Already max level, not nearly finished...

[Elerond]

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.

 

I had full 6 member party full time after I reached Od Nua and hired Kana as 6th member (addition to my MC, Aloth, Edér, Durance and hired adventurer) of my party in act I, so that don't explain it. Maybe you didn't look all the task and quests that you can find by talking people and finding secret passages etc. like I did.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Elerond

[LadyCrimson]

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

You realize you could also say "you're not forced to do bounties or pick every lock" or whatever else, too? Or perhaps the bounty xp was designed for people who didn't want to do "everything" and could gain a couple levels for the end game just doing some of those instead?

 

At any rate, I guess I don't care about reaching max level early, because gaining levels isn't my main motivation to keep playing.

 

That all said...if they wanted to add an optional "less XP" mode or something, nothing wrong with that.

[dukefx]

quote too long

 

I did everything. On my 1st playthrough I was at level 12 (I believe) in Od Nua, did everything that could be done in Act 2, bounties... did them all until the one in Northwaeld because I couldn't get there and still wasn't level 12.

 

2nd playthrough almost the same except I didn't touch Od Nua until I was pretty much done with everything else. I also clearly remember that I skipped the Skaenian cultists (until level 11) because Aloth didn't have high enough mechanics yet and every single point went into mechanics.

[Luckmann]

 

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

You realize you could also say "you're not forced to do bounties or pick every lock" or whatever else, too? Or perhaps the bounty xp was designed for people who didn't want to do "everything" and could gain a couple levels for the end game just doing some of those instead?

 

At any rate, I guess I don't care about reaching max level early, because gaining levels isn't my main motivation to keep playing.

 

That all said...if they wanted to add an optional "less XP" mode or something, nothing wrong with that.

 

 

My point is that reaching max level isn't the goal of the game, and you are in no way forced to do all the side content just so you can reach level 12 and then finish the game. If you have no interest in doing all the side content, you're not going to do the side content anyway, just so you can be level 12 when you finish the game. Reaching level 12 is not  prerequisite for finishing.

 

If the level cap is 12, I think it's reasonable that you should be required to actually do the majority of the content in the game to reach it, not stumble into the wall two thirds through the game and then it's full stop, and all further content trivialized.

 

It has nothing to do with completionists vs. casuals. If you're a casual, why would you even obsess about reaching level 12 so much that you feel forced to do all the side content, even though you don't want to?

Edited April 12, 2015 by Luckmann

[LadyCrimson]

I'm still not clear on exactly how far into the game people are reaching lvl12.

I saw one post I think that said they got it before Act3 which *is* a bit extreme, but most seem to reaching Act around 9ish (full sized party), including me (and while I'm sure I missed a handful or two of quests and didn't finish the Paths, I'm pretty sure I've done most things, including bounties to that point). Only thing I regularly don't do is try to pick open every lock, because I'm never much of a thief. And my understanding is Act3 isn't all that long?

 

I do think if you have less than a full party, the XP could be scaled down more perhaps, but otherwise I'm not really seeing a major issue. Being super-uber-completionist in a single playthrough vs. the average player thinking they've done "most stuff" and anything they missed they'll catch the 2nd time through are two different things, and the latter seems to be mostly ok.

 

 

 

It has nothing to do with completionists vs. casuals. If you're a casual, why would you even obsess about reaching level 12 so much that you feel forced to do all the side content, even though you don't want to?

It's not that people obsess over being 12, it's that some fights they may go "oops, maybe I need to level more" so that's when they want some more levels, and may want to do some stuff to gain them (eg, bounties).

[Tseuro]

Heavily indulging in bounties and your stronghold questline will easily be the fastest route to XP, since both can be done rather fast compared with completing a multitude of seperate quests/sidequest lines, all the while buffing out your beastiary and possible hoard of  traps/locks you find on your way. That is alot of XP! Also helps in my case the bounties to be great fun [especially the backdrop to them], something they should definitely flesh out more.

 

However if you want to build an Arcane Warrior (Proper AW, no cypher junk) you want the XP asap on a wizard! Takes lvl5/6 spells to fully flesh out the ideal character. That needs fixing 

[Infares]

A level cap just means you're so good compared to the opposition that you have nothing more to learn from them until you find greener pastures. At level 12 you should still get exp towards 13 from Adra Dragon and the end boss, but not enough to actually hit 13.

[LadyCrimson]

My personal opinion re: all games is having some XP "padding" to accommodate various or "average" playstyles and goals is ok/fine. Yes it can mean reaching the limit for certain playstyles - on the other hand, reducing it by much can mean limitations for others, and then you have complaints on the other side. This kind of conundrum happens in a ton of games, not just PoE. I haven't played a single game where there wasn't at least a small group complaining about too much XP, or the opposite. Can be tough to balance.

 

So as I mentioned earlier, the best solution imo is to just have a "less XP" optional mode than one can check/uncheck, like they already do for some other things. Can't imagine it'd be difficult to implement. Check it, get 1/3 less XP for quests, for example. Easy peasy?

[dukefx]

I support that check box for less XP.

[HozzM]

I am a completionist and I am gonna give every quest I get a go.  I was level 12 maybe half way through Act III.  Very disappointing.  The game is still fun, but for me, a big draw in RPGs is character development and that part of the game is over for me.  For context I am playing on hard, non expert, non trial of iron. I experimented with PotD but it was too tedious for me.  Ironman has never appealed to me and I don't think Expert mode would do anything for me, but I have not tried it.

 

So I have the following to look forward to:

 

Combat

Quests

Loot

 

The combat system in IE was never a strength for me.  It always felt like it should have been turn based and with the additional mechanics POE has added to POE it begs for a TB system even more.  So, combat is not a draw for me.

 

Quests are.  I enjoy the writing immensely and look forward to how the story and various plotlines will resolve.

 

Loot.  Mixed bag.  Most loot is ****, but this is the same for all RPGs.  I feel like I have a lot of upgrades ahead of me, but maybe not.  I have a few items that feel like best in game/class already and I wonder how many more of these I am gonna run across.

[Daemonjax]

You can mod the game to increase the experience per level requirement.

 

Personally, I've increased the level requirements by 50% which is equivalent to a 33% reduction in exp gained.

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76717-how-to-change-experience-per-level-requirement/

[GreyFox]

Reached max level still in act 2....did 2 bounties and 10 levels of Od Nua just now getting to Dyrford Village.

[Clicks]

The cap doesn't bother me so much - as long as there is still enough to do in game. I'm still not near completing the game. I've been having shocking cases of restartitis.