Guild Wars Mini-Interview #23
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The official Guild Wars Game FAQ states that players will still remain competitive even if they don't buy an expansion pack against players who have. Can you give us any information on how will this model affect the current level 20 cap? Are you planning on raising the level cap with every expansion pack and if so, how is this going to be balanced?
Well, I'll start with an opinion: A level is only a number. I cannot answer with certainty whether the level cap will rise with expansions. I rather believe that the designers have not yet finalized an answer on that one. But in a game of skill, isn't it how you play, and not how long you've played, that really matters? If I say I'm a level 99 character in such-and-such a game, does it really tell you how well I play? Or does it tell you only that I've been playing for a long time?
The point of Guild Wars isn't to reach a number that has little relevance to the gameplay itself. The point of Guild Wars is to get good at playing, to acquire a deeper and richer range of gameplay options and a fuller arsenal of skills with (skills) meaning the kind that you wear on your belt and the kind that you, as a gamer, bring towards the manner in which you play the game.
Now, how does that relate to expansion packs? Well, the player who has purchased multiple chapters of Guild Wars will almost certainly have a greater list of skills from which to choose. It's pretty natural that with the completion of quests in multiple chapters, you will be able to acquire more skills for your characters. But the designers are balancing skills in each chapter and between chapters, so while you may have more skills and greater choices, but you won't necessarily have more powerful skills. And in battle PvP or PvE you will still be able to bring only 8 skills into the battle. It's how you use what you have on hand that will show you to be the better player.
The typical level grind rewards players with unfair advantages. Jeff Strain has said that it's like giving the veteran chess player three queens compared to the new player's one queen, simply because the veteran has more experience. Whether we raise the level cap in subsequent chapters of Guild Wars or not, we intend to never reward as richly for hours spent as for how well you play the game.
