AI Summary
5 min readIn a recent episode of Asmongold TV, the host reacts to a video from ARPG player Zizaran arguing that Diablo 4’s scaling system is its worst feature. The core problem, Zizaran claims, is that all content in the game scales up to level 95, which means leveling up past a certain point actually punishes the player rather than rewarding them. Asmongold largely agrees, adding his own framework for understanding why this design choice hurts the game and who should be listened to when evaluating it.
The Punishment of Leveling Up
Zizaran’s central argument is that because monster levels rise with the player’s level, the experience of getting stronger can invert. He describes a scenario where you get a new weapon, start doing massive damage, and then level up a few times — and suddenly you aren’t doing that damage anymore. The problem becomes acute past level 85 to 90. At that stage, the player’s power gains from leveling are minimal — small stat boosts like “five int” instead of meaningful damage or resistance increases — while the monsters continue to scale up. As Zizaran puts it, “leveling up is a punishment in Diablo 4.” He contrasts this with Path of Exile, where each level is always a buff, and difficulty is introduced through harder content like nightmare sigils rather than through the leveling curve itself.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:32) **The Core Problem: Scaling as Punishment** - Asmongold introduces the video by Zizaran, who argues that Diablo 4's scaling, which forces all content to scale up to level 95, makes leveling a punishment rather than a reward.
- 2 (02:00) **The Design Trade-Off: Casual vs. Hardcore** - Asmongold acknowledges the developer's dilemma: scaling is necessary for the 90% of casual players who want to play with friends of different levels, even if it frustrates the hardcore 1%.
- 3 (04:11) **The Mechanism of Power Loss in Late Levels** - Zizaran details why the late-game scaling feels bad: the major source of power is gear, but the final 10 skill points offer negligible upgrades (e.g., +5 intelligence instead of 10% damage).
- 4 (06:17) **The Wrong Source of Difficulty** - Zizaran argues that difficulty should come from optional, high-tier content like Nightmare Sigils, not from the fundamental act of leveling up.
- 5 (08:14) **The "Mining Canary" Metaphor** - Asmongold introduces the key concept that top-tier players like Zizaran are "mining canaries" who detect design flaws that will eventually affect the entire player base.
- 6 (09:50) **The Real Issue is Scaling, Not Dungeon Resetting** - Zizaran pivots to a common community complaint, arguing that the ability to reset dungeons is not the problem; the underlying scaling system is.
- 7 (10:10) **The Proposed Solution: Cap Scaling at Level 80 + Tier 5** - Zizaran proposes that all content should stop scaling past level 80, and that a new World Tier 5 should be added to provide a true endgame challenge.
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Show Notes
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