I just finished Honest Hearts at lvl 42 or so, and I found it considerably more difficult than when I rushed up there with a lvl 4 character. This one is the strongest char I've had yet, but I felt like I was in much more danger.

Obviously the enemy weaponry is much better (AMR, Brush Gun, 12.7 SMG, Riot Shotgun, Skishkebabs), but the White Legs were soaking up absurd amounts of damage, like multiple crit headshots from Medicine Stick. Also, the creatures were surprisingly deadly. The Giant Zion Mantis took about 40% of my health with one swipe, and I have 440 health and 45 DT. Giant Yao Guais were even worse.

Has anyone else experienced this? All the other DLCs seemed to be easier at a higher level, but not HH.

Honest Hearts is a joke. Holorifle makes little piles of ash......

The hardest part was the one cave where upon exiting you have THREE Yao Gui spawn on top of you.

i have not found any dlc easier at higher level (except maybe dead money, but i find DM to be more dependant on player skill levels and not quite so focused on combat as the others). i wait till i'm over level 30 to even start dlcs because of the better weapons they use and the increased health.

I've tried all DLC's before reaching level 10 and the only one I couldn't really do was LR. I left after exiting the silo. DM at level 4 once, easy, HH at level 6, still pretty easy, OWB at 7 and it was a bit harder but still easily doable.

Because at high levels you are overpowered so they have to make the enemies do absurd damage and/or give them a DT of 100 and a health pool of over 9000.

How are the green geckos at lower levels? At higher levels if you let one hit you, you will be close to death.

The dlc dificulty is fine.
Honest Hearts has some brutal enemies that will tear you up in one hit at all levels.
Pretty setting, but strong enemies.

The green geckos are the same at all levels. One hit can kill you or send you close to death.
The lowest I tried HHs was level 14, and it was'nt a good idea. I was running away from green geckos for a while.

But you can still beat it. I started Honest Hearts at level 6 and finished at level 14.

Was there still bears and wasps at lvl 6 besides the scripted encounters though? Ive always wondered if the level scaling just effected the weapons enemys used and if it actually effected enemy types from actually spawning.

Outside of scripted encounters I don't recall coming across them, but it has been awhile since I did HH at that level.

Yes there are but (a) there are fewer encounters and they are much weaker versions. It's the difference between Young Cazadores and Giant Cazadores, or Young Yao Guai and Giant Yao Guai, for example. Big difference. At low level though, I'd still recommend to avoid the Northwest corner of the map as much as possible, that's where you are sure to run into Cazadores and Yao Guai. The random spawns are usually things like regular geckos, coyotes or dogs, stuff of that nature at low level.

I've played HH starting at level 7, 15, 30 and 50. I found level 7 and 30 were the easiest. At level 7 I just didn't have many tough random encounters, and at level 30 I was pretty much in my prime in terms of all my important skills when compared to the typical spawned enemies. Level 15 was harder but I felt level 50 was actually the hardest of all because of the Giant Cazador and Giant Yao Guia spawns where my combat skills, armor and weapons really hadn't changed at all since level 30, I just had more health which those things could easily swat down.

I actually found HH easier at higher levels, I did it at level 42 and I did not have any issues. It was a better experience as I got a ton of high end weapons from the White Legs.

Yeah that pretty much sums up my experience as well. Combat skills were maxed out LONG before I got there, yet enemies are spawned in accordance with your level.

There is no level at which any HH creature survives a direct hit from Annabelle.