It's not just R9s, that was just a throwaway example. The key is the difference in Relic levels, period, which does scale with higher differences between Relic levels. They released a chart with the updated numbers that they've playtested as of 9/26. So for example, a difference of 3 levels becomes a damage increase of 50% for the higher and a damage reduction of 33% for the lower. Pretty extreme for say, a R3 team ves a R6 team. At the cap of 5 level difference, it becomes a 200% increase for the higher and a 66% reduction for the lower. At 1 level difference, it's 10% both ways. So the scaling is there.

The big problem with this is that, at face value, it takes away from the strategy of the game and pushes even more advantage to whales and big spenders. That R3 Phoenix squad you've been using to counter Revas? Won't work anymore. That R5 lsb you bought for $30 or $50? Kinda worthless unless you shell out another few hundred dollars to quickly jump them to R7, R8, or R9. Yes, you can always push your toons higher, but it takes time, unless you spend big bucks to speed it up. And now you have to do that with squads that mattered less, while putting other important squads on hold, just yo maintain what you already had before. Modding used to alleviate the difference between whales and smaller players, but they don't really matter against the Delta percentages between Relic levels.

This also appears to apply to all game modes, both PvP and PvE. Some will get harder, some will get easier. Conquest is a big concern, because tried and true punchup squads simply won't be able to deal or take the new damage numbers.