Character Levels in SotA

Hello Everyone
What is the general consensus on character levels in SotA?
I'd appreciate it if any voters would post their arguments for or against leveling below.
(To further clarify, this poll is about character / player levels. This poll is not about 'any form of progression')

 

Levels. I do not like what this word entails.

1) levels always needs to have a cap therefore it feels like there is an ending
2) Levels usually mean one person is far to high above another or too low and they can no longer play together, huge turn off and barrier between new and old
3) advancement can be done by experience but much like in "ultima online" yet slightly different. Instead of going to your used item gain, it goes to your skill point.
I could even go with the skill going into the item being used - granted this is still a grind yet it allows for new players to mingle with older ones.

Levels, tends to bring out the thought of grinding to raise said level to "elite" level. I understand skill levels, I understand a need to "earn" those. I just am unfavorable to "player" levels.

 

I guess there has to be some kind of 'leveling' to obtain points for skills trees etc. I have no problem with it.

 

Small Suggestion: For spells such as Summon Witch or Summon Fire Elemental, you could implement interesting and fun quests to learn these high end summons.

 

To further clarify, player / character levels is what I oppose, I'm not saying that I'm against 'any form of progression'

 

Let me maybe correct what i said - I UNDERSTAND need for skill levels... i do not want to see them in number form on any character nor represented in anyway.. if there has to be levels... then hide them. Please.

 

My guess is that the only real thing associated with 'levels' will be the number of skill points available.....a level would just be a milestone at which stage you get another point in progression.

 

Completely agree.

 

I'm not against that at all. When you target someone you don't see a level "42" in their portrait. It makes you think twice before attacking someone and you can't just walk by someone and just attack them ruthlessly because you are 20 levels higher.

 

I think progression should be translated to 'increased variety of choices', not a full scaling of my character toward god-hood.

So in essence, no character leveling in the WoW sense of the term.

This game should feel like 'end-game' out the gate. Everyone always says the game isn't fun during leveling, because that's just a grind, but 'end-game' is where it's at. In response, I say: 'if the fun starts at end-game, then lets start the game there, and allow people to have fun with the open world and progress by gaining more and more variety and options, not a accumulation of total power.

great question, I know SotA has some form of leveling. I just hope it's hidden, and that it's as Luxuria said, a series of milestones representing the accumulation of skills.

 

I'm already level 3. BOW BEFORE ME!

I mean: for a few points of reference...

Dev hangouts have talked about levels for months and there are a few things that have been brought up in regards to the power gained:
First, Avatars are supposed to be realistic in their superior power to non Avatars...
Second, As you progress you're not going to be becoming a demigod... more like a gladiator or an olympian.
Third, the conceptual design right now is that a level ?30? can still compete with a level ?50?

so leveling is just like a skill progression... a slight increase not an easy mode "kill the new players" system.

Dev hangouts have talked about levels for months... which means the system is also likely built around that idea. How would you solve the following problem without levels?
What happens when that bar gets to the end and you get another skill point?
Right now level 5 = X skill points. And level 10 = X skill points. I think it's that simple for the most part.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE:
The addition of a system that hides what your level is and your name from others. You could be known as the "Stranger" until you tell the NPCs and/or the players your name (like the NPCs do currently). The level would be unknown (and never shown) unless someone asks.

 

If Avatars are by and large more powerful than non-avatars, are they going to use a different character-model to represent this? Maybe all New Britannians should look smaller, fatter, and walk/run slower? We'd be on average 1-2 hands taller than them, and they'd look up to us (literally) making them naturally jealous..

Sorry, was that off topic?

Hmm, I would rather skills improve specifically as you use the skills within the same skill-tree. So rather than an over-all character level, you have separate tree progressions that improve based purely on use and in-game training & quests.

I love the idea of seeing a label like 'stranger' above player's heads until you've met.. (could use 'warrior, or crafter, or villager, depending on what they are holding in their hands) (engaging in combat with them should update the label to their actual name, as well as any other personal interaction like this.) Maybe there could be a 'moon-tree' skill that can be used to give a 'chance' to keep your true name hidden during an 'interaction'. :-D

Definitely agree on not showing the 'level' - especially since i'm a proponent on no global leveling, but only individual skill-tree based accumulation.

 

I see this conversation progressing and find interest in where it ends. I agree with progressing being visible.

 

As an alt trying to skew the poll results, I bite my thumb at thee!

 

LOL

 

To be honest I am not worried if there are levels or not. The only two things that matter to me are how fun it is to "progress/level" and the difference in power between the levels.

Both of these have been addressed by the Dev's and I trust them to implement what they have said.

I am also agreeing with not showing levels.

 

Do you believe names should be hidden or publicly displayed?
Vote here https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/should-names-be-publicly-displayed.15285/

 

My two cents.

I would MUCH rather get skill points individually for each skill I pick than to level a character overall. "Getting to 50" implies one has mastered the character so handing that 50 the top level of abilities is boring. Working up each skill individually, in any combination we choose, no matter how effective or ineffective that makes us at some tasks is a much better idea. It is very likely that our playstyles will be different and so our skill "mix" being tailored to our individual playstyles is a much more interesting idea to me than simply level grinding.

 

I personally believe that if levels MUST exist, that leveling should only provide you more skill points to use. Levels shouldn't increase any base stats like health or focus. This provides an interesting progression to unlock new and intriguing combinations while also not 'forcing you to grind' as you could play the game similarly to a 'capped character' but with fewer glyphs to choose from.

 

I think we need an item that's in the form of a monocle called a scouter and we can look at our enemies and tell their power level via a numerical read out on the eye piece. All jokes aside I've always really loved the system for leveling skills in uo but also the system in phantasy star online 2 is amazing it's a but similar to SotA with trees and such but you have to find skill disks to unlock skills instead of just having them unlocked on the tree. I'm looking forward to seeing how things pan out for release 11.