Suggestion: Option to turn off experience gain

[Cubanito-]

Once you're about 6 levels above a mob, it stops giving you xp. So the system is ALREADY IN PLACE.

 

So you're a completionist and would like to get purposeful loot?

Well, guess what? You have only 12 gearslots, so you'll be getting doubles anyway. not much purpose to those..

You can now use planetary comms to buy mods for any level. So even the one or two items you don't get twice are probably worse than what you got for those planet comms already. The only thing that will still give you experience is the exploration bonus. And that won't be much as long as you stick to the vicinity of where your missions are, instead of moving ahead and explore the next planet before going back and finish your missions.

Many people actually use alll those experience bonusses, but the effect of those is actually very limited. At best, if they play smart, it allows them to skip some sidequests, but if they're going for completionist runs, they might as well not take those bonusses.

 

There is only 1 thing in game where you always get loads of experience, no matter your level, and that is PvP warzones. That is also the only reason why some people will want to "fix" their level for game technical reasons: to stay at the top of their level bracket. Gladly, the bolster system puts some limitations to how far ahead people can perform there, but there's definitely a gametechnical advantage there, to stay at the top of your bracket with perfect gear and all those skills and CC's that the other players don't have yet because they're 10 levels lower.

 

So if Bioware ever submits and introduces an option to halt experience gains, I sure hope they throw all those experience breakers into a seperate bracket for warzones. Leave the rofl-stomping to level cappers, we simply don't need those in leveling warzones.

 

What aren't you getting? When you do all the content in a planet and an occasional FP, you quickly outlevel content and it gets too easy. Some of us want to complete all the content and still get a challenge. The system you mention where XP gain stops for grays does not help that at all.

 

And obviously you can purposefully gimp yourself numerous ways, like not gearing, not using comps etc. But one of the the fun parts of the game for most PVE'rs is the feeling of continous improvement (gear, levels, etc) and still have a challenge when we play. What I'm suggesting is a way to keep that feeling of progression AND be able to balance to each player's style. Power-levelers can use the XP boosts while completionists can use the XP slowdowns. Everyone wins.

 

And your asertion that only PVP'rs want to reduce XP gain is ridiculus. There are numerous posts here, not to mention my own gaming group, that want to reduce our XP gain for PVE reasons and not PVP reasons. I don't see why you find that so hard to believe.

 

As for the potential twinking in PVP, that is why I suggested XP decrease packs via the Cartel instead of an option for a complete XP halt as suggested by the OP.

[Diamaht]

What aren't you getting? When you do all the content in a planet and an occasional FP, you quickly outlevel content and it gets too easy. Some of us want to complete all the content and still get a challenge. The system you mention where XP gain stops for grays does not help that at all.

 

And obviously you can purposefully gimp yourself numerous ways, like not gearing, not using comps etc. But one of the the fun parts of the game for most PVE'rs is the feeling of continous improvement (gear, levels, etc) and still have a challenge when we play. What I'm suggesting is a way to keep that feeling of progression AND be able to balance to each player's style. Power-levelers can use the XP boosts while completionists can use the XP slowdowns. Everyone wins.

 

And your asertion that only PVP'rs want to reduce XP gain is ridiculus. There are numerous posts here, not to mention my own gaming group, that want to reduce our XP gain for PVE reasons and not PVP reasons. I don't see why you find that so hard to believe.

 

As for the potential twinking in PVP, that is why I suggested XP decrease packs via the Cartel instead of an option for a complete XP halt as suggested by the OP.

 

To add the this: Even with grey'd out mobs, doing space missions and wz's still continues to advance your xp. So if you are someone who likes to do a lot of both then you will advance your character to a point where every planet is grey'd out the moment you arrive. Just not a fun leveling experience, and you just end up skipping a lot of the content on later planets because it's just too easy and boring.

 

As an example: My current character, a Jedi Guardian, is now on Coruscant. I've done only quest content, including heroics and bonuses. He is now approaching level 17 and I just started Justicar territory. That's only half way through the planet! I'm now two to three levels ahead of the mobs I'm fighting. If I had included wz's in the equation I would easily be lvl 19 by now.

 

I like the lvl 40 pvp vendor gear for Guardians, so eventually I will have to do just enough wz's to earn the tokens for that gear set and then stop. Even then, afterword I will probably have to play most of a planet that is all grey'd out to get things back in the green. However, because I'm already so far ahead at the point, I will quickly grey out on every planet I go to just by doing the first few quests.

 

Just not a fun or challenging way to play the game, and a real hindrance for those who would like to explore everything with a character as they level.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Diamaht

[warmurk]

I am absolutely dumbfounded as to how a game would be designed with such a great interactive storyline that you quickly outlevel the quests/zones/rewards and no way to disable exp gain? It is absolutely flawwed, bigtime!

 

Of all the games I have played over the years, I think this is the only one without that option to disable exp and has to be the one with the greatest need for it.

 

It will be something they will eventually implement somehow, I am sure. As usual, bugs/flaws get recognized and dealt with.

 

A slotted relic that disabled exp would work nicely and maybe have a restriction to pvp while slotted would be a solution.

[DameonLG]

Grave bump, but still something I really want, especially with all these constant double EXP weekends.

[anonnn]

Wouldn't it be magical if there was a trade-off slider setting to adjust back-and-forth between +XP and +Credits? So if you wanted only 50% +XP from completing missions, you'd get a certain amount of credits to make up for it? Or for people who were stacked with credits already and didn't care about earning a few more credits each mission, could level all the much faster with a bonus +XP increase?

 

I think every time you log in though, it would need to alert you if the setting is not still at the default setting of 100% XP / 100% Credits, so you have a guaranteed reminder and a chance to re-adjust it if you didn't remember you changed it.

 

I'm quite certain a ton of people would use a feature like this, most often in the two extremes of 150%+ XP / 0% Credits ..... and 0% XP / 150%+ Credits !

[carpentergoat]

As many of you have pointed out, after about 6 lvls over u don't gain xp from turning in missions and that is true, however at a certain point you can no longer GET the missions in the first place if you are to far over leveled. For those of us interested in completing every mission in this amazing story that is simply not ok. Help us Bioware, your our only hope...

[carpentergoat]

After I posted this I discovered I was wrong, you can NOT get so far over leveled that you can no longer get low level missions. I apologize for speaking out of ignorance.

[anonnn]

Did anyone think to bring a level 55 guildie with them in group, but just forbid them from participating in combat? I'm not sure what % +XP reduction that would bring, but it's probably a severe drop.

[Rathgor]

/bump

 

I enjoy playing and enjoy the challenge, give the option for the rest of us.

[JamieKirby]

Well, unlike wow, this game isn't exactly kind to level differences, if you are even 1 level too low, you get utterly butchered by a boss, even a class boss, so i am glad i tend to over level questing areas, once bioware balance out the punishing questing experience is the day a 'turn off xp gain' option is acceptable.

 

When it comes to flashpoints, i personally tend to avoid them until endgame, because players pre-endgame tend to pressure me and try to force me to skip the conversations, which is the only reason i am playing this game.....story and 90% of them don't care if i have seen it or not, as long as it gets skipped, they don't give a damn.

[CrazyMcGee]

I would actually appreciate this because I am trying to get my achievements for the Lvl 47 to 50 SM flashpoints (D7, BoI, FE, KUS and LI).

 

I have to do them all 25 times, but once you hit lvl 55, you can't queue for them and we all know how well it goes LFG in fleet.

 

I have 7 toons I am running through, but with the speed of XP gains, 47 to 54 isn't long enough to successfully do these FPs 125 times

[Yuppy]

Would love to have this option! Would be really great to finish the quests on each planet, instead of every other planet.

[iankalo]

I suggest this before, because I find the low level WZs funnier than end-game 55 lvl. So, I found a way If you dont want to gain XP and level up , you should exit the WZ right before it ends. You still gain kills, but not sure about medals and wins. If you playing for killing lvl 10-29 weak skillless new players, thats the way to do it

[Elly_Dawn]

i support this, i hate that i out-level my ability to finance my gear & skills so easily...

[SladerExodus]

a mega bump please!

[Essence_of_Light]

I'm one of those people with that attitude of "Can never have enough experience", but I totally understand where you all come from so I wouldn't mine an option to turn off XP.

 

/signed

[anonnn]

I just thought of something relevant that maybe illuminates the problem for a lot of people. Now there are obviously going to be plenty of people who dislike the viewpoint - nevertheless, here it is.

 

You never help lower-level people with their lower-level missions, just for the sake of being helpful. The monies you would earn from loots and slightly under-level dailies/weeklies would probably make up the difference for your skill training as you level. The trend I think is that people level absolutely as quickly as possible, neglecting every facet of the game other than +XP generation, and as a result the cumulative credit rewards that go with the huge +XP gains are proportionately smaller. Not only that, people's activities in the game are not very well-rounded - in other words, they probably don't stop leveling long enough to go harvest extra resources to RE some goods to craft and sell on the GTN for a few extra monies.

 

If you ask me the game sounds perfectly balanced. If you seek out the narrow margin of fastest way to level to 50/55, then you should kind of expect to be low on funds along the way.

[Vicrodhe]

Rather than having a turn exp off a Rift mentor system would be better in my opinion.

[anonnn]

Rather than having a turn exp off a Rift mentor system would be better in my opinion.

 

Have never played Rift, can you describe what you're talking about?

[SladerExodus]

The game isn't about getting to level 50 fast for me, I love the story, I love the questing, and I hate how fast you level, if I did all the content on each planet, did the flashpoints and pvp'd some I would out level the planet by maybe 6+ levels! it makes it no fun.

 

I know something is wrong with me for not wanting to get to 50 as fast as possible, but for me the fun is in the journey. And a 'story' driven mmo like this, should have an option to turn off xp.

[Vicrodhe]

Have never played Rift, can you describe what you're talking about?

 

You are able to select what level you want and play either zones or instances at that level why still gaining exp for your normal level. You can queue for instances using the mentoring ability and do lower dungeons to help people if you wish. Mentoring does not work for pvp.

 

Mentoring allows you to easily scale down to a level lower than your own while earning XP and rewards comparable to your natural level – whether you’re playing with friends or jumping into the action alone you can continue advancing your character anywhere.

 

Movin’ On Down – How To Use The Mentoring System

Coming to the aid of the less seasoned ascended couldn’t be easier!

 

Right click your portrait

Select “Set Ascended Mentor Level” from the options

Use the slider or manually enter your desired level, the only restriction is that you cannot mentor down to a level less than 5 levels from your own (i.e. 45 is the maximum Mentored level you can set for a Level 50 character.)

It’s adventure time!

Alternatively, if you’re grouped with a player 5 levels or more below you all you need to do is right click their portrait and match their level – it couldn’t be easier! Or could it? If Instant Adventure is your game any random adventure group you join will automagically Mentor you down to an appropriate level when needed!

 

Help Yourself By Helping Others – Earn XP & Rewards

Now that you know how easy Mentoring is you might be asking – what do I get out of it?

 

Besides a new way to enjoy all the content you might have missed while leveling you’ll earn rewards and XP your character can use!

 

Quests, Rift Content, and Mobs all give you XP comparable (but slightly less) to what you would earn at your natural level. This means you’ll keep earning levels or Planar Attunement even when you’re mentoring!

Zone Events reward Sourcetone equivalent to your natural level. (i.e. if you’re naturally Level 50, even if you’re Mentored down to level 10 you’ll still earn Inscribed Sourcestone from events.)

Mentoring even gives an XP bonus when grouped with lower level players!

How Does It Work?

Magic – of course! But in reality we’ve worked hard to create a system that accurately scales down all of your character’s abilities, gear, and stats – this includes pets too!

 

You might find that you’re still a very powerful Ascended, but don’t forget that when Mentoring you are weaker than normal – that said, have fun finding or creating all new challenges for you and your friends.

 

We designed Mentoring to be as easy and pain-free as possible, just set your level and course for adventure. You only need worry about the important things, like stopping the Blood Storm’s assault upon Telara – have fun!

 

I also think EQ2 has a similar system if not the same.

[jaytdasme]

Personally I really love how we can level fast. I actually wish we were able to level even faster.

 

But I am biased because I do not want to go through the story, I just want to get to 50.

 

*Edit* Anyone else notice that since today when you use the single apostrophe key you get the quote symbol once the post is sent. Very frustrating for someone that uses the '' key a lot.

 

^^ second

[SladerExodus]

I am glad people have an option to get to 50 as fast as possible, but as I said... for me the fun is getting there, I love all the little story quests and class quests etc. But I like to have a challenge while playing, I like to not be so far ahead of the story quests in levels that the mobs start turning grey. What is the fun in that? so another bump!

[Themanthatisi]

Instead of double XP weekend, they should just send us Double XP bound boosts, that burn up like the 25% ones found in the CM and on GTN, but these would last 24hours, not 3.... How about 1 per toon.

 

This way,, people that dont want it dont use it, people that work weekends still get a chance to use double XP. To me, this would be a win win for both sides.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Themanthatisi

[anonnn]

Instead of double XP weekend, they should just send us Double XP bound boosts, that burn up like the 25% ones found in the CM and on GTN, but these would last 24hours, not 3.... How about 1 per toon.

 

This way,, people that dont want it dont use it, people that work weekends still get a chance to use double XP. To me, this would be a win win for both sides.

 

That sounds like a good idea... and what if that buff were a transitive buff? _ ...meaning that nearby group members would receive the buff as long as your buff is still active. Well maybe that's too much benefit... but for sure it would add a positive group dynamic so I think they should add that!