In TW3, there was NO WAY you could complete a quest 4 levels above you, because enemies became UNBEATABLE.
This is not true though. Even though the level on quests was clearly designed to gate them it failed to do so. In one TW3 playthrough I defeated Sarati on DM at level 8. It's a level 22 quest. The double wyvern fight is another good example. Pretty much every playthrough I was significantly under-leveled for that fight. The high level Armored Arachas in the cave quest is another good one. There are a lot of similar examples.
One of the more difficult encounters was that random level 30+ Hag in Velen (Northern Wind doesn't work due to level gap). Although, I don't believe that was a quest mob. It was just kind of there as a surprise for people going off the beaten path. Probably on purpose
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The level gap in those cases only meant two things. One, don't get hit. Without Quen up anyway. With a high enough gap in TW3 you'd get 1 shot. The other was the fight would take forever because you'd be slapping the enemy around and doing almost no damage. Do that fight, or the Sarasti encounter, at appropriate level and it drops in like 5-6 hits (Cat build anyway).
A couple of observation: if you don't like quests being impossibile to be completed then I don't understand why you're fine with levels at all. Illusion of choice?
I didn't say I was fine with levels. I can understand why they're still being used though. Again, it's an easy way to distinguish character/NPC power. If the PNP doesn't have them I'm surprised they were included. Adaptations don't need to be a perfect match but that area is kind of a big deal.
TW3 gave you the opportunity to waste your time trying to beat a lvl 15 quest after 3 hours in the game, but didn't give you the opportunity to complete the quest at all. Also, main quest already gated side missions since it was the only properly viable way to level up.
Heh.... That's kind of what I'm saying. I didn't avoid quests in TW3 because they were well above my level. I did them anyway. They took forever, sure. They were still doable. Whether this translates to shooter combat mechanics I couldn't say. Don't get hit doesn't go as far when things are shooting at you.
Regardless, it's not like having access to quests well above your level is much different from blocking you from knowing about them. The only core difference is you don't know about them in the latter case. If given a choice there I'd prefer the former. At least then you can make the attempt.