Yep. Nothing to do with tactics or class abilities unlocked. Healers don’t get grp heal til rank20, so a lvl 19 will be substantially weaker than a 20, in the exact same gear, they also have an extra tactic slot.

OP says he wants to stay in T2. We’ll, that’s the issues you face down there then. Some classes just function better at lower lvl than others.

But you seriously expect Devs to spend time balancing a game towards someone who specifically doesn’t want to reach end game and only cares about SCs? You’ve been here since 2016, I feel like you should know better than this...

Btw; bolster is so powerful at lower ranks, that a lvl1 WH bolstered used to have 100% parry tile rank 2. Dunno if this is still the case. I do know that a bolsterd tank lvl 1 has capped defensive stats. Which a 15 has to spend a lot of talis to achieve... maybe OP forgets that armor, resistance, avoidance, chance to be crit, etc all have their formulas based on character rank, so you could have less armor/resistances but a higher % negated....