Why Raise the Level Cap Again?

[Raansu]

This information is factually incorrect. When FFXI was released in Spring of 2002 in Japan it had a level 30 level cap. This was raised to a level 40 level cap upon release of the Japanese PC version that same Winter. In Fall of 2003 for the NA PC launch the level cap was increased to level 50 and introduced the level 40-50 Artifact gear quest lines. In Spring of 2004 for the NA PS2 release of the game, our game included Rise of the Zilart which for the NA PC and JP PC/PS2 players was the first add on expansion that had to be purchased separately. This expansion in 2004 increased the level cap to level 75 and introduced end game content that would then grow horizontally through Wings of the Goddess.

 

Wrong...Holy **** are you incredibly wrong.

 

The level cap was 50 for the JP release in 2002. It was released in NA in 2003 on the PC which included rise of zilart which raised the cap to 75 and introduced the Tu'Lia endgame area (also called sky) with god fights leading up to killing kirin. It stayed at 75 for almost 8 years. Abyssea came out and raised the cap every few months with each chapter of abyssea eventually reaching 99 which pretty much killed the game. I never bothered leveling up and immediately quit the game when I saw there was nothing to do since being level 80 equaled destroying all the content in the game and at 99 I was seeing people soloing the god fights...

 

The expansion in 2004 was chains of promathia which had certain chapters locked to a certain level and de leveled you to that level when you entered them. You also had to clear these chapters to enter the Al'Taieu area (also called sea) for the progression into that end game.

 

I played FFXI from the JP launch until about 2010 so I'm fully aware of what the actual level caps were. It seems to me you are confusing the genkai's (limit break) quests with the actual level cap. Genakai quests were introduced in RoZ which you had to complete at level 50 to be able to level past level 50(because that was the original cap) and it had to be done every 5 levels.

 

As for the population of FFXI. It started to drop because the game was getting old and the genre was moving away from that EQ style of game play with heavy grinding and low drop rates on end game thanks to WoW....

[Dawginole]

Wrong...Holy **** are you incredibly wrong.

 

The level cap was 50 for the JP release in 2002. It was released in NA in 2003 on the PC which included rise of zilart which raised the cap to 75 and introduced the Tu'Lia endgame area (also called sky) with god fights leading up to killing kirin. It stayed at 75 for almost 8 years. Abyssea came out and raised the cap every few months with each chapter of abyssea eventually reaching 99 which pretty much killed the game. I never bothered leveling up and immediately quit the game when I saw there was nothing to do since being level 80 equaled destroying all the content in the game and at 99 I was seeing people soloing the god fights...

 

The expansion in 2004 was chains of promathia which had certain chapters locked to a certain level and de leveled you to that level when you entered them. You also had to clear these chapters to enter the Al'Taieu area (also called sea) for the progression into that end game.

 

I played FFXI from the JP launch until about 2010 so I'm fully aware of what the actual level caps were. It seems to me you are confusing the genkai's (limit break) quests with the actual level cap. Genakai quests were introduced in RoZ which you had to complete at level 50 to be able to level past level 50(because that was the original cap) and it had to be done every 5 levels.

 

As for the population of FFXI. It started to drop because the game was getting old and the genre was moving away from that EQ style of game play with heavy grinding and low drop rates on end game thanks to WoW....

 

I played from PC game launch until 2009 and I recall things differently. We can agree to disagree on the level cap increases. But I believe we are both in tune on the fact that this game needs a much broader in depth end game.

[Dawginole]

Hell yeah! Let`s bring back Korean MMORPG`s where max level takes you 6 months @ 14 hours per day! Oh.. top gear has only 60% success rate on recipes only! Mats drop at 5% chance from one mob only! We ain`t hardcore enough yo!

 

No where did I request anything that you have posted. I've asked for a legitimate level increase with a more robust end game than just ops and HM fps. A level cap increase does not imply that it needs to be grind heavy.

 

What we are looking at now is a 5lvl cap increase every 1.5yrs that will then cause a year of instability while devs concentrate on balancing rather than improving end game. That's stupid. All I'm saying is that if you're going to increase the cap then do it right.

[Elfa]

Players want to feel that their characters advance.

 

One way to do that is level cap increase.

 

Another way to do that is to buff via gear.

 

Either way you do it, you wind up with the same problem - players become overpowered for older content. You solve that by continuously creating new content.

 

Best answer in this whole thread, thank you DarthTHC.

[Taramayne]

I'm wondering where the specific mention of a level cap increase from the devs is. i haven't seen anything specific myself, only hints about a "makeb-level" expansion with no details beyond that.

[Styxx]

No where did I request anything that you have posted. I've asked for a legitimate level increase with a more robust end game than just ops and HM fps. A level cap increase does not imply that it needs to be grind heavy.

 

What we are looking at now is a 5lvl cap increase every 1.5yrs that will then cause a year of instability while devs concentrate on balancing rather than improving end game. That's stupid. All I'm saying is that if you're going to increase the cap then do it right.

 

The idea itself is flawed. Previous to level cap increase, we had about 4 worthy HM FP`s and about 3 ops. After, we have NO HM FP`s (since people run the 16m ops) and about 3 worthy ops.

 

So, the ONLY real gain is yet another armor tier, which could have been introduced anyway. SO, instead of having 6 Ops and about 10 HM FPs that people would play, we are actually down in content - worthy content, that is.

[NoFishing]

I'm wondering where the specific mention of a level cap increase from the devs is. i haven't seen anything specific myself, only hints about a "makeb-level" expansion with no details beyond that.

 

It was suspected by the "makeb-level" expansion, and confirmed at the last cantina event:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7306322&postcount=1

Edited April 4, 2014 by NoFishing

[arunav]

The idea itself is flawed. Previous to level cap increase, we had about 4 worthy HM FP`s and about 3 ops. After, we have NO HM FP`s (since people run the 16m ops) and about 3 worthy ops.

 

So, the ONLY real gain is yet another armor tier, which could have been introduced anyway. SO, instead of having 6 Ops and about 10 HM FPs that people would play, we are actually down in content - worthy content, that is.

 

This is exactly what I mean.

 

Also, you have to throw quality into the mix for the HM FPs. BW doesn't have the funding to make ones as good as they did originally.

 

So we'll probably see the last two not made into HMs yet (Red Reaper, War Games), and all the upcoming, crappier FPs, ones with only 3 bosses. 2.7's don't even have new environments, just using starter worlds again.

 

If we were still at 50, since there was no reason to increase to 55 except to sell a $10 expansion that was supposed to be free before, there would be more than a dozen HM FPs, most of which would be good. Now, nobody does the 50 ones anymore, especially with the introduction of Kuat.

 

Quality of Ops has not dropped, but with each of these level cap increases, the number available goes down again. We're up to 4 people do regularly now, and they will likely no longer be worth doing at 60, in any enjoyable way. Unless you like the Classic Ops weekly. If so, you'll LOVE level 60.

 

EDIT: I sincerely hope to eat my shoes and have BW surprise us with good new FPs, and perhaps updating some older ones to NiM level for lvl 60. But with their current staff and resources, I just don't see it happening.

Edited April 4, 2014 by arunav

[kirorx]

The idea itself is flawed. Previous to level cap increase, we had about 4 worthy HM FP`s and about 3 ops. After, we have NO HM FP`s (since people run the 16m ops) and about 3 worthy ops.

 

So, the ONLY real gain is yet another armor tier, which could have been introduced anyway. SO, instead of having 6 Ops and about 10 HM FPs that people would play, we are actually down in content - worthy content, that is.

 

Feel the same way.

Unless the bump up dailies areas and old ops, we just end up with less content.

 

I hated losing cotent from 50 - 55. We had so many flashpoints and the just like that we had only 4 and they were just rehashed... Eventually a coupe were added but not enough and not good ones. The same for ops we had three then we had two, now we have 4.

 

A level cap is ok if.......they bring us enough new level appropriate stuff to go with it

Yet all I have seen on the road map for the year is NIM DP and DF

 

Let's not even talk about how PvPers just have to regrind gear all over again and have to level up yet again, those dudes just want to pvp and not have to regrind ranked gear again...I know, I have done it lol