Morrowind's scaling was blatant. When I played Oblivion, it was more of the same, except that numerous enemies had a much higher level cap.

I like level scalling so why don't you shut up I don't blurt all my opinions in your face so why do you people insist on bring back this topic time and time guess what guys beth aren't listening, deal with it!

Done

How about you stop telling me what I can and can not do. Level scaling svcks. Deal with it.

Loot scaling is the bigger problem for me. Like Oblivion it functions as a disincentive to explore and go out of my way, which is the whole appeal of a game like this. Of course it's closely tied in with so many other poorly implemented mechanics like CE items being a dime a dozen, lockpicking providing no barrier whatsoever, etc.. But really, why should I bother seeking out dungeons and poking around every nook and cranny of said dungeon if I know there isn't any special or carefully hidden item that I can't find just as easy elsewhere, or buy from a merchant who's inventory scales right along with me? Feels just like Oblivion in that regard, which is enough to basically ruin the game for me.

Level scaling is necessary for this type of open-world game

Why would you look around every cranny if you know where to find them?

Also, there are unique artifacts to be find.

There is nothing to find to begin with save for level-appropriate gear that can be acquired elsewhere, hence there is no reason to look.

Wrong.

At least that means you won't be posting any criticisms or suggestions on this forum. Ever.

Guess I've been turning over all the wrong dungeons, then. Specifically, where can I go to find a weapon or enchanted item that is actually hand placed and not drawn from some scaled table or part of a quest?

Why are you arguing with me?
When beth changes this level scaling ill sell my tes games just for you, oh wait that's not going to happen. Why don't you just enjoy the game instead on whining about something you have no control over?!?

Okay I've read through this thread, and I'm sorry, but the majority of what I'm hearing is just stupid comments bashing on scaling, and a few intelligent people defending a system that HAD to be used, and was used fairly well.

Look I'm sorry to the haters, but in a game like Skyrim, scaling is NEEDED.

Scaling allows for the game to stay on the same level as yourself and constantly provide you with challenges, surprises and rewards. if there was no scaling eventually your character would hit the point where either he can go around 1 - 2 hitting everything, or being destroyed in 1 hit by EVERYTHING.

Compared to previous games the scaling system in Skyrim is extremely well done and refined. Sure it's not PERFECT, but it's the best that Bethesda has ever done.

Some people are just blatantly stupid, or ignorant.

I've seen a lot of comments on things like:
"There's no point exploring a dungeon when any items I can find in it I can just as easily buy from a merchant"

This right here shows how horribly ignorant these type of people are. Skyrim is an ELDER SCROLLS GAME, that means that there are more then just random generic magic items and equipment. There are dragon priest masks (8), words of power (30+) and powerful deadric artifacts (16) to find. As well MANY quests focus around different dungeons or locations and some dungeons simply have their own quests that start at the entrance and go with them.

I've seen other ridiculous comments like:
"I'm level 15 and I see plenty of bandits with elven or orcish armor and I'm only level 15, I'm scared that at level 20 they'll have ebony or something"

All I have to ask here is WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?
Even my level 46 mage rarely sees a bandit in more than full steel plate. In fact my level 35 warrior character has yet to even find enough pieces for a full set of ebony, I ended up having to smith it. Bandits, no matter WHAT LEVEL wear mostly leather, hide, iron and the occasional steel. Bandits BOSSES will occasionally be wearing higher level armor than those, but it's NOTHING like oblivion where at level 20 I'm finding a bandit in full deadric -.-

And lastly, for all those idiots who are saying:
"Oh god it's horribly scaled, everything kills me in a few hits, I spend like an hour fighting mages and archers kill me in 1 - 2 arrows"

I'm sorry, but like did you ever hear of a thing called a DIFFICULTY SETTING? if you're getting your ass kicked, then simply turn down the difficulty for gods sake, that's kind of what it's there for. And if you don't want to because then it will be "too easy" or some [censored] then TOUGH, don't complain about it being hard then.

A lot of us players, well a few, myself included, we enjoy a challenge. It's fun to have to stop and think and duck in and out of cover and use every trick up your sleeve and every weapon in your arsenal to defeat your opponents. It's terribly boring just running in there and being like "Hi bandit! guess what? you're dead! *slash, bandit dies in 1 power attack*" Skyrim, and RPG's in general are about choice. If you like a challenge and like thinking then you throw the difficulty way up, if you die a lot, get angry, or like killing things in a few hits, then TURN IT DOWN, it's WHAT IT IS THERE FOR. And for gods sake, if you're still dying on like novice, then you seriously did something wrong.

Everyone also has to REMEMBER that non combat skills contribute towards your level, but will do nothing to increase your damage or anything. This means that if you're stupid and say max your blacksmith to like level 100 at level 5, or use the speech skill glitch to get it to 100 in half an hour or something like that, just if you level your non combat skills a bunch and gain some levels from it then you can't expect the game to be a walk in the park. When you're training blacksmith a bunch do you think the bandits are all like "oh hey! that guys doing something that won't at all contribute to his damage or staying alive! let's sit around and stay at this level so he can still kill us easily even though he's gaining levels" NO THEY WILL NOT. If you train a bunch of non combat skills without keeping your combat skills up on par with your level then you can hardly blame the game for being difficult. You have to scale your skill levels properly so there isn't a single outstanding one that is responsible for like half of your current character level unless it's a combat skill.

I apologize for this mini rant and if offended anyone, it's just extremely infuriating to see all of these troll comments, bashing on the game and the system instead of DOING SOMETHING about their problems using the tools Bethesda gave them. That said there have been a few intelligent well written posts, but the fact still stands a massive open world RPG game like Skyrim needs level scaling, there is simply no way around it. It's not about the devs being lazy or anything, it would be next to IMPOSSIBLE to put enemies and equipment in the game that will be EXACTLY the same level as the player when he reaches them. Unless the devs made the game completely linear like say dragon age, it would be impossible to map out exactly where every player would go and what they would do and place enemies and equipment accordingly.

That being said though, Todd Howard, and multiple other sources have stated countless times that Skyrim has a system where ASIDE from level scaling, there will always be tougher enemies higher up in the game world. Meaning if you're climbing a bloody mountain, EXPECT TO FIND DIFFICULT ENEMIES. It's not a hard concept. You want easy but want to stay on expert difficult? then fine, stick to the lowlands.

As well it's worth mentioning that the majority of dungeons have locks on them. This means that when you enter a dungeon for the first time, the dungeon, and all prospective creatures and enemies within, are locked at whatever level you are upon that first entrance. This means if you enter a dungeon at say level 10 for the first time, and go back at like level 20, all the enemies will STILL be level 10 and won't ever change. This means if you're having trouble leveling some combat skills, or you're under leveled, then go to one of the dungeons you visited earlier and train there.

Stop bashing a system that is both much needed, and that you don't understand or point blank refuse to use any of the tools given to make it easier for yourself.

Skyrim needs level scaling, and the game does a fairly damn good job with it too. End of story.

And yes, I've played like 140 hours of the game so far, 3 level 30+ characters and I've played countless hours of both Oblivion and Morrowind. So these aren't just the usual words of some ignorant troll thanks.

I won't C: I haven't found anything that seriously annoys me, by the way some people go on you'd thing this was life

Yea, the levelscaling has to go. The big issue with levelscaling is that it does nothing to make the game more balanced, quite on the contrary. Without levelscaling it might take you longer to become super powerful if you're not running with an ideal build, but at least you can still get there. In Skyrim you quite litterally get weaker and weaker if you're building a character that doesn't have the skills to stay ahead of the curve.

I am Lvl 38, wit 124 Hours now and still have no problem.

the game is fine the way it is, everyone else complains so now its my turn i hate these threads.

You're playing the wrong game if you want hand picked items in every dungeon.

That being said, most of the quests I do now have items that are far too weak for me, like 29 damage when my mace does 105. That's not scaling.

You people don't know what scaling is.

I have better idea. Why don't you and people like you stop brushing off legit complaints as mere whining. Its really annoying to have some idiot come here and say get over. And even more annoying when that person can't even come up witj a good argument and act like the game is perfect.

Well at least this "idiot" can spell, but what are you going to do boycott the game because we both that nothing is going to change.

The complaints about level scaling are WRONG.

Finally another sane person who realises he doesn't own beth, you sir I like.

Saying something is wrong without having a good explanation why is pretty much an absolute failure to make a good argument.

Also, Bethesda makes games for the players, their customers, not for their own self gratification, so anyone going "You can't tell Bethesda what you didn't like about their game" is just... ugh...

What would jesus do to the level scaling?

1. There's very little enemy level scaling, most don't even change. I'm level 42 and one hitting bandits. That argument is false.

2. All loot scales, no it doesn't. I'm still finding hide bracers and leather armor in chests.

The end.