Suggestion: Option to turn off experience gain

If you choose to turn off xp you shouldn't be allowed to pvp until you're level 50. That would solve the twink problem in pvp and give the pve completionist crowd what they want, too. Everybody happy, right?

Nothing is too hard to understand. i know exactly where you are coming from.These types dont care about story, only end game.

On topic, i agree with the op, im lvl 41 and still on alderaan.
Doesnt take much ( im a flashpoint freak ), so run then alot, and do space combat, no pvp though.

Is it me or does quest completion just give out way too much xp. Green space battles, 20k xp a pop. Normal quest up to 20k a pop, waaay to much..

I would use the turn of xp option, or why not make it if the quests are green , you get very little xp for it. Im happy for no xp myself and just credits till i get to yellow quests. ( i havnt done a yellow normal quest since i was lvl 10, all green ).

No i will not skip content, its a brand new game, im a completionist, i want to see it ALL.

I like the fact that there is more to do than is necessary to hit 50. I like it being possible to skip a side quest or area, or not have to do dailies every single day, or skip PvP entirely and not suffer for or fall behind on xp.

However....

I would like to have the xp toggle.

My main character did *one* flashpoint. One! (Black Talon.) She did less than a half dozen space battles- and some of them were done on a whim, without a daily quest attached. She missed over 80% of the Heroic quests on every planet she went to. She was never involved in any PvP. And at level 36, she was at least 5 levels higher than the quests she was doing (and much higher than that for many).

That's excessive, especially for having missed so much.

I simply did all quests I found, all side quests, all bonuses, went on crafting material harvest adventures and datacron hunts... and I vastly outleveled my quests. I started skipping areas. I started ignoring bonus quests. I still remained several levels higher than the quests I was doing.



Some form of xp toggle would be nice... even if it's just toggling off the xp gained from killing things, while keeping quest xp turned on. Something to 'trim down' the xp inflow, for those that want to 'go slower'. I don't WANT to be 50! That's when the story ENDS (for now, at least!), so why do I want it to be over? I want to take my time and discover everything, on my OWN time, and without being so overleveled I'm bored to depression.

+1 for the xp lock switch. I found myself constantly overleveling my current planet by +5..+6 levels.

Someone needs a hug.

So when the 50 bracket is out you can twink for level 49 ?

I agree, im lvl 30 and havent even been to Tat yet and Im starting to outlevel even Alderaan.

/signed

I hope that the number of responses to this thread, as well as the numerous times someone has attempted to start a similar topic and been re-directed to this thread (Google "SWTOR turn off xp" to see what I mean), will stir Bioware into action... or at least earn the idea a Dev Tracker!

Seriously, as I said in my post earlier in the thread, this is an option that people who want it would love if it was introduced, and if it was would have absolutely no detrimental effect on those who didn't want it. Please Bioware, show us story-loving challenge-seekers a little love...

I still think that this "turn off xp" toggle is the answer to a lot of peoples' frustrations with game flow, as evidenced by the debate going on in the following "Cut EXP gain 35% across the board" thread:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=156224

No need to argue, people, give us this toggle and players can - at will - suspend their xp gains until they want to re-enable them. And it wouldn't adversely affect anyone else.

The only arguments I have heard at all against this are:

1. Argument: "I would never use it/It is a waste of time"
   Response: You wouldn't have to use it - don't stop others from doing something just because you wouldn't choose to. Like I said above, having the feature and choosing not to use it doesn't affect you at all does it?
   .
2. Argument: "Some people might forget they have it turned on and waste time grinding before they realised it."
   Response: Oh come on, really? You are trying to tell me that after goodness-knows-how-long not gaining xp or levels by choice because you turned on your no-xp toggle, on deciding it was time to level again you would somehow not remember why you weren't gaining xp before??? Seriously, if we are going to not include game features because the most mentally challenged players make mistakes like that then we'd better start removing features already in the game - like being able to dismiss companions, so as to prevent players-of-little-brain from accidentally engaging tough mobs in solo PvE just because they forgot to resummon them... Basically, I don't accept this as a valid argument against, it sounds like clutching at straws to me.

In conclusion: VOTE XP TOGGLE!!!

*** Max benefits for those who want it, zero penalties for those who don't. ***

You know it makes sense...

I think part of it is some of the things you gain experience for are just plain unbalanced. Space combat being the main offender. It is ridiculous that you get that much experience for something so easy that takes less than five minutes. The other part is the things that actually give you xp. Maybe there's too many of them. For example when i was in single digit lvls I went around and 'discovered' all the crew skills to gain a whole lvl in about two minutes. There's xp for all the lore objects. There's xp for basically taking just one step and unfogging a new part of the map. Taking some of that out might help slow down the lvl prorgression.

You make a good point OP, and I would consider using xp toggle when I just want to enjoy the story. The plus side to being stronger than the planet you're on is that you don't feel the grind. This felt especially good on taris and nar shadaa; kill 30 then 45 rakghouls and then 30+45 gangsters? No problem when I can pull 6-7 plus a strong and feel a challenge. It's not too easy but it's not painfully hard either.