Introducing a system that will continue to improve the player’s character past level cap would incentivize players to keep playing on their capped characters, adding more possible playtime across the board.
If we had a class system with talent trees, XP gains past level cap could be used to continue on upgrading existing talents, not buying new ones.
Alternatively, XP at level cap could be used to upgrade rune abilities if you were to introduce a rune tier system.
Feel free to brainstorm what you would do with xp orbs past level cap.
Reward embers is one idea, but that still reaches a point where it’s not useful if you have nothing further to re-roll/enchant.
But you also don’t want the rewards to be so good when stacked that there is a massive difference between someone who is fairly new, and someone who has played for 2 years (eventually) as this can hurt co-op and eventually things like PvP.
I like the system in Division (2), where it was usable, but finite gains… like an extra 10% in power, HP, etc. Something that helped, but not so much that the difference was ginormous. Though the argument could then be, if it’s finite then what is the difference between just gains within the level cap.
Giving us a choice in how to spend any overages might work, like a vendor who lets you choose embers, currency, etc. But then really how is this much different than simply earning more of these things from playing more… it’s not really. Just the mental perspective.
But my feeling is that you do not need incentive to play a capped character… unless you hate the gameplay and the only reason you’re playing is to see a number go up. I play the game because I enjoy the game play and combat etc. When my level caps, I then enjoy doing things WITH that optimized character. Dailies, loot chase, cosmetic acquisition, etc etc. Those are things that equate to progress and reasons to play the game. The only thing that is a barrier there is how you CHOOSE to see it.
It’s like if you enjoy going to the park, and someone asks you… why are you going to the park? And you say… I like the park. And they say… but you’ve already seen the park; instead seeing the thing you enjoy as an item on a checklist, instead of something you enjoy doing and are happy to do again.
I totally agree that they should add more forms of endgame progression, but as for the level cap, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are going to change it when they add more content and regions to the game. I think as it stands, 30 is just a solid, accessible level to hit after you complete all the main quests that are currently in the game.
But considering how the endgame is barely fleshed out right now, I expect to see significant changes to many of the present systems.
Levels are tied to stat points. Even an extra 10 levels means an extra 30 stat points. Which is a lot, and may affect the balance and distribution choice. The content is likely balanced around a certain amount of player power, and an extra 30 points would change that quite a bit. And we the players are already a bit OP at end-game.
So it’s not just a matter of raising the cap just to give the player an extended progress period.
Yes, the CURRENT content is balanced around a max level of 30, but I would argue its reasonable to assume that areas of Caylen and beyond might be scaled higher than level 30, especially if they are planning on adding 5-10+ more regions. Consider the possibility that the final region of the game has level 50 monsters-- you would likely require the extra stat points to even stand a chance. Also, considering that you get fairly near level 30 by the time you complete the current campaign, if they added more regions it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to hit level cap before you had even finished the main quest.
Also, players being strong in endgame does not have to do with an excess of stat points. If that were the case, then every single build would be OP, which just isn’t the case. Many of the OP builds are tied to Ring of Determination along with excessive damage multiplier enchants.
I don’t use RoD and my builds just as OP. You can just as easily dump 70+ into main stat with any build. Taking 5 seconds to regain focus here and there doesn’t change that vs just never stopping for resource. RoD just enables no effort or skill whatsover.
It could also be like after level cap exp you gain increases your weapon exp and after reaching checkpoints you get some random runes or materials related with current weapon type you equip.
Good point actually after I watched thomas’ interview with ginger prime I questioned this as well cuz’ he didnt mention about this for the “breach we find” update which is patch 1 correct me if Im wrong both for the name of the patch and job system