Personal opinion; the next expansions should only increase lvl cap to 99, then 100

I haven't beaten the MSQ for Endwalker yet, but I'm assuming that most of us will be happy to see the game get another expansion, or even a FEW, depending if it can keep feeling fresh.

I thought about it a while back, but I feel like the next theoretical expansion should only take us to lvl 99, a very traditional "max level" in JRPG's.

Moreover, however, the expansion FOLLOWING THAT should simply increase the level-cap to 100.

I suggest these, because both are nice, clean numbers. Any time you go "beyond level 100", things just start to feel ridiculous. And realistically, I think most of us would generally be happy at lvl 99, but instead treating that LAST level to hit 100 as something truly special.

Hell, maybe that second expansion introduced "lvl 99.1, lvl 99.2" and so on, just to keep the same "feeling"?

But hitting lvl 100 should be something truly momentous, and realistically, perhaps be the end of your journey.

Or at least, if further progression is STILL required, perhaps look at other avenues at THAT point. For example, perhaps you can "ascend" your jobs, such as Dark Knight evolving into a "Chaos Knight", Warriors becoming a "Barbarian", Black Mages becoming "Wizards", etc? It would be hard to see progressing any further than that, but at THIS point, we're talking like 8-10 years in the future -- WHO KNOWS what that will even be like!

Point is:

I think lvl 99 feels like a really good "stopping point" for an expansion, and similarly, I feel like "Level 100" deserves something even MORE spectacular, which I think justifies it as being a level-cap for another expansion. Assuming each expansion lasts roughly 2 years, going to 99, then 100, buys us like 6 years before needing some "alternative". And at that point, we may be sick of "level-increases" anyways!

While I understand the point you're getting at with the traditional "Level 99 JRPG" trope, the devs had said they have plenty of story content to continue adding. It did not sound like it would be just one or two more expansions. While this current story arc is finally finished, we're starting the next. There's no reason they couldn't keep it going for another 10 years.

That does introduce the odd quandary of leveling. There's a few different routes they could go. 10 more levels every expansion the way they've been going, with another eventual stat squish is one way. Prestige/Champion leveling sort of how ESO does it is another. They certainly have no limit of options.

I think it'll mostly depend on their future plan, how long they have content planned for, etc.

I agree. Bring on the lv99 era, and let further progression be via other systems and advancing item level.

yes bring back the marit system from ffxi and stop it at level 99 instend we start earning marrit points after archiving so much exp that we can spend to buy abilitys (let us have some god damn mother ...f..... customization on jobs...

like seriosely let summoner buy some black mage spells or black mages buying the old stone,aero water and bio and stuff... or idk let warriors spec into more dps related so they don't have to que as a tank

I figure we stop at 100 then next few after expansions cap level is just shown as a star

Would be cool if level cap was 99 like in other FF games but they can do whatever they want. It's their show.

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Originally Posted by kejakalope

I agree. Bring on the lv99 era, and let further progression be via other systems and advancing item level.

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Works for FFXI. ;)

I have no idea where we're going to go past 90, but I'm pretty sure we're starting to get to the breaking point in the number of buttons on each job. I love how most of the new stuff in Endwalker on the jobs I've messed with has come from traits rather than levels, and I really hope that keeps up.

Levels are probably the "easiest" way for them to add new zones and content, but I hope they've at least experimented with alternate advancement systems-- though that's probably what Bozja and Eureka are.

Leveling further has to eventually stop. Literally the entirety of FFXIV can be locked behind MSQ rather then a level cap.

Only thing that would require bars are group content that uses ilvl to make sure people dont get 1 shot and actually do damage.

Would have preferred to not need more levels...

I assume once we hit the expansion AFTER level 100 they will just do like what they did with numbers and scale us down. Maybe 1-20 is ARR and so on.

What else is there?

Maybe level 120? FF15 has a level cap of 120 xD

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Originally Posted by FusiaRain

yes bring back the marit system from ffxi and stop it at level 99 instend we start earning marrit points after archiving so much exp that we can spend to buy abilitys (let us have some god damn mother ...f..... customization on jobs...

like seriosely let summoner buy some black mage spells or black mages buying the old stone,aero water and bio and stuff... or idk let warriors spec into more dps related so they don't have to que as a tank

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I can all but guarantee you they will never do this. Not only have they said as much before but it simply doesn't work because there will always be a correct "choice". Say they introduce three new abilities for Dragoon but you can only purchase one. People will determine which is the best within a day or two and you're simply wrong for not picking that ability. WoW has entire Specs people will not bring because they're simply inferior to their counterpart. Which is one of the main reasons Yoshida has repeatedly cited they would rather make whole new jobs than have Specs or ability customization. And he isn't wrong in his assessment. Getting the "right" ability would absolutely be mandatory for endgame content regardless of your preference.

FF14 has a problem with higher stat. Look at how they decide to squish stat from ShB to EW cuz of some threat bugs happened if boss HP is more than certain value. Let's say they continue to increase level for like 3 more expansions and players reach the pre-EW stat threshold again. What's next? Another stat squish?



So yeah, some may disagree, but put a stop on vertical leveling altogether will potentially avoid another stat squish. Personally, I prefer lv100 instead of lv99. While lv99 are pretty much the traditional, I like lv100 cuz it looks nicer because the start of a three-digit looks like the proper end of two-digit leveling progress.


Assuming SE knows how to deal with stat squish sufficiently enough that it is no longer problem, however, I prefer keep leveling up. Why? Cuz I like breeze through older contents to grind glam and stuffs, where I hoard them all, and the higher level I have, the less painful the older contents become. Stopping leveling at lv99/100 means I will have to rely on grouping to do lv90+ dungeons, and fight for loot with other party members.


Also a problem with Blue Mage: they will forever stuck at lv90 contents, or can reach lv99/100 and cannot do the latest contents until SE decides to move on. If everyone can only be at lv99/100, BLU is the King in whatever content they can access to.

I'd be fine with some kind of Prestige system.

I agree, at SOME point, it kind of makes sense to just "stop leveling", at least in the traditional sense. There are all kinds of worthy alternatives -- some already mentioned, a "Prestige" system of some kind might not even be the worst idea -- but for me personally, the moment you go beyond lvl 100 -- the SECOND you hit "level 101" -- it just feels kind of ridiculous.

That's why I feel like the max level should either be lvl 99 or lvl 100, in the traditional sense. As much as I support "stat-squishes", I DO NOT like the "level-squish", which a certain other MMO did last year, and it really undermined the feeling of progression. Suddenly, "I'm having to achieve the same level that I did nearly twenty years ago".

Like I said, BY ALL MEANS continue allowing progression after lvl 100, but I wouldn't have it as actually leveling to 110 or beyond. At that point, it just seems silly, I think.

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Originally Posted by kejakalope

I agree. Bring on the lv99 era, and let further progression be via other systems and advancing item level.

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Good luck. This dev team develops things way too vanilla to attempt anything like that.

Personally, I'd like to see a level reset of sorts next expac. Like how we get a level reset in eureka/bozja. We still keep our character and all its stuff but level again.
I would imagine that this would play out as us teleporting somewhere but not being able to actually bring our full body. While in that area we need to level again but when we TP back to eorzea we're back to our eorzea lvl 90 character. That way new players can just start fresh in the new ark and new zone and don't need to go through 300+ hours of story to play with friends (because that's unsustainable and promotes skipping).

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Originally Posted by FusiaRain

yes bring back the marit system from ffxi and stop it at level 99 instend we start earning marrit points after archiving so much exp that we can spend to buy abilitys (let us have some god damn mother ...f..... customization on jobs...

like seriosely let summoner buy some black mage spells or black mages buying the old stone,aero water and bio and stuff... or idk let warriors spec into more dps related so they don't have to que as a tank

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We both know this will never happen in ff14 because they want balance unlike the mess that is ff11. Best you can ask for is cosmetic changes or upgrades. If even that.

I would like subsequent expansions to be nonlinear, so that you could eventually pick up 7.0, 8.0 or 9.0 immediately after finishing EW at level 90, in whatever order you wanted.
All would feature their own parallel MSQ from lvl 91-99, with a different icon. We have the red meteor logo for ARR-EW, then different logos for 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0