"Scaling"

Druss

I did post this earlier in the "scaling" thread but I think the whole page got deleted by a moderator due to an argument I think.

My question was, I was reading that damage received is a factor in the scaling of PvP & PvE is this true?

The main reason I'm asking is that my scaling seems to have spiked recently - I was putting this down to having a large roster (89) or that I recently maxed my 10th 3*.

But if the above statement is true, perhaps its because I've been using Patch/Ldaken a lot because of their true healing so I'm leaving battles at full health.

Am I better off throwing my weaker teams at easier nodes?

Does using Patch/Ldaken to blast through the seed teams have an impact?

Do Lightning Rounds have any effect on this? - again I only blast through the seed teams as rewards are not substantial enough to warrant damaging roster

Sorry, a lot of questions but this would substantially change the way I play the game - quite funny, been playing over 1800 hours & still not got a clue what I'm doing!

IamTheDanger

Don't feel bad, I've been playing for almost 11 months and I don't know what the miniscule infant feline is going on either .

Maybe this will help you out a bit, maybe not. It's just what I've noticed with my games. Might even all be my imagination . Anyway, I'm far too lazy to re type everything, so I'll just add the links. Hope it helps.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5451#p297127

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23911&p=298998#p298998

Scoregasms

Hey Daran,

There's tons of posts and theories out there and I agree, it's as clear as mud it seems. One bit that's important is that sometimes, specific events (like Simulator or Gauntlet) throw the rules out the window on purpose, so something to keep in mind, but here's my general thoughts/theories on this (based on what I've experienced and read here on the forums).

The below is just on PVE, I don't think this applies to PVP as that is based on something different (MMR).

At the start of a Sub, the enemy levels are set based on your roster level (via some magical D3 formula). Once you start playing, then personal and community scaling can kick in. If you end up destroying a node and crushing a sub, your personal scaling can/will make those node difficulty increase (partly or mainly) due to the notions you made earlier about not losing health. I believe node difficulty will typically increase regardless, but you can accelerate that by doing "too well" on a node. Personal experience tells me that "Trivial" nodes never scale up and are pretty much free points. However, if the community is also destroying nodes, then you can come back to see even higher levels the next time you go through.

I observed this in Simulator Hard on that Jugs/Colossus/Bagman node, I did it the first time and barely got out alive and decided to not go back. I'd check on it every now and then only to see it go from a barely manageable 220 to "no freaking way in hell" 395 without me ever touching it. Which led me to believe it was all due to Community Scaling and made me think "How the **** are people clearing this??", I then discovered the Magstique Combo on the forums and tried it out and realized how relatively easy it was to win with that team and I then started adding easy victories to the community scaling too. This is an extreme example of Community Scaling, but it does unfortunately handicap those who aren't able to replicate the same strategy.

Rarely, I think the reverse also is true and if the community as a whole is struggling in a sub, then difficulty also goes down. Just doesn't happen often early on and I think if it happens later, it's because lots of folks have stopped grinding at that point.

Going back to your roster and maxed characters, I would theorize that having more maxed characters can be a detriment when the featured buffed characters end up being one of those maxed characters. You do not have any maxed 4*, so when a 166 gets megabuffed and has 90 levels added, it now affects the starting levels of the PVE subs. Those that have maxed 4* probably aren't seeing a difference when it comes to buffed 3*, but for someone like yourself who has not leveled any 4* can actually see nodes seemingly increase to very difficult levels arbitrarily simply based on a featured character messing with your starting levels. You're then subject to personal and community scaling as before, but you have a much more difficult start. This goes away if you max a 4* of course as that will be the basis for your starting levels for a PVE, but you are also now starting off with higher levels than with a 166 roster.

One way they can combat this is to simply buff characters to your top level character only (or add the requisite mini or mega buff, whichever doesn't cause them to go past your max character). At least this way, you still get the benefit if you haven't leveled that character, but they also don't completely mess with the starting levels.

When Sentry was buffed, I definitely had a hard time since I do have him maxed and I don't have a character above 192, it wasn't terrible, but I could feel it. I'm also not looking forward to seeing Hood getting the big buff in the next PVE for the same reason, lol.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter, may or may not be correct, just my theory so far.

SnowcaTT

Wouldn't it be grand if the developers put the rules out there on how to play the game?

That's what MMR is, and scaling is part of that. It would be nice if we could see these rules.

Bowgentle

SnowcaTT wrote:

Wouldn't it be grand if the developers put the rules out there on how to play the game?

That's what MMR is, and scaling is part of that. It would be nice if we could see these rules.

So that we can easier manipulate MMR and scaling?
Nope, it's good that we do NOT know how MMR works.

KrazyKeylime

more like what not to do to make 80% of your roster useless. well maybe 60% with dead pool event