Official Death of Level Pacting

Yes, I know that the level pacting has been disabled since I20 hit live. However, when it was taken away, we were told it was to re-evaluate and look at the Level Pact system.

This week I noticed the shared XP item in the paragon market. This is the official death knell of the old Level Pact. I am sad to see it die out. It gave people like me who work odd hours a way to team with static teams, and to keep up progression with friends. Now we have no recourse but to BUY with real money a similar but weaker version of this same, previously free service.

Bad Form...

Bring back Level Pacting, yes I know it means no one will buy your "shared XP" tokens but no one is going to do that anyhow, as frankly, it was asinine to charge for something you previously gave away.

Thanks
Elvnsword

It's shared bonus XP. Nothing like the Level Pacts. All the power does is give you a temporary 50% boost to your XP gain and a single-use power you can use on someone else to give them a temporary 50% XP boost as well.

As stated above, it's something completely different than a level pact.

Although; is there an ETA on their return?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

From the Freedom Friday thread on Google+:

All right, so it's NOT the "official death of level pacting."

I am getting pretty tired of thread titles that baldly assert something to be true but turn out to be entirely opinion, or even just a question.

With sidekicking, what exactly is the problem with being a few levels off?

Not that I hope the LP doesn't return, just curious as to why it matters.

Total GG nonsequitur. Your post had nothing to do with the thread, nor Sailboat's post (Sailboat's been around a while, yanno).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Not sure if relevant, but I use level pacting for interesting theme effects with the magic of having two accounts.

I have a Shield/Energy tanker pacted with an Eng/Eng blaster. Same character and armor, one is Mark I version, defense mode, the other is Mark II, offense.

Another is a wizard who controls light and dark powers but not at the same time.

W/o level pacting I can't make more cool alts like these.

P.S. though they are level 41. I'd so reroll the tank/blaster combo to make the tank Eng/Eng if/when level pacting comes back.

It was a misunderstanding. It happens. No need to point fingers and go "who said what" all over the place.

...because the pacts allow you to acrue XP for someone while they're offline? Nothing else in the game does that. They're not for equalizing XP while you're actively playing, they're for letting someone not have to play catch up.

To be honest, I've always felt level pacts were a cheat. It's the ultimate antithesis of "no risk, no reward." You could create a character at level 1, never play the game again and freeload for 50 levels. And people complain about AE babies...

For the most part Super SK and Patrol XP resolve the problem of friends who can't play as frequently: you level like crazy under those conditions. The only real stumbling block is that some content (TFs, etc.), are gated by level.

That's the problem that should be addressed.

One solution would be to remove most of those limits. That would make a lot of people happier, not just those who use level pacts.

Another solution would be to give characters the ability to designate one permanent partner (a better term would be sidekicks, but that's already used). A partner would always be able to play on any team the other could play on (unless forbidden by incarnate status or subscription status, perhaps). That means if your partner is level 50 and you're level 42, you'd both be able to participate in a Statesman TF.

Yes, you might be useless baggage on that Statesman TF. But even in a level pact, if you really don't have any time to play your character, you're probably not going to have very good enhancements, or a very good handle on what your powers do. So characters who are automatically advanced by level pacting are less likely to contribute much anyway.

Level pacts were one of the best features in CoX, and I know that them being gone is part of why my spouse is gone. It's also why I'm less likely to be a VIP, now.

We loved being able to have our characters the same level. Yes, with SK'ing, at times it's more psychological, but it was still real.

Level pact are like marriages to super-sidekicking's civil unions.