I don't think it's unbalanced.. I think you just really have to concentrate on role playing your character build. A game like this hasn't been around in a long time and making a character that can do everything at low levels is just impossible. Later levels a melee character will be able to kick some butt. But at low levels a melee character wouldn't engage a large amount of legion. This game I've found it really helps to have some companions with you. If your a melee you need to get to Novac and grab Boone as soon as possible.
The game isn't supposed to be balanced, where you actually can go everywhere and do everything. You just won't be able to until later levels. So even though the Legion guy challenged you, you really have to think. "Can I even do this?" "Should I take on the Legion now?"
Every decision you make has a consequence and you really have to think about your actions. Which in my opinion makes it fantastic. I'm at level 12 right now, have Boone and Ed-e. I was kicking some major ass in one area and got a little over confident and figured I could do a certain mission right away.. Bloop.. We were dead in a matter of seconds. Think, Save, Try.. If you fail, come back later.

This is a nightmare.

Switched the game to very easy and they still slaughter me.

Boone is absolutely useless.

He clearly levels up with the player which is why he is very weak. But the assassins seem to be fixed at a very high level.

My character uses energy weapons but they don't have much effect on the assassins.

Now I have a choice. Either fast travel everywhere and give up exploring or restart the game and avoid doing any quest that pissess off the legion until i'm a high enough level to handle them.

Personally I think this should be patched. If they are going to spawn assassins right on top of you then they should be scaled down to the players level.

Well, good news. They just need to nerf them on Very Easy.
Since these guys ARE overpowered. If they show up, there isn't even any point in fighting. Just reload your save and hope they go away.

Problem is people on their first playthrough don't know that the legion will send impossibly tough assassins. And as boone dies within seconds of them attacking then the game is clearly unbalanced. There doesn't seem to be any way of avoiding them either as they spawn right on top of you.

Literally it's totally ruined the game for me. I've been lucky so far to get no game breaking bugs. Instead the game spawns assassins right on top of me who are way tougher than my level. The fact that boone dies almost instantly tells me there is a problem with balancing. Boone is balanced to the players level which makes him useless when the assassins attack.

I will help you. Put on Legion Armor (you should have some...you got them to hate you somehow) and go straight away to Novac.

The guy in the Dinosaur will sell you 5.56mm armor piercing ammo. This ammo can be used with "That Gun" which he also sells, a Varmint Rifle or the Service Rifle.

Press up on the D-pad with your gun equipped and when the ammo type says "AP," you have it on.

Take off your Legion armor and proceed to destroy them.

Thank you.

I forgot about disguises. I'll wear the legion armour and hope they avoid me

If they hate you because you did certain quests, you won't have the armour.

Just don't wear the legion armor in/around ANY NCR held territory. In the early game, this includes the Western edge of Primm, the Ranger Outpost on the way to Novac and, of course, the Mojave Outpost.

i was at level 13 when i had to collect the platinum chip, from the fort with caeser in, and all of his army where hostile towards me, i had no choice but to turn the difficulty to easy as it was impossibly hard. whereas if that was fallout 3 it wouldn't of have been that challenging

I managed to kill the vexallirus guy from the group.They attacked me at ranger station charlie,i ran to Novac,used a stealthboy then sneaked behind and whacked the [censored] out of him with a lead pipe.Was playing on hard and hardcoe,Lvl 6.

I dunno, it's not an avoidable fight, the first time they showed up I had just got done running from being shelled... and they just showed up, backed into a corner, and Boone fell quick, reloaded and went in another direction, fast-traveled to the scrap yard and again, they appeared out of no-where right after it loaded.

There's a difference between me going to the Legion camp and wrecking my free-pass cuz I got Boone with me and he's not too happy with them, I could have left him behind or something. But this was as much an RP decision as anything... bastard fried a whole city, and I took them down without too much trouble. The hit squad shouldn't be a group 15 levels higher than the character that took down this leader. I simply couldn't spam stimpacks fast enough to keep myself alive while reloading what AP ammo weapons I had.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be tough, hell, there's a highway full of Deathclaws that make you take a long trip around the south, you don't hear me complaining about that... I can avoid those svckers, and besides, I saw the warning signs, I listened to the guy at the camp, and then I died a few times testing the waters a bit.

All most of us are saying is they should be leveled rather than a fixed encounter. I'll take tough, I'm not saying I should be able to walk all over them either.