Why should I explore and fight a stronger enemy when I'm low level?
To get ingredients, challenges, and legendary weapons. just like always.
There is no point in going looking for strong weapons in this game. Whatever you find, will just be nerfed to your level. Takes away the excitement of finding something rare and then slaughtering enemies with it!
What makes a weapon strong and rare in TW2 were always the special effects, NEVER damage, and according to this system TW3 will be like this even more.
What is so hard to get? there are still strong/legendary/rare/unique weapons in the game that wont be surpassed by a regular sword that you get 5 levels later. Its obvious.
it also takes away some of the enjoyment in doing additional playthroughs, planning ahead an ideal progression path, which for me is one of the major elements of replay value in most RPGs.
Not really, The epic "witcher school of the blood" or whatever will still hold the epic "witcher sword of the blood" which will be unbeatable by other swords for many hours, in some specific way or for a specific fight or style.
But if you don't want an OP weapon ruining your experience, why would you even challenge a tough monster above your levels? And even if you do it for some odd reason, you can easily just ignore that weapon and continue to enjoy the game with the usual weapons.
Number one, because challenge is awesome, and lets not forget that swords might not just appear after beating overleveled monsters, they will be in secret locations, as rewards for weird and crazy quests, etc.
Number two, self imposed difficulty is NEVER an answer, it renders all and any games far less engaging and fun that true challenge, which doesnt involve fighting yourself like the former example is.
Or you know, there may not be any other weapon that is better? There could be a weapon that if obtained at level 30 gives 500-600 damage. But if obtained at level 50 gives 1000-1100 damage. And this weapon, because it has some other abilities like poison +50% or something, is the best recommended weapon for a bunch of late game enemies. Thus, it is really important to get this weapon at level 50 or above.
A weapon you can get at level 30 that is the "best recommended weapon" for late game enemies, which are lvl 50 minimum, is just plain bad design and its not a good example to discuss anything regarding the system. if we assume everything that can go wrong, no system can work ever. This design mistake can happen with damage downscaling or without it.
The biggest problem with features like this is that you'll eventually be forced to dance around it.
Say, you go to a new area, and somehow end up acquiring a very cool, very unique sword. It might have some rare properties (freezing?), it might have some story /lore significance (Aerondight, Addan Deith), or it might just please your fashion sense (there's no accounting for taste, though I'm worried about that pimpin' Nilfgaard armor). You can't use it a whole lot for the next 5 levels (no monsters left around, for example), but then you quickly realize that some bland Zerrikanian sword already completely overshadows your rare find. Wouldn't you want to delay acquiring the rare sword then?
Thats exactly what CDPR will probably not let happen, and why Monnier clearly said that only damage scales down. Bland Zerrikanean sword will never overshadow a legendary item with special effects, or at least not within 5 levels which wouldnt make sense. Maybe 15 levels after you find it or 20 or more, the damage of the bland zerrikanean sword will be so high that it might be better for some situation, but still, it'd have to be the worst case scenario for a normal sword to beat a legendary one.
Now, I admit that this is certainly a very trumped-up example and it might not happen in the game, if CDPR handled it well. Maybe only the stats of "common" items scale down to your level. But it's certainly a possible issue that comes only from this unnecessary mechanic.
This is exactly the point, the stat that scales down, is the one stat that every sword has: damage, so thats the one thing that can never be too high or special, because it'd ruin the value of all other swords around it. The comparison is linear, if its forward in the "line" its better and other items are good for nothing, instead, with a non-linear approach, different effects give weapons different values for different situations, and those dont scale.
make loot constantly disposable in favor of the new thing looted a couple of level later.
This can happen in any system if balance isnt right, so its besides the discussion. Also being the worst case imaginable for which there's no evidence or indication that makes it more likely.
Well, here's the thing: I hate all of this. I don't like the idea of "being able to upgrade a bit at every level" one single bit.
I like my items to be (relatively) low in numbers but with every "upgrade" (or roughly-equivalent alternate option) being a big deal, something meaningful that doesn't happen every few steps.
Totally agree, and this is one of the most basic and early game design teachings. Progression ramps are made up of contrasting highs and lows, not of soft curves or straight lines. And again like the example above, its something that the system can have just as easy as one with no downscaling. You are putting "bad" things together with something as if it was mandatory to support your taste, but this problem of a bad progression ramp is not native to any system or solution, and it has no special relationship with what CDPR are doing.
I think in the end it also heavily depends on the question "how big will the difference be between individual swords?". Because if it is only a few damage points and the main damage you make comes from different sources, like for example armor, swords and skills combined, as well as your default level damage output. Then it might be not such a big issue. You get a sword at level 18 although you need level 20 for it and in the end it's just 1 - 2 damage less, I don't mind that. But if the level differences are HUGE, then we got a real problem on our hands.
Exactly!! finally someone actually addresses that there are different cases and situations with this thing that are possible.
Remember TW2? damage wasnt the primary stat that made players choose their weapons. People chose their weapons based on special effects and attributes, in TW2 even normal swords were pretty strong in terms of damage IF they were 3rd chapter "normal" swords or something. Ultimately, the main deal was does it have a probability to burn or frezee? how many rune slots, vitality? etc. This is a very strong indication that TW3 will evolve this non linearity even more, and with this system in place, that downscales ONLY damage or common shared stats, everything starts fitting in place. I dont know if it will work, but it damn sure makes sense.
So how about we don't act condescendingly to others' ideas? Like I said, to me, if it's implemented in a good way, it would be a pretty much perfect scheme (though I'd still prefer preset level requirements better)
