What *really* happens when they raise the level cap...

In my opinion, instead of adding new levels so that players can get new skills, create lengthy quests (sorta like heritage quests in eq2 or how HK-51 will presumably be except without the legacy stuff) where in the end you end up with a skill for your advanced class. Maybe these quests will involve group and raid elements, with group elements being on par with HM T1 Flashpoints and raid elements being on par with SM T1 8 man Operations.

Also i think that instead of continually increasing the level gap between player level and gear level, they should add new sets of gear at level 61 with different set bonuses and base mod stats (even though these can be swapped out).

However none of this is probably going to happen and since level cap increase is basically confirmed, here is what i think should happen with regard to new content and level caps.

1. Increase the cap to only 55
2. Lost Island is raised to level 55, swap out the columi drops with maybe level 54 gear, leave the rakata piece at the end.
3. All new Flashpoints will drop level 54 purple with a rakata piece at the end.
4. Raise Hard Mode and Nightmare Mode EV and KP to level 55.
5. Raise Denova to level 55
6. Nightmare Denova drops half the level 63 gear, SM Terror drops Black Hole, HM Terror drops other half of the level 63, Nightmare Terror drops level 65 with new look and new set bonuses.
7. Add 5 new skill points then rebalance trees.

There should probably be some changes to PvP, maybe a level 63/65 set that purely comes from ranked war zones (need high rating). But id rather we do without a level increase until a major content expansion.

All the anger. All the panic. All the abject terror because of a 3 to 5 level cap raise. Priceless!

Over there, you have the WoW people who think the level cap is going to be the "End Of Star Wars As We Know It!"

And to make matters even worse, these aren't just MMO players and WoW vets.... these are STAR WARS FANS who are also MMO players and WoW vets. Everything isn't just the End of the World, it's the End of the Universe to them! OMG OMG OMG OMG THE LEVEL CAP IS BEING RAISED! WE'RE DOOMED!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG!

And over there, we have the Common Sense Initiative that says otherwise.

And way over there, we have the BioWare people who post stuff with no real info on what is really going to happen.

Rumors and speculation of course, but a shallow level increase would be more along the lines of a new gear season. Whether the talent trees would get more levels or more points, who knows. I think a shallow level increase could be very successful.

I will say big level cap increases, ala WoW, are a bit painful (I remember replacing a chest piece I worked towards for months with a green quest drop within 3 hours of Cataclysm opening, ouch ouch ouch) but you move on. MMOs (at least if you're going to play them long-term) are about making your character better, whether that's by getting better gear, learning new abilities, improving they way they look, or what have you.

The only constant is change.

There were three different surveys leaked, and they didn't all talk about the same level cap increase. One was a 2 level cap increase, one was a 5 level cap increase, and I think the third didn't have a level cap increase.

With only one new planet, I'd much rather see a 2 level increase to the cap, unless that planet is HUGE. Yes, I have a high tolerance for the treadmill (I've got a lvl 32 that still hasn't started Taris, mostly due to space combat), but 5 levels on a single normal-sized planet would mean we're dinging like we're back on our capitol worlds.

MMOs are usually about progression. You get Columi and ditch your Dailies (or equip a companion), you get your Rakata and ditch Columi, you get your BH and ditch your Rakata, you get your Campaign and ditch your BH...

As for the current Ops being obsolete, when was the last time you ran a EV SM and why? A new character, a guildie who needs help...all will remain valid.

They may, or may not introduce new abilities but they have done that before even without a level cap increase.

What will it truly mean? More content for you to experience. Without that there is absolutely no reason for an increased cap, and I have yet to see any MMO introduce a new level cap without an expansion of some sort.

So, enjoy!

That's an easy detail to forget. The level cap was raised in Issue 1, around three months after release. Same thing happened for CoV. The cap started at 40, and was raised to 50 shortly afterwards.

I am predicting the level cap will be 75 for mara's and stay the same for Sorcs....


Or I might just wait and see...

Well, in all fairness the level cap was 40 for about a month. Game came out April 28, level raised on June 9. If someone was sitting around tapping his toes waiting for them to raise the cap for anything over a week, I think they shoulda gone outside some more. And also there wasn't any "gear" to worry about at that point, just enhancements.

city of Villains...well, they're level raise took a bit longer, but still there weren't any gear issues to worry about.

And I do understand that this kind of gear grind is what MMos are typically all about, but I would just prefer SWTOr not be typical. The thing is, and I know I'm probably alone in this, but I'd be perfectly happy if I got my main character fully campaign slotted and he didn't have any new challenges for up to a year. He has climbed the mountain, and now he gets to sit atop it and rest. He is a true Jedi Master, blah blah blah, while in the meantime I'm leveling alts and so forth.

It just feels like, to me, if you keep dragging the player along the grind, you are effectively discouraging playing alts. I know I haven't been able to get to a number of my toons that I really want to play because now I have to spend my time running a daily flashpoint, maybe a story mode op, a daily Lost Island if my guildies are on, and some daily missions to work up cash all just so I can stay in our competitive, progression raid group.

^this. Thank you, Allison.

This ^

See this is the childish of ToR.

People moan that we here nothing from the community team and the when they do say something everyone whines that its not what they want to hear...
If i was part of the community team after seeing some of the replies to them id just ignore everyone in the future...