To level no more forever

With WoW being my current MMO of choice, I've wished for a while now that they'd settle on a level cap and just release more gear and a wider variety of level cap activities, like FFXI did.

Theres nothing wrong with leveling. Leveling is just the term used for showing progression. Cutting out the "leveling" word would just leave it at skills. Gaining skills or Leveling is how a character grows. You gotta have progression in a game or else it will get boring definitely.

It's not leveling that's the problem. It's the boring content. Believe it or not, You can make killing ten rats very entertaining, than just "Killing Ten Rats".

I remember my first mmo, I started off in some city on a very dusty planet. I was nothing but a name with no faction. It seemed like every direction was the right direction because there was no set path. I wandered around like a dog off of his chain. I found some people standing in a line for buffs, i didnt even know what buffs were. Someone explained it to me and buffed me up and off i went. I went out of town and killed some critters and seen someone ride by on a hover bike and immediately wanted one. I was standing around town and noticed a bunch of people going in and out of what i found to be called a cantina. I was watching entertainers in there for more buffs that helped me out tremendously. I met someone in there who sold or gave me a speeder and off i went. I went for a long ride and discovered cities that were put in place by other players and they even had their own shops inside some of them.

I didnt mention levels because as far as i was concerned they didnt exist, i was having an adventure.

There's really no way to get around it in an RPG-based MMO. You're either grinding levels or grinding skills. Which is why I think the next big MMO will probably be shooter-based ala Team Fortress 2 or some such.

I don't have a problem with the idea of leveling up in and of itself, I find it to be one among many fun aspects of mmo's. BUT I absolutely agree that it is used to excess, and gates friends away from each other. Every time I've quit an mmo it's because of this basic issue of being unable to play in a rewarding manner with friends who are at different points on the leveling curve.

Secondly I think too many game developers are using leveling as a way to gate content, which is a cop-out. I don't really find it fun to realize that if I'm challenged by a certain area, all I have to do is grind a bit, level up, and suddenly that area is easy.

If I had a wish for how to do a leveling curve I'd be fine with leaving one in but realistically, your base character should only grow maybe 3-5 times as strong and invulnerable rather than 100 times as is typical now. After that it'd be up to actual *player* skill and group coordination to take on tougher challenges rather than simply "being elite" because you leveled up.

Interesting these devs are yelling for folks to "come see what we are doing!" when the calls for no levels have been out there for over a decade. Hard heads, soft asses, devs.

It's funny how things have become reversed in so many people's minds. The RPG game IS the levelling. You push towards a goal through quests and activities, then unlock new abilities, explore into new, heretofore deadly environments, and grow as a character. A lot of the early text-based online games actually had no cap... none... level forever.

The "end game" grew out of the level capped games and the need to stall players after they hit max level, until a new expansion with more levels could be released. In this vein, end game activities were by necessity harder and slower to accomplish, in some respects ridiculously so (anyone who had to get rare drops off 30-day respawning raid creatures in Everquest in order to craft a class item knows what I'm talking about).

The players these days who do anything to blast past the levels and content in order to get to the end-game are like skiiers who cannonball down the mountain as fast as possible because they prefer to stand in the lift line at the bottom.

All the merits of leveling that I see people post here could be done in frankly half the time that it currently takes. Yes there is a certain amount of needing to learn your class, and start off slow, but I've tried countless MMO's this year, and can never make it to the end game that I so desire:


WoW: WotLK - After a 2 year break, I returned, but lost interest at level 77/80 with my DK, never having seen my long lost friends digitally face to face.

AoC - Gave up at around level 44/80 when the content was half-baked, soon after relase.

Warhammer - Single biggest disappointment, a game based around end game PvP, I thought they'd cut back the tediousness. I dropped out at level 34/40.

Fallen Earth - Was completely LOVING this game, until I realized that I had to go back and farm every low level quest in the area before moving onto tier 2, made it to level 12/40(?)


Basically, I love the freedom of the end game, I like to log in and know that I can do anything I want with any of my friends online at any time. I'd like to pop in and PvP with same-leveled players if I feel like it, or go Raid dungeons with buddies, go run quests if I'm feeling anti-social, trade/craft etc. I like the CHOICE. The tedious leveling progression that plagues every MMO is ALWAYS what kills it for me. I don't want to lock in 80+ hours of contrived "kill x mob" quests for months and months just to be able to play with friends. The leveling system turns a multi-player game into a linear, single player bore-fest.

It's time to give this mechanic the axe. First game to do so well, will get my money, and I'm sure many others.