User was infracted for being awesome.
Levels - why do we have them?
I must say, while this is a good argument I disagree with it entirely. Levels are anything but pointless in this game – they serve whether people like it or not first and foremost as an indicator of progression. Not to mention the fact that the level number is a great barometer for where on this massive world map a player is meant to be.
That process is an important one – it’s the period of time where a player becomes accustomed to their character, its mechanics and skills etc. Whenever the conversation about buying a max level toon comes up the first argument out the gate is “but the player won’t know what they’re doing/won’t have learned the character”, same argument here, you need a learning curve, levels offer that.
People slam vertical progression, I think, because of all the examples of it done badly, here we have a system where it’s been implemented near perfectly.
Yep there’s a lot of good stuff at endgame, but there’s also a lot of good stuff on the way there too. One criticism I would make is that dungeons seem to be poorly implemented – check out FFXIV for an example of dungeons properly integrated into the levelling process. Other than that, it’s a fully fleshed out and realised game from levels 1-80. It also has multiple starting zones and more content than is needed to reach cap – so mix it up with your alts a little!
On the subject of alts, even mixing it up I admit it can become a little stale. The skill point suggestion, along with the option to sell tome of knowledge on the TP would go some way to alleviating that. But on levels themselves, I think they should stay where they belong – in game!
Good points here. On a fundamental level I think we’re actually on the same page. I don’t think that the levelling system should be removed, as many people do enjoy playing the old fashioned way and RPing and so on, but I think there should be an option to speed the process up after the first character. This option existed prior to the introduction of ascended crafting and was a gold sink with reasonable costs, but unfortunately the XP nerf and TP price increases have now made it impractical for the average player. As a side note, one of my biggest gripes is the way Anet drastically nerfs or changes aspects of the game after we’ve gotten used to them.
As for the learning curve and progression – Imo, it’s actually more enjoyable to explore the world on an 80 than a level appropriate character because you’ve got access to a full build, and decent looking gear. I’ve found that I only truly began to learn to play different professions after reaching max level. You do learn the absolute basics along the way but a full build and traits are essential for figuring each profession out, particularly your role in group content.