Getting owned by low level mobs

I have never seen a bug like that mentioned. The experience stops when enemies are 3 levels or lower than you. As for being quite challenging, if you are playing on nightmare, even mooks are going to give you a challenge. If you are not playing on nightmare or hard, then I would suggest you are probably using under-leveled gear if it is taking you more than a minute to wipe out a group of 3-4 enemies. Either that or you need to learn how the combat mechanics function to make sure your warriors are doing enough armor penetration to actually hurt the enemies. Abilities only magnify damage after armor reduction.

Here is a thread on combat mechanics:

http://forum.bioware.com/topic/543549-guide-documentation-for-combat-mechanics/

You can understand what the attributes are really doing (Strength is essentially useless on a warrior, Willpower is better), and better understand what abilities are most effective, and especially how damage is calculated so you can try to maximize your character build.

If you would like some tips on combat, this forum has lots of helpful posters:

http://forum.bioware.com/forum/1188-combat-strategy/

Oh, and here is a handy guide for level ranges for the different regions. To find level 17 enemies you need to be in the higher level regions in Orlais.

Haven - L1-4
Hinterlands - L4-7, L8-11, L12+
Val Royeaux - L4-6
Fallow Mire - L8-10, L12-15
Storm Coast - L7-11, L13-15+
Forbidden Oasis - L8-12, L5-15, L18-20
Skyhold - L10-12
Crestwood - L10-12, L13+
The Western Approach - L10-13, L14+
The Exalted Plains - L10-13, L13-16
Emerald Graves - L14-16, L16-20
Emprise du Lion - L16-19, L19-22
The Hissing Wastes - L19-23

Do you have a weapon with "berserk" equipped?

If you're on PC, could you upload your latest save file so we can try it out?

Berserk increases damage you do by 10 -30%, but also increases damage done against you by 10x that amount. So if it increases your damage 20%, you take 200% more damage.

Like I said, I don't believe that bug exists where enemy levels are misrepresented, so if you are getting destroyed by enemies 6 levels lower than you and you aren't playing nightmare then you must not fully understand the gear you are wearing and the complexities of the combat system. And you should not be playing nightmare if you don't understand those things but still want to enjoy the experience.

To really have good gear you should be crafting gear specific to your build, with the highest tier materials available. Almost nothing you can buy or find will be better if you are farming materials and searching out schematics.

But if you can be more descriptive of the kinds of enemies you are having trouble with, then maybe we can be more helpful. But the other forums are better for that as they more specifically focus on combat and strategies (both combat and building your character/gear).

---

@mgdudley wrote:
Even the hinterlands has enemies higher than the exalted plains. It's weird because I'm going in the order, of exploring areas, the same way the area level post says. There's no way enemies at the exalted plains should be weaker than that of western approach, Crestwood, or even the hinterlands. My problem is that I get no xp from killing any of the enemies in this region, save for the rift demons.

---

As to the levels of creatures in various regions, the are certain pockets of zones that have much higher enemies than the rest of the zone. For instance, the hinterlands has a rift near the farms with level 12-15 enemies (they will match you up to level 15, but are minimum 12). Western Approach is about equal to Exalted plains, but both are higher than Crestwood, and Hinterlands is the lowest on average. But they can have some pockets that will be higher than the lowest level enemies in Exalted plains or Western Approach.

XP is strictly limited to enemies within 2 levels below you or higher (higher enemies like trolls give bonus XP if beaten at lower levels). You can see an enemy's level in the tactical camera. If you are fighting level 11 enemies, or even level 14 at this point, you will get no XP. If you jumped to Hissing Wastes and found a level 14 enemy, you would get no XP. The region you are in makes no difference.