I think it is well understood that when talking about this issue, we are NOT talking about pre-mades. In any case, this is kind of a “missed opportunity” thread since this issue is less and less relevant as the game progresses.
It’s just one of those things that should have either be there at launch or not at all.
We can just speculate on how much this, out of numerous other issues/questions, is driving much lower reviews post-launch (compared to beta) since this is one of those features that effects new players much more then tides veterans.
It isn’t really about the weapon buffs, more the base damage output. I’ve just started a psyker and entered malice with the weapons I got with the new character. I did fine as long as I wasn’t under massive time pressure to kill things, but there were times where things needed to die now and I simply didn’t have the damage output to make that happen; And that was on the psyker, the class with a “that thing dies now” ability. Gear makes a difference, sometimes when it matters.
I often even see LV 2x and 30 can’t mark a single spec and don’t even look back to other teammates.
It’s really nothing to do with level but fundamental co-op knowledage.
Level 5 seems like a reasonable bar for Malice, at least you can be sure people have their toughness feat for it that way.
If they do change level requirements though, for pre formed strike teams you should only need 1 person over the level requirement. Trying to bring mates into VT2 and watching them get bored silly by recruit and veteran for several hours before being able to do anything mildly challenging was pain.
Yup, there is also a matter of playing multiple characters. I played 2 missions on threat 1 on first char, never got back to it. On last being ogryn I was playing Malice from lvl4 upwards. Seriously if OP has issues with players being bad on Malice, you just need to carry them. Of course sometimes it is just bad luck and your run is ruined. Yet if you know what you are doing you can usually steer recruits with proper communication and some directions.