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Scaling: normalizing

Normalizing scaling

Vertical differences are compressed or cancelled, so that players, enemies, or content of different levels meet on comparable terms.

7 archetypes, 36 examples. The other axes: vertical, horizontal.

Archetypes

Examples

Every example of a normalizing scaling archetype, in chronological order, with the basis recorded for that game.
GameYearMediumArchetypeBasisHow the scaling works
Dungeons & Dragons1974Tabletop RPGCatch-Up AccelerationCharacter level, Content levelExperience is awarded relative to level, so an 8th-level magic-user on the 5th dungeon level receives 5/8 of it, or 7/8 for a 7th-level troll, and no character receives more than one for one. A lower-level companion in the same place gains in full.
NetHack1987VideoEnemy Level ScalingCharacter level, Content levelFrom version 3.0 of 1989, a new monster's level rises by a quarter of the amount by which the player's experience level exceeds the monster's base level, and the strongest monster that can be generated is set by the average of the dungeon level's difficulty and the player's experience level.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall1996VideoEnemy Level ScalingCharacter levelHumanoid enemies are generated at the character's own level, with every skill at five times that level plus 30, while each creature type keeps one level throughout, rats at 1 and Ancient Liches at 21. Humanoids already generated do not rise when the character levels.
Final Fantasy VIII1999VideoEnemy Level ScalingCharacter levelAn enemy's level is the party's average level, rounded down, plus or minus a random fifth of it, capped at 100, and higher-level enemies carry better magic to draw. Some areas override the rule, fixing enemies at level 5 in the Fire Cavern and at 100 on the Island Closest to Hell.
Diablo II2000VideoSoft CapsAttribute, Item tierMagic Find from equipment raises the chance of better drops; from a patch after the 2001 expansion, reportedly, its bonus for rare, set and unique items passes through a curve, MF times K over MF plus K, with K 600, 500 and 250, so 50 percent becomes 46, 45 and 42. Magic items take it in full.
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition2000Tabletop RPGCatch-Up AccelerationCharacter levelIn the revised Dungeon Master's Guide of 2003, each character's award for a monster is read by its own level against the challenge rating and falls as level rises; a 7th-level character earns 1,050 XP for a vrock that pays 9th-level companions 675.
Final Fantasy XI2002VideoLevel SyncCharacter levelLevel Sync, added in a version update of September 2008, lets a party leader bring any higher-level members down to the leader's level, so that the whole party earns equivalent experience.
City of Heroes2004VideoLevel SyncCharacter levelAt launch a lower-level hero could become a mentor's sidekick, gaining combat and level bonuses near the mentor; the later manual sets the sidekick one level below the mentor within 200 feet. Issue 2 of September 2004 added the Exemplar, lowering a hero to a teammate's level without the powers chosen above it and with Enhancements reduced; auto-exemplaring later did so for task forces.
World of Warcraft2004VideoCatch-Up AccelerationReleasePatch 2.3 of 2007 cut the experience needed for each level from 20 to 60 by approximately 15%, keeping characters at their current percentage of a level, and raised quest experience between 30 and 60.
Guild Wars2005VideoPvP NormalizationContent level, UnlockA PvP Only character is restricted to the competitive areas and starts at the highest level, 20, built from a provided template or from skills unlocked by a roleplaying character, with its equipment chosen on a selection screen at creation.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion2006VideoEnemy Level ScalingCharacter levelMost generic enemies, such as bandits, level up with the player, whose level also selects which creatures spawn, with stronger variants from level 15. The quality of weapons and armour, the gold found and many quest rewards depend on the player's level as well.
Dark Souls2011VideoSoft CapsAttributeMaximum HP rises by 225 between Vitality 30 and 40 but by 88 between 50 and 60, and stamina stops at 160 from Endurance 40; the official guide advises other statistics once Vitality nears 40, and says Intelligence and Faith add little to spell power above 50.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim2011VideoEnemy Level ScalingContent level, Character levelEnemies and loot follow the encounter zone the player is in, as in Fallout 3, so they can stand above or below the character's level; a zone reportedly takes its level from the character on first entry, within the zone's own minimum and maximum.
Guild Wars 22012VideoLevel SyncContent levelA high-level character in a lower-level zone is scaled down to suit it. In January 2013 ArenaNet revised the attribute formula, because downscaled characters were still too powerful, and raised the rewards they earn there.
Guild Wars 22012VideoPvP NormalizationContent level, UnlockStructured PvP excludes levelling, PvE gear and expensive potions, and everyone in the Mists lobby is set to level 80 with all skills unlocked; World versus World is the contrast, where gear is a factor and lower-level players are at a disadvantage.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn2013VideoCatch-Up AccelerationCharacter levelThe armoury bonus raises the experience of every combat class or job other than the player's highest. Patch 3.0 of 2015 made it 100% below level 50 and 50% from 50, and patch 7.0 moved the 100% band to below level 90.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn2013VideoLevel SyncContent levelA character above a duty's level is synced down to it on entry, losing actions above that level except role actions and having HP, damage, healing and gear effects reduced. The sync works only downward, and FATEs require it more than five levels above their own.
Destiny2014VideoPvP NormalizationContent level, Character levelCrucible matches are found by skill rather than character level, and ordinary playlists reportedly ignore level and gear; the Iron Banner turns level advantages on, with the largest advantage held to about seven levels.
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition2014Tabletop RPGBounded AccuracyCharacter level, AttributeThe proficiency bonus rises from +2 at 1st level to +6 at 17th, no ability score can be raised above 20, and a task's difficulty class runs from 5 for very easy to 30 for nearly impossible whatever the character's level.
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition2014Tabletop RPGEnemy Level ScalingCharacter levelThe game master builds a combat encounter against experience thresholds set by each character's level, from 25 XP for an easy encounter at 1st level to 12,700 for a deadly one at 20th, multiplying the monsters' total for groups.
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition2014Tabletop RPGSoft CapsAttributeThe variant point-buy rule spends 27 points on ability scores, each step from 8 to 13 costing one point and the steps to 14 and 15 two each, with 15 the highest score that can be bought before racial increases.
The Elder Scrolls Online2014VideoLevel SyncContent levelBattle leveling, introduced in Update 1 for the Alliance War, scaled a lower-level character's attributes and abilities up to the content. The One Tamriel update of October 2016 applied it to the whole world.
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor2014VideoStat SquishRelease, ResetPatch 6.0.2, ahead of the expansion, moved item statistics from an exponential to a linear scale and lowered creature statistics to match; on Blizzard's figures for item level 530, a character's health fell from 490,873 to 30,375. Item levels and character levels were left unchanged.
World of Warcraft: Legion2016VideoPvP NormalizationContent level, Item tierOn entering a PvP instance, gear statistics are nullified and replaced by a set configured for the specialization, with set bonuses, enchants, legendary and trinket effects off; average item level adds 0.1 percent to those statistics per point.
Destiny 22017VideoPvP NormalizationContent level, Item tierMost competitive modes remove the effect of Power, while Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris add it, so a higher Power gives a damage and defence edge; in 2020 Bungie announced that the seasonal Artifact's Power bonus would be disabled in those two modes.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands2020VideoSoft CapsAttribute, Item tierSecondary statistics bought with rating from gear take more rating per percent in bands above a threshold, 25 percent in the beta reported in August 2020, and rating cannot raise one past 106 percent; buffs outside rating are exempt.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands2020VideoStat SquishRelease, ResetThe pre-expansion patch 9.0.1 cut the maximum character level from 120 to 50 and squished item levels and statistics, Battle for Azeroth's item levels of 340 to 485 becoming 60 to 140; the expansion then raised the cap to 60.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker2021VideoStat SquishRelease, ResetPatch 6.0, released with the expansion, downscaled attributes, damage dealt and taken, crafting values and experience from level 51 upward on a non-linear curve, to about a fifth of their former size at level 80, with all totals kept relative to what they had been.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister2021VideoBounded AccuracyCharacter levelThe game is based on the fifth edition's SRD 5.1 ruleset, licensed from Wizards of the Coast; a free update raised the level cap from 10 to 12, adding class features and 6th-level spells.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight2022VideoCatch-Up AccelerationRelease, Item tierPatch 10.1 of 2023 limited Shadowflame Crest Fragments to 150 of each type a week, a cap that rises as the season progresses, and halved the Flightstone cost of upgrading an item up to the power of the best one owned in its slot, for every character on the account.
Baldur's Gate 32023VideoBounded AccuracyCharacter levelThe proficiency bonus, added to proficient attacks, saving throws and checks and to the spell save DC, starts at +2, becomes +3 at level 5 and +4 at level 9, by character level rather than class level; the level cap is 12.
Diablo IV2023VideoEnemy Level ScalingCharacter level, Difficulty tierOpen-world monster levels follow the player's level within bounds set by the World Tier, 1 to 50 in Tiers I and II, 55 to 70 in III and 75 to 100 in IV. From patch 1.1.0a of July 2023, monsters in Tiers III and IV trail the player by up to five levels.
Diablo IV2023VideoStat SquishRelease, ResetPatch 2.0 of October 2024, which reportedly accompanied the Vessel of Hatred expansion, lowered the level cap from 100 to 60 and converted the Paragon points of characters above level 50 into Paragon levels, with stat and damage numbers squished alongside.
Lies of P2023VideoSoft CapsAttributeEach statistic raised at level-up adds less to its derived values past a soft cap, which GGRecon puts at levels 30 and 40 for most statistics, with Vitality the exception; past it a level-up adds one to three points instead of about six or seven.
Dungeons & Dragons, 2024 edition2024Tabletop RPGBounded AccuracyCharacter level, AttributeThe Character Advancement table keeps the proficiency bonus at +2 to +6 across twenty levels, based on total character level rather than level in a class, and ability score increases still cannot raise a score above 20.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail2024VideoLevel SyncContent levelPatch 7.0, released with the expansion, brought two treasure dungeons, the Excitatron 6000 and the Shifting Gymnasion Agonon, under level sync, adjusting player levels to 90.