Ork wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:20 pm
I don't think we need to have a triangle population of characters, and I also don't believe the statement that players won't use a L12 cleric vs. a L30 cleric. The truth is that players respect gravitas created through roleplay a thousand times more than mere levels.
I don't disagree we need a triangle population of characters. In fact, I concluded the same thing. We only need a triangle population
if we want finding RP to be as easy for low levels as high levels.
You make a good point about gravitas created through roleplay. Let's examine this closer.
I think you understand this Ork, but I want to clearly define things to help discussion: Human beings are more likely to go to people they know well and trust to solve their problems than relative strangers. "Gravitas" in this discussion is going to refer to this propensity to seek out friends. It is increased by gaining trust, doing favors, and building comradery through shared experience.
Here's the structure of my proceeding argument:
1) Level 30s can solve more problems than lowbies
2) Level 30s leverage this ability to gain resources faster
3) Level 30s leverage their resources to build gravitas at a faster rate than lowbies.
4) Thus if the goal is to attract more problems to solve via gravitas, being level 30 is still in the best interest of the player.
Even if gravitas is valued more highly than levels directly, it is still in my direct interest to become level 30 quickly in the majority of cases.
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Let's look at clerics again. I will keep faith constant for now.
We have a set of problems that can be solved by clerics of Helm. Within this set of problems, we have problems that can be solved by all clerics, or problems that can be solved only by clerics of a certain level or above. There are no problems that exist for clerics of Helm that can
only be solved by lower level clerics of Helm.
If we examine this set of problems, we can clearly see that the scope of problems that can be solved by a level 30 cleric of Helm includes the entire set. Lower leveled clerics can only solve a portion of that set. Thus, it is to the player's advantage to get level 30 quickly so that they have access to more problems to solve.
High leveled characters often have been around longer and know more people (as Xerah said). This means they naturally have built more gravitas. However, this isn't the whole picture. Because of the advantages of being level 30, they also can create gravitas faster than low-leveled characters.
Level 30s have access to greater material and social resources than low leveled characters because they can solve more problems. They can kill the bigger bad guys and get more loot. They can do bigger favors and get more social capital.
They can then use these resources and social capital to mentor and assist lower leveled characters at a quality that far surpasses that of low leveled characters, especially now with the writ changes. Level 30s are better at creating gravitas with lowbies than lowbies are at creating it among themselves.
They also have more ability to solve problems (see above), and thus more opportunity to gain favors and build relationships among their peers.
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Roleplay wise, it's just better to be level 30 except for very specific, niche concepts. I believe people instinctually "get" this, and that is why people often rush 30 before seriously committing to social interaction.
Even mundane things that low leveled people should be able to do are crowded out by the large number of max-level characters. It's lore-aligned for a level 3 or 4 PC to be a guard. But, what duties can a level 3 guard perform while on Arelith? Arrest people? Stop a fight? Keep a prisoner from escaping or being rescued? Investigate a murder (what happens when he finds them)?
There are valid and responsible reasons to want to push for 30, and restricting this just arbitrarily gates content to people who don't want to spend hours grinding.
I would be in favor of even faster leveling except that the leveling process on Arelith is pretty darn fun on its own, and it isn't slow by any means. XP isn't the only currency with which to buy player entertainment, but it certainly is one. Removing that factor from Arelith would just remove a ton of players. My conclusion, then, is that we have a good balance of fun grind without putting too tall a gate between new characters and maximum RP potential.
If you want to increase RP at low and mid levels without decreasing leveling speed, one simple solution is to make stronger incentives to group up for content. The act of finding a group forces interaction, which is the core of RP. Don't remove the value of solo play entirely, though. Sometimes I don't feel like talking and just want to kill goblins, and I'm sure other people have those moments too.