When building games, a designer creates content that fits into the game and matches the level of a player. Games in certain genres, especially RPGs tend to have levels, numbers that represent how much experience you have in the game.
Typically, leveling is a great way for players to get feedback on what areas they've focused on within the game. The downside is the amount of time and grind players see when they look at their player level.
A game I previously worked on before it was delayed indefinitely came across the same issues New World players are having. Their complaints center around the level cap and grind.
Designers use level caps to manage level content, combat, and other level-based interactions to prevent unfair games. However, sometimes this causes players to feel pressure to either grind more than they want or cause the player to reach the maximum level too quickly.
We took a cue from Warfare. The level system is pretty simple:
Level up warframes
Level up weapons
Level up mastery rank
When we looked at a leveling system, we wanted players to enjoy our game without looking to max out their character. We created a simple system designed for players to find a nice balance between grind and just having fun.
In our system, weapons are leveled through combat. Kill enemies and watch as your weapons level, each level causing slightly higher damage or quicker attack speed. The maximum level for each weapon was set at 10.
This allowed for players to simply have fun playing while noticing that over time, their weapons were a little faster or stronger. Switching weapons may decrease the speed or damage, but over time, even newer weapons would become the same as the old weapon if not better!
At the same time, the player never levels up. This kept the player's focus on the story and combat, leaving the player to level up weapons they liked and ignore weapons they hated. It also prevented enemies from being too hard. Since no one in the game are restricted to level, just modifications, the bonus damage and speed of weapons were simply that, bonuses.
Personally, level caps are useful to keep content managed, but only if you use level caps to the player's advantage. You wouldn't want to restrict their gameplay simply because you had a low level cap that caused the player headaches on endgame content, neither would you want an unlimited leveling system where content is overpowered, or worse, enemies are too strong.
Based on our user research, players fear the same issues, especially in MMOs. But even more so is the annoying level cap on single-player games. It can be ridiculously fun to blow enemies to bits at level 50 in Borderlands, but it can also be terribly tough to take on a Destiny 2 boss by yourself without help at the maximum level (it was when I played several years ago, I know they've upped the cap since then).
This is why testing, user research, and PAYING ATTENTION TO PLAYERS is so important. <- 🤨 I had to shout that last part hoping EA and Respawn can hear. Any game/UI/UX designer should take note on what users provide in their feedback. It's a valuable opportunity to get close and understand their wants, goals, etc.
FYI - a simple leveling system is as simple as: experience = level * level * 10;
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