Ever since the game added level synching levels haven't mattered, yet BioWare keeps wasting their limited resources on increasing the level cap, which not only provides no benefit to players, but it also actually makes the game worse over time because they are stretching a leveling experience designed for 50 levels over more and more levels each expansion.

 

Level synching has also made some of the story encounters trivial because they are down-leveled compared to the player.

 

BioWare should relevel the whole game to 50, boosting low level players up while leveling. This will actually allow for better balancing and allow players to have a known baseline for parsing to see how they compare. If BioWare wants to continue adding power, they could invest in a horizontal progression system for the game. The Elder Scrolls Online does this and it works very well, and makes expansions feel less punitive by not resetting your character.

Well, it's supposed to matter - give you new abilities etc. I mean... that's how MMOs work. I've never seen a game completely change ability trees every time you get new levels. The result is that lower level characters feel weak.

 

But leave it to SWTOR to make us weaker and get worse gear when we gain 5 levels.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Pricia

I have to agree with you and was about to create a very similar thread. I am honestly confused as to why we are getting 5 new levels with no new abilities in the first place.

 

You are in the process of reshaping the talent trees in order to cut down on the current ability bloat. Whether you agree with this decision or not, it is undeniable that you have made the leveling experience much, much slower in the process. Abilities and passives are spread out over multiple levels now and it feels extremely grindy and unfulfilling to get going with a new character.

 

There is absolutely no reason for a new max level of 80 at all.

This is the first level increase where I feel like we should have instead lost levels instead of gained them.

It feels absolutely awful levelling up on the PTS because so many levels are bare now that a smaller number of abilities and passives are being stretched over a larger number of levels.

 

The devs have said they are pruning abilities so they can balance things better and reset the baseline, but it's half baked and will likely remain in the state it was in pre-holiday break tbh.

 

I expect to see the results of pruning and gear changes etc in a year or two's time - unless the devs do their usual "no wait, time to roll the dice and pick another gear/level system again". At least by that time we might see a new combat style or two since the devs are open to that!

This is the first level increase where I feel like we should have instead lost levels instead of gained them.

It feels absolutely awful levelling up on the PTS because so many levels are bare now that a smaller number of abilities and passives are being stretched over a larger number of levels.

 

The devs have said they are pruning abilities so they can balance things better and reset the baseline, but it's half baked and will likely remain in the state it was in pre-holiday break tbh.

 

I expect to see the results of pruning and gear changes etc in a year or two's time - unless the devs do their usual "no wait, time to roll the dice and pick another gear/level system again". At least by that time we might see a new combat style or two since the devs are open to that!

 

Again, the problem is how they are doing it. Basically they stretch our skills between more levels instead of giving us new ones. It's just a really bad design. I've NEVER seen this in a MMORPG. In every other game I've played, when there was an expansion with new levels, we got new skills or skill improvements. But with LotS we're actually going to lose skills!

 

At this point I think they just gave us more levels so we have to grind for gear again.

 

The fact that we're not getting anything new in crew skills is another slap in the face.

 

And really, the consequence of that design is that leveling new characters sucks.

At this point I think they just gave us more levels so we have to grind for gear again.

Yeah, that seems to be what it's about at this point. Can't produce frequent/broad enough new content, so they stretch what's there so thin it loses all substance.

Yeah, that seems to be what it's about at this point. Can't produce frequent/broad enough new content, so they stretch what's there so thin it loses all substance.

 

Yep! And when substance is lost, then so will subs be lost! I am on the fence about 7.0. And if it drops as is in PTS, I will more than likely drop my sub.

I mean... that's how MMOs work.

 

Yes and thats the thing here. They messed up the process so bad that they are just artificially keeping the system in place because… thats how MMOs work. Its just there cause…… it should be. Without having a real purpose.

 

Yes, since level sync started the levels became obsolete. I understand that the Devs dont have the resources to add real content and therefore they had to make the old content “the current content” but by now we can say it outloud for what it is. I dont any MMO which still relies on the decade okd content to provide current gear for example. Here we will be running the same heroics, same fps, same ops over and over for the new stuff. Thats why we needed level sync, but therefore, levels are not necessary anymore.

Yes and thats the thing here. They messed up the process so bad that they are just artificially keeping the system in place because… thats how MMOs work. Its just there cause…… it should be. Without having a real purpose.

 

Yes, since level sync started the levels became obsolete. I understand that the Devs dont have the resources to add real content and therefore they had to make the old content “the current content” but by now we can say it outloud for what it is. I dont any MMO which still relies on the decade okd content to provide current gear for example. Here we will be running the same heroics, same fps, same ops over and over for the new stuff. Thats why we needed level sync, but therefore, levels are not necessary anymore.

 

No kidding. Usually MMOs actually give enough content to gear up with expansions - multiple new dungeons, new raids etc. All we're getting is a new planet with no repeatable missions (yet) and one dungeon...

 

That's why I don't get the direction the game is going. Clearly it doesn't follow the standard MMO pattern (never did, as it was so story-driven), so catering to raid players just make no sense.

I agree. If a publisher can't support a RPG with levels, stop pretending to.

 

It's got to be confusing for the new players. They get a piece of gear but the stats on it and the stats on the character change depending on what planet/instance they happen to be inhabiting. In some cases a 1k hit to a pc is a love tap, in others it's over 50%.

 

We've had several non-level based progression systems like command, renown and legacy "levels" that aren't tied directly to stats - stick to those.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Savej

Pruning abilities.... So far the three classes I played on the test center only had one maybe two pruned. Not really worth the resources they put into it. Any bets the next level increase they give them back. They don't need to increase the level cap so soon.

At this point I think they just gave us more levels so we have to grind for gear again.

 

Adding new gear levels would achieve the same thing, which is part of my frustration with the entire level system in this game.