Is there even a point to raising level caps?

[AuctionGirl]

This makes perfect sense... You just aren't comprehending it well... There will always be things to go, just not all @ the cap... Once "Casuals" do all the content, they usually are gone. So the reason to always keeping new content every 6 months it to keep the game fresh. Once you are "75" or "max rank" for 1+ years you learn your job, you are just repeating the same thing constantly, rarely does battle change other than maybe required classes to make that battle easier. With new rank, new content etc.. you get new abilities, new enemies, everything changes, and possibly what was good @75 is no longer good @80, which makes you adjust your game play and grow with the game. They can "Cap" these places as they grow so you cant go in higher than the Content allows, which keeps there 20 places to do, but always having to learn and strive for the next goal is what keeps people playing.

Expansions are what should increase the rank caps.. every 6 months new expansion, new rank cap, new abilities and possibly new jobs/classes.

[Sweetheart]

I say rais lvl cap, but slowly, add 10 more lvl's, add a lot of content for it, however make these 10 lvl's hard to achive it, so grinders will also be happy and lvl will mean something.

Like that, gear which we are getting now, will be still valuable for a while, new players will have time to catch up with ps3 release etc.

If they increase to 75, there will be to big gap between players, and probobly same issue will show up = lack of content. So again my vote is for lvl 60 in first expansion, and a lot of content for it first

[Misha]

Point is simple, new expansions and new content! Ability to raise your character to new strengths and heights! Who the heck wants to be stuck at roughly the same strength their whole class career? o.O Plus it's really nice beating old content with less numbers especially since less people will be on it or want to go through it again. The whole argument of raising caps is pointless, mostly just the whiners who want their uber gear to stay that way cause they think they are on top somehow cause of it lol I'd rather explore NEW faucets of my character I'm deeply invested into esp that of the same class/job

[Lerris]

Once you are "75" or "max rank" for 1+ years you learn your job, you are just repeating the same thing constantly, rarely does battle change other than maybe required classes to make that battle easier.

Under FFXI's levelling pace, players learned their jobs by the time they hit 75, or not at all.
That is, in my mind, the purpose of levelling from 1-75( or cap), is to learn to use all your abilities effectively, one ability at a time.

[Winterclaw]

I'm someone who believes that levels themselves are a problem in gaming, particularly RPGs just because they've become so predominate, and that raising the level cap doesn't really do anything useful.

One problem lies in the false belief that levels = challenge (or content) and that adding levels are needed for challenge or content. Another problem lies in the fact that levels are similar to gambling and gaining a level is like hitting a small jackpot. So just as people get addicted to gambling so too do they get addicted to getting one more level and hitting level cap stops them from getting their fix on that character.

[Jinko]

Wouldn't it be better if SE just kept us at R50 indefinitely and made all new content horizontal, instead of stratifying it vertically and making us grind even more?

Just look at FFXI. They keep raising the cap and at some point it just got out of hand.

I think a lot of games run into the issue of how to add content at end game without making it pointless. Eventually a gear grind seems a bit superfluous and pointless for players when they have upwards of 30 different level-appropriate gears to choose from (or at least it will seem so to players who don't appreciate stylistic options).

Developers inevitably realise that gear-grind isnt the answer, and end up just making players grind grind instead.

But this is 2011, shouldn't we be above all this by now?

Horizontal progression was one of FF11's short comings, it made pieces of new armour and weapon have only slightly different stats and made many piece situational.

As someone else said above vertical progression is a good way to encourage players to buy expansions, it also lets the developer add new skills and abilities.

From the looks of the Dats SE have had lvl 99 in mind from the very beginning of this game.

[Verecund]

Technically you can continue introducing new content as well as class abilities without requiring leveling, but it can restrict new player access to content severely in the long-run.

Say a fairly new player is looking in to an end-game linkshell 2 years down the road. Would that LS be more likely to take a player with mediocre gear from 1 or 2 tiers ago, or a new player that they have to drag through 8 tiers of content just to get up to speed?

[gifthorse]

Okay, so everyone who likes levelling indefinitely just likes to waste time, apparently. That's all I've gained from this discussion.

Give us meaningful things to do, let us progress with content, not through levels. This thread makes me sick, having to read your ideas of what "an MMO should be."

[gifthorse]

Another thing to realise is that we are the people who can put up with FFXIV in its current state. 30,000 of us out of the entire market share who will stand for this.

I just don't see why 50 ranks isn't enough grinding. An MMO shouldn't be just about levelling and progressing in stats or gear. It should be more than that, and quite frankly I'm appalled to hear ranking up is all the majority of people think an MMO is good for. You people need your OCD complexes checked, seriously.

[Vackashken]

This thread makes me sick, having to read your ideas of what "an MMO should be."

Perhaps the other thing you should pick up from this thread is no one cares about what you think. On anything. Ever. In any way at all. Maybe if you choke that down you'll be less ill.