Guild Wars 2

One very important aspect of GW2 is that it is not a subscription-based game. As such, the developers don’t have the same incentive to introduce carrot on a stick gear and leveling treadmills.

As Marnick stated above, the lack of treadmill (both gear and leveling) is one of the things that kept me interested in GW1. I played content for the sake of enjoying the content, not because it was the content that I was shoehorned into due to level. Increasing the level cap will reduce the amount of content that is applicable for end-game.

1. They will add in new races/classes.
2. There will be new starter zones for those new races.
3. There will be a new set of zones that makes a new leveling path.
4. There will be plenty more new level 80 zones.
5. There will be some elite areas (pretty much every mob is a veteran or champion mob)

Increase armor + Increase Weapon Stats = No need for more levels.

I’m highly against raising the cap or getting to 80 taking forever to get to. Personally, i hate being under lvl cap in any game, which is why i first get the max level, and then go back and do all of my quests. I don’t find being low level with not all skills unlocked to be a fun experience.

With that said, i’d rather they expand the characters in a different way, maybe offer a new story line, new shinies and new things to experience. I prefer a role playing improvement, than improvement in higher numbers.

No. 80 is plenty, there just needs to be more (level appropriate) content once you get there. Right now the only fully lvl 80 zone is very much the same throughout: just filled with undead, shrines, and things relating to undead and shrines.

First of all:
Raising the level cap has nothing to do with gear stats. They can make it so that level 1000 armor is equal to level 80 exotic quality. It is just numbers. Similar to how we have dungeons vs crafted vs Karma gear. Stats are the same (only thing that might change is what stat is on what).

For me though I couldn’t care less either way. They will have to raise the crafting cap if they want to do it right though. Either way has pros/cons such as:

Gated progression is easier to know “where to go” – This was a VERY big problem in the start of GW2. Any player that played and watched the forums remembers the “I don’t know where to go” posts.

It leaves newer players farther and farther behind. The biggest problem with increase cap over and over is that say each expansion added 10 levels – 5 years 1 year per xpansion:

We would be level 130. That both is and sounds daunting to new players. I just rejoined WoW because it was 5 bucks and the amount of leveling I realized I had to chug through again for my character was disheartening.

^ Is the real problem. Lets leave “gear stats” out of this as those can be controlled by the developers the level feeling can’t.

PvP glory rank — This would be fine to keep going to infinity, because its only effect is cosmetic and it’s not at all related to level.

Gear stats, I think they have to keep it at 80.

Adding player levels but not changing the gear would freak people out.
Adding player levels while also changing the gear would freak people out.

Adding an expansion without new stats, skills, or levels — think that would freak people out, too.

I don’t think there’s a way to do it without stirring up flames.

Merthax.5172:

…New added content should simply be added as lvl 80 content…

Actually if they fix money/xp/karma/etc drops from downleveled content I’d be ok with new content at level 30.

I’d take new class or new weapons over level cap any day.

New weapons would be awesome! With new skills for each class obviously!

I don’t think they will do that but I wouldn’t mind a couple extra trait points?

Colin’s interview with The GameOverCast:

This is the exact moment he mentions increasing the level cap, although as a finite answer, I’m not too sure.
http://youtu.be/DLHfq2lJY5A?t=58m35s

Edited just to add my opinion on this matter:
I could care less if the level cap was raised, as long as there enough content to back it up. Honestly, how hard was it to get to 80? For the casual gamer like myself, it’s taking a long while, but I heard people reaching 80 within the first week of the game’s release. I’m pretty sure another 10 or 20 levels wouldn’t be unattainable.

Increase it again and again. GW1 suffered for maxing out at 20.

FFXI got this right.

Games increase the level cap because of bad design.

Increasing the level cap creates a lot of obsolete zones that have virtually no population once people level past them.

Case in point: every level 30-75 zone currently in the game. You really think anyone’s coming back to Orr if the level cap is increased? Even now the bits that aren’t level 80 are empty.

Level cap increases in MMOs usually is just a way to make the players stomach leveling and force them to through another 8-10 zones from the next expansion. I like how it was in GW1, the level cap was set and every expansion was a standalone.

I don’t think the level cap needs to increase. With the current cap and stat allocation in place, it becomes much easier to make new content balanced around that. You don’t need to raise levels to expand the professions, either.

All Colin really commented on was that they would consider increasing it, not that they will. And if they do increase it, then that will happen with expansions. I think it could go either way.

LastDay.3524:

(Largos please! …it’s going to be Tengu, though, isn’t it Anet?)

Why not both?

The first game featured entirely new continents in their expansions, along with two professions and an entirely new suite of customization options for humans in that region. I don’t think it’s too crazy for both largos and tengu to arrive in the same expansion, especially given how well the two compliment and contrast with each other.

We already know they don’t want to add new professions willy-nilly, so instead we could see more level 80 zones, elite content, 2 races, and expansions to the current professions rather than the addition of entirely new ones. Things like new skills, traits, and even weapons (rifles for thieves, maybe polearms and two-handed axes, etc).

Wishful thinking on my part, but I just really want to play a largos. :X

No.

First, it doesn’t add anything. The level scaling system, and the non-treadmill design eliminate all benefits to increasing the cap other then stroking your kitten with a bigger a number.

Second, people need to get used to the fact that GW isn’t a treadmill game. Throwing them a bone like this will just make it harder for them to adjust, and obscure the true nature of the gameplay. Get ready for a whole new batch of “no endgame” complaints if this is done.

Also, no.

I want GW2 to remain exactly as GW1 was. Every expansion adds tons of new story, tons of new looks, but NO level increase and NO gear stat increases.

If I wanted to play WoW, I would play WoW. But I’m playing the Guild Wars series, with some mild expectation that it remains to true to form. It would be heart breaking if they did otherwise.

Level increases are just an illusion of progression in video games. Overcoming challenges and solving problems should be the progression.

If they adjusted the level scaling a bit more they would open up so many areas and possibilities. I mean they put it in the game, but it feels like a pointless feature right now. At the moment, most MMO’s end up having players burn through an area, never to see it again and have it become obsolete.

I believe that MMO’s need to move away from this trend. They could easily provide loot incentives and challenges for players to come back to and cycle through areas at their own discretion, not allowing an area become obsolete and limiting players to a select few “max level zones.”

Definitely!
Raising the level cap would have several great advantages. It would mean you have to play more to reach level cap. It would mean people couldn’t afford the time to make alts, so they would focus on becoming experts on their one class. Best of all, it would separate the wheat from the chaff—only the truly hardcore players should be at the best level+gear.

In addition to a higher level cap, we also need nearly impossible to obtain gear with better stats. The coming buff to legendaries is exactly what we need. That way, the upper-class 0.1% of players who have legendaries will have a well deserved leg up over everyone else when new content comes out! A new tier of gear? No problem! You already have the best stats because your legendary got bump up. Now you can rofl stomp the scrubs in WvW who don’t deserve to be competitive, because they aren’t skilled enough to play all day.

Why even have 1 – 80? Everyone should just start out as 80s with full max gear

gwawer.9805:

Why even have 1 – 80? Everyone should just start out as 80s with full max gear

You’re right. That needs to change in sPVP. If you aren’t skilled enough to play full time, then you shouldn’t be able to defeat those players who are! Who thought level 80 for new players in SPVP was a good idea?!

Same goes for new dungeons. Even if you’ve seen all the content in PvE, that doesn’t mean you are ready to join elite runs in the new zones. You should have to grind to max level and gear to deserve entering these elite-player-only zones!

I vote no. the game should have capped at 30 as is.

Yes, they should get rid of the level cap and just keep downscaling to every zone.

No it shouldn’t.

Which of course means that it will, since Anet seems to love doing the opposite of what players want.

Malediktus.9250:

Yes, they should get rid of the level cap and just keep downscaling to every zone.

They should have either had a low level cap, less than half of what it is now, or not abandoned up-scaling in PvE. Power barriers are the biggest waste of time I’ve ever had the misfortune of experiencing, man-made barriers to entry are bad for economies and they’re bad for video games too.

No, KITTEN NO, in fact.

Nope. 80 levels is already too much. I understand why they wanted to do more than 20, because the scope of PvE is just so much larger, but it really should have been 40 and not 80.

There’s a common idea in MMOs that in order for the game to stay engaging you have to add new tiers of power, which is blatantly false. Expanding the game in horizontal directions rather than vertical ones is vastly superior.

thanks to the scaling system that sorta makes level cap increase a bit redundant if you ask me. i can see them having something similar to the first one Factions for example there was a whole section for leveling (for the new implemented races in gw2 maybe) while the rest was for level cap which is 80. The scaling system makes it so no matter where your at lvl wise you still can’t completely faceroll content as easily. I think new regions with new enemies and new mechanics are plenty for a expansion.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

No it shouldn’t.

Which of course means that it will, since Anet seems to love doing the opposite of what players want.

lol it seems this appears to be so!

No. Stuff the current 1-80 zones, and new zones they add, with new content in expansions. Add tons of new things to do at 80, instead of making old level cap zones ghost towns. Yes, there is level scaling, but people don’t care about that. The best rewards are in the level cap zones, so that’s where people go. Spread the best rewards over the level cap zones and people will still use them. Even better, rework old lv80 zones into the story or progress their story with expansions or mini expansions. Orr can’t be filled with zombies forever, can it?

Definitely not, it would be a balance nightmare in both PvE and PvP.

No, no no no no oh god no.

Please no.

More weapon options, more/new traits and maybe even trait lines, more dungeons, more zones, more stuff in current zones, more recipes, more events, more puzzles, more whatever, but not more levels. All at 80. As soon as you make it a ladder, nobody’s going to stop on the second-last step to look around.

Katostrophe.3274:

Yes and if its lets say 100, then the difficulty to reach 100 should be VERY VERY HIGH.

The reason the endgame in gw2 is getting so much criticism is because ITS WAY TOO EASY to get to 80. It should takes months and months and months to reach max level

You’re playing the wrong game. Try Runescape if you like pointless grinds?

marnick.4305:

No
NO
No
NooOOoooOo
Quaggan doesn’t like high level cap.

It’s bad for all the reasons you listed under pro and level 80 is good for all the reasons you put under contra.

Sure add in new runes/skills and perhaps tie these to a new storyline and a separate progression track AoC style, but under no circumstances should the level cap be raised lest they alienate their entikittenget audience.

lol thats target entire flipped which has an insult lol (last two characters of entire and first three of target)

Why did I read this entire comment in the voice of a quaggan?

Why not? AssNet has failed to create challenging encounters and are already trying to bypass their failures by gear grind mechanics, why not trash any old content with xpacs now? Seems to be the way to go for MMOs today.

The game has a level based system. So yes, level will be increased, like WoW, like Lotro, like all other titles with level based items. NCsoft saw Blizzard and Turbine making more money than they were and decided to use the same system. Forget GW. GW2 is another game. A game like WoW and Lotro, not a game like GW.

GW1 wasn’t a level based system?

Phy.2913:

GW1 wasn’t a level based system?

Not really, since lvl 20 was very easy to reach.

80 is technically easy to reach, it’s just incredibly boring for a lot of people.

Phy.2913:

GW1 wasn’t a level based system?

No, you could use any item at any level. You could use max armor at level 1 (all you needed was to get a run to the towns that sold it). You also could use max weapons on low level (as soon as you had at least 7 of weapons attribute, which I think you could get at level 4 or 5).

Items had no level requirement.

Katostrophe.3274:

Yes and if its lets say 100, then the difficulty to reach 100 should be VERY VERY HIGH.

The reason the endgame in gw2 is getting so much criticism is because ITS WAY TOO EASY to get to 80. It should takes months and months and months to reach max level

No it shouldn’t. I should not have to work a full time job in a game. If you really want to spend months trying to level, they should add experience modifiers players can use at will. If you really, truly enjoy spending that much time, you’re free to do it. If you just want to feel like you’re better for doing something others wont, you’ll complain about the fact that it’s “too easy.” I’d bet money that over 90% of the people that would claim to want such a long level time would be here complaining about how it’s too easy to level, and the personal modifiers are useless/unfair/pointless/whatever.

Phy.2913:

80 is technically easy to reach, it’s just incredibly boring for a lot of people.

Is leveling to 100 going to be exciting then? I’ve done the level up “ding” across so many RPG’s that it’s lost it’s flavor.

Yay I got to 50!
Oh wait, expansion… trash the old elite gear and move to 60.
Another expansion? Oh ok, time to powerlevel to 70 and regrind it all.
80? You don’t say…
85? Not a chance in hell I’m chasing this carrot any longer.

I kind of expected the level cap to increase with an expansion… I mean, they announced level 80 as being “max” before WoW’s Cataclysm (when level 80 was the max in WoW).

I’m kind of expecting the Canthan expansion to boost the max level to 90 (WoW’s current max level).

But I’d expect it to be the same as going from 70 to 80, which wouldn’t be too bad. Certainly nothing like grinding for one set of gear after another.

They initially threw around the idea of having no level cap. (I imagined they’d have some diminishing returns mechanic on stats… Where past a certain point, it didn’t matter so much.)

The new level zones in the Xpacs shouldn’t be all 80+, they could just add a mix of low and high level zones(They should try to make them attractive also, unlike the mid-level zone atm :/), add personal story(continued) related to them. The only thing that will be needed is a proprer downscale, no need to increase level cap

I bought into this game because it had a level cap and a gear cap and once I hit those I could just get in with the game. You know, doing stuff I find fun.

Why people who knew this was the case left WOW To come here then whine about lack of end game ( especially when there is kitten loads to do) beggars belief.

What be beggars belief even more is that ANet are going back on what they sold me on because the bean counters think the whiners are potential long term customers who will be perfectly satisfied with the week long gear grind (if that) rather than whiney little fly by nights looking for some form of social standing to appease their lack of lives.

When the dust settles, the casuals will leave in greater numbers, and sadly ANet I will bet you that the money that goes with them will far outweigh he little that the grinders will bring in.

This was, allegedly, a casual game. Sold me on it. But if my exotics are NOT the last set I’ll need, then I am not sure I can be arsed. It was why I stopped WOW. There is no fun in gear grinding. It is a time sink for those with nothing better in their lives.

ANet, you were doing so well, but then those blokes in suits….. Well, surely the state of the global economy should be a clue as to whether you believe a man who justifies his orders with a pi-chart and a mocha docha locha latte with double dip espresso kitten chunks, and a winning smile.

Suits, piss off and let the Devs make the game they wanted to. If you do, you’ll have a long term income. If you don’t and you continue to pursue short term gain you’re going to end up canning this baby sooner rather than later because the income is just going to dry the kitten up.

Edit: wow, piss isn’t kittened. Can’t believe that slipped past the forum police. This place has tighter security than Ws kitten, normally.

Increasing the level cap has a lot of advantages. Its a reset. We will get our exotics and then have to get our ascended again. More progression but pretty mild in my opinion and fun. I hope the level goes up. I think it will too or else why did ANet make 80 levels in the first place? Because they like levelling thats why and they know the audience they are after does too. I know there are some people that can’t stand the idea of obsolescence but if skins are really enough then there isn’t obsolescence anyway, just fun things to do to get more stats. Skins are your permanence, stats progress.

Being a reset is the greatest disadvantage of increasing the level cap cause it basically is another gating mechanic. You have to do a lot of stuff until you reach new content while the old content gets obsolete. You don’t need it to have fun, all the story, quests and events don’t need new levels, they can be implemented without them.

I’m one of those who won’t buy an expansion pack if the level cap get’s increased, and I’m pretty sure there are quite a few that think like me. I don’t know if “we” are more than those who like a new level cap, but I doubt that we a few enough to be ignored. Hell, we played GW1 for over 7 years cause they never increased the level cap and it was almost perfect.
At the end of the day Arena Net has to find out whether keeping the level cap or increasing it would do less damage. It also depends on which audience they are after and if the really think they can battle games like WoW on their own ground or if they rather stay a healthy niche game instead.

Either way they will probably disappoint a lot of players which then must decided if they leave this game or not. Inevitably GW2 will lose players and the income from the gem store will go down, the only question is by which margin.

I wish the max level was 30

I’m not against increasing the level cap to 100 (that way, you can pump more points into traits, but it’s still not enough to max all the trait lines), but I think that equipment power should still be capped at 80.