Guild Wars 2

I’d be willing to take bets about the level cap. I’m saying it will be raised with the first expansion. New gear and exotics included.

guild wars 1 went for almost a decade without raising the level cap.

beat that. lol.

GW1 went for 7.5 years without a gear treadmill, too.

but it only had a lvl 20 cap. different dynamic because of such a low cap. also, each expac had new professions and 1-20 zones. i’d be ok tho with no cap increase. so long as there’s a lot of content to justify it.

They’ve already confirmed that they are open to raising the level cap in a new expansion. What’s your point op?

That today, they basically indirectly turned “we’re not saying we won’t” into “we will do everything the way everyone else does it”.

phooka.4295:

That today, they basically indirectly turned “we’re not saying we won’t” into “we will do everything the way everyone else does it”.

I really wish people wouldn’t pull statements out of their backsides like this. You have no evidence that they’re doing anything of the kind.

Why do you think ANet made Guild Wars 2? I remember them saying that they wanted to improve progression in the game. That is why we have 80 levels and not 20 and they wanted to make a game which can be expanded more easily with e. higher lvls. So yea you should expect higher lvles in expansions.

Until it’s impossible to do all the content without the max level gear, this isn’t a gear treadmill.

phooka.4295:

GW1 went for 7.5 years without a gear treadmill, too.

No, it didn’t. ArenaNet released insignias in Nightfall. Practically the same thing.

Well Gw1 was max 20 until eye of the North came out then it went to 30. I am almost possitive we had a 30 cap. But the thing is why even bother to make a new level cap anyways, we already get autoadjusted based on zone. We do not need any more grindy content then we all ready have.

I don’t see why there wouldn’t be a level cap raising.

With downscaling, cannot make any problems with dungeons, WvW, etc… for example, in Twilight Arbor we are downscaled to level 55. If the level cap was raised to 100 for example, we would be downscaled to level 80 in Arah.

I’ve always loved leveling, tired of being forced to do rerolls to have a new leveling challenge. :P I wish a MMO could have like 1000 levels. A real nerds MMO.

drifter.8453:

Well Gw1 was max 20 until eye of the North came out then it went to 30. I am almost possitive we had a 30 cap. But the thing is why even bother to make a new level cap anyways, we already get autoadjusted based on zone. We do not need any more grindy content then we all ready have.

GW1 was always level 20 cap. There was never an increase to 30.

Each “Campaign” they released was stand alone. Like a new game with 1-20 content. The only real expansion they released was Eye of the North, and even then the cap was still 20. It was just content geared to level 20.

Turtlemilk.1064:

phooka.4295:

GW1 went for 7.5 years without a gear treadmill, too.

No, it didn’t. ArenaNet released insignias in Nightfall. Practically the same thing.

but you dont have to replace the whole of your previous set.

Turtlemilk.1064:

phooka.4295:

GW1 went for 7.5 years without a gear treadmill, too.

No, it didn’t. ArenaNet released insignias in Nightfall. Practically the same thing.

Not the same thing at all

From GW wiki:

“In the past all armor bonus prefixes were inherent. Prophecies armor art types had a specific inherent bonuses. For example, Warrior Templar armor was only available with Knight’s Insignia (and named Knight’s armor). Factions prefix bonuses were independent of armor art. Each art type was available with every inherent bonus for that profession. Nightfall armor introduced insignias. With the release of Nightfall, PvP armor also switched to using insignias. In the Thursday, May 24, 2007 update, all armor was adapted to Nightfall’s insignia system and as such made all bonus independent of armor skin.”

Edit: Also, these insignias can be purchased from any Rune Trader at market prices.

I would enjoy max lvl being 9001.

Raising the level cap somehow also requires raising the level of armors. And this means new exotics etc. =/

Turtlemilk.1064:

phooka.4295:

GW1 went for 7.5 years without a gear treadmill, too.

No, it didn’t. ArenaNet released insignias in Nightfall. Practically the same thing.

lol?
The insignia system just opened up the gear for better customization. It didn’t introduce any new stats or tiers.

Hopefully they increase the level cap and add 2-3 new item tiers (above Ascended/whatever is the current highest tier) for each patch. That model is very well tested and is what they outlined in their design manifesto and advertisements prior to the game’s release.

It’s possible they’ll raise the level cap, but if you’re taking bets, my money goes on no. Level in itself is relatively de-emphasised in GW2 and I don’t think that raising the level cap and adding new content (higher armour, harder dungeons etc) based on that new level would actually add anything to this game. I’d much rather see a GW1 style progression with new content at the existing max level, maybe new skills/weapon sets.

Hopefully they increase the level cap and add 2-3 new item tiers (above Ascended/whatever is the current highest tier) for each patch. That model is very well tested and is what they outlined in their design manifesto and advertisements prior to the game’s release.

Really? I got the exact opposite impression from the information around before release. Maybe I was just reading what I wanted to hear into it, but the manifesto said anything but that they would go with what was “well tested”.

Curuniel.4830:

It’s possible they’ll raise the level cap, but if you’re taking bets, my money goes on no. Level in itself is relatively de-emphasised in GW2 and I don’t think that raising the level cap and adding new content (higher armour, harder dungeons etc) based on that new level would actually add anything to this game. I’d much rather see a GW1 style progression with new content at the existing max level, maybe new skills/weapon sets.

Hopefully they increase the level cap and add 2-3 new item tiers (above Ascended/whatever is the current highest tier) for each patch. That model is very well tested and is what they outlined in their design manifesto and advertisements prior to the game’s release.

Really? I got the exact opposite impression from the information around before release. Maybe I was just reading what I wanted to hear into it, but the manifesto said anything but that they would go with what was “well tested”.

Sorry, forgot to add sarcasm tags. They indeed did not mention that in their manifesto (the opposite, actually, specifically saying no gear treadmill).

Haha, sorry, I tend to assume a literal reading of posts is most appropriate in the general discussion forum! Missed the sarcasm because I would not have been surprised to see someone saying that and really meaning it -_-

alcopaul.2156:

guild wars 1 went for almost a decade without raising the level cap.

beat that. lol.

If I remember correctly GW1 never raised the lvl cap.

I hope Theres no lvl increase at least until they add an actual expansion and not just live content.

This whole game may be based on gw1 lore, but i still love how it stays different and will continue to grow. Some games became stagnant due to lack of progression with the story.

You don’t need a gear treadmill to enjoy the story. If I recall correctly GW1 scaled you to level as well (since every non town area was instanced).

I bought 1 suit of armor, and only got a second one when the HoM was set up and rewards for GW2 were announced.

Trust me in this, if I ever need an excuse to not go back to WoW (and I don’t really it’s been 3 years) it will be those 10-15 levels I don’t want to grind in my worthless gear that was top of the line when I left.

Gads, I hope not. The last thing I wan’ is ta see Guild Wars turn inta one ah those games where all the new conten’ comes out for the Max Levelers an’ that’s it. The first game got it right: levels aren’ what matters, it’s content, an’ a whole new continent is allot better’n addin’ more levels ta cap out the old.

Instead what we need is more skills – best would be the type we gotta hunt down GW1 like – more weapons, and some new mechanics. (like a quick slot for items an’ a quick switch like we have on weapons, but for our skill bar. [even if we could only use that skill switch outta combat it would save tons ah time])

Level 80 is high enough. I wish this game stopped at level 50 tbh.

ChairGraveyard.2967:

Hopefully they increase the level cap and add 2-3 new item tiers (above Ascended/whatever is the current highest tier) for each patch. That model is very well tested and is what they outlined in their design manifesto and advertisements prior to the game’s release.

^^ This.

And they should also add mounts, cash shop legendaries (which should be at least 50% more powerful than exotics), change the skills so that you cannot cast while moving, and start charging a monthly fee.

Oh, and I would love to see kung fu pandas on GW2 as well.

They’ll raise it and add a new level of transmutation stone to the gem shop while making fine stones only work on 80 gear.

I wouldn’t mind the level cap being raised to allow people to gain more trait points (even at level 100 you still wouldn’t be able to max out every trait line), but with the gear remaining capped at level 80.

drifter.8453:

Well Gw1 was max 20 until eye of the North came out then it went to 30. I am almost possitive we had a 30 cap. But the thing is why even bother to make a new level cap anyways, we already get autoadjusted based on zone. We do not need any more grindy content then we all ready have.

No he’s half right… Nightfall’s Hard Mode update made all foes level above 20 with 30 being maximum and normal mode foes reaching a max of 24-26 (this was done to allow lv 20 character to pursue Survivor title track or get more skill points every 15,400 exp after 20). Players levels always remained at 20. Eye of the North theoretically could have had monsters up to lv 40 as some event npcs had a fictitious level of 43 or something (see the commando April Fools events in wiki or GW 1 wiki level).

If the introduction of Ascended armor is any indication they would have to increase lv cap for next expansion.

What is the point of raising the level cap in a game such as this? It would only take a day to get there. By the next couple of days after that, you would be exotic’d out again. Kind of see where I am going with this this? When you have a game that does not have progression, it is all about the content and keeping players busy. I am not even sure why they went all of the way to level 80 out of the gate.

ZaiTh.6378:

I am not even sure why they went all of the way to level 80 out of the gate.

I had a discussion with someone about this just earlier today! Let’s assume a level takes…. an hour of constant work to get, that’s 80 hours give or take. With the stat differences between a max level character in WvW and dungeons, it seems an awfully long time to play just in order to be effective. Quite a few people won’t even bother taking a sub-80 class and I know that I’ll be destroyed with almost zero chance of winning against an 80 in masterwork gear when playing on a lower level alt.

Why spend all that extra time on leveling when the cap could be much lower, or leveling time decreased? If the zones went up to say… level 40, it’s not like we’d be skipping all the content. I’ve gone back and completed zones for armour skins many times, the armour stats would be horrible for me at 80 but I just want the look.

This way you can jump into the game and be effective with not that much time at all, the way it is right now… it feels painful to level alts.

yoiu know i found out they said this at once interview at a con or something. so who knows who they even talked to.

with everything they said the game would have at launch for the last five years over and over again

are you really going to trust anything else they said would come true later on pre launch? or anything at all they say without seeing it first hand?

i mean 10 hours ago the head CM said there would be a blog post today about the whole ascended gear fiasco. and we’re still waiting on that? we’ll probably get some rude post about today PST TIME again like for halloween.

hedge your bets kids, the house is putting odds against anet following through on anything they say at this point.

In theory they could raise the level cap without raising the max gear levels and such.

This would mean they could make certain areas only accessible to people who have reached a certain level. Like a special content filter, as well as bragging rights, but without the gear climb.

I mean, I know that personally I wish I had more than a few skill points to track how many times I’ve hit 80.

Hell they could just give you a numerical level everytime and I would be happy. Even if it had no function! It would be like, oh yeah, I’ve been playing this long!

Although I think special, unrequired content that is only accessible say every 20 levels would be pretty awesome… technically it would still be level 80 in difficulty, but you’d have to play to gain access. This would also give a sense of progression without added difficulty.

Zaxares.5419:

I wouldn’t mind the level cap being raised to allow people to gain more trait points (even at level 100 you still wouldn’t be able to max out every trait line), but with the gear remaining capped at level 80.

Yeah, but this would be a major balancing nightmare IMO. An extra 20 traits points would let you max out 3 trees, which it’s currently not balanced for. There are a few classes that would become pretty OP due to synergies between top-tier traits from 3 lines.

So either they’d have to be levels without trait points (making it largely moot), or they’d have to add additional tiers to the trait lines (or additional lines). I could see that going either way (with respect to being a good thing or a disaster), but IMO they still have a few balancing issues — not to mention a giant pile of bugs — to fix with the existing traits/skills. Adding even more combinations on top of that doesn’t seem like the best idea right now.

Hate to break it to you guys, but it’s been said by ANet in the past that there WILL be level cap increases.

""Q: What of the level cap? Have you guys decided whether you’re going to be increasing the level cap in future expansions?

Colin: Yeah. The level cap will be 80 on the initial release of the game, and we absolutely would increase it further into the game, probably through expansions is the most likely place we would do that."

This was from a while ago though, and the link is dead, so I don’t know how true it is now.

There’s not really a reason to have a higher lvl cap right now unless you have another tier of skills or traits to go for since you can just get higher stats off gear anyway.