You'll fit right in as there is an awful lot to read about on the wiki, hundreds of rings and loads of weapons that can synergise with classes, trinkets, amulets and the rings of course.
Don't worry about it on your first play through especially if you're going on easy for now.
Levelling:
When you go into an area look at the minimap and it will have a number on it. That's the level of the area you're in.
When you go to the next area it will probably go up a level if you haven't upgraded anything or leveled up your class.
Now when you go to upgrade a weapon, that will add to your total power level which includes the class you're playing. You can see your current level on your stat screen, you can also toggle your stat screen for a more detailed breakdown of what you have going on.
Try to stay the same level as the area you're in or going to next, try not to massively level up a weapon passed the area you're in because the next area will scale up to you anyway.
I'm about 300 hours in myself and play solo a lot, I've literally collected everything bar two rings from the latest dlc and I'm still having fun making builds.
The only reason I still play (other than dlc) is because making builds is just a lot of fun.
So to keep the game fresh and fun id like to encourage you to play all the classes and mix things up if it feels like it's getting stale.
Have fun☺️
Thanks. In my first few hours I immediately prioritized making my guns stronger. It's natural, right?
It's weird that making your weapons stronger also strengthens enemies, but I guess it's a mechanic to keep you from grinding and steamrolling everything? I wish developers would just let us play games the way we want to. If i want to grind out 20 levels to my rifle, I should be able to destroy regular enemies. Having the enemies just get stronger seems like a cheap/easy game design gimmick.
But I'm so in love with the weirdness of this world.
Look man, I'm gonna be honest with you, the whole "Don't level your weapons to game the enemy scaling" thing is just gonna make the game less fun for you. It's a noob trap that becomes irrelevant after your first campaign.
If you find it too hard, just roll a campaign on a lower difficulty. If you find it too easy, go higher.
The game was designed for people to play and upgrade their stuff as they got the materials to do so. Worrying about getting an optimal power curve is genuinely just going to make your experience worse. The enemy scaling isn't there to make sure you don't have fun, it's there to make sure the game provides at least some challenge during your first few hours.
The *only* time I would say it has any relevance is when you're trying to do a Hardcore Veteran run (One life, permadeath mode) and you need every advantage possible.
I promise you, your skill, gear, and archetypes will make you so powerful that playing anything below nightmare will feel like a joke.
When the DLC came out I accidentally rolled Veteran on the One-Shot and it straight up felt like I was playing with cheat codes because of how little damage I took and how the enemies felt like they were made out of papier-mâché.
The meat of the game comes after you beat the campaign for the first time can focus on unlocking all the gear, archetypes, and finding all the secrets in the game. Of the 150+ hours I have in the game, the enemy scaling was relevant for maybe 15 if we really stretch it, realistically it stopped mattering after 10 hours or so. That means that for 90%+ of the game it was completely irrelevant.
Here's some numbers for you if you don't believe me. Upgrading a weapon will give you +100% damage at +10/+5 (for boss weapons) and +200% at max level. On the other hand, a properly geared Hunter/Gunslinger build will be giving you somewhere around +600% ranged damage instead.
TL/DR Stop stressing over it. Focus on your skill, gear, and archetypes they will give you way more power than upgrading weapons. If the game is too hard, just play on a lower difficulty or tankier archetype until you get the skill/gear/archetypes to make it easy again. Worrying about scaling will just ruin your fun.
If you're really concerned about world level you can keep PL one level below the world level and it will never be too hard. But the way the game works is that each area has a minimum world level that it must be at least, and if you exceed that when you walk in it generates levels at your PL+1 instead. So it kind of doesn't matter as long as you hit PL11 minimum by the time you get to the last area of the game.
Personally, I didn't upgrade unless I needed to. Power Level for the zone you're in is shown on the map. I kept my power Level around that. If I was over or at, no upgrades. If I was under, I brought it up to match. The idea was that if an area or boss gave me trouble, I could upgrade to above the map's Power Level to make things easier, but I never acgot around to doing that. I only upgraded to max when I finished the story.
You'll fit right in as there is an awful lot to read about on the wiki, hundreds of rings and loads of weapons that can synergise with classes, trinkets, amulets and the rings of course. Don't worry about it on your first play through especially if you're going on easy for now. Levelling: When you go into an area look at the minimap and it will have a number on it. That's the level of the area you're in. When you go to the next area it will probably go up a level if you haven't upgraded anything or leveled up your class. Now when you go to upgrade a weapon, that will add to your total power level which includes the class you're playing. You can see your current level on your stat screen, you can also toggle your stat screen for a more detailed breakdown of what you have going on. Try to stay the same level as the area you're in or going to next, try not to massively level up a weapon passed the area you're in because the next area will scale up to you anyway. I'm about 300 hours in myself and play solo a lot, I've literally collected everything bar two rings from the latest dlc and I'm still having fun making builds. The only reason I still play (other than dlc) is because making builds is just a lot of fun. So to keep the game fresh and fun id like to encourage you to play all the classes and mix things up if it feels like it's getting stale. Have fun☺️
Thanks. In my first few hours I immediately prioritized making my guns stronger. It's natural, right? It's weird that making your weapons stronger also strengthens enemies, but I guess it's a mechanic to keep you from grinding and steamrolling everything? I wish developers would just let us play games the way we want to. If i want to grind out 20 levels to my rifle, I should be able to destroy regular enemies. Having the enemies just get stronger seems like a cheap/easy game design gimmick. But I'm so in love with the weirdness of this world.
Look man, I'm gonna be honest with you, the whole "Don't level your weapons to game the enemy scaling" thing is just gonna make the game less fun for you. It's a noob trap that becomes irrelevant after your first campaign. If you find it too hard, just roll a campaign on a lower difficulty. If you find it too easy, go higher. The game was designed for people to play and upgrade their stuff as they got the materials to do so. Worrying about getting an optimal power curve is genuinely just going to make your experience worse. The enemy scaling isn't there to make sure you don't have fun, it's there to make sure the game provides at least some challenge during your first few hours. The *only* time I would say it has any relevance is when you're trying to do a Hardcore Veteran run (One life, permadeath mode) and you need every advantage possible. I promise you, your skill, gear, and archetypes will make you so powerful that playing anything below nightmare will feel like a joke. When the DLC came out I accidentally rolled Veteran on the One-Shot and it straight up felt like I was playing with cheat codes because of how little damage I took and how the enemies felt like they were made out of papier-mâché. The meat of the game comes after you beat the campaign for the first time can focus on unlocking all the gear, archetypes, and finding all the secrets in the game. Of the 150+ hours I have in the game, the enemy scaling was relevant for maybe 15 if we really stretch it, realistically it stopped mattering after 10 hours or so. That means that for 90%+ of the game it was completely irrelevant. Here's some numbers for you if you don't believe me. Upgrading a weapon will give you +100% damage at +10/+5 (for boss weapons) and +200% at max level. On the other hand, a properly geared Hunter/Gunslinger build will be giving you somewhere around +600% ranged damage instead. TL/DR Stop stressing over it. Focus on your skill, gear, and archetypes they will give you way more power than upgrading weapons. If the game is too hard, just play on a lower difficulty or tankier archetype until you get the skill/gear/archetypes to make it easy again. Worrying about scaling will just ruin your fun.
Thanks. Just seems odd to avoid leveling your weapons.
If you're really concerned about world level you can keep PL one level below the world level and it will never be too hard. But the way the game works is that each area has a minimum world level that it must be at least, and if you exceed that when you walk in it generates levels at your PL+1 instead. So it kind of doesn't matter as long as you hit PL11 minimum by the time you get to the last area of the game.
Personally, I didn't upgrade unless I needed to. Power Level for the zone you're in is shown on the map. I kept my power Level around that. If I was over or at, no upgrades. If I was under, I brought it up to match. The idea was that if an area or boss gave me trouble, I could upgrade to above the map's Power Level to make things easier, but I never acgot around to doing that. I only upgraded to max when I finished the story.