I'd rather not see a level cap increase

[winsom]

There is going to be some level cap content in mod 8, October. There will be a level cap increase (likely to 20) in Mod 9, January.

I think Shroud crafting is the best form, and one of only a couple of forms of "alternative character advancement" in the game. I think it is good that we have that, and it should be encouraged with more levels. Without the Shroud wed be stuck with the old raid-grinding and endless loot-running and selling of junk loot.

When we reach level cap we look for other ways to improve our characters. I think it makes sense that the Shroud should become easier with new levels and abilities. That is how the game has worked for 2 years.

The Shroud will still likely be on a timer. It can only be farmed so often, even by players that have 5 or more characters to repeat it. Not very many people have the RL time to repeat it this often. These Shroud farmers won't be selling all the ingredients they find either. Popular large ingredients will still cost in the several 100,000 gold each each, even with price deflation. The junk loot we sell from level 19 and 20 quests will not be that much more valuable than the current junk loot. It will not suddenly become cheap to buy 5 scales and stones from the AH. Most players will not be able to afford that very often, and on the occasion they do, that only gets them part of one item, and they still have to personally repeat the Shroud enough times per character to get the 3 or 4 Power Shards each.

[VirieSquichie]

Yes, believe it or not. Not in the near term. Here's why...

I am not a typical "nothing is good enough" poster ...I love DDO and think they've done a great job to this point. I am just worried a level cap increase will unbalance the game way beyond today, and make the feeling of lack of content even 10 times worse than today. But, to be a suggester instead of a whiner...

I'd prefer to see a lot more level 18, 19, and 20 content first, then raise the cap later. So what if they are way too hard to run on elite right now...it will give something to the power gamers to try to master for months until the cap goes up. The loot coming out will be hard earned. Then, as the amount of content is raised, then raise the cap to 18, then repeat and release more content, then go to 20. Believe me, I want to see 20...but not before the game is ready.

Mark my words and I'll quote this post after it happens...when the cap is increased, there won't be enough content and it will take all of 1 week before the "I'm bored and I'm leaving" silly posts start. Let's see more content, then cap increases, not the other way around.

I disagree, in that I think the highest end content is so ridiculously above the average capped character's abilities that it's nearly unplayable. Especially in a PUG. I've heard it said that to do the shroud successfully in a PUG, you almost have to have a couple people in that PUG that have shroud gear. It doesn't matter to me if a guild group can do it without drama...that's why they're in that guild together in the first place. The average Joe needs to be able to do the content they add, because they're the ones who will get the most enjoyment out of it. The capped guy with 4 pieces of finished greensteel gear will get bored with any new content quickly, even if it's level 20+, because he's so far ahead of the curve he isn't experiencing the difficulty the quest is SUPPOSED to have.

I know several people who find the upper level content challenging still, but don't see a reason to play their capped characters, who would find the level increase to be most useful in keeping their interest level up. By the time they get all their capped characters to the new limit, more new content would have been released for sure.

I also know several people who CAN'T make new characters any more (at least, on their home server using their usual account) who wouldn't care how many dozens of new low level quests get added because of it.