There seems to be two major camps of thought when it comes to levelling in MMORPGs. The first are those who like to take their time with it, soaking in the experience of the vast world presented to them and diving deep into the story elements. The others are fiercely focused on the end goal: get to max level and begin attacking end game content to create the most powerful characters possible. Both are legitimate forms of play and indeed a good MMORPG caters to both players but no matter which camp a player belongs to they will all ask the same question of a new game before they dive into it.
How long does it take to get to max level?
The reasons for asking the question differ significantly between both camps. For those who enjoy the levelling experience (I count myself as being primarily in this camp, although a little more on that later) the time to max level is a signifier of how much content they can expect to see before their preferred experience comes to an end. Heavily story based MMORPGs like Star Wars: The Old Republic the answer comes back as varied range depending on how far you want to dive into a particular story arc. End game raiders typically want to know the minimum amount of time required, often shortcutting past story elements and less efficient levelling zones, as the game for them doesn’t really start until they reach max level.
After you’ve done the levelling once though it’s often not the same when you go through and level again. Whilst many recent MMORPGs have made significant inroads to delivering unique experiences to different character classes, factions and whatever delineations they might have it’s almost inevitable that there will be some overlap between them. Thus levelling another character, referred to as an alt (alternate), can often be seen as something as a chore. Indeed for my first alt in World of Warcraft the game played out almost identically with the only difference being how combat evolved and my place in the various dungeons. It’s quite different now though and indeed the time taken to reach max level has been drastically reduced so when an item like the above shows up, allowing you to reach max level instantly for a price, the reaction has been somewhat mixed although I feel it’s overwhelmingly a positive thing.
I’ve been the proud owner of at least one max level character (usually 2) in every World of Warcraft expansion that’s come out. Whilst I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the levelling process on every occasion I rarely want to go through it again. Indeed nearly every time I’ve come back to World of Warcraft there’s been some kind of incentive program that made my levelling life a whole lot easier and the thought of having to redo it, for real this time, often doesn’t appeal enough. Something like this which would allow me to try out a character class which I’d otherwise have to slog through for countless hours for seems like a good deal to me, even if I feel the asking price is maybe a smidge above what I’d be willing to pay. I think that’s the point though and the next expansion comes with a free level up anyway.
I would put one caveat on it, if I could, and that would be that you would need at least 1 max level character before being able to purchase additional ones. This is something that the World of Warcraft forums have long debated over, often wanting the ability to boost their alts up to a certain level once they have a single character at max. I think the idea has merit as those who truly enjoy the levelling experience will do it regardless and those who are seeking end game content, the ones who usually spend the most time with the game by far, will always have at least a single max level character before they seek out another.
For me though things like this present a chance to reinvent myself every time a new expansion comes out. Whilst I’ve been an on again, off again player for the better part of 10 years now there are still classes I’ve yet to play in any meaningful sense and the allure of starting completely fresh in a new world is always enticing. I may never purchase one of these level boosts but I’m glad they exist as they would give me the opportunity to play with others who don’t have the time to invest in levelling.
