Already max level, not nearly finished...

[Heijoushin]

So... I've been playing really slow, completing as many quests as I can. And now I find myself level 12. I'm not sure how much of the game is left (just reached Oldsong in Twin Elms for the first time) but it seems like there's a lot left to do! (the rest of the Endless Paths, random quests etc.)

 

Now, I have no problem that 12 is the max level. But it sucks to reach it so early. I think experience gain needs to be a little slower... 

 

Has anyone tried to go through the game without doing many extra quests? What level do you finish at?

 

No spoilers please!

[Starwars]

I definitely agree with this. It's very easy to reach the XP cap.

[dukefx]

Hint: you are near the end. There aren't many quests in Twin Elms, a few of them are done in a matter of seconds. The amount of XP you get is just right imo. You can do the last ~15% of the game at max level.

[Heijoushin]

Well, I do feel with tough at this level. The usual mobs are falling like wheat before my blade!

 

If I'm near the end then perhaps this is good.

[Luckmann]

Hint: you are near the end. There aren't many quests in Twin Elms, a few of them are done in a matter of seconds. The amount of XP you get is just right imo. You can do the last ~15% of the game at max level.

 

After having been promised two major cities during the Kickstarter, Twin Elms really was a let-down compared to Defiance Bay.

 

But that being said, there's no way the XP gain is right. You should have to do everything in the game and scrounge for experience to cap out at level 12 just by the end of the game, not hit it casually playing, well before the end. Additionally, you are almost always overleveled for the content you're facing past Act 1.

[Crucis]

 

Hint: you are near the end. There aren't many quests in Twin Elms, a few of them are done in a matter of seconds. The amount of XP you get is just right imo. You can do the last ~15% of the game at max level.

 

After having been promised two major cities during the Kickstarter, Twin Elms really was a let-down compared to Defiance Bay.

 

But that being said, there's no way the XP gain is right. You should have to do everything in the game and scrounge for experience to cap out at level 12 just by the end of the game, not hit it casually playing, well before the end. Additionally, you are almost always overleveled for the content you're facing past Act 1.

 

 

I'm not so sure about this.  I'm not sure that everyone playing this game is as anal as some of us here about doing absolutely every possible quest they can scrounge up before the end of the game.  So I'm not sure that designing the game to force players into playing this way is a good thing.

[Luckmann]

 

 

Hint: you are near the end. There aren't many quests in Twin Elms, a few of them are done in a matter of seconds. The amount of XP you get is just right imo. You can do the last ~15% of the game at max level.

 

After having been promised two major cities during the Kickstarter, Twin Elms really was a let-down compared to Defiance Bay.

 

But that being said, there's no way the XP gain is right. You should have to do everything in the game and scrounge for experience to cap out at level 12 just by the end of the game, not hit it casually playing, well before the end. Additionally, you are almost always overleveled for the content you're facing past Act 1.

 

 

I'm not so sure about this.  I'm not sure that everyone playing this game is as anal as some of us here about doing absolutely every possible quest they can scrounge up before the end of the game.  So I'm not sure that designing the game to force players into playing this way is a good thing.

 

 

You are not forced. You don't need to be level 12 to finish the game.

[mungomunk]

completely agree with OP.

[Jojobobo]

I'm level 8 and I've still not finished the first act, and I've still got more to do before act II as far as I'm aware. Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying the power, but I probably won't feel so happy when I hit the cap very early on.

[Legbiter]

Nerfing the xp on bounties a bit might be enough to stretch out a playthrough.

[Longknife]

TF are you people getting EXP from? I've never passed level 9....

[Tigranes]

Bounty XP is far too high, giving several levels on its own. If you don't do bounties or Od Nua, then even if you do everything else you'll only reach Level 12 near the end.

[Odd Hermit]

Bounty XP is far too high, giving several levels on its own. If you don't do bounties or Od Nua, then even if you do everything else you'll only reach Level 12 near the end.

 

I was wondering why everyone was complaining about XP being too high.

 

Then I did bounties and was like "whoah".

 

I strongly agree.

 

 

The other thing is lockpick/trap XP could definitely go. It's a lot of spare XP over time and encourages gaming situations where you can get a key but you'd rather pick the lock for XP. Or where I'd send summons into areas but I don't want them to rob me of trap XP.

[cavemandiary]

Bounties for sure. On my first playghrough i did neither od nua or bounties and dinged lvl 11 just before thaos. Did most of the sidequests.

[dukefx]

After reading through some arguments I stand by my statement. There is no point in reaching level 12 if you can't enjoy it at least a bit. You choose a talent that you won't use ever, because THE END! You might as well do all your ego feeding solo adra dragon/Thaos videos with a level 11 char.

 

Bounty XP: no idea what you are smoking. I never gained "several levels" even when I turned in all 4 at once. The best I got was 1 level, because I was close to leveling up anyways.

[Odd Hermit]

After reading through some arguments I stand by my statement. There is no point in reaching level 12 if you can't enjoy it at least a bit. You choose a talent that you won't use ever, because THE END! You might as well do all your ego feeding solo adra dragon/Thaos videos with a level 11 char.

 

Bounty XP: no idea what you are smoking. I never gained "several levels" even when I turned in all 4 at once. The best I got was 1 level, because I was close to leveling up anyways.

 

They were each giving like 10k XP(shared between 6, but still) on turn ins for me. Plus some XP when you loot the item before you turn it in.

[Elerond]

If you do nearly everything in the game I think you would at least be in level 16 or 17 if there wasn't level cap, but I think even that is maybe bit too low estimate. But anyway there is quite lot XP sources in the game, which will make achieving level cap quite common if you have even little bit completionist in you. But I am not sure if it is actually problem, although over leveling will make most of the fights in the main quest quite easy, but I would say that mainly due of no level scaling during the game and amount of side content towering over critical path.

 

There is more than 4 bounty missions in the game. Leveling up by bounty missions depend much on which level you are when you do them.

[Crucis]

After reading through some arguments I stand by my statement. There is no point in reaching level 12 if you can't enjoy it at least a bit. You choose a talent that you won't use ever, because THE END! You might as well do all your ego feeding solo adra dragon/Thaos videos with a level 11 char.

 

Agree 100%.  Where's the fun in getting the final level on your characters right before the final fight? 

[Psychevore]

I really don't care about hitting level cap well before the end.

 

Look at it like this: the level cap's there to prevent you from steamrolling the final boss.

[Crucis]

If you do nearly everything in the game I think you would at least be in level 16 or 17 if there wasn't level cap, but I think even that is maybe bit too low estimate. But anyway there is quite lot XP sources in the game, which will make achieving level cap quite common if you have even little bit completionist in you. But I am not sure if it is actually problem, although over leveling will make most of the fights in the main quest quite easy, but I would say that mainly due of no level scaling during the game and amount of side content towering over critical path.

 

There is more than 4 bounty missions in the game. Leveling up by bounty missions depend much on which level you are when you do them.

 

There are 11 or 12 bounty missions, in 3 sets.  The first two sets the warden gave the PC had four bounties each in them.  And IIRC, the final set may have had only 3 (though I'm not 100% certain about that).

[dukefx]

I estimate something like level 13.5, 14 tops if there was no level cap. 16/17 is absurd. You aren't getting that much XP. I hit level 12 in Twin Elms on both playthroughs. Od Nua pretty much just gives you bestiary and lock/trap disarm XP which is not much.

[Maquabra]

A good RPG game should never allow you reach the maximum level. Thee shouldn't be something like that at all. There are several reasons for that:
1) Experience becomes a progress meter. 
Every time you level up, you feel like the game is closing to an end. You are not exploring the world, but ticking off another portion of it. It's simply sad. 
 
2) Character development is one of the most important aspects of a role-playing game and shouldn't disappear.
The moment you reach maximum level, a part of the game expires.
 
3) It's plainly stupid

 

Please be advised that you've reached the maximum level. Your memory is now full and you are incapable of learning anything new. Your short-time memory will be purged every 5 minutes in order to make room for new experiences. Alzheimer's Experience brought to you by Obsidian Entertainment. 

 

4) There's no reason for an experience cap, especially in PoE

Experience caps make sense in console games where you can just leave an area, return to it, slay the same bunch of enemies for the 50th time and acquire so much experience, you'll have nothing to spend it on. PoE does not grant any experience for butchering the same enemy over and over again so there's no danger a character will reach level 35. While strictly binding all secondary stats like accuracy and defenses to character's level, drastically decreasing importance of primary stats by this move, is controversial to say the least, it could have become an important incentive to complete side quests. With level cap, it may be preferable not to complete side quest in order to delay just a little ramming into exp-cap glass ceiling. "Hard" difficulty would actually be harder, not just slower, as it is now.

 

 

To sum it up, experience cap is anti-climatic and since the devs can perfectly control ex gains in the game, there's absolutely no reason for its existence. Players should be able either to go to lv13 with experience needed for lv14 beyond maximum xp available in the game, or players should reach maximum level right before the end of the game. 

The first situation is rather straightforward and the 2nd one was nicely implemented in a game from a little different field, Sid Meier's Civilization, all iterations. Top-tier military units you get in the last dozen or two dozens of turns, are real end-game devices that allow you to wipe anyone clean from the face of Earth in no time. The same goes for Ghandi, if you know what I mean. In PoE's reality, a player that has completed literally 100% of the game would be able use some hardcore abilities for the final battle or a chain of battles.

 

There's really nothing I hate more in games like that than xp-caps. Except for game-breaking bugs, ofc. Fix them first, please.

[Elerond]

 

If you do nearly everything in the game I think you would at least be in level 16 or 17 if there wasn't level cap, but I think even that is maybe bit too low estimate. But anyway there is quite lot XP sources in the game, which will make achieving level cap quite common if you have even little bit completionist in you. But I am not sure if it is actually problem, although over leveling will make most of the fights in the main quest quite easy, but I would say that mainly due of no level scaling during the game and amount of side content towering over critical path.

 

There is more than 4 bounty missions in the game. Leveling up by bounty missions depend much on which level you are when you do them.

 

There are 11 or 12 bounty missions, in 3 sets.  The first two sets the warden gave the PC had four bounties each in them.  And IIRC, the final set may have had only 3 (though I'm not 100% certain about that).

 

 

I think 11 is probably correct number as last patch of bounties less numerous as other ones. 

[Elerond]

I estimate something like level 13.5, 14 tops if there was no level cap. 16/17 is absurd. You aren't getting that much XP. I hit level 12 in Twin Elms on both playthroughs. Od Nua pretty much just gives you bestiary and lock/trap disarm XP which is not much.

 

I hit level cap in Act II in my first play through which was before I cleared final levels of Od Nua and all the quest and task that you can do in Act I and II. 

[dukefx]

4-4-4-3 bounties IIRC

 

 

A good RPG game should never allow you reach the maximum level. 

That's one way of saying the best RPGs ever made are ****.

 

 

 

I estimate something like level 13.5, 14 tops if there was no level cap. 16/17 is absurd. You aren't getting that much XP. I hit level 12 in Twin Elms on both playthroughs. Od Nua pretty much just gives you bestiary and lock/trap disarm XP which is not much.

 

I hit level cap in Act II in my first play through which was before I cleared final levels of Od Nua and all the quest and task that you can do in Act I and II. 

 

Then you had a party of <6. More XP (because you simply get more) and less sharing.

Edited April 12, 2015 by dukefx