Level 60 in Neverwinter
It's been a very long time since I had a maximum level character in an MMO. This is mostly because my play time tends to be fractured; occasional long sessions, but mostly short bursts. Neverwinter allows for this, and so Barakas Vlord, tiefling control wizard, is now level 60.
Part of this is due to two aspects of the game that I haven't seen in an MMO before. One is the Invocation - praying, essentially - which you can do once an hour. It has diminishing results, so doing so every hour is not that effective, but once or twice a day is useful. It grants you one coin in each of two currencies, a temporary buff of some kind, some rough Astral Diamonds, and some XP. So even your crafting character who never leaves Protector's Enclave can level about every 5-8 days, and eventually hit level 60.
The other is that the Leadership craft gives small amounts of XP for completing tasks, and that adds up - and crafts, as noted before, can be practiced offline, via the web interface.
These two things are, in a way, levelling on easy mode. There's a limit to the speed at which you can level using them, though, and I'm still pretty sure Barakas got more levels from quests than he did from crafting or praying. I also don't object to a slow easy mode being available; it still takes a little bit of effort and attention, and it prevents the feeling of being left behind when you haven't time to play that's so common in other MMOs.
I won't have time until around Christmas to check out the actual end-game content, I don't think, but in the meantime I can putter away at crafting and economic stuff, and maybe level the alts.
Posted by Drew Shiel at October 23, 2013 1:31 PM
