Guild Wars 2

After Chris Whiteside’s AMA, I’ve been increasingly worried about the direction Arenanet is headed in regards to progression. As someone who read every blog post over the years leading up to release, I had faith that the real level cap would be the cap in player skill, not just a number that leads to higher stats. A lot of things he said in that AMA seemed to go directly against the design philosophies and I hope it wasn’t indicative of a broader change in leadership.

Raising the level cap is an artificial elongation of progression. Considering that gameplay content remains relatively similar aside from difficulty from level 10-80, what exactly does raising the level cap offer that uniquely helps the game? The entire game is “end game” as many developers have said, and I’ve personally told many people that if they’re not having fun, they need to ignore their level and simply experience the content.

Remember, a lot of us are Guild Wars 1 players. I played for six years over five thousand hours (eep) with nothing more to work towards than titles, prestige armors and weapons, world completion, helping friends, and filling my HOM. Being level twenty was meaningless, just like being level eighty should be meaningless. The use of different leveled content is to create a gate, that requires learning how to play and becoming skilled with your class, before advancement to more difficult activities. Will adding a few buffs to our stats actually make us more skilled? No. At level eighty, the training wheels are already off and there’s nothing more to be learned.

As someone with four level eighty characters, I like the feeling of “completion” after reaching level eighty. I have armor skins that I like on them, but I could go for rarer ones. I could finish up world completion on each of them. I have directions to go in, but that leveling part of them is done. Having that suddenly change, and that level cap be raised, would feel like a day at work where you clear your inbox, get everything done, and ten minutes before you’re supposed to go home your boss plops a whole pile of papers down on your desk. I had a goal, I achieved it, but like Sisyphus the boulder would be down at the bottom of the hill again.

I would much prefer to be able to earn new titles, learn new skills through “rank” in different orders, or have more armor and weapons to work towards than to have to finish something that was already done just for the sake of a timesink.

Perhaps I’m missing something, and I’d like people who are for an increased level cap to please offer their opinions. As of right now, I simply can’t see how it could possibly help the game, and only could harm it.

They want to increase the level cap?
PLEASE DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! O_O!
I agree with Nefara. I’m working on my third level 80 character, and there’s still so much to do.
It would be fairly enough if every new content was Level 80. You could even add a few new skills per class for an/every add on, but we do not need a highr levelrange.
Nor do I want to see any changes in the traits we have. They’re just perfectly fine like everything else is.

I chose GW2 because I was fed up with all these progression stuff. (e.g. You just got 5 max level characters, you equipped them and you’re good to go, then the update comes and… well you have a lot of work to do to get everything to your personal like again.) I have become so tired of that, so PLEASE do not change how GW2 works now!
It’s something special and it should stay that way!

If you change the game for all those WoW players or whoever cries for it, you will destroy it for those who believed in you and still do in the first place.

While mentally, I’d prefer a more important looking number like 100, but knowing a bit about game-design, I definitely don’t support an increase of the level cap for expansion purposes.

I’d rather they add more dynamic events to pre-existing zones, more dungeons to low-traffic zones, and more utility/elite skills for profession-depth.

There have been a lot of events where a champion boss has apparently become a threat, but doesn’t move from its spot.
I’d like to see those events put on a timer – And if that doesn’t work, it starts moving and wreaking havoc in a nearby town/camp.

I’d also like to see some hearts be more dynamic.
There’s a heart that tells you to help repair a town – But it doesn’t really look like it needs rebuilding, just a few unexploded shells. I’d like to see hearts where a town will go through an event where even if you defend it, the town is noticeable damaged, requiring help to repair. (Like from a champ-boss attack!)

Basically… Richer content / richer world > More content / bigger world

And why Arena would increase lvl cup? They didn’t do it in Origin Guild Wars and I highly doubt they will do it in Guild Wars 2. I’d suggest you relax.

Well, like I mentioned, there were a few things from the Chris Whiteside AMA that sent out alarms to me. For example, in this post

Infusions will become the vertical progression…accessible through a wide variety of different player activities…

Should we add new player levels to the game then new items within the current rarities with a shallow power increase would be viable, however we would look at doing a new system rather than defaulting to this initially.

That implies that right now they’re not ruling it out, and that it is on the table, even if it’s not happening right this instant. As an avid player, I want to help take it off of the table. We can’t just assume that it won’t happen, because if we do it just might. It’s worth speaking up about if we feel passionately about it, which I certainly do.

I too am not keen on a level increase, due to the following:

You need to upgrade your armour and weapons again.
The feeling that your character is complete is removed.
If you spent a lot of gold (and possibly real money) to get max armour, your purchases will have been a waste of money.

Some of the things I like about a fixed level cap are:

Once I have max gear, I do not need to spend any more gold on equipping my character. So my money is free for fun stuff, like cool looking skins.
My character feels complete, so I can get on with enjoying all the fun content I like.
The money I spent on gear was money well spent.

I like to just play WvW or do dynamic events and not have to worry about whether my character is maxed out. Once maxed I’m free of that psychological burden. Adding more levels just adds to a part of the game I do not enjoy that much. Two of my alts I tried to level as quickly as possible (using crafting) so that I could get that part of the game out of the way.

I like to explore for the fun of it, not to gain an achievement or earn xp. I like to fight monsters for the thrill, not the xp. I like to experience dynamic content because it is entertaining, not because I get good xp. Adding this unenjoyable progression just adds an undesirable hurdle for me to get over, before I can get back to having fun.

So please, Anet, add more fun to the game, not more work. I have a full time job for that. I’m sure there are more creative ways to add progression to the game, such as ranks in WvW that provide access to WvW related skills or siege equipment, or PvE titles that provide unique skills or items to use in dungeons or against certain enemy types.

Increasing stats in any form beyond the max, to me, is an unimaginative way of adding progression and has been done to death in all MMO’s to date. So please, be creative and add some of that Anet flavour we have come to expect from you guys. Thanks.

They are going to increase the level cap. It was stated before the game was even released. You might as well go ahead and get over it or start>control panel>guild wars 2>uninstall, because it is going to happen whether you like it or not.

All for raising the level cap. To easy to level anyway. It will literally take 1 day of playing to get 5 more levels. (Pretty sure its raising to 85).

@ThuGaNoMiX Source or your argument is invalid

I’m on the fence with this issue, TBH. A cap increase would work for story but, as I remember like the last 5 story missions were all level 80, so in theory you wouldn’t need a level cap increase in future expansions. Also, I’ve heard about Ascension gear. That could work sans (without) a level cap increase, yes it would make you stronger, but not through monotonous leveling, but through had work and fun just doing stuff in game.

If they raise the cap, they raise the cap. I won’t like it but I’ll live with it. But the whole point of this thread is to offer our opinions and suggestions on the subject, so that is was we did. Suggesting we ‘get over it’ or uninstall is not the most constructive or helpful advise I’ve heard.

Also, it is not as simple as spending a day leveling up (assuming you don’t have a job and/or can spend more than a couple of hours per day in game). You also need to upgrade all your gear, which can for some take a while to accumulate. it also means that if they raise the cap once, they will no doubt raise it again. So people who hate the whole leveling process are forced to do something they don’t enjoy. The progression mechanic of infusions is fine, as it only effect Fractals, but the level cap effects everyone.

I just think Anet are capable of so much more than a level cap increase, especially when it is not necessary or the best option.

Well said Nefara, I couldn’t have put it better myself. I’m hitting that +1 next to your post, what ever it does. (It’s some sort of “This was an awesome post thing”, right?)

GW had a good and solid level cap of 20 for the entire duration. I don’t want to see GW2 caving in and raising the level cap from 80. It’s cap, max, can’t go past that.

It’s not like the end of the world if they decide to go up 10 levels on the cap. It will require further balancing with the classes, of course, but nothing as bad as many make it sound.
Whether they decide to make so or not I’ll live with it just like Rin said.

Well said Nefara

they need to ignore their level and simply experience the content.

The game is the incredible journey. The level doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, the level cap, testifies, as you say yourself, to a “feeling of completion.” I don’t wish the fun of this magical journey to end so quickly. Increase the level cap to 800 or 8,000 and continue the wonderful, funny, exciting content with it.

Like Sisyphus, we smile at the start of each climb; unlike Sisyphus, we get a new mountain as we go!

Yes, please do not do this! I would really lose all hope for this game if they did. Currently i’m still a dedicated player and have somewhat believed in the relative direction the game has headed but if they ever increase the level cap it would ruin the entire philosophy of this game. I totally disagree with Chris who said that this game allowed for such changes where as GW1 didn’t! A change in level cap would render all current armor obsolete!! Meaning more grinding for everyone and not being able to come back after awhile and be able to jump right back into action which is what most people are often for gw2!. If you wanted to give us more trait points/skills/stats there are many other ways to do it other than level progression!

But yeah, if that day ever comes, I won’t be there to see it through. They might as well bring back in the trinity system and 25 man raids, flying and land mounts and copy exactly what WoW did, because if that is the progression they want to take, WoW got it right.

What’s your argument against people who don’t want to level more than once character? I personally do not. I have one and I’m happy but I sure would like to see that character to grow more, and since I have all exotics and see no point in legendary weapons “I just don’t think they are legendary, there’s nothing legendary about grinding” I should just quit? I’ve seen everything this game has to offer. A new expansion without an increased level cap and just new zones new items and new dungeons would be very disappointing to say the least.

Guild Wars 1 went through three campaigns and one expansion without changing the level cap. You’re more likely to see new utilities/elites/weapons than you are to see new levels in my opinion.

Jonas.9716:

Guild Wars 1 went through three campaigns and one expansion without changing the level cap. You’re more likely to see new utilities/elites/weapons than you are to see new levels in my opinion.

Guild Wars was a very different game to what Guild Wars 2 is and you know it.

I hope there would be a big level cap, like 1000 or something :P
It wouldnt matter to me because i’m never going to make that far, i may get to level 20 by that progsession time i have grown too old and will retire, i think.

Shear Force.9154:

What’s your argument against people who don’t want to level more than once character? I personally do not. I have one and I’m happy but I sure would like to see that character to grow more, and since I have all exotics and see no point in legendary weapons “I just don’t think they are legendary, there’s nothing legendary about grinding” I should just quit? I’ve seen everything this game has to offer. A new expansion without an increased level cap and just new zones new items and new dungeons would be very disappointing to say the least.

If you like to focus completely on one character, there are certainly ways to add progression without that translating directly into new levels. Imagine if you could do Order based missions or quests that could get you titles and new abilities that increase in power the higher you get in the Order? Or maybe you could earn items and unique skins from completing achievements, like a dragon scale shield from killing all of the dragons, or wearable diving goggles from doing all of the dive challenges. You’re right, your journey isn’t over, but that doesn’t mean it has to take the same exact path it has been to continue.

To others saying they wouldn’t mind if the level cap was insanely high, I haven’t heard reasons why continued leveling, specifically, is the solution to a lack of end-game character progression. If there was more content, achievements and titles to work towards, would you still feel the need for it? Why?

I have to agree with this topic. One of the great things about GW1 was no player was really above another. that and adding lvls causes players to forget about older content. adding lvls is a great idea if you want to have wasted content.

JazKW.6547:

@ThuGaNoMiX Source or your argument is invalid

The source for the proposed level cap increase may be found in this interview from 2011.

http://tinyurl.com/c7986zy

The current level cap is about 40 levels too high for my liking, so I’m not thrilled at all that they want to increase it further.

Warlord D S.8435:

JazKW.6547:

@ThuGaNoMiX Source or your argument is invalid

The source for the proposed level cap increase may be found in this interview from 2011.

http://tinyurl.com/c7986zy

The current level cap is about 40 levels too high for my liking, so I’m not thrilled at all that they want to increase it further.

I hadn’t heard that interview, that’s indeed worrisome, especially considering it sounds like it came from Colin Johanson. All the more reason to speak up and say what the community would prefer.

anet yes more maps more skins more items, or more trait skills and points. more crafting. (specially like cooking we need a crafting gold sink for consumables with considerable bonuses or possibly altered/enhanced skill sets) like a summoning stone profession which creates elemental summoning stones or massive call down spells per use which are extremely expensive to make. like a meteor shower with 2x the aoe but costs 3 g to get all the materials.

no more levels slightly higher level gear. legendary’s are where it stops where would you go from there? ultimate? dont do it. i also would have liked level 100 but ill settle for level 80.

Firkin.2847:

Well said Nefara

they need to ignore their level and simply experience the content.

The game is the incredible journey. The level doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, the level cap, testifies, as you say yourself, to a “feeling of completion.” I don’t wish the fun of this magical journey to end so quickly. Increase the level cap to 800 or 8,000 and continue the wonderful, funny, exciting content with it.

Like Sisyphus, we smile at the start of each climb; unlike Sisyphus, we get a new mountain as we go!

Thank you, but does the fun really stop when the leveling does? If you played the original Guild Wars, you’d know that’s certainly not the case. Again, I feel that leveling should be used as a tool to prevent people who are unskilled at the game from becoming frustrated with advanced mechanics meant for more advanced players. Are they honestly going to be coming up with more advanced challenges, or will it just be tougher monsters with bigger numbers? I don’t see why the concept of progression must be tied so tightly with the idea of larger level numbers.

I absolutely hate heightened level caps. And high level caps in general. I think lvl 50 is perfect. Although maybe not for this game. Since at level 46 I only have 26% world completed. So please don’t raise the level cap.

Last thing I want to see this game become is a f2p grindfest mmo with the level range hitting the hundred+ mark. 80 is a good solid number, and leveling should stop there. Like others have said, GW1 had, and still has an incredible amount of content for a game which limit characters to just level 20. Learn from GW1, and do not make the mistake of adding extra, but add new content, armor, weapons, skills etc, like it was done in GW1.

It’s like this game is designed for ex-WoW players, and GW1 players just get a ‘yeah we don’t care. kthxbai’ from Anet.

more levels means all gear becomes worthless, and the first complaint will be UPGRADE MY LEGENDARY TO NEW CAP THNX OR I QUIT". leveling has been done to death, games need to move away from it or least move away from it as a pointless time-sink constantly adding 5-10 levels every 12 months.

in my opinion you guys are the ones who ruin the game you dont want anything new on the game because then you dont have it all wow talk about self centeredness, whats so fun about having everything the game would become boring if you get nothing new after a while.

Rezzet.3614:

in my opinion you guys are the ones who ruin the game you dont want anything new on the game because then you dont have it all wow talk about self centeredness, whats so fun about having everything the game would become boring if you get nothing new after a while.

There are plenty of ways to add new things to a game without making people play catch-up with numeric levels.

Rezzet.3614:

in my opinion you guys are the ones who ruin the game you dont want anything new on the game because then you dont have it all wow talk about self centeredness, whats so fun about having everything the game would become boring if you get nothing new after a while.

I didn’t read a single post about people not wanting Anet to add more content. Where did you read that?

I’d rather see new and interesting dynamic events, new ways to wage war in WvW, new maps and game types in PvP. Who cares about an increasing number when you can fight a massive killer bunny rabbit, or cause mayhem with the ball of death siege vehicle. Increasing the level cap is such a boring way to add content in my opinion. Give me interesting and exciting things to do, not an xp bar to watch.

JazKW.6547:

@ThuGaNoMiX Source or your argument is invalid

The source is Mike O’Brien in the same AMA that has already been linked. Believe me, I hate it and would love to see them not fall into this trap (more accurately push ME into this trap), but the head of A-Net has already said they will do it in an expansion.

I would love to see enough player response to change their minds, but there are so many people who don’t understand. They believe that they like leveling simply because they enjoyed travelling through the whole of the world. They don’t understand that the whole of the world really can be endgame content. It played out that way very, very well in GW1, but it hasn’t played out that way here.

Mike O’Brien

[–]Mike-OBrien-ArenaNet 130 points 19 days ago
Hi! I’ll respond to the top part since it’s a quote from me.
Obviously the key phrase I’m going to point you to in that quote is, “if someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it”. That really is the litmus test we’ve used. That’s why, at ship, we gave better stats to exotic gear and didn’t give better stats to legendary gear.
More generally, I hope we’ve been clear that GW2 is not a game with virtually no stat progression in it like GW1 was. That’s why GW2 shipped with a higher level cap, and with a hard separation between PvE and PvP. In GW1 we never advanced the level cap through four campaigns/expansions. The game design didn’t allow for it. But GW2 was designed without those restrictions, and we’ve always expected that we will someday raise the level cap in GW2.
That’s why we’ve always said that GW2 rewards players through both progression and collection, whereas GW1 primarily rewarded through collection. Presumably players aren’t shocked that GW2 rewards through progression, since it has a level 80 cap.
I wonder if the core sentiment is more this: It’s only been two-and-a-half months! We don’t even all have exotics yet, and already you’re introducing another tier. Is this the start of a power progression curve that I’ll never be able to keep up with?
I certainly appreciate that worry. I myself don’t want a constant struggle, as exists in some other games, to keep my equipment viable.
Then we’re left with a balancing act. Some progression is ok, but pushing players onto gear treadmill isn’t ok and isn’t what the game is about.
So I would ask you to judge us by details, and not by making slippery-slope arguments. We introduced a ton of new content in November, and the sum total of new progression rewards we added to go with it provided a 5-10% stat increase in 2 of 12 slots. I hope you’ll agree that that kind of very shallow and gradual progression does not force people onto a gear treadmill.
I think it’s important for GW2 to be able to have this kind of gradual progression. Of course we made some mistakes with the way we introduced ascended gear. (See ChrisW’s answers for details.) But those are addressable issues. I don’t think they invalidate the fundamental concept that GW2 can have gradual stat progression without being a gear treadmill game.
~ MO

I personally don’t see a problem with it.

I’ve played games where the level cap gets raised, and as such it raises the bar for toons (or chars, whatever you call them). It introduces more content, skills, gear, and exciting bits and pieces, including (potentially), new lore to be discovered which would create more character development and plot development for things we don’t understand/know yet!

Not to mention, you can easily level 1-80 now in a ridiculous time frame, so the only issue that I see here is people being lazy about levelling what, 5 more levels (which you could possibly do in a day or two if you’re hardcore enough), and having to go back to dungeons to get new gear.
It still gives us things to do and things to look forward to

It’s exciting and I am all for it!!

if they are going to raise the level cap they better make it interesting like ascension from GW1 and you get different abilities or something along those lines.

Raebfle.5914:

I personally don’t see a problem with it.

I’ve played games where the level cap gets raised, and as such it raises the bar for toons (or chars, whatever you call them). It introduces more content, skills, gear, and exciting bits and pieces, including (potentially), new lore to be discovered which would create more character development and plot development for things we dPCTYTWN3on’t understand/know yet!

Not to mention, you can easily level 1-80 now in a ridiculous time frame, so the only issue that I see here is people being lazy about levelling what, 5 more levels (which you could possibly do in a day or two if you’re hardcore enough), and having to go back to dungeons to get new gear.
It still gives us things to do and things to look forward to

It’s exciting and I am all for it!!

The thing is, they could add all those things (which I hope they do) without upping the level cap at all. It’s just an unnecessary addition that many of us do not want.

If they added all that extra stuff to do, without a level increase, would you be annoyed? You really don’t need to add levels in order to add extra content. If it’s to add challenge, just make the content harder for the current level. If it’s to add progression, we already have infusions and there are more interesting ways to add it than increasing numbers.

Upping the level cap is not a casual friendly mechanic and I’m sure there are better ways to keep hardcore players happy without it negatively effecting other players.

At the end of the day, if they up the cap, I’ll level up and carry on. It’s not a massive problem. I just feel it is unnecessary and that there are better, more interesting, ways to add extra content.

I wouldn’t be annoyed if they didn’t, but increasing a level cap isn’t bad at all.
It’s just a few more hours to add to playing

I don’t see the bad side of a level increase is all.

I don’t like the cap being raised and i really hope they won’t do it.

Dont do it although i’d like a skill point sink besides crystals/lodestones.

Maybe like a 60 point elite skill that requires some epic quest. idk…

I support this they can add more lvl 80 content theres no need to raise the lvl
it doesn’t make difference at all if we don’t count the higher numbers we will get

I agree. There should not be any more level caps. I loved the feeling from Guild Wars that when there was new content I could just go with my lvl 20 char and do the story, for the story.

I hate leveling, I really do. I have 3 lvl 80’s, and it was really tiring for me to get them up. You could tell me to not play if I don’t enjoy something, but truth is I wanted to enjoy it, really bad. But I can’t, and is the reason I quit every MMO but Guild Wars.

Increasing lvl caps will just leave me with the feeling of my character being incomplete again. I don’t agree with their idea of ascended gear either, so I haven’t even gotten any of it and I most likely wont. So if a new level cap is increased I will probably try it out, and sadly maybe I’ll quit again(which I have done now, it’s just not fun anymore. Everything is fractals this, fractal that. And I don’t agree with them adding the ascended gear.) as I don’t really think I like the way everything is going, but that’ll be that.

Waaaaayyyy back they mentioned something like adding more levels, but the levels don’t do anything (just a number). That was like in beta though. I’m still against that though.

Raebfle.5914:

I wouldn’t be annoyed if they didn’t, but increasing a level cap isn’t bad at all.
It’s just a few more hours to add to playing

I don’t see the bad side of a level increase is all.

You say a few hours, and it’s very possible that the actual leveling process alone might take that long, yes. However, you’re forgetting that all of the gear that you worked for will now be 5 levels old, and obsolete. You grinded dungeon tokens, raised the ecto, raised the money and made the effort to get level eighty gear, which at the time of your purchasing it, was the best you could afford. It was sold at a premium price with the assumption that it would be the last set you would ever need, with the exact appearance you were working towards.

Now, imagine that you now have a new set of full armor and weapons to work towards. And of course, since the supply is new and the market hasn’t caught up to demand yet, it’s extravagantly expensive. If you don’t have the gold on you, maybe you could grind a bit in your old level eighty gear, but the places that you need to do to get level 85+ gear are too challenging for your subpar gear and paying for it with gold really does seem to be your only option. So you go back to grinding dungeons and raising 1-2g at a time, hoping to make as much as you need to catch up to the new benchmark.

Not only that, but since you put runes in your old armor, and treated yourself to the good ones that you raised up the cash for, you’re not going to just leave them on your old armor. That means either fine transmutation stones or black lion chests, as you want a 100% chance of getting back runes that each cost 1g or more. Cash shop items, which means either shelling out more gold for gems or real cash.

I hope you can start to understand why a level cap increase is so negative for casual players. For a casual player, who doesn’t have time to grind dungeons for gold and saves up what they make slowly and incrementally, splurging on their level 80 max gear is an indulgence, with an assumed guarantee that it will last the rest of their character’s “lives”. That’s why we worked so hard for it, it’s end game. You don’t buy your level 68 character a bunch of level 68 exotics, not when rares or masterworks are so much cheaper, you know that it won’t last you long enough to make the money worth it.

Guild Wars 2 is supposed to be a game that casuals can confidently play, who can drop it for a few months when life gets hectic, and pick it up again guilt free because of no subscription. Coming back to find all of your gear that you worked very hard for suddenly obsolete, and your character no longer able to jump into new events, is not a welcome back I ever want to experience.

I couldn’t agree more with the OP, I really don’t think I’d be happy about seeing more levels added.

Raising lvl cap imo is a very bad idea. New traits, re-balancing and worst of all new gear. No, i’m not a fan of this idea. Horizontal progression is the way to go, imo this game have enough of vertical progression already and raising the lvl cap and thus introducing new higher lvl gear etc. is just too much. There are other and better ways to do it, re-work some older zones, maybe make them phased, like orr for example, we did kill the Z. thingy, didn’t we? I, for one, would love to see Orr getting back to life. New zones, new types of events, new skills, new gametypes. Going straight forward and raising lvl. cap not only boring and predictable, it’s also annoying. I have enough head ache with the gear, given how many stat combinations, playstyles and builds there are.

Forget levels! To a developer they are largely imaginary anyway. The developer provides 1) foe that is relatively easy to overcome; 2) foe that is somewhat challenging to overcome; 3) foe that is very challenging to overcome. No, you do not get more powerful as you level—relatively. You may become more wise and adept at using your power, however.

Level doesn’t matter, as ingeniously illustrated by ArenaNet’s level manipulator whenever you enter a different zone. What a wonderful idea! Levels are fictive things. It doesn’t matter if there are 8, 80, or 80,000. What matters is fresh content (i.e. areas, stories, gear, events, etc.). To ensure an orderly progression of fresh content, as well as a story narrative, content is revealed in a somewhat, but not rigid, linear fashion.

That’s the whole point of levels. For those who fear more levels, here is my suggestion. The ‘largely imaginary level’ is hidden, so you never have to worry about leveling or when to stop leveling. The game, instead, reveals when you may 1) enter an new area, 2) craft more stuff, 3) or talk with the little red-headed girl you’ve been eyeing but won’t respond to you (up till now).

And for those who rely on the motivation and sense of accomplishment of gaining new levels, every so often the game will flash a bright star on the screen, play some heroic music, and give you an “atta boy!” (or girl)

If you read the responses by the developers themselves, they will do what they want. Customers will not tell them what to do. I would post a thread link but that would get me infracted.

No1’s telling any1 what to do here. But it won’t hurt, i hope, to express our concerns and thoughts here. After all AN claims to be interested in our (players) feedback etc., so why not give it to em.

I’m not really seeing anyone in this thread explaining why there should be a level cap raise, only that they don’t mind it. Keeping in mind that character progression, new content, gear, and lore are not directly tied to a higher level than the current max, what problem does a new cap uniquely solve?

All of us want to enjoy new content, new gear, and new stories to explore. These things can all be enjoyed at level 80.

I personally wish that ArenaNet will leave the level cap at a firm 80. Any additional content that is to be provided can be styled for a level 80 cap, as opposed to a higher one. While I have a small, lingering idea that level 100 would be awesome, it really makes no difference. Rather, it would undo the air of finality that pervades a level 80 character. If ArenaNet wishes to add another axis of progression, I strongly advocate a process such as Ascension, in Guild Wars Prophecies (and the other two, though it felt less meaningful). In fact, I would be willing to accept another Ascension, but for a Guild Wars 2 character.

PanBelacqua.9058:

If ArenaNet wishes to add another axis of progression, I strongly advocate a process such as Ascension, in Guild Wars Prophecies (and the other two, though it felt less meaningful). In fact, I would be willing to accept another Ascension, but for a Guild Wars 2 character.

Just to clarify, when you mention Ascension, do you mean new trait/skill points/abilities based on achieving a mission or task? Rather than having these unlocked via leveling if new stats or trait points were desired. I, too, would prefer that rather than have my gear become obsolete.

I completely agree with the original post.

I agree with OP. The worst that can happen to an MMO player is to have their gear deleted. A level increase does exactly that.
My ex- and current girlfriends all had my passwords except that of GW2 for exactly that reason. I don’t want an angry ex in my account. Me and my brother had quite some fights and stuff got destroyed but never, ever, did we touch each other’s characters. Chris threatened to do exactly that which I fear most.