How do you feel about the leveling curve?

With the increased speed of leveling, 1-20, the super-sidekick system, and the various 'earn XP' switches, paragon devs have done a good job putting control of the leveling curve into the hands of the players.

However, having adjusted my play schedule somewhat due to RL time issues, I've noticed some problems with it. I make extensive use of Oroboros and the 'Earn XP' switches to make my own leveling curve feel comfortable. This doesn't work all the time, nor does it work for all characters. I've had to curtail the amount of grouping and task-forcing I've been able to do recently, and that's had a major effect on the feel of the curve.

Problems I have with the leveling curve:

- If you group at all between level 2-10, you can get level 10 in about two hours, if not less. True, a lot of people don't care for the low levels, but these are the levels where you learn how to handle the interface on a character. For new players or for players who haven't played much on a certain AT, this can be brutal.

- Between level 10-15, slow soloers-- like tanks, and certain controllers-- go from very rapid experience to a pace I personally consider 'normal'. Bad soloers, like group-oriented defenders and controllers, hit a brick wall at this point. The experience earned in groups makes soloing pointless in terms of experience. Even if you have to struggle to build a group, it's still more worthwhile than soloing. Despite these speed changes for others, solo-friendly types like brutes, scrappers, blasters, etc..., go over it like a speed bump. They don't get that same slow-down that others get until about level 25 or so.

- Starting at level 10, players who use taskforce groups to level outstrip just about everyone else. A player who manages to do the Positron and Synapse taskforces the same day he creates his character can easily be level 20 in the space of about 6 hours. If he's really in for it and does Sister Psyche's TF, he can probably eke out 23-25 by the end of that TF, probably in under 12 hours.

- At level 25 or so, the experience curve slows somewhat for all players, but for soloers, it's a very dramatic slowdown. For the 'group only' types, the experience comes in huge bursts, especially if they're still primarily levelling via taskforces.

- At 35, the curve picks up again VERY rapidly for taskforce levelers, especially those who head to Cimerora.

This curve feels odd, but not is unmanageable for those who think it's too fast. For those who feel it's too slow, it's not quite as manageable.

In my opinion, it's a crying shame that the best experience in game (and therefore the quickest route for forming groups) comes from repeating the same content over and over again.

I have characters that I level in arcs, I have characters I level in TFs, I have characters pacted, and characters alone. I have characters I cycle through to take advantage of patrol xp. At all times I feel the differences in leveling speed are acceptable (although soloing a pacted character with no Patrol XP is a little too much like the old curve on occasions).

The biggest rewards are always going to be on a team, Task Force or not. There's actually enough Task Forces that you don't have to feel obligated to repeat them over and over.

So I guess I'm saying I don't see your issue.

A friend of mine purposely set his difficulty at -1 from level 2 onwards and at times even turned off xp. He set to complete every story arc at their natural level just to see how many merits he can earn.

Even with this handicap, he found leveling very fast, and had to turn off xp multiple times. This is strictly soloing.

Given the fact that his character is now level 46 (he was level 2 about 3 weeks ago), I don't think that the leveling curve is slow at all.

The main problem I notice is going from levelling a hero to a villain. Since the chances of getting a team at all (not even a decent team) go from good to practically non-existant, it makes being bad so much harder. Of course, it is more fun doing the various arcs, so I'm probably more likely to play for a long time on a solo vill than a solo hero.

1-10 is pretty easy, pretty quick. Good for first timers and getting to grips with powers and play style for a new toon. 10-20 takes a lot longer, but it's not ususally until about 15ish that I'm starting to get a good idea of how the character is anyway, as I start to get some of the fancier powers.
20-30 is a drag usually, as is 30-40. although it's actually 25-35 that's the really hard part. Once getting 20 and having a costume mish and cape mish to break things up a bit I seem to get to 25ish quickly (well, not on my VEAT-seemed like it took forever, but that was mostly me being too anxious) but then the grind hits. Not sure the zones are best planned for these levels either, seems like there's too much of a mix of levels that you've got to be quite careful about if you're not a really good soloist. Post-35 is usually ok, as you've suddenly got a ton of new things you can do that will work towards unlockables. I always try to get my ITF out of the way quick, and the Vanguard initiation so I can start earning their Merits whenever I smash a Rikti or two. 45-50 is generally pretty easy and quick. Not a 1-10 quick by all means, but with 3 different Taskforces available (well more, but 3 relatively quick and common ones: LGTF, STF/LRTF and the 5th Column ones) as well as a few good arcs it's pretty easy to get a team together or at least jump about from TF to TF and earn your way to the lvl cap that way.

edit: I think a lot of it isn't so much that it is faster or slower to progress through certain level ranges as it is more fun to do so in certain ones, and sometimes a bit of a chore in others.

I'm using flashback a whole lot more for characters who missed arcs I enjoy in their previous 5 levels.

For me its just a touch too shallow/easy right now. I know others opinion varies.

Well, the Praetorian 1-20 content is an "epic storyline" - so I'm sure they won't make it go by too fast

For those who think it's too fast, they can always turn off earning XP.

Just sayin'.

I think the leveling curve is fine, but I'd like levels 18-19 before Stamina to have a "get stamina now" button that insta-levels you to 20. Those are the two worst levels in the entire game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltonio This is over the top mental slavery.

This is all subjective anyway.
People say you can level from 2 to 46 in three weeks...

How often is that playing? Every day? For how many hours? Only on that character, ora alting?
As it is, the Exp curve is much better than it was, and feels much more comfortable.

I despise the 15-19 range myself, simply because, blueside content dries up around there for me (I tend to crash around the Hollows for my early career), redside is variable and, on both sides, the HORRIBLE Stamina crunch. I call it the Fitness Gulch. Its where end consumption seems to hits its peak, while there is nothing to counter it. Pretty much every, if not every other fight, ends in rest or popping blues... *sigh*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I know for some people it seems to go very fast. Myself, I don't have as much play time as I used to, so I have my low-level guys go up fairly fast, but my higher level characters seem to be getting about 1 level every week or two. It feels slow to me because of my limited time. Then again, I have always been a bit slow. I have been playing since launch and have only 3 level 50's.

I think the curve now is great, it helps me get all my altitits-toons to 20 and stamina, I love it!

I think levels come too easily since XP smoothing and Patrol XP were introduced. For me, the sense of accomplishment that comes with leveling up has diminished considerably. Getting to 50 in the old days was like giving birth - some agony involved, but when you were done, you had something to be proud of. And if you asked nicely, the waiter would put the placenta in a doggy bag for you to take home.

Sure we can turn off XP, but I need to feel as though I'm progressing (just not so fast as the current curve allows).

Take in consideration the people who cannot play all the time.That curve does help them to lvl,I remember a friend of mine who didn't get to play too often got a lvl when we ran a few mishes one night and he was overjoyed(either mid 20's or 30's don't recall).
Also,remember adjusting your diff now does affect your xp,hence -1/1 will be lower than +3/5,if you think your going to fast slow it down then.
Remember the devs are trying to reach a very broad spectrum of players and some are going to think it's too easy/hard and others are going to think it's just right.

I can get to lvl 10 in about 45 minutes solo.

Me personally, it doesn't feel like I'm leveling new toons any faster than I did before I16. But then again, it was never necessarily slow to go from 1 to 20 anyway, so I guess no harm no foul.

It feels a bit too fast to me on teams and moderately too slow for a lot of characters solo, but that's a lot better than the old curve, which was 'just don't bother' on my slow soloers. The big change for me was the new difficulty settings... those have made the spread of my characters' leveling speeds way broader. The ones who can handle things like x8 level up pretty darn fast, while those who can't crawl by comparison.

... and then if I team, I end up gaining 10 levels in one night and outlevelling every arc I'm halfway through and having no active contacts.

Good thing for those that are leveling "too fast for the content" that every actual ARC that they are worried about missing can be played again anytime they want to in Ouroboros.