All right. Here it is, at last. A poll about Player Power, playstyles, and what the games should and shouldn't allow, according to the will of all of you option promoting posters out there.

For some days now arguments have raged, battles between those who want mastery of skills to equate to truly powerful characers, those who want every enemy in the game stronger than a drunk, naked, crippled bosmer farmer to provide a deadly challenge ALL the time, no matter how many levels the PlayerCharacter attains, those who desire balance, and those who, above all else and regardless of their personal playing styles, want the game to offer the maximum amount of OPTIONS, within the realm of reason.

Other threads have fallen, sadly, into hyperbolic nonsense about Deified player/characters who can obliterate entire countrysides by passing wind.

Here is the real crux of it, however. What options should there be. The Difficulty Slider goes a long way in making the game bend to player desires, HOWEVER, broken scalling , and a backwards handling of enemies (i.e. one which allows certain trolls to be more powerful than ogres and Daedric Warlords) make even the slider a problematic and poor fix. A player who turns it down to make the rats and goblins less deadly, probably doesn't want to make Dragons into one shot easy kills.

So how should it be handled, and what options should players have? Should everyone be held to a tyranny of challange obsessed hardcoe mode fanatics, or to powergamers? Should levels never allow for true acquisition of vast power relative to the average enemy in the game? Or should the game due its best to meet both playstyles in the middle?

My feeling is that Default setting should allow you to be average for a good while, but extremely powerful at the upper end of the leveling capacity. Easy mode should make you truly godlike, very difficult should make you dinner for virtually everything in the game.

Your thoughts?

This is a great concept. Sadly, I suspect the devs won't incorporate quite such a huge disparity in the difficulty settings.

The greater the disparity, the better IMO.

Demigod, all should be allowed, only top tier monsters are threats and while rare are not hard to find and the type of monster should effect its top potential.

The game is from levels 1-50 normally at 50 you should be pretty damn epic, past 50 you should be rolling into demigod territory. As you get more powerful you should begin to smote things with a singe blow. While 4e D&D is my least favorite edition I do like the idea of minions or 1hp monsters, the rabble you smoke in large numbers. I think there should be a damage multiplier once your level exceeds the monsters level by a certain amount, so your base bow shot drops him in one hit, a swing from your sword can drop multiple weak enemies etc.

If you want to be a godlike one-hit KO machine then you should have to use mods to make it happen. I voted for the third option in each of your questions because I want there to still be a challenge for me 100+ hours in.. I'd really like to enjoy the combat in Skyrim for as long as possible on a single playthrough

As much as people say that Bethesda is trying to make characters less godlike i feel like every game after Morrowind, every character i make becomes more and more morbidly overpowered. In skyrim you can breathe fire, [censored] thunderstorms, kick ass, and chew bubblegum. Skyrim is the real duke nukem.

thats why theres these three options

A few extremely rare Boss type NPC/Creatures/Hostiles can put up a fight against the Player. Eveything else gets blown away. Literally. And Instantly. (3 votes [11.54%])
Percentage of vote: 11.54%
Top tier enemies like Higher ranking Daedra, Dragons, Wraith Kings, Giant Chies, rare uber monsters & supervillains (e.g. the rare Ancient Vampire Patriarch, ArchLich, ArchAdept Conjourer, etc.), and Mobs offer a challanging fight. All others are toast! (9 votes [34.62%])
Percentage of vote: 34.62%
Only powerful foes like the ones mentioned above in 3 pose a threat. . . These powerful beings are uncommon, but still not that hard to find (every 1 in 7 dungeons offers one or two of some variant of them) and they DO respawn and relocate. (11 votes [42.31%])

with progressivly more of the characters that are still a challenge even when you get higher up.

I want to be able to reach a Godlike state, but perhaps not through normal leveling means. Perhaps a significant quest after the main quest that guides you towards that level of power. This way it would be an optional thing.

I do want challenges to exist in the later game, but not the ridiculous scaling of Oblivion. I want to actually feel like I'm going somewhere.

epic.....


the Slider should dictate NPC effectiveness with regards to combat, item utilization AI processing (self preservation, determination how often they use spells and if they coordinate with other NPC's vs the player.


not

raise the HP of everyone else and lower the damage output of the player.... because in Oblivion NPC's still did considerable damage to each other and was exploitable in that regards.

It should not be spititngly easy to become a demi-god but when I do become one I damn well better feel like one...I worked for it did I not?

You should be equal with NPC's

If you can do it
so can they

if you have 10 stamina which gives you idk (random number time) 100hp
then if they have 10 stamina THEY ALSO have 100hp

If you have an iron sword that does 10dmg and they do to then both of you should die in 10 hits.


I hate games that balance in favor of the PC.

<3 mount and blade.

this.
a quest that can help you gain power beyond the norm would be a great, i think it would satisfy both the people who dont want to be demi gods and the people that do.

This thread again? Oh dear...

I actually enjoyed reading that poll. Nice job.

Anyway, i like to start out kinda wimpy, but still be able to handle my own against what i have to. At end game though, i like to smear people all over the walls and stuff. I liked that in oblivion and the fallouts, where you started out average. Then at the end, once you've had hundreds of hours of combat experience, anything but minibosses were toast. In oblivion, i could slay the hell out of average guards. Elite guards were harder, and a handful of boss like mob type NPC's were a hellova fight. Thats how i liked it.

I think they should make the game so that, they don't have to add more powerful enemies in expansions. Like the point in the last question. Keep consistency.

Also no to level scaling. Dremora can spawn in random levels or progress on their own. Anything but PC level offset.

Dremora via lore are deadra WHO LIVE for a VERY VERY VERY LONG time.

So in that amount of time they probably picked up the combat skill far surpassing the vast majority of human warriors in our own history.

The fact i own one in the face rather easily is silly; honestly dremora should be stupidly hard to kill, unless the lore changes.

I preffer a legendary to borderline demigolike character at the highest levels. I like to attain extraordinary power, but I still like for there to be challanges and dangerous NPCs, but hostile and non. But they need to make sense. Respawning but relatively uncommon (say 1 in 8 dungeons/citadels/lairs/shrines should have them) epic beings like Dragons, Daedra Warlocks/Warlords, Ancient Vampire Patriarchs, Wraith Kings etc.

A true Master Wizard or an epic warrior, or combination thereof, who has slain dragons and driven away Dremora, should never find himself or herself fought to a stand still by a goblin warlord, unless is the legendary Demigod son of Malacath and champion of Goblinkind. Otherwise, if a Dragon can wipe out half a dozen goblin warlords (as it certainly SHOULD be able to do), and I can kill a Dragon. . . I shouldn't get my ass handed to me, or have to scramble up a rock to face two or three goblin warlords.

It completely defeats the sense of progression and immersion if A ) The same enemy types you were barely beating (but still able to beat) when you were level 10 are still routinely able to go round for round with you when you reach level 35. B ) The rare enemies who kicked your butt when you were level 10 are now more on equal footing with you at level 35 BUT. . . suddenly they are the only enemy in the game. Every thing weaker than you has become an endagered species, rather than still being more or less the norm.

The biggest problem with mods is, as WONDERFUL as they are, most of the people playing the game have no access to them. If 50% or more of your audience does not have an option available, it isn't really much of an option.

Oh yeah.. .About level scaling...

I'm a fan of mobs that scale in brackets. So like, a rat will be level 1-3, a mud crab is lvl 0 to -1 (because theyre that bad), a bear can be like lvl 7-13, troll maybe level 15-20. Dragons should be tough, like level 15-20 for lesser ones, all the way up to like 30-45.

The idea is that when you run into a mob, you'll be able to get to where you can be competetive, but it'll take some work to make them null and mute, but eventually you surpass them in power, and can move on to bigger, badder enemies.

Eventually, when your a badass level 75, you've fought and killed thousands of enemies, strong and weak alike. Youve slew more dragons then most have even seen. Now it takes 2-3 dragons to really create a problem for you, but with your knowledge, skill, and preparation, and general badassery, you can over come them and walk away victorious.

I do like the idea of out leveling certain mobs. Its just a show of player progress and that they've become stronger and better, beyond what playerskill can depict.

I like the option of being the underdog, no ones feels more awed then when an unexpected person destroys the strongest of foes.

But at what point does that end? If it scales continuously so that they are always on even footing or slightly ahead of the player, then what was the point of leveling up? To see the graphics and animations on your fancy new spells and armour. . . and watch as they do exactly zero additional damage to your enemies?

I'm with you. They should do it exactly like that. Without level scaling.

...Im saying that to much power is granted to the PC in a short amount of time.

Dremora = lives forever, should be able to beat the snot out of you..2 fireballs he be dead

Ancient battlemage who's been doing his thing for 500 years = you kill him in 4 shots...now thats just wrong.

Im not talking about scaling im just talking about a sense of fairness regarding NPC power in comparison to yours.

Check out mount and blade and how that game balances npc power; hell you could have the best gear and a really high level but you take on 4 knights and you're in for one hell of a fight, and the chances of success are low.....a few peasants thats a different matter.

I really shouldnt be able to take on a dremora at level 10 without potions and scrolls and possibly some help. at level 30+ maybe but it should be a tuff fight.