OK, so I've established now how the level ranges are set and I think the answer explains many of the issues people are talking about here. Note though, as far as I can tell, the level ranges have always been like this for alien dailies, since at least 18.03. This isn't directly connected to the 195+ changes in this patch cycle... but the increase in high level mission difficulty is heightened strongly by the level range effect.
Level Range System
Players from level 1-10 will see mobs in alien missions of level 3-7. Players from level 11-20 will see mobs in instanced alien daily missions of level 13-17. Players of level 21-30 will see mobs in alien missions of level 23-27 etc. (I've made a table below of all level ranges). The exception is that at 220, players will see mobs of level 228-232.
What you'll notice is that if you're at the bottom end of one of the 10 level blocks of player levels, then you'll get mobs from 2 to 6 levels above your own level. But if you're at the top end of the player level range, then you'll get mobs from 2 to 6 levels below your own level. That means that the difficulty of the missions varies very widely depending upon where you are in that player level range.
In particular, Berinda's level 51 Enforcer would have seen a massive change when she last dinged. At level 50, she'd have had mobs from level 43-47... so easily manageable. But when she dinged 51, they suddenly turn into mobs of 53-57... so she changes from the easiest missions being level 43 before dinging to the toughest being level 57 after dinging. At best she saw a jump on her daily, from level 47 to level 53 - which is still a very significant jump.
It also explains some of the variance between people's experiences. For example, I'd tested with levels 50, 175, 207, 219 and 220... so I hadn't tested with a character in the low end of the 10 level block... though the 220 character had seen much higher mission mob levels of course.
Analysis
Clearly the level ranges need to be more granular. But there is a softening influence on all of this, which is that in lower level ranges, you'll often be dinging faster than you can really see the changes - because the missions are always at least 18 hours apart. As your character levelling speed slows though, the effects of the sudden jumps when you get to an XX1 level number will become more marked.
The optimum situation would be that the level range is based directly on the level of the character... that is, that a player would always see mobs from 2 levels below his own level, to 2 levels above. I've been unable to think of a rationale for having the '10 level block' approach to mission QL setting... but I'm thinking there must have been one, since the devs obviously made the decision for some reason.
I do think that there is reasoning behind the 220 missions being much higher level. Players at 220 will be getting into end-game equipment and indeed there is a rash of very powerful top level nanos/weapons with level 220 requirements on them. 220 players should be much stronger. Also, the 220 content needs to stretch over a longer time and a generally wider power increase as end-game gear is delivered. Finally... most players should already have most of their AI levels by 220.
Suggestions
I've given feedback to FC through test channels, that the optimum solution is to base mission level directly on player level as above. But at the very least, the granularity should match the range. That is, since you get mission QLs across a 5 level range, then it should at least be set every 5 levels instead of being set every 10 levels.
That is: level 1-5 players would get level 1-5 missions. level 6-10 players would get level 6-10 missions etc.
Table of Alien Daily Mission Levels
Code:
=========================================
| Player Level | Mission Mob |
| | Level |
=========================================
| | |
| 1 - 10 | 3 - 7 |
| | |
| 11 - 20 | 13 - 17 |
| | |
| 21 - 30 | 23 - 27 |
| | |
| 31 - 40 | 33 - 37 |
| | |
| 41 - 50 | 43 - 47 |
| | |
| 51 - 60 | 53 - 57 |
| | |
| 61 - 70 | 63 - 67 |
| | |
| 71 - 80 | 73 - 77 |
| | |
| 81 - 90 | 83 - 87 |
| | |
| 91 - 100 | 93 - 97 |
| | |
| 101 - 110 | 103 - 107 |
| | |
| 111 - 120 | 113 - 117 |
| | |
| 121 - 130 | 123 - 127 |
| | |
| 131 - 140 | 133 - 137 |
| | |
| 141 - 150 | 143 - 147 |
| | |
| 151 - 160 | 153 - 157 |
| | |
| 161 - 170 | 163 - 167 |
| | |
| 171 - 180 | 173 - 177 |
| | |
| 181 - 190 | 183 - 187 |
| | |
| 191 - 200 | 193 - 197 |
| | |
| 201 - 210 | 203 - 207 |
| | |
| 211 - 219 | 213 - 217 |
| | |
| 220 | 228 - 232 |
| | |
=========================================
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