Levels, leveling, level caps, and level 20

This thread is to discuss all things pertaining to leveling in Guild Wars.

Yes, you level.

Yes, you gain health with each level. It's currently 20 points. You gain skill points and attribute points, too, and your attacks will do slightly more damage per level. You gain no energy or anything else.

Yes, the maximum level is 20. No, there's no plan to raise it any time soon.

Yes, you continue to gain skill points past level 20.

No, no one knows exactly how long it will take you to reach the cap just yet. The estimate is somewhere betwen one to two days of continuous play but might well be wrong.

Anything else? Ask below. Or check the FAQ.

Hey im new to learning about GW but I heard there is a lvl 20 cap and I read some of the thread and it says the game just begins at 20. Is it like all quests at 20 or what? I hated doing quests in FFXI and WoW. The character models look great even for only having a lvl 20 cap. Can someone explain this better to me? And also if I preorder do I get in beta? And is the beta full time or only on weekends or whatever? I saw something about weekends and beta so I was wondering

you can not start at lvl 20 anymore but before you could, but levels arnt all for lvl 20's. they start out easy and get harder. also you can make lvl 20 pvp char which can only do pvp stuff. and beta is only one weekend each month, it was first weekend, but not really anymore. and if you preorder youre atomaticly able to play.

you level to 20 fast but there is still a ton of stuff to do whether you are into pvp or exploring or the missions or simply finding that rare piece of whatever


EDIT

to be sure to get into the next beta april 15 about be sure to have the PREORDER box with the codes in it or you will not get in

but your only able to play on the weekends though? And whats good once I get to lvl 20? I found quests pretty dumb in past MMO's

All People New To Guild Wars: The Level 20 Cap Is Good!!! Yes, I Said Good!!!

But no one is telling me why its good and all that other junk....

weekends only until retail release than 24/7

Because with a level 20 cap, there is no high level newbie killers, the game is about skill. Not about how much you play.

I've killed guys three levels higher then me.

no camping
no griefers
lots to explore (i dont pvp)
pvp if you want it (suposedly the best available)

so only on weekends....nvm that sucks ill wait till the game is released

I hope in later expansion they raise the level limit though. At least to 30 or 40 or something.

there will be no raising of the cap period

this is about skll not how many levels you grind out to be better than someone

You really don't know what you're missing out on then. They're only holding it once every month to give people a taste of what the games like, and I assume to make changes on their end, but yeah. Its totally worth it even if you just get to try it for like 3 days before the game comes out a week later. (as is the case with the April beta)

You should seriously reconsider.

the preorder cost is subtracted from the game price so you lose nothing, get to know what you are doing and start on the 27th instead of the 28th

The reason this is good ("good" being a relative term, mind you) is because:

A: Once you hit twenty, that's as far as you can go, level-wise.. Therefore you can concentrait on other things, like completing the missions, making friends and PvPing, exploring the world (and there is more to explore in this world than I have seen in any other game, ever), and so on.

B: If you can only get as high as level twenty, then it stands to reason that no one can get higher than level twenty. If you say to yourself "Self, let's do something else for a while" and come back to the game tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, you will still be able to play (read: stay competetive with) with your freinds who are still there, because they will not have advanced any further than you. Also, no one you are likely to meet in PvP will be higher than 20 either, so that evens the playing field quite a bit, no David and Goliath type situations to deal with. hopefully, it will make you plan more strategy, which should in turn make the game more challenging.

C: If something happens and your character is ruined (you might decide that the particular career path isn't working out, or something might go horribly horribly wrong at Arena.Net, or whatever) you can start over from scratch and be able to get back to where you were in a fraction of the time than if there was no level cap at all. This might encourage you to experiment more than you would have otherwise.

There are probably other reasons I haven't thought of, but these are some that stick out in my head at the moment. Was that any help? ^_^

Dave III

They wont do it ever. Period.

And I dont want it anyways...

The level cap staying at 20 permanently is a good thing.



Why you ask? Well first of all, PvP reasons. Do you seriously think it's fair that a level 20 should get his ass handed to him by a level 60 in a game like World of Warcraft? And if you think a level 20 will never come up against a level 60, how is that competitive?
Well now you're thinking "0mGz0rZ!!!111one1 This totally screws up PvE!!11one11". Well, you're an idiot. Since when does level translate directly into good missions and questing? If anything, it makes it much better because then you can replay a wide variety of missions and have them still be challenging (most of the missions from Lions Arch on are still fun at level 20... even the first real mission is great (solo the charr army)). It doesn't really restrict anything whatsoever except that you don't have to grind.
If you really feel an accomplishment for getting to level 5025391237849, then congradulations, you're stupid. Go play everquest.
If you like the idea of having a game that has fast paced and balanced PvP while still having extremely challenging and fun PvE, then welcome to Guild Wars.

Now if anyone asks why a Level 20 cap is good, I will pounce on you so fast with my KLOTD(Kiwi Launcher Of Total Destruction) you won't have time to think Maybe I shouldn't have asked...

EDIT: Make a sticky explaining this please...I beg you admins!!!

A level 20 cap is a good and bad thing. Its true they say this game is about skill but thinking in terms of long term play, it stands to be believed that the game needs to evolve. How long can people play between the 4 available character slots at maximum level, exploring the same things with no benefit? How long can the guild battles continue to be enjoyable with limited armour / weapon choices? The game how it is now (beta!!) seems somewhat finite in playability and replayability, but they say there will be expansions to keep players interested. I'm thinking that to keep people interested, there will HAVE to be evolvement in player level caps, droppable and craftable gear and of course the pvp / guild battle aspects. I've only played 3 beta weekends, and this is one of the most interesting games I've played thus far, but I do see the limited nature of it at this point. I'm sure the dev team sees this too, otherwise they wouldn't be making the drastic changes from beta to beta, nor would they be concerned with future expansions.

Rant: I played EQ for about 2 years when Velious came out, quit for 2(ish) years and went back to start anew as I had given away my account...I lasted for 3 months before quitting again for disliking the evolution of the game. Insane stats gear ruined the economy, game play was lost to the need to "raid" in uber guilds and get the highest level (now 70) and best gear..there was no fun in exploring and leveling up anymore, the low level dungeons were abandoned for need to Power-level in the new areas. The first time, it took me 2 years to hit lvl 56, the second i was lvl 60 in 3 months.
...an example of change being in the wrong direction....evolution based on greed.
I started playing City of Heroes, quit after a few months, went back and lasted a month before further boredom and frustration...absolute boredom in doing the same thing endlessly for xp...no market/economy, no upgrading your character. There was't ENOUGH to that game to keep me interested.

Guildwars seems to be a nice mix of things so far; fun economy, beautiful landscapes and more gameplay choices, grouping, pvp, questing, etc. I honestly dont care too much at leveling at this point as its currently fun just to run around and see whats out there....currently, not necesarily forever