Strange difficulty sway.

[Unfocused]

The difficulty of this game is a bit weird.

From the beginning the game was of medium difficulty to me. Then at about the 18th lvl of my character, I made myself a kickass spell and owned everyone with it. Back then I thought the game is a bit too easy, killing everyone in 1-2 casts; I thought maybe it's a bit like exploiting the game, that the devs have not forseen the player could make such a powerful spell at this level.

Then the enemies grew a bit stronger and the gameplay seemed more balanced, yet I was still powerful.

Now I'm level 22. I finally decided to move further in the main quest and went to Kvatch to find Martin. As soon as I entered the Oblivion Planes, I noticed the creatures were strong. That, combined with their number, made the Planes challenging. I started wondering, how extremely hard would those creatures be for me, if I wasn't so powerful in comparison to other creatures/people, since I made my powerful spells.

I wouldn't bother writing if it was only the Oblivion Planes and challenging enemies there, though.

When I came back to the city and started clearing the streets of the monsters that came out of the Gate it was just insane. The NPC's were dying almost instantly, and the immortal ones were falling unconscious every few seconds. I had to use my invisibility spell countless times only to let my magicka regenerate a bit, and cast hp restoration spells on myself. I don't know if I would make it without invisibility.

I started thinking, that maybe this part of the game was designed for a low level character. That way the monsters coming out of the Gate would be of low level as well, and it would be mostly the guards killing them, with little action needed from the player.
Now it seems the monsters grew in level with me, but the guards stayed the same.


What level were you when you went to Kvatch to fight for the city? Did you find that part of the game hard? Any comments appreciated.

I'm confused Oo

 

[Javert]

I was Level 1 when I went into the Kvatch Gate. My difficulty slider was at about 40%, and it was simple, with the monsters taking 2-3 swipes.

The difficulty increases naturally as you level up, as well as artifically according to your slider.

Whenever I do my arena battles, I put the slider at around 75% for more fun. And it is.

 

[Axyon]

Yeah, there's a huge contrast between the Oblivion planes and Cyrodill, and being lower and higher level. I was around level 14 when I did the Kvatch portal and I struggled a great deal. I had to sneak attack most enemies to get the advantage, then recover most of my health before moving on to the next one. As soon as I re-entered Cyrodill, it was easy as hell again.

However, when I got to Level ~20, dungeons became bloody near-impossible and I had to take the difficulty counter down a few notches. Now I'm mid-20s and it's easy again. It's completely screwed up.

 

[jimbo118]

i went to Kvatch at about lvl 14 or so i think, closing the oblivion gate was hard as fook once i got inside the deadra tower, tbh i did it the pussy's way an just ran to the stone as i dont get fatigued while running and my acrobatic level is high...

pfft i thought that was hard, clearing Kvatch castle was way worse than that, it was just me and the Kvatch City Watch dude against tonnes of those fire argonauts and the big lizard type creatures, i musta quickloaded like 50 times, after awhile i just thought fook it, i took all my armour and clothes off and ran like a pussy again to get that dead guys key or ring or whatever than just ran back to the Kvatch Captain, took his armour and legged it,

if im not mistaken hes still back in the castle getting knocked unconscious every 2 seconds , meh that quest was over, wasnt arsed defeating all the enemies, he'll kill them eventually.

 

[Unfocused]

I was Level 1 when I went into the Kvatch Gate. My difficulty slider was at about 40%, and it was simple, with the monsters taking 2-3 swipes.

The difficulty increases naturally as you level up, as well as artifically according to your slider.

Whenever I do my arena battles, I put the slider at around 75% for more fun. And it is.

Theoretically, the monsters should be as difficult for level 1 as for level 22, due to level scaling. Maybe I screwed the whole system by making myself too powerful a few levels ago and the game is trying to keep up and got too difficult now?

First of all, I would need to know how this level-scaling actually works. There's a lot of factors to consider (ie. player level, weapon dmg, spell dmg, items, stats etc.).

 

[Sayaki]

Theoretically, the monsters should be as difficult for level 1 as for level 22, due to level scaling. Maybe I screwed the whole system by making myself too powerful a few levels ago and the game is trying to keep up and got too difficult now?

First of all, I would need to know how this level-scaling actually works. There's a lot of factors to consider (ie. player level, weapon dmg, spell dmg, items, stats etc.).

not really (hi all btw), after reading several threads on the bethesda forum I can say that level scaling only considers the player's lvl, some people said the game was sooo easy, others said it was too hard (none of them meddled with the difficulty slider). The point is that characters with "advanced" non-combat skills, will find the game harder, ofcourse for people who only chop n' smash pwnin' monsters is like squishing ants XD.

So every few levels the mobs get stronger (ie. you can see that as better equip on bandits) when you pass that lvl its obvious that everything will be a lot stronger XD btw daedra should really kick ass, on low lvl its their weakness is just sad :<

btw. I did Kvatch with a lvl 1 char, was soooo easy XD didn't even lvl up...

 

[Roland Deschain]

I think all the developers took into consideration was leveling. I know a lot of people that leveled up considerably augmenting their secuirty skills (by playing thief). So at level 10 they were master thiefs, but when they went into the field to fight actual monsters they found themselves immensy overwhelmed, because the game supplied level 10 monsters even though they were still level 1 in combat and magic.

 

[Stigmata]

not really (hi all btw), after reading several threads on the bethesda forum I can say that level scaling only considers the player's lvl, some people said the game was sooo easy, others said it was too hard (none of them meddled with the difficulty slider). The point is that characters with "advanced" non-combat skills, will find the game harder, ofcourse for people who only chop n' smash pwnin' monsters is like squishing ants XD.

So every few levels the mobs get stronger (ie. you can see that as better equip on bandits) when you pass that lvl its obvious that everything will be a lot stronger XD btw daedra should really kick ass, on low lvl its their weakness is just sad :<

btw. I did Kvatch with a lvl 1 char, was soooo easy XD didn't even lvl up...

Speaking of bandits, I seem to have killed a ton of them lately. Do dungeons and bandit camps get re-populated as time goes on, like the flora of Oblivion do? Or is it possible to wipe all the NPCs off the face of Cyrodiil?

 

[Roland Deschain]

Speaking of bandits, I seem to have killed a ton of them lately. Do dungeons and bandit camps get re-populated as time goes on, like the flora of Oblivion do? Or is it possible to wipe all the NPCs off the face of Cyrodiil?

Nope, they get repopulated. I have my favorite dungeon that I go back to every now and then, as the bandits there always seem to be wearing the top notch armor for my level.

 

[jimbo118]

I think all the developers took into consideration was leveling. I know a lot of people that leveled up considerably augmenting their secuirty skills (by playing thief). So at level 10 they were master thiefs, but when they went into the field to fight actual monsters they found themselves immensy overwhelmed, because the game supplied level 10 monsters even though they were still level 1 in combat and magic.

ah no wonder im getting pwnt, my sneak, security, marksman skills are very high, yet my blade and armour skill etc is terrible

 

[Unfocused]

Heh, I just loaded my savegame right after I got out of the Imperial Prison sewers and went straight to Weynon Priory to deliver the Amulet and then to Kvatch.

What did I see coming out of the Gate? Scamps! I went into the Planes and it was a stroll in the park! I encountered only scamps, and that's what I would see in the city as well, right?

On level 22, there were all sorts of Atronach's, those Spider ladies, Daedroth's (big lizards) and some blue skinned humanoids (I don't remember the name, you get the Daedra heart off them, but that's not the name).

EDIT: Here's some of the fauna I encountered.

 

[ktimekiller]

hm, so rolands explanation tells me why my character struggled like hell, i was a high security, and extreamly high sneak, while rest of my skills lacked.

 

[Warbie]

I had the same experience in Kvatch - at low levels it's easy, at higher levels the beasties are far tougher and kill your npc helpers too quick. This has been the only part of Oblivion that the difficulty balance has seemed messed up to me though.

 

[Danimal]

I did that Oblivion Plane at level 1, it was quite easy. I was going to do it on another character once he reaches level 10 to see if there was a difference.

 

[clarky003]

I goto level 11 and havn't played the game for about a week now, partly because I've been busy at work and secondly because I'm a vampire and can't be arsed with the quest to cure myself, I don't want to be a vampire /sob.

 

[Laivasse]

At first I was adamant I didn't want to be a vampire...mainly because I think that the way Argonian reptile eyes suddenly become pink human eyes looks stupid. But now, considering I get so thoroughly pwned in combat due to the way the levelling works, I don't know what I'd do without Vampirism. I have the mod that turns vampire sight into a toggle, and I can't spend more than a few seconds in a dungeon with it turned off, without getting jittery. Detect life/hunter's sight really are unspeakably useful.

Hard to know what to do....I've already started collecting stuff for the cure, but now I'm thinking it's too hard for a thief/jack-of-no-trades like me NOT to be a vampire.

 

[theotherguy]

Wow you guys play the game completley differentley from me. I'm only level 3 and I've already completed all the quest up to the part where you find the mythic dawn hideout.

 

[phantomdesign]

I played Kavatch the first time at level 22, and it was a **** bi*** to play through. On my second chareacter, IO played it at level 4 and it was incredibly easy. What I'd like you to notice is that the NPCs that help you don't quite level up near as much as the monsters do - which means that you will have no help at level 22, but will be able to sit back and watch at level 1.

 

[Kyorisu]

I highly suggest your guys use a leveling mod. It changes the way you level to make it more fair. Each skill effects a stat on the fly rather than the silly multiplyer screen. So you can be level 1 and have 100 destruction skill as a minor and have close to 100 wisdom etc.

http://fuzionmedia.com/oblivion/

There are many other player levelling mods but I prefer this one. Hasn't failed me yet, unlike a certain other one I won't mention, which broke my stats when I became a vampire.

 

[Gargantou]

Yeah, Oblivions whole leveled enemies system is kinda fuxx0red..
Hopefully they'll find a better balance between dynamically leveled enemies and scripted level enemies in ES5*Likes thinking far ahead*
I'd love to use that leveling mod but I have the 360 vers because my PC is so shietty : (

 

[Dalamari]

I beat the main quest before level 10 knowing that the scaling would end up killing my character, plus then I could spend my time on the thief and DB quests.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Yep. Now on my third sneak type character, focussing on combat this time since stealth skills are so bloody easy to level

Using a levelling mod that gets rid of the per-level stat multipliers and just increases stats as you use the skills associated with them (at a rate of about .5 per major skill and .25 per minor). Also made it so that I level per 15 major skill-ups to help ease to curve a little, hoping this will alleviate some of the problem (or I could screw with the difficulty slider, but that so feels like giving in ).

 

[Unfocused]

I did that Oblivion Plane at level 1, it was quite easy. I was going to do it on another character once he reaches level 10 to see if there was a difference.

I can give you my savegame on level 22 and you'll see the difference :>.

 

[Mutley]

Keep the slider on 50% default. I found out changing it by like 5% makes you either way too powerful or way too weak.

 

[Unfocused]

Keep the slider on 50% default. I found out changing it by like 5% makes you either way too powerful or way too weak.

I haven't touched it - it's still at 50%.

 

[CookieCuttah]

I did Kvatch at lvl 3, it was a walk in the park. I pretty much just tagged along behind finishing off all the wounded crap. I just enjoyed the sights and let the NPCs do all the work. If you want to relax, low levels are great, if you want a challenge high levels are good for that. Just something I learned, generally the difficulty gets a bit more on high levels no matter what, the game assumes that you (The player) are able to do more I guess, but it's fair enough.