Some time and versions ago, grobblewobble made this observation:

With which I agree. Some discussion can be seen on http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=908

I'm opening a new thread because the suggestion was originally made in a thread about multiclassing, and I think this subject is important enough to merit its own thread and not to be lost among unrelated subjects.

My perception is that in version 0.2.6 the problem is less marked than in previous versions, but it still stands. If I'm level 18 I can find ogres and troll brutes (at the very least) on level 2 of any dungeon (and sometimes on level 1). If I'm level 5, I won't find such monsters even on level 7 or 8.

Right now, the technique with which I'm being more successful in game quest progress is: choose a troll (slow levelling), dive to the wizened old man killing few monsters if possible, dive to the shards killing few monsters if possible. With that, I can sometimes get 2 or 3 shards meeting nothing stronger than hobgoblins. On the other hand, if I stop to explore levels and kill monsters, I level and the game becomes rather more difficult with tougher monsters.

I think when the optimal technique in a game is refraining from getting XP and levelling, that game has too much level scaling. It should be the other way round: "Damn, an ogre lord! I can't descend this far yet, they're going to kill me... I'm going to go up and explore the upper levels for some experience".

So my suggestion is to make level scaling less influential (if at all). It was fine in ADOM, where the difficulty of the monsters depended on the danger level of the dungeon you were in, with small factors regarding player level and monsters killed but which didn't have too much of an influence.

The danger level of dungeon levels could depend on depth and on the dungeon itself... to give hints to the player about which randomly-generated dungeons are more dangerous, several things can be done:

- Hints in dungeon description ("a dangerous-looking cave" vs. "a dull-looking cave", etc.)
- Hints on entering the level ("You feel this place may be too dangerous for you", etc.)
- Information from NPC's in nearby towns
- Type of wilderness (less danger on the plain, more on the mountains)
- Location (maybe the poles could be more dangerous than the equator, or far areas from the Drakalor chain could be more dangerous)
- Wilderness encounters getting progressively more dangerous when you approach a dangerous area
- Scrolls, spells, and/or an ability of some classes (ranger?) providing an accurate estimate of danger level

So reducing or removing level scaling doesn't necessarily mean that players don't have ways of knowing where it's safe to go and where they are going to be charred by an ancient red dragon on entering.

I think, apart from improving balance, it would make the game much richer that every dungeon had its danger level, rather than always encountering goblins in any dungeon when you are level 1, and always encountering ogres when you are level 12. This makes all dungeons feel roughly the same.