All hell would break lose, and it would svck, I like skyrim's system the best,

Without some level scaling the world would be divided into "areas" meant for different levels.

I imagine it would be somewhat more linear, and more predictable, I kind of like the lvl of scaling which we have now, keeps things interesting, yet within reason.

I don't think people who complain about level scaling even understands how or why it works...

... Especially whwn one brings up how old games were without them which is a complete lie.

I have to say I hate the idea of regions with specific levels. You can't enter the desert until you're level 20 might work for game mechanics, but the second they put towns and villages in that desert, it becomes completely unbelievable imho. Everyone would live in the forest with the weak goblins, bandits and wolves, no-one sane would build in the 'lava level' province with the fire demons and giant rock monsters. I appreciate that any area levelling to the player is also unrealistic, but it also works for game mechanics, and in a series that boasts player freedom and exploration as selling points, is the lesser of two evils.

Skyrim, and Fallout 3, have it good enough for me. Mostly go where you want, but you soon regret it if you stray into the wrong place too soon.

as stated by others: both scaling and non-scaling enemies is what works best. pretty much a no-brainer.

That's the one problem that I have with no level scaling, especially with Fallout New Vegas. For New Vegas though it's only for the 1st 10 hours then it really opens up.

Without level scaling an RPG becomes linear and dull. Just wouldn't work in an open world rpg that allows one to go anywhere. At least that is my opinion.

yeah, no level scaling would break the open-world feature.
I'd rathere have scaled enemies but being able to go everywhere i want than having invisible walls or not being able to cross part of a land because its roaming with too powerful enemies and have to wait and level up until I can pass (that's final fantasy not skyrim)

No it doesn't not in the least.

With having enemies not scale (although scaled + non-scaled, again, is best), players are forced to adapt to their environment. If they encounter enemies too tough for them on their way to some town or city, you're going to have to play smarter rather than just herp derp through.

Exactly, people forget that Set Level, smart dungeon placement has always been a traditional, tested, and proven model for making challenging and fun RPGs with rewarding exploration.

The Rat Cave right near the starting town is low level, and the Mother Rat at the bottom has a nice level 5 weapon. The Ice Giant Cave at the top of a mountain 20 minute hike away from a small outpost, is level 35 and has an Ice Giant Matriarch at the very bottom which takes another 1hour of combat to reach etc... The first level of the Ice Cave is 20, the 2nd level down is lvl 25 and so forth.

The whole "What about when I make a new character". I mean, does that matter? The content is the same in SKyrim, There isn't going to be ONLY ONE dungeon for level 5s.

Scaled, or leveled, the number of areas is fixed.

I agree that a MIX of scaling and set levels would be nice *if* it worked the way they promised

THat's usually not how it works. You can enter level 20 desert any time you want. The way towns work. Towns are *near roads* and anything near the road is easy. Well off the road gets more difficult.

So you could still travel the entire map that is connected by roads, towns etc... at any level.

This isn't some new idea, this is how open RPGs have worked for 15+ years. The magic scaling world that changes to suit your needs is a *NEW* system designed to satisfy casual gamers and action gamers.

Remember though that a lot of folks play TES games for years and when they have a high level character they want a large variety of challenging places to go. If you have a bunch of level 5 dungeons on the map than that limits the number of interesting places to go at high levels. That's why I think the best solution is to have level scaling with "minimum" levels for certain areas. So, for example, you would still have your level 5 rat cave plus your level 25 ice giant cave when the PC is level 1. But when the PC hits level 6, the rat cave becomes level 6 (ice giant cave is still level 25). Then when the PC is level 30, both the ice giant cave and the rat cave will be level 30. That's the idea anyway, obviously you could tinker around with the math for how the levels went up.

I disagree with that. People play TES games for years and years (even unmodded). Without level scaling, a large portion of the world would become easy and boring in short order. There is no world large enough to remain interesting for years at high level without level scaling.

no level scaling = linear role playing game.

level scaling = non-linear role playing game.

I prefer non-linear role playing games. I like level scaling. I liked it in Oblivion. It is a GOOD thing. You might have to get used to it, because it is different from every other type of role playing game. It is different from World of Warcraft, where each zone was a higher level, and you needed to complete the previous zone before you could move on to the second. This is a "linear" experience, and that ruins immersion.

... except it does...

This isn't true at all. It baffles me that it's repeated as often as it is. Your inability to kill any creature at any time has nothing to do with your ability to travel anywhere you want. You simply have to move more carefully, sneak, take advantage of invisibility, use your environment to out maneuver your enemies, etc. What you're actually saying is I don't want character progression to matter, and character progression has always been a linear mechanic.

For me there is no challenge in being able to explore everywhere without the risk of coming across enemies far more powerful than you, To call it a linear experience makes absolutely no sense to me & where there is no risk their is absolutely no reward.
However, I fully understand why level scaling is implemented & i have no issue with that as it's a mechanic that works on a lot of levels.
As people have pointed out, Level scaling ensures that the explorers are free to explore however & wherever they choose, It works for a lot of playstyles.

Knowing that in one dungeon there will a high level Deathlord who will destroy my low level Breton does not make me feel that my game is railroaded or linear, It just means i better be on my game when facing him.
i use an unlevelled mod & it has me on the edge of my seat, It feels to me that the world is alive & dangerous, Just as it should be for my playstyle.

That satisfaction is immense with no level scaling & i can never go back to vanilla.

non-linear scaling should be the norm.
oblivion was a joke.
thus, both.

and, the difficulty slider bar and hardcoe options should be mandatory, lol.

newvegas hardcoe is a joke with this kind of technology.

advancement of gaming is what matters.

I'm open to that. The kicker is the lower level places by design would be slightly smaller and less interesting, since most people would be pushing to get higher levels.

The mistake almost all MMOs make is too much low level content and not enough end game content. Skyrim is not an MMO obviously, but the most examples of Open World WRPGs these days take the form of MMOs.

Here is another example of the problem with Skryim scaling. Bounties. I take a bounty, but I don't do it until level 30. So the Bandits in the cave have scaled up to my level, and everyone but the boss is stupid easy even tho they scaled up, the BOss is cheap because he uses 2 Handed hammer. I kill him easy with a mage follower and blocking. Return for the bounty.. at level 30 .... *$100gold*. A total waste of time and RAM.

That equation is wrong, what are you even basing it on? You can't make sweeping generalizations like that with zero evidence.

Morrowind is not linear and does not have Oblivion scaling.
Everquest is hard levels and not linear at all.
Fallout 1 etc...

Gee thanks for telling me WoW is not Skyrim, I totally thought they were the same game!

No level scaling? ...Really? If your doing push ups and becoming stronger, u can bet your enemies are doing push ups too.

Yeah, I am not sure what is up with the 100 gold bounties. I have had characters who were high level when they took the bounty contract and still only gotten a measly 100 Septims.

By that rational, Draugr should be completely invincible, since some have had thousands of years worth of pushups.

The casuals would be lost without it.