Ok, if your worried about returning to a previous dungeon to find low level enemies read on. (im assuming that enemies will respawn in dungeon) say you enter a dungeon at lvl 10 and clear it, then at lvl 30 you enter the same dungeon again ( to increase skills or just for some fun) instead of fighting 1- 2 lvl 10 enemies at a time, there will be 4-5 lvl 10 baddies at a time to keep it challeging. This is my speculation of how it will work. Thoughts?

Wasn't this at least how they we're going to handle the open world scaling, by sometimes increasing the amount of lower level mobs instead of them never to be seen again..
As far as I have read the dev interviews OP's theory seems plausible, though I seem to thank that a dungeon would be more rigid level/difficulty wise after it has been entered than the open world, can't remember if this is something I read somewhere or if it's just an assumption I made.
Anyways I hope they do the level scaling well as it was the one thing I had a hard time accepting in Oblivion, and yes I am one of those who felt the game got worse as I leveled up.

I don't know. I don't think enemies in caves/dungeons will respawn; they typically haven't in any past TES games. Respawning is possible, the engine allows it, but I don't see it happening in Skyrim. It'll probably lock like everyone thinks it will -- with a slight chance of weaker/tougher foes. Just a personal opinion though; anything's possible.

It's not so bad; I like the idea of running around the world at level 1, and then owning everything as the game progresses. :whistling:

Level locking is designed so it's the same difficulty every time? And it should be, but that initial difficulty should not be based on your level. Level locking is crap.

Wrong, it's not how it works in Fallout 3 and it's not likely how it's gonna work in Skyrim. I actually like level-locking, because it allows us to control (meta-game, but it's cool) how many dungeons and which dungeons specifically that we can revisit for grinding (some players are like that). At the same time, it doesn't come at the cost of roleplayers and realists, because they just enter the dungeons once or twice (for quests and whatnot) and that's that - they move on.

Also, even if you're at a very high level, some dungeons will have a lower maximum level than others, which I think is also just fine. Dungeons close to roads and the 5 major town should be easier. Have in mind that 100% level-scaling also has the issue of grocely underpowering you if you spent your time skilling all your skills evenly, for instance. You would be decent at everything you did - but individually, all your skill would be subpar.

Didn't they say that the way it would work was that, say, Dungeon X would be rated lv20-30. Go there from 1-20, and it's lv20. Go there from 20-30, it's your level. Go there 30+, and it's 30. And it's locked to whatever it is when you enter it the first time. So it wouldn't be entirely based on your level.


Or was that just someone's "how I think it will work" post?

Well, as far as I had heard, it was enter the dungeon, it scales to you, then it's "locked" so it's the same every time. If it always adjusted to your level, it wouldn't be locked. Kind of the exact opposite to what you suggested. But I don't really like either way (although your way is better since it's closer to not being levelled to fit you). I jsut want to have hard and easy dungeons. With how it sounds like level scaling will be, you will never have a dungeon which is truly hard and mean you have to get stronger to beat it. They will jsut start off being suitably hard and then be easy as you get to higher levels.

@Amaranthine - In oblivion enemies respawned every 3 days in dungeon & the reason fallout 3 interiors didnt is cos you got XP and ie dungeons respawned u would lvl up too quick. Why would beth choose not to have respawing dungeons?

Actually, enemies in dungeons did respawn in past games. In Morrowind, bandits and other humanoid enemies generally did not as they were unique, hand-placed NPCs (Unique in the sense that they were placed in the world and given names, as opposed to generic enemies that are just spawned based on a leveled list, not in the sense that there's anything actually setting them apart from other NPCs as characters.) Monsters, however, usually did respawn unless they were unique ones. And in Oblivion, leveled enemies would typcally respawn, including generic bandits. I'm guessing this will remain true in Skyrim as well.

Regardless, though, I'd say level locked dungeons are an improvement over Oblivion's level scaling as part of the problem with it was that enemies always got stronger as you leveled up, making gaining levels seem a little pointless, with level locked dungeons, if you go into a dungeon and find the enemies too powerful, you can leave, go gain a few more levels, and come back, allowing you to defeat the enemies there more easily, because you are now stronger than when you first entered the dungeon but the enemies are not.

Isn't that what would happen with the theoretical "20-30" dungeon? You enter it at 10, it's too hard for you (since it's "minimum level", 20, is much higher.) And it's locked at 20. So if you come back at 20, you're equal level and it's hopefully an appropriate challenge. Or if you come back at 30, you've "gotten stronger" and it's trivial.



....but again, I've no idea if that was an official comment, or just someone's wish list. So many threads on this forum, it's hard to keep track of which are the "yeah, that's how it works" ones.

What do you think is the main reason for locking dungeons? I think its so we can return to a previously cleared dungeon & clear it again but enemy equipment & loot remain the same as when you first entered. Why would beth make dungeons lock if nothing respawns on your next visit (just my opinion) Thoughts?

This is correct, it was mentioned this way by Todd. And I think your interpretation is exactly what he was getting at.

It's a bit ambiguous. Another way you could interpret it is all dungeons ( or most, if some areas go the Old Olney route ) level to you the first time you enter them, but some are easy, similar level monsters, and some are hard, with gribblys several levels higher than you. The way you mentioned is superior in that it makes more sense, a dungeon with a Dragon Priest or a nest of giant spiders should be just that, don't enter until you are up to the job, the method I mentioned fits better with the 'open world, go where you want' ethos, unfortunately they tried something similar to this in OB, and we all know how popular that turned out to be.

To me that's exactly what it is. And i think it's better.....Also i mentioned ages ago,about the extra enemy numbers. Sometimes enemies that end up being lower level/weaker compared to you will change in numbers. Say a certain cave or place has 3 wolves that are similar to your level,you fight 3 wolves ( say level 8 ). Now you go back to that cave at level 25 say....now there will be maybe 6-7 wolves there. So the wolves will always be between say: level 2-8,but because you go back at level 20,more than 3 will appear.Now there are 6-7 level 2-8 wolves,just keeps things more interesting.