Is there even a point to raising level caps?

[Xatsh]

To comment on people hating leveling, that is what a mmo is and what an rpg is... if you hate leveling you simply dislike the genre as a whole.

A mmo should be an unbeatable game, something you can play for near a decade and not completely finish. If a player hardcore or not can actully beat a mmo (get everything possible) something is really wrong. This alone is why people raise level and such.. it add that much more life to the game.

But I think constant level increases is detrimental to the game as it does negate all the previous work the devs have done... wow is a great example of this with its say burning crusade raids, FFXI is as well with abysea and the increase to level 90 or what ever it is now destroyed 9 years of content. I want FFXIV to avoid this situation for as long as they possibly can.

I am all for horizontal growth of your classes. Meaning keep the level cap at 70-75 (what ever they want to raise it to), and allow people to get better gear with expansions which specialize their classes for certain things. Sorta of an elitest view I guess, but with this system the endgame at the first expansion in FFXIV will still have people doing it when expansion 4 is released. While expansion 4 is giving you the best nuking gear in the game for conj, expansion 1s curing body and headpiece are still the best.

FFXI had the most endgame out of any mmo, not because of the amount of content at expansions, but the fact all the endgame they released never got replaced.

[Magiksmurf]

But why even increase at all? What's the point?

Wow you must be new to MMO's to ask such a stupid question. MMO's is all about raising level to become stronger. Pretty much everyone who started playing (and didn't quit or took a huge break) since day 1 already have 1 class R50. Even really really casual players will have 3-4 class at max level eventually and not everyone like to play every jobs in a game.

You don't need to acquire the best gear to level up while always been cap level is just grinding for better gear. Urgh that last sentence is making me remember WoW gear grinding fest in raids and i dont like it. =/

I don't see in anyway a group of R50s killing a legendary boss like the Behemoth. It would make that mob look weak.
Go back to CoD and Halo troll...

[AuctionGirl]

I think every 6 months, we should see a rank cap increase of 5 ranks.. this gives SE 6 months to release new content for those 5 new ranks. This will keep the game fresh every 5 ranks, plus give people time to rank up all their classes every 5 ranks also.

The problem with XI, was that they STAYED at 75 for too long and made too much content for 75, which is why abyssea destroyed XI. If every 6 months they increased 5 levels, then there wouldn't have been 20 level 75 things to do, but 2 level 75, 2 level 80, 2 level 85, 2 level 90, 2 level 95, etc... this would keep the game more enjoyable through all the ranks. Also with the release of new classes, this gives everyone fun along the way.

MMO's are about growing as a character, and XI was good until 75, then its like you hit a brick wall, you either grind-ed merits and felt like you didn't grow much, or you started a new job until 75. How cool would a game be if you never HAD everything. That is what makes a good game, always something to strive for.

[Crowley]

Well it's a cheap tactic.

If people want to improve their character, fine, let us improve our characters through quests that teach us new abilities but don't let us improve by making us grind to a new endgame just because the developers decided they were too useless to make enough content to bide people over until the next batch of updates.

It's just lazy. You can separate new content into tiers if that's what needs to happen but you don't need to separate them by vast expanses of pure grind. The psychology of the gamers is obviously beyond my understanding if it's true that they need the reassurance of a new rank to give them a sense of progression.

Am I the only one disgusted?

And who says that endgame needs to revolve around gear/bosses and such? There are other ways to gauge one's progress in the game. If SE implemented more "sandbox" elements, for example, I'm sure endgame would sort itself out without their intervention.

I can't agree more. No one like the grind, it is purely a time-sink .. but there are far more enjoyable time-sinks!

Progression raids .. there can be easily three+. To reflect on my WoW experience:

Hyjal was entry level
Black Temple took months or even a year to master the encounters and pass the various "gear checks" along the way
Sunwell - gear-check and experience to the max!

All was done within one "level cap" and was not a grind but pure enjoyment ... hate to quote the game that sold out so badly ... but they had it right on so many levels (in the past)

[zaviermhigo]

Well theres moves in the dat files up to 99 people have looked up, and some of them have actual levels on it (fake/unknown ranks being rank 99 usually). This game seems like it was built to have a 75 cap, I mean XI's first cap was 50, and XIV looks so similar to XI's first year. No AH,boring jobs,level 50. Not excusing it though, if your first mmo's first year sucked, there is no excuse for the 2nd one, learn from your mistakes, which you guys obviously didn't.

[zaviermhigo]

I think every 6 months, we should see a rank cap increase of 5 ranks.. this gives SE 6 months to release new content for those 5 new ranks. This will keep the game fresh every 5 ranks, plus give people time to rank up all their classes every 5 ranks also.

The problem with XI, was that they STAYED at 75 for too long and made too much content for 75, which is why abyssea destroyed XI. If every 6 months they increased 5 levels, then there wouldn't have been 20 level 75 things to do, but 2 level 75, 2 level 80, 2 level 85, 2 level 90, 2 level 95, etc... this would keep the game more enjoyable through all the ranks. Also with the release of new classes, this gives everyone fun along the way.

MMO's are about growing as a character, and XI was good until 75, then its like you hit a brick wall, you either grind-ed merits and felt like you didn't grow much, or you started a new job until 75. How cool would a game be if you never HAD everything. That is what makes a good game, always something to strive for.

This minus his every 6 months idea. Xi ruined itself, and now they realized XIV isn't making money yet, so they have to prolong XI's lifespan by 2-3 years, and for you who think that game is dead you're mistaken, I can't bring myself to play it, its perverse, but its not dead and new people are even starting O_o. The 80 cap didn't even kill FF at first, it was the 2nd abyssea expansion, but for some reason it just cleared out the last remnants of old players, and new ones swarm in. Jeuno is all nubby new people with level 90s due to abyssea :/ If scaled correctly a level cap increase will not ruin a game.

[TessaJalloh]

yes, they should raise it, as they've already planned content to take advantage of it. Come on gift, don't troll us with such silly ideas. you know better.

This isn't endgame, this is midgame, and what we currently see as mid level NMs (the new ones we just got) will shortly become the Low level NMs.

[Reika]

They have to raise the level cap, or elso no one will ever be able to kill the headrip ogres or rainbow basilisks ; ;. When monsters get stronger, players have to have a way to get stronger too. They cant just add gear that give you 3000 more HP and call it a day. We need to work towards that by leveling up. And without a level cap increase, there will be no new skills or spells learned, and everyone will be the same for years.

[zaviermhigo]

I can't agree more. No one like the grind, it is purely a time-sink .. but there are far more enjoyable time-sinks!

and speak for yourself, I like a grind as long as the battle system is fun and I have some friends to talk to. FFXI was all about the grind, your whole first year was spent leveling, especially if pre-level sync. Not saying this is ideal, but you spoke in absolutes.

[Shiyo]

I think every 6 months, we should see a rank cap increase of 5 ranks.. this gives SE 6 months to release new content for those 5 new ranks. This will keep the game fresh every 5 ranks, plus give people time to rank up all their classes every 5 ranks also.

The problem with XI, was that they STAYED at 75 for too long and made too much content for 75, which is why abyssea destroyed XI. If every 6 months they increased 5 levels, then there wouldn't have been 20 level 75 things to do, but 2 level 75, 2 level 80, 2 level 85, 2 level 90, 2 level 95, etc... this would keep the game more enjoyable through all the ranks. Also with the release of new classes, this gives everyone fun along the way.

MMO's are about growing as a character, and XI was good until 75, then its like you hit a brick wall, you either grind-ed merits and felt like you didn't grow much, or you started a new job until 75. How cool would a game be if you never HAD everything. That is what makes a good game, always something to strive for.

This makes no sense at all, so instead of having 20 things to do you'd rather have 2? Why? How is having 20 things to do bad again? I don't get your argument at all.

I agree with Xatsh, I want the cap to slowly go up, then stay there for like 10 years. Having 20 things to do at end game > having a few things, then deleting those few things for a few more things every expansion.