by araziel
Defeating the heroes is not the objective no, but the point of the monsters is usually keeping the heroes at bay.The fact that 4 heroes with a bit of xp would chop down a 1+4 goblin group way faster than 2 heroes could a 1+2 minion goblin group still stands. Not to mention searching, and that monsters respawn at the same rate.
The scaling is out of balance by definition. The OL doesn't scale xp wise, the heroes do. Heroes get exponentially more powerful with more heroes, monsters are static. How much this affects the game overall I don't know yet, but just from the numbers you can tell it's out of whack.
Like I said, this is without considering objectives. They certainly do make it easier for the overlord with more monsters in some quests. This is not always the case though.
Many quests pretty much depend on you being able to either stop the heroes at a junction, or even knock someone down to realistically complete the objective.
This will be more difficult with more heroes regardless of the group increase, and as the xp stacks in the heroes favor it will be progressively harder.
I still think the power balance with more heroes will be an issue somewhere along the line. Whether it's too hard for 2 heroes or too easy with 4 heroes. Whether it just affects some quests. Whether it's quite minor in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't change the fact that the scaling imbalance is there.
We'll have to wait and see. I don't think anyone has enough games under their belt to say something certain about game balance yet (except for the fact that it's miles ahead of 1ed).