Sardukhar;n48045 said:
If you have an idea or mod that pertains to XP gain (or loss!) or another way to level, put it here.
The problem with XP systems in general in action games is that in old turn-based RPGs, XP served two purposes, to serve as a gate (ie, high enough level to complete an area), and to make combat
less tedious.
As turn-based combat can be boring, being way over-leveled for an area, made game combat less tedious because it made combat happened quicker.
Usually in these games, combat was not the main focus to begin with.
In action games, that have only really begun implementing major XP systems on a major scale within the last decade, it does the opposite.
Being over-leveled makes the game challenge-less, something that we don't like of action games because previously, action games we precisely balanced at different difficulty levels.
In open world action games with RPG system in particular:
If it's going to be open world with a lot of side quests, then enemy-upscaling should be implemented, to keep the challenge up.
I believe that all enemies should upscale, and that
the point of leveling up isn't so that you can destroy lower level enemies, but that you are now are "experienced" enough to take on higher level enemies.
It would also be a lot easier to balance various difficultly levels and
keep difficulty in general consistent, if developers could assume that most players would equal "X" level or above, and that enemies would therefor be "X" level or above.
When a developer has to give an enemy a specific level that does not change, say, dogs at level 10, you're asking him to make them a "fair" challenge for level 10 players, but also not too easy for level 20 players. It's impossible without enemy up-scaling.
The only way to do that is like in TW1/2, where designers could assume that in a certain area, limited to specific quests, you could only be between level X and Y, and no less or no more. But that approach doesn't work in open world games.
As for different way of leveling, mutagens, all that sort of thing, I'm not particular about it. The hardcore SPECIAL Fallout_2 stats approach works for me, the pick-you-perk style of Fallout_4 works for me.
Although I will say that the pick-you-perk style of leveling is easier to get into than stats screens with percentage points. It also makes shaping specific "classes" much easier and more defined if they have perks specific to them.
