Level Cap Increase Postponed

[Silverleafeon]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...sday-on-Twitch!

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-with-Severlin



There was an informal but highly informative video interview with Sev recently that brought some new information to light.
Thanks for the video (links to watch or read summary above).



Not set in stone obviously, but a few things were made clear.


The level cap will be raised someday, no details, but no hesitation there.
(This might even be out of his hands.)
(Personally, I don't see much way for equipment to continue to thrive without an upper solution of some sort.)


Epic destinies will convert over to a heroic tree style, spending points upon multiple trees, no details.
(I like this a lot as I have posted many examples of why this can be a good thing, as well as hybrid solutions.)


Twists currently will survive the Epic Destiny changes.
(A bit of a surprise, but this is one point that had several variations and options.)
With the twist system left in place, there is less shock converting to a spend in any tree system.
It will be a bit of irony, but a good thing and very doable.
I do see a math problem with the twist counting leveling up epic destinies as part of the total twist points, but that could be replaced with fixed number (namely max total earned by past players leveling up epic destinies).


It was mentioned that a big hurdle to player retention was getting new players to enter epic levels.
I believe it was mentioned that players leveling up in the epic destiny of their choice instead of being forced to take an unwanted epic destiny would be desirable change.
Also spending in trees (no mention of limits) as desired.
(I agree with this, as I have an alt account that needs to buy epic destinies and level those up and I hesitate to do so.)
Players have brought up the possibility of making Epic Destinies free, like heroic Trees are free, and I think that is a very interesting point.
Players have brought up not needing to level up Epic Destinies as they could be totally unlocked, and I think that is very desirable point.
It would even be possible to separate Epic Destinies like heroic trees into F2P and Premium trees.
This might present a new revenue stream.


Personally, if new players did not have to level up epic destinies even though I did in the past, I would welcome them with open arms and hope they enjoy our happy game.
Again, if Epic Destinies became F2P or partially F2P, I would welcome new players gladly with no ill will.
Times change, and we can always use more cannon fodder


I still promote my idea of some sort of hybrid that divides the next 80 epic destiny points (from levels 20-40) into a 20 instant points + 3 points/epic level system as being less of a shock than a 4 points/ epic level system.

I still feel only increasing the level cap by no more than 1 or 2 levels per expansion is best way to lessen the shock.

[Silverleafeon]

For the new twist system to work, it likely would allow players to choose abilities that one has not spent points upon rather than abilities one has spent points upon, since a toon might be allowed to spend a limited amount of points on all trees. Or maybe, there will be some other twist variation?

[KoobTheProud]

The problem with the Epic Destiny revamp is that it is undoubtedly going to creep power significantly.

DDO's biggest problem right now is that it is more of a superhero game than a Dungeons and Dragons game. They should fix that because there are a lot of superhero MMO's out there and trying to compete with them is likely a dead end path. There are very few Dungeons and Dragons MMO's and being the best of them is what SSG should be aiming at.

I'm guessing the next D&D MMO is going to knock DDO off the perch because it's going to capture the much larger audience for D&D content in a way that a superhero game cannot compete with.

[Silverleafeon]

...

Perhaps, Hardcore League Season is more important than I thought?
After all, Perma-Death system's main goal was to make a more D&D style of DDO.

Starting over with zero lives and zero equipment with a limited time frame and unforgiving environment does draw towards opening a new PnP D&D campaign.

[nayozz]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...sday-on-Twitch!



I still promote my idea of some sort of hybrid that divides the next 80 epic destiny points (from levels 20-40) into a 20 instant points + 3 points/epic level system as being less of a shock than a 4 points/ epic level system.

i promote the idea of 20 instant racial point at character creation (+ 80 action points 4 x 20 levels) or at least 1 racial point each level, starting with 1 at at character creation: (1 racial + 4 action points) x 20 levels

same for epic destiny: either 20 instant + 4x20 levels OR (1+4) * 20 levels [the first one given as soon as you hit level 21]
------------------
right now i am on a hiatus from this game, i have been playing batman arkham knight and paladins, while also dreaming about modding baldur's gate 1 and 2 EE patch 2.6 and then playing it

still, i think giving extra racial points would help make race choice more valuable, and iconic races more valuable too... (the ideal being: 20 racial points at character creation + 20 epic points at level 20)

[Zorrbeania]

Hello! Does anyone know when they're going to increase the level cap, because I'd love to know before I reincarnate my character.
Thanks in advance!

[HungarianRhapsody]

Hello! Does anyone know when they're going to increase the level cap, because I'd love to know before I reincarnate my character.
Thanks in advance!

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-with-Severlin

"Still planned for the future"

[Zorrbeania]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-with-Severlin

"Still planned for the future"

Thanks! I'll definitely be looking into this.

[Hostyle]

For over a year now we've been planning for and working towards a level cap increase to coincide with the release of the Feywild expansion. We believe this is a necessity for the future health of the game and have been very careful to make sure it is done in the best way possible.

We built in a lengthy lead up time to allow us to iterate both internally and with the Player's Council; however, what wasn't accounted for was the possibility of a global crisis. As a result, we have come to the conclusion that, while we could push through and finish implementing the level cap increase and all of the changes related to it (such as a highly rumored Epic Destiny revamp to make sure they fit in the new builds ecosystem) by the end of the year, we don't want to rush forward with such widespread important changes without time to iterate and make sure we get it right.

In summary, both the Level Cap Increase and the Epic Destiny Revamp are no longer planned to be released in conjunction with the Feywild Expansion. Instead, these features are tentatively planned to be completed in 2021 (Subject to change). We understand if some are disappointed, we are as well, but we hope you understand the need to get changes of this type right and not rush them out the door.

Let's hope the level increase stays dead.

[Stoner81]

Let's hope the level increase stays dead.

1 year necro *slow golf clap*

The level cap increase is now coming this Spring with Isle of Dread.

Stoner81.

[Arkat]

1 year necro *slow golf clap*

1.5 year necro!

[rfachini]

The level cap increase is the one main thing I am looking forward to that will hopefully maintain my interest in DDO long-term.