I've noticed extremely few examples of monsters dynamically increasing their level to match your own in the main game. It does happen, for instance, with one or two of the prison beasts in the prison you free the imps from in Act 2, and there's other examples, I'm sure. However, the common monsters all remain at the same level. In Act II, for instance, there's the level 9 and 12 Tibar, and the Lvl 12 and 15 Earth Elementals. They'll be exactly the same level regardless of whether you're 10th level or 19th.
If some monsters can be flagged as 'dynamic level' which matches your own level, others can too. One way of utilizing this could be a setting where the main bosses are +2 or +3 levels over your own, but the common monsters are anywhere from -2 to -5? Another way of implementing it would be to set a fixed upper boundary on mobs but leave the lower boundary dynamic, so a common mob will be, say, lvl 12 when you first encounter it when you're level 13 or so, but will remain at that level until you reach some higher level, say, +5 relative to the mob, at which time it starts increasing in level to match your own.
This could provide some real challenge when you first encounter these mobs, but it would also make sure that there's still some challenge (or at least experience) later on when you go cleaning out areas. I remember my first encounter with the roaming Act II battlegrounds mobs, on Hardcore, the battles were rough, as the mobs were even in level with me, and they had both archers and those annoying mages which cast a paralyze before closing with a spread elemental attack. In the first game I played (with a sword-and-shield fighter for main character and a mage for deathknight), I remember the difficulty I had with these guys. However, in my second game, I killed off all the guards in Samuel's citadel, which gave me a level or two advantage over my other game. It made all the difference in the world, apparently.
I am really reluctant to follow the self-handicapping suggestions which some people suggest. It doesn't seem fair to make things more challenging by hamstringing your characters. What's the point of searching for varied loot then? Where's the thrill in getting a really wonderful weapon or suit of armor if you can't use it without spoiling the game's difficulty? Why have the skill point system when using it makes the game less challenging? I already have stopped using my skill points for combat skills. In Divine Divinity, I found out that using an archer character with certain arrow skills made the game too easy, but that was an imbalance in the skill system which could be remedied by choosing different skills. This is an imbalance in the entire game. I don't think it would matter what skill paths you chose, the game would be just as imbalanced if you played through all the battlefields. Experience is experience, regardless of whether you use melee, range weapons, spells, or traps to get it.
If this is the only way to make the game enjoyable again, I'm putting it back, and going to a game which can keep my interest. I don't want to do that, as I greatly enjoy the Divinity series. While I don't believe Beyond Divinity is nearly as good as DD, it still has its own charms. There's a lot of features I miss from DD, such as gear that added skill points, and the reputation system that actually influenced the reactions to your character and vendor prices. Still, BD is a game I want to be able to stick with. I hope that these issues are addressed in the next patch.
BTW, do the developers pay attention to this forum, or should I repost some of the thread to the Suggestions forum? Thanks again.
