Posts tagged levels 
The Daily Grind: How often do you want new abilities?
We're all very familiar with the term "ding." We're also familiar with the immediate follow-up to a ding -- namely, figuring out what new stuff you get following a new level. Of course, that varies a lot depending on the game. Guild Wars will give players new abilities all the time, whether or ...
The Daily Grind: Do you rush to endgame?
Welcome to the endgame... the endgame of 2011! We gamers love to say that MMOs are about the journey, not the destination, but that doesn't seem to stop us from zipping up the levels the instant a game or expansion launches. Hardcore players had hit level 50 in Star Wars: The Old Republic within ...
Leaderboard: Level-based vs. skill-based
When you think about it, the concept of "levels" in MMOs is downright strange -- and contrary to how we live life. I mean, do you suddenly "ding" to a new, arbitrary level after gaining a whole bunch of generic XP for killing spiders because your spouse/roommate/sibling is too scared to do so? Or ...
Ask Massively: Mind tricks are the lazy way of doing things edition
Recently, I've become enamored of the Bavarian Fire Drill. For those who don't want to click on that link (it's work-safe in the sense that it contains no cursing and not work-safe in the sense that you'll be clicking for hours), it's the art of infiltrating a building by carrying a clipboard and ...
Pocket Legends launches the Mount Fang expansion
It's time for another update for one of the first MMOs on the go, Pocket Legends. Mount Fang, the latest expansion, brings with it an increase in the level cap to 66 as well as a reduction in the experience curve across the board. If you're at the level cap, you can shoot for the next tier, but ...
The Mog Log: Five zero
The march to the level cap in Final Fantasy XIV is nothing like that of its predecessor, but it's still an undertaking. The fact of the matter is that leveling shouldn't have taken me nearly as long as it did. The game has been out for over a year, after all. But between my usual inability to ...
The Road to Mordor: Ten up, ten down
Levels in MMOs are best when accepted as a traditional aspect of the game that blends into the background. It's weird when you hold them up to scrutiny because it's very hard to mesh these arbitrary numbers with the pretend "reality" of the game world. I've always thought it was weird that I ...
Storyboard: The leveling effect
A couple of weeks ago, I took a look at some of the issues that crop up when you start considering in-game details in the context of roleplaying. Today, I'm doing something very similar but in the opposite direction. Instead of fitting verisimilitude into the game world, I'm trying to fit game ...
Newest version update lands for Final Fantasy XI
It's time for players to advance once again in the latest update to Final Fantasy XI. Another increase to the game's level cap has gone live with this patch, with the new cap set to 95, just a stone's throw away from the promised height of 99. But the addition of the newer cap and all that it ...
The Mog Log: Point by point
Physical levels are leaving Final Fantasy XIV. We've all known that for a while, to the point that I even wrote a column speculating, in part, about what will happen to the whole bonus point system once that change goes live. As it turns out, what will happen for the time being is that it will be ...
