Level Lock?
I naturally outlevel my casual friends just from more /played time. I'm trying my best to slow down on my Lore-Master in LOTRO, but even my attempt to shift to crafting results in a fair bit of exp while I farm Wargs for leather. I've even passed Nelgdorf and Nazrin by several levels.
Being able to play compelling content together with my friends has been an issue in almost every MMORPG I've played, either because of myself pulling ahead or someone else.
City of Heroes has several tools to get around the problem, including the Sidekick system (which I adore) and now the Leveling Pact (which divides exp between two players, even while one is logged out). CoH's advances have been embraced by EQ2's Mentoring and Final Fantasy XI's Level Sync, but other games haven't adopted the ideas.
There are three reasons why I assume level disparity between friends is accepted (and even preferred) in MMORPG design:
- As Pacing for storyline, leveling is a good game mechanic, but it may be so finely tuned that it just doesn't allow for adjustments like syncing.
- Leveling independently is often considered as a rite of passage to 'know your class'. In other words, it's pacing for character growth. Any perceived boost may be seen by the playerbase as unfair gains: This was an issue in Age of Conan, where many players balked at the mentoring system until it was nerfed past usefulness.
- Level disparity feeds The Vision, which dictates that you should find and group with new acquaintances while you level up so you'll have sticky in-game-only friends at Endgame to make it emotionally difficult to leave the game.
Simpler and more apt for my current situation:
I wish LOTRO had something akin to Vanguard's Reduced XP Gain spell. Basically, some way to lock my level and not gain any exp until my friends catch up. I think nearly every MMORPG could benefit from a Level Lock feature (The Vision be damned).
Imagine players who would like to experience the old pre-expansion raiding content by locking their levels at the old Endgame. Or roleplayers who don't wish to grow up past Hobbiton. Granted, most would probably still prefer to be competitive at the very top of the scale, but what a natural way for developers to stretch content further, via player choice.
And it would as easy as candy to implement too.
I've requested a Level Lock feature via a post on Turbine's suggestions forum. I hope they're listening. =)
Jan 23, 2009 2:03pm
Wow that's freaky... I prepped an article this morning on the exact same topic (I was saving it for a rainy day, and now include a link to this post when it goes live). I agree 100%!
Jan 23, 2009 10:36pm
I suppose one other factor to consider are Tiers, ala what Mythic has in WAR or even what WoW does for its instanced PvP. If players can lock their levels, you would likely see even more of them at the top part of a lower Tier, IE: level 19, 29, etc..
That would be a good thing in my estimation, because the problem with the people at those levels now is they're pressing an advantage, but the more of them maxed out in a Tier like that there are, the more it balances out to even ground.
Jan 24, 2009 11:20pm
I have always been a huge proponent of level locking. I think it's simply a feature that no mmorpg should be without. Being able to turn off your experience and enjoy a certain part of a game without being forced through it seems like a no-brainer to me.
I am, however, strongly against side-kicking and mentoring systems that bring up or bring down the levels of players. I believe that these systems bring with them many problems that are better left out of the equation.
Jan 26, 2009 8:51am
I suppose treadmill MMO's would actually love this, as it stretches out the 'mill. I like the thought as well, mostly for friends/family purposes. Not outleveling being able to play with them is never a bad idea.
However, I don't like just turning it off and on - wouldn't it be simple enough to just have a character NOT level until visiting a trainer? Still allow XP to accrue, etc, but until you visit your trainer you can lock yourself at whatever level you want. Once you hit that trainer you pop up the level (and if you gained enough XP, can retrain another level if you so see fit). Your personal XP gain would be tailored to whatever your "true" level is, (not the "activated") level, so you can still progress yet hang out where you want to. While grouping, groupmates will split the XP on "activated" levels, not "true".
I confused myself a bit there. You guys get it? =)
Didn't a game already do this? Gah, seems like so long ago..
Jan 26, 2009 9:30am
@Chris F: Yeah, that sounds like the right way to do it. Go to a trainer to toggle exp gain on / off, rather than have it as a function or spell (it feels odd as a spell in Vanguard, that's for sure).
I'm sure some of the MUDs have had something similar. Some even had the ability to 'bank' exp.
Jan 26, 2009 11:04am
This is an interesting idea. I didn't realize Vanguard had that, even though I own the game. I guess I've not played it enough to notice.
I think it's a good idea to have it accrue no matter what, even if you have a trainer apply it later (as Chris was saying). Otherwise, it seems like it could lead to a lot of people complaining about how they aren't finding enough quests to level up later on. People do that already as it is. lol
In general balancing this with my friends is always a battle. When we're all on, we all have our own mains that are all over the map... Going on to some random alt to play together when our main is doing something fun doesn't always seem desirable.
Jan 26, 2009 1:26pm
[...] suggestion, following up on a similar yet non-WAR related post from a couple of days ago over at NecroRogIcon, is this: Here’s a question: how many of you would bite for the [...]
Feb 12, 2009 10:31am
I think it's a good idea to have it accrue no matter what, even if you have a trainer apply it later (as Chris was saying). Otherwise, it seems like it could lead to a lot of people complaining about how they aren't finding enough quests to level up later on. People do that already as it is.