RPG Leveling Poll

[Hucklebubba]

Explanation!

Type 1

Level-ups (Levels-up?) are a semi-annual occasion, requiring a squillion experience points, resulting in somewhat dramatic stat increases, and warranting an opulent feast of some sort. This is followed by a time of great lament at how far away the next level-up is.


Type 2

Individual level-ups count for very little, but that's okay, because they happen every two minutes.


I prefer Type 2, because it's more true to life. For instance, you don't go to the gym and do bicep curls for months at a time with no discernible progress, only to hit some magical borderline, instantaneously swell visibly, and proclaim "I'm a man-mountain!" in a booming voice.

Or maybe you do. I wouldn't know. I'm not in gyms all that much.

[DocD83]

I prefer type 2 as well. I stopped EQ partly because it was getting to be type 1 (after a burst of rapid progress, I outleveled almost everything in paludal caverns and didn't know where to go next).

[FiveMileSmile]

I'm totally a Type A type player. I much prefer it when I can say that I legitimately took a character through 3 campaigns in NWN from level 1 to level 28, when gaining each level really meant something and made a difference to your character, than in something like FF7 when you could just run around the world-map levelling up to level 999 and the only advantage I could see were more HP and Magic.

I guess I just like the sense of accomplishment you get with more traditional level ups.

Though actually, there's a third option that isn't included in this poll - my favourite level up options can be found in games like System Shock 2 and Dues EX where you can pay to level up skills at your own pace. That kind of gradual development just seems much more natural than either of the other two options.

- Rich

[Head Mutant]

And then you have Anarchy Online, which looked at the 60 levels of EverQuest and said, "Nah, let's do 200. No, 220." Which is kind of cool, because you're not waiting forever for levels, but at the same time, their only option was to increase every single stat until the numbers game got ridiculous.

[DarthToad]

Either way's okay with me. Though I really like D&D based systems (like NWN), some of the fast leveling games are pretty fun.

[Al]

I had to go with Type 1, I think mostly because I don't like having to read about stat increases every time a perform an action. I think the gradual process is certainly more lifelike, but it's hard to replicate the rush you get from seeing your previously wimpy skill suddenly kick major booty. I also just don't think I've played as many Type 2 games. I can't even really think of any.

Al

[Landatauron]

FiveMileSmile said:

like FF7 when you could just run around the world-map levelling up to level 999 and the only advantage I could see were more HP and Magic.

I don't know about the crazy British version but here in America level 99 was as high as you could get in FF7.

Oh and I prefer type 1.

[bladestarr]

One of the reasons I love Dungeon Siege is their levelling system. Your levels for each attribute go up AS you use them, no points to distribute at all. This is much more realistic, as you can't have a hack-and-slasher who give all of his XP to magic, even though he's never used magic once in his life. It is also more elegant, you can see your abilities growing slowly over time, and you still know when you are about to go up a level, but it is not a numbers game really.

It is however, type 3, where the levels happen about once every two hours depending on the monsters your fighting, and when you do level up it's not a BIG deal, but it still helps you alot, letting you buy the next highest armor or use that next cool attack spell. Leave it to me to not play by the rules of the poll, lol. ;D

[Hucklebubba]

FiveMileSmile said:

..Dues EX..

I would've like Deus Ex's system a lot better, had there been such a thing as combat experience. As it is, training points in Deus Ex are ultra-rare and glittery. (In my opinion, irritatingly so.)

This does necessitate more careful character development, but it still bugs me. I hold to the traditional RPG premise that fighting makes you a better person!

Al said:

I also just don't think I've played as many Type 2 games. I can't even really think of any.

Actually, I'm not quite sure the Type 2 system of leveling, in the exact way I described it, exists. Silly me. I was intending something more along the lines of the Type 3 sort that Rich mentioned.

The game that this sort of leveling reminds me of most is a rather obscure title, which means I'm automatically all non-conformist and cool for having played it.

Anyway, Siege of Avalon is the aformentioned game, and it's a happy fun cheapo Diablo-clone fun time.

In Siege of Avalon, there is no leveling per se. Rather, every baddie defeated yields one or two training points, which can immediately be put towards stat increases, or saved up for the learning of skills.

Semi-unfortunately, said skills are basically nothing more than stat increases in value pack form. They're still worth learning though, as raising Dexterity by 10 one point at a time isn't nearly as fun as having a little thing on the character screen that says something like, "Mastery of Toenail Clipping: +10 Dex"

[neutral]

Type 1 if I had to choose (following the AD&D/Baldur's Gate model).

The best system I've come across was in a text-based MMORPG in which you gained ranks in each skill based on how often you used it, much like what you descibed BladeStar.

As such, after a battle or two, you may gain 2 or 3% of a rank in the weapon, armor, and particular fighting styles you were using (depending on your rank and the difficulty of your opponent).

Overall levels for your guild/class were then determined by skills. So as a theif I needed a certain number of ranks in stealing, in evasion, in hiding, in stalking... etc etc. Also each class learned their appropriate skills more easily.

It meant that everyone truely had a unique character - and that you only really spent time doing what you enjoyed, since that was how you became better at it. Of course damned if I'll ever see it in a graphical MMORPG, since everything has to be simplified these days...

[DocD83]

Doesn't everquest do something similar? You have to use skills to get better at them, they just cap you at your level (typically the cap = 5 + 5x your level) so you don't get a level 5 character with a 200 fighting skill.