I would really like the old level system back.

There is a lot of talk about opening up the sectors or making one big sector to provide choice in difficulty.

But what I find much more important is you only having 1 difficulty now in a sector instead of the 10 we had a few days back.
Right now, I can only choose 1 difficulty or go back to a lower sector.

Before I could choose between 10 difficulty levels in a sector.
I started out on a level 3 planet ( I think, or was it 1), went to a level 4 planet, went to a level 8 planet, got my ass kicked and went to a level 6 planet.
This was all in Alpha sector.

But now there is only one difficulty! And even when you open up all the other sectors it doesn't change much because the difficulty would be way to high anyway. Right now you have NO real practical choice in difficulty (even if you would open up all the sectors) and frankly I don't quite understand why this change was made and my biggest fear for this game is that it will stay this way.

So to summarize
Before: A choice between 10 difficulties in a sector.
Now: No choice between difficulty in a sector.

I would like to have a choice in difficulty in a sector. Especially since I will be getting better equipment while in the same sector and would like to adjust my difficulty (and reward)

 

I would also like to see a difficulty span of several levels within the same sector. It makes things a bit less linear, more random. I enjoyed being able to search a system and discover, for example, a level 5 planet and a level 8 planet next to each other.

 

You're not alone - I may add this: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/new-planet-level-mechanic-discussion.51047/

 

Pretty sure the devs have said this is coming. All planets of a sector will still be a single level, but there will be "easy, medium and hard" level worlds within.

 

Old system was easily exploited.

You simply skipped all levels of threat in any given sector, going straight to the highest possible level. You then obtain the best weapons and gear from it and faceroll the sector until you unlock the next one which you then simply repeat the skipping. Suggest a fix for this if you're going to suggest going back to varying threat levels per sector.

 

So threat level 1-3 planets? Or are those easy/medium/hard difficulties within every tier planet?

Well, that's sandbox. Most people even want to be able to get to tier 10 planets from the start, which is much "worse", but it's easier to find a fix for differing tiers (e.g. environment kills you) than for differing threat levels (only monsters are stronger?).

 

They'll be within each tier. The main difference between them is going to be monster strength, by the sound of it.

 

I liked how it was a couple updates ago too. It felt like a more immersive universe, having higher level planets next to lower ones. Now it just feels bland in the sectors. I wish they would bring it back.

Also Lyacon, I checked out the link you posted here and agree on the posts you made. :d

 

That's good to hear because I was really worried, the game is very linear now or whatever you want to call it.

 

I didn't get to play during the multi-level sectors, but it is a bit linear right now. I'd love a variety of difficulties within sectors. Once you have the top armor for the sector and a good weap, you're king of the castle.
Having harder monsters on some planets would be fab, maybe planets with increased rates of boss monsters and projectile-firing beasties.

Although in a way, the biomes do provide some extra difficulty - I struggled with snow and moons for ages until I knuckled down and farmed some leather. And some biomes lack plant fibre, forcing you to use bandages sparingly.
Of course all of that can be side stepped with a bit of preparation and resource farming....

 

A fix would be to only increase the amount and rarity of the ore on higher difficulty planets but keep the found weapons and armor and stuff the same. (at least in chests, and enemies atm drop to much and to high level weapons anyway, I assume this is going to be fixed since I can not be killed by monsters atm)
Then you still have risk vs reward.

 

I would like the threat levels spread out a bit more. From my understanding and please correct me if I'm wrong, there are four sectors in space (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Chi/X)

If they were divided like this:

Alpha: Levels 1 - 2
Beta: Levels 2 - 5
Delta : Levels 5 - 8
X : Levels 9 - 10

Alpha sector is a bit lame cause EVERYTHING is 1. It'd be nice to have a dangerous planet thrown into the mix.

 

Difficulty.
But I think it should be possible.

 

A few days ago there were 10 levels per sector
Alpha: 1-10
Beta: 10-20
etc.

 

Actually, if they kept the current system til release (hopefully not, I don't think they're planning to either), there'll be ten sectors, one corresponding to each tier.

Also, right now, there are five sectors. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and X. X is not chi, it's X in the algebraic sense, a variable. It's a placeholder sector for, I'm guessing, sectors epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota and kappa. They might mix the order up a bit to fit the English alphabet better (first guess: zeta at the end instead of sector 6), but that's probably what they'll go with.

If we use a variation on your system, it might be:

Alpha: 1 - 2
Beta: 2 - 3
Gamma: 3 - 4
Delta: 4 - 5
Epsilon: 5 - 6
Zeta: 6 - 7
Eta: 7 - 8
Theta: 8 - 9
Iota: 9 - 10
Kappa: 10

They might also make Alpha only handle level 1 planets and reshuffle the numbers accordingly.

 

I do understand that there were in fact more levels captain kid, but I think 100 was a bit too much. Perhaps we could reach some compromise where we have like 30 perhaps then...perhaps 3 per tier since there are supposed to be 10 teirs now

 

That's... not a bad suggestion, actually. Three levels per tier up to level 30. There's been quite a few RPGs that have had a 30 level cap too - Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3 with Broken Steel, Fallout New Vegas (without the DLC)...

Three levels per tier means there's an easy, medium, and hard planet selection for each tier. People who aren't very good at the game or are undergeared for the tier can go to the easy planet, people who are better at the game or appropriately geared can go to the medium planet, and people who are really good at the game or overgeared (e.g., they have the best gear in the tier, or are on the next tier, or got lucky drops) can go to the hard planet.

 

There is no need to keep tiers in game exept for testing purposes
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/star-map-tiers-are-lame.48688/

 

May I ask why you think 10 difficulties per sector is a bit to much?

I mean you normally play one sector at the time (lower sector is to easy, doesn't have appropriate ore and weapon drops) so that still only means having 10 choices regarding difficulty.
I don't think that is all that much especially if they will keep the upper sectors locked down.

Since you play the game one sector at the time I feel like they should give as much options per sector as possible and ten levels per sector seemed spot on to me. I did not feel restricted by the sector system because I had many choices regarding difficulty (and the rewards that brings). Having only 3 difficulty options would feel like the universe isn't that big after all.

 

Without the AP mechanic, the difference between a level 4 and a level 5 world is pretty insignificant. The level 4 world has monsters with, say, 30 health (pure hypothetical here) and the level 5 has monsters with 35 health. Just not enough of a difference to matter.

Three per tier makes each planet feel different, and that's what's important.