I was following the thread on level cap and new content and it got me to thinking about comics and how certain characters never really seem to go past a certain "level
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I think that ties into my previous post and my impressions of what the devs originally wanted for the game. American superheroes are pretty much at an appropriate "level cap" when they debut or start very close to it. There are exceptions but for the most part your point is spot-on: Daredevil and the Batman fight street-level crime; they leave the world-devourers to the likes of Superman and the X-Men. Growth is horizontal. The Batman doesn't get stronger in the sense of punching harder; he acquires new skills, new combat techniques, and occasionally new gadgets to deal with a particular problem.
The original version of City actually did this. Given the very Champions-like point-buy system you could expand horizontally. The problem with that is it doesn't work well as an action game. Most gamers expect to see increasingly difficult challenges as they progress through the game -- otherwise what's the point? But diverse characters couldn't deal with that model, and the one-trick ponies could blow through it without breaking a sweat. Unrealistic as it is -- did I just say that in the context of superheroes?!?!? -- a level-based system provides a solid, easily implemented game balance structure.
This is one of the reasons why I am interested in what Cryptic has up its collective sleeves with Champions Online, given that they claim the ability to easily translate from MMO to PnP game since Champions is totally not level-based. Also interesting will be if they offer a means for translating the other way.
Well, it's interesting in the respect that a MA scrapper *should* have a bigger arsenal of attacks than he's got at level 10. So the motivation to level up is there. Daredevil fights like a level 32 scrapper. So does Batman. I think the mission creator in I14 will go a long way toward tailoring missions for those toons who should maintain a certain thematic.
LOL This is true. He has that James Bond/Q thing all rolled up into one. Did you ever notice how in the old Bond films, Q had a prophetic ability to give James EXACTLY what he'd need for the next mission? Batman is like that on crack.
The original version of City actually did this. Given the very Champions-like point-buy system you could expand horizontally. The problem with that is it doesn't work well as an action game. Most gamers expect to see increasingly difficult challenges as they progress through the game -- otherwise what's the point? But diverse characters couldn't deal with that model, and the one-trick ponies could blow through it without breaking a sweat. Unrealistic as it is -- did I just say that in the context of superheroes?!?!? -- a level-based system provides a solid, easily implemented game balance structure.
This is one of the reasons why I am interested in what Cryptic has up its collective sleeves with Champions Online, given that they claim the ability to easily translate from MMO to PnP game since Champions is totally not level-based. Also interesting will be if they offer a means for translating the other way.
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