Attention all players and Devs - 4.0 most complained about new feature. LEVEL SYNC

Pretty much sums up.

As a counter to your argument.

If level sync was an optional system, wouldn't it be better to level sync the mobs / npc characters in the game environment?

For example;

Let's take a planet that we know is an example beyond the normality. Taris.

For the Republic

• Taris is level 16-20
• Bonus Series is Level 20
• HK Quest is Level 50
• Dread Seed / Macrobinocular Quest is Level 52.

For the Empire

• Taris is level 32-36
• Bonus Series is Level 36
• HK Quest is Level 50
• Dread Seed / Macrobinocular Quest is Level 52.

Also of note is that Taris has two different world bosses, depending on which faction you are playing. For the Republic it's Subject Alpha (Level 21) and for the Empire its The Ancient One (Level 38).

That's a fair variation of levels for one planet. So how do you differentiate from the version of Level Sync that has been implemented, so that it caters to all the different types of players in SWTOR?

• Role players
• PvP players
• PvE players
• Solo players
• Group players
• Achievement Hunters
• Datacron Hunters

It's fairly simple actually. Instances. Every planet has these, and the server has the ability to adjust load "on the fly" to create new instances.

While we're doing this, lets throw the rulebook out of the window with planets actually having a specific level to run a quest, and open up the content to be playable at any level once you have a ship. The Dread Seed Quest? Why not make it available from Level 15, same with the Macrobinocular Quest, same with the HK Droid quest. After all, it's all about letting the players play the game and level how they choose. Run the story for Sith Inquisitor once? That's fine, you can level purely from running the world questlines, why not after all? We're being inclusive here.

So let's give and example below of how this could work;

• Instance 1 - NPC range from level 10-15.
• Instance 2 - NPC range from level 16-21.
• Instance 3 - NPC range from level 22-27.
• Instance 4 - NPC range from level 28-33.
• Instance 5 - NPC range from level 34-39.
• Instance 6 - NPC range from level 40-45.
• Instance 7 - NPC range from level 46-51.
• Instance 8 - NPC range from level 52-57.
• Instance 9 - NPC range from level 58-63.
• Instance 10 - NPC range from level 64-65.

So, let's go through this in a little bit more detail to explain how this can work.

PvE Server.

If you are Level 23? You can only go into an instance one above and one below your level range, unless you are level 50+ where you can go into any instance. So for this example, Instance 2,3 and 4 apply, until you are 50+ and then you can go into any instance.

• If you go to Instance 2 you gain experience / credits / loot at a reduced rate (50% less) for the NPC you kill, and for the quests you run. Gathering nodes and chests also provide 50% less.
• If you go to Instance 3 you gain experience / credits / loot at the normal rate for the NPC you kill, and for the quests you run. Gathering nodes and chests provide the normal amount.
• If you go to Instance 4 you gain experience / credits / loot at an increased rate (100% more) for the NPC you kill, and for the quests you run. Gathering nodes and chests provide 100% above the normal amount.

So about your specific point? I'll address that as well.

Level 50+ goes to Taris and swap instances to Instance 1? Gathering nodes only work within one level below. He simply can't gather. Assuming it's a Level 50 player? Instance 6-10 is where he can gather, with the incentive to do so (we're being inclusive here)

So assuming a Level 50 player;

• Instance 6 Gathering Nodes / Chests provide 50% less than the normal amount.
• Instance 7 Gathering Nodes / Chests provide the normal amount.
• Instance 8 Gathering Nodes / Chests provide 100% more than the normal amount.
• Instance 9 Gathering Nodes / Chests provide 200% more than the normal amount.
• Instance 10 Gathering Nodes / Chests provide 300% more than the normal amount.

So you've just given the incentive for that player to go into the higher instances, at the cost of nullifying the ability of that player to simply stroll around annoying players still levelling gathering skills. Much more elegant.

So what about PvP servers? In a similar principle to gathering nodes (the gathering nodes in this instance being able to gank low level players) You level lock them to a range. We'll use a Level 50 as an example;

• Instance 1 - NPC range from level 10-15. Deliberately attack a player? 100% of damage reflects.
• Instance 2 - NPC range from level 16-21. Deliberately attack a player? 100% of damage reflects.
• Instance 3 - NPC range from level 22-27. Deliberately attack a player? 100% of damage reflects.
• Instance 4 - NPC range from level 28-33. Deliberately attack a player? 75% of damage reflects. Player kills do not count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies.
• Instance 5 - NPC range from level 34-39. Deliberately attack a player? 50% of damage reflects. Player kills do not count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies.
• Instance 6 - NPC range from level 40-45. Deliberately attack a player? 25% of damage reflects. Player kills do not count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies.
• Instance 7 - NPC range from level 46-51. Player kills count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies.
• Instance 8 - NPC range from level 52-57. Player kills count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies. (2x multiplier)
• Instance 9 - NPC range from level 58-63. Player kills count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies. (3x multiplier)
• Instance 10 - NPC range from level 64-65. Player kills count towards achievements / dailies / weeklies. (4x multiplier)

So you pretty much remove the ability to gank really low level players, however you give them the flipside of a potential challenge in recompense if you go the other way. You could also add daily / weekly objectives with credits / commendation rewards. So many infinite possibilities available.

RP Servers? That is actually an interesting question. All of the above rule sets apply (PvP only if PvP flagged). In addition, you could also unlock the entire galaxy map, so Empire and Republic players can visit any planet to Role Play (no restrictions).

So the question is how do BioWare adjust the NPC / mobs to level? Well they know the adjusted power curves for each level, so that isn't hard. Equally it wouldn't take a huge amount of resources (probably the same as they spent creating the current iteration of Level Sync).

They just need to slightly update the UI for instance switch and make it clear to the players that they're participating in level sync if they choose to do so. Instances can go like this: 1 / 1a / 1b etc if more are needed per level of NPC / amount of players.

Wouldn't that be a much more elegant solution? It nullifies every single "pro level sync" argument against level sync I've seen so far, and actually gives more incentives to level sync if you choose to do so. It also opens up the ability to actually level however you wish to do so (much more than "streamlined" levelling).

Edit: Forgot to mention world bosses. Simple answer is to have a mechanic in place such as requiring a group to gain any credits / loot / rewards on a world boss, with a weekly lockout in place (ala Nightmare Pilgrim) - countered as ever by including an extra incentive (a small % increase to Mastery) from killing a world boss while grouped. While still allowing a solo player to being able to go back and solo the world boss for achievements. Decrease the spawn timer on world bosses to match those of the Rakghoul Event world bosses. Also retain the current levels of the specific world bosses. Also as above - multiplier applies to killing a world boss above your level as it is still an NPC.

You do know that majority of players will pick the choice of least challenge anyway, thats what players want....easy wins, that is why most pvp'ers tend to go for fights that they can win...all the time and avoid fights that they can't always win.

I like level-sync as it is....i just don't get what the problem with level-sync is...i just don't....its awesome.

I was on DK doing the BBA mission with my lvl 59 sorc earlier today and 1-shotted a silver near the beacon.

I feel the BBA bosses, not kingpin(haven't done one) are easier now than before.

I do not understand all the whining about it, I 1 shotted a silver and got around 2k in xp.

Why is that so horrible?

I have no idea why people are ************ about it, i mean, they can easily just do the purple missions and stick to the level of the planet, i personally choose to do ALL the quests, i don't complain about how easy it is, how fast i level, its a good way to lower the time it takes to level up.

Well, quite a few players disagree with that notion, myself included. Perhaps go read the threads about it and try to have some empathy while reading them.

Personally I hate the level sync. It completely removes the immersion. I start out as a relative scrub with a stick- train up and become the HMFIC and I travel back to korriban and slugs require more than a flick of my lightsaber....???!?? Its just painful.

It isn't the worst thing to happen to SWTOR and has come with some positives.

All in all, complaints seem overstated. As does some of the praise.

I kinda agree with. I played the expansion and its really terrible. I died over 20 times on the warzones. The World Bosses took over a long time. Now the wait for the Racqghoul (Hope I spelled that right). But I don't want to get into it. If I do I'll get upset and say something things are really horrible.

Wow that happened. I never knew it. This Star Wars is really bad. It breaks my heart. Oh and Well Said Well Said.