Level-locking: The Savior of PVP and Everquest II
One of the most controversial topics on the Everquest II player versus player (pvp) servers is whether players should be allowed to disable adventure experience and lock in at a specific level (level-locking). The level 70 players constantly whine that this is ruining the game because there are less players pvping at level 70. I say to them, NO WAY!! Level locking is the savior of the pvp servers.
1. Accessibility of PVP - Allowing players to lock their level earlier in the game allows players to participate in PVP at a much lower cost. If there was no level locking, the amount of pvp at lower levels would be dramatically reduced and players would have to level to 7o to get to consistently participate. The time it would take for a casual player to reach 70 would be too great for them to even consider playing on a pvp server. Level-locking allows casual players to participate in pvp.
2. Tradeskilling - Level-locking has added new markets for tradeskillers. On the pvp servers there is a very healthy market for T2 through T6 mastercrafted armor, weapons and spells. Unlike on pve servers, because people are staying in these tiers for longer times, they are willing to spend their plat on lower level mastercrafted gear. This has created a very healthy tradeskill economy on the pvp servers.
3. Use of More Content - Unlike on pve servers, pvpers hunt in almost every zone in a given tier in order to maximize their AA points. This is great for the game. On pve servers, players really don't have an incentive not to fly through the levels. However, for a level-locker, it is very important to maximize the number of AA points they have gained by the time they reach the level they are going to lock at. These AA points make a huge difference in pvp effectiveness.
4. Equipment Strategy - Level-lockers also get to experience more of the game because they camp mobs to get that uber T2 bracelet. A non-level-locker would not care about the Howler Bracelet dropped in Blackburrow. The non-level-locker would not waste their time camping Howler for this level 17 bracelet because they would be reaching level 22 quick enough not to make camping worthwhile. However, for the level-locker this 17 bracelet is really uber.
5. Proliferation of Alts - Not that Everquest II players need a reason to create more players, level-locking certainly adds another reason to create alts. In my guild, players create an alt for each tier of pvp. When someone wants to pvp in T2, they roll out their T2 toon. If a T3 pvp group is forming, they roll out their T3 toon. I love the diversity of gameplay that this allows.
What do you think about level-locking?
11 Responses to “Level-locking: The Savior of PVP and Everquest II”
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Lishian Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pmLevel-locking is a godsend. If you can’t find good pvp at a particular tier… go to your pvp toons in another tier. I play to PVP… I quest to be a better PVPer. I think locking is fine, but only to maximize AA. Why should we do this? Because if we don’t, there will be a group of folks that have that will PWN your face! A twinked group of t3 can kill soloers from t3 to t7. You need to lock on the way to T7 in order to be competive. Get your max AAs… pvp til you can get your pvp gear, then start the grind to the next tier. You really do see a lot more of the game and there is a ton to see.
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Lishian Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 2:24 pmBTW: The game is much better when you lock combat xp and take your time advancing up the ranks… especially on a pvp server. Venekor day one I started my pvp toon and everyone raced to 70… I didn’t get to see most of the game.. now I am taking my time and I’m seeing everything and I’m loving it.
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The Level-Locking Debate Rages On MMO Explorer Says:
July 31st, 2007 at 9:49 am[...] In reply to the article posted here. [...]
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sven Says:
October 15th, 2007 at 5:53 amI think people are using level locking because they cant gank lowbies with their high lvl characters. And they dont wanna a challenge, just want to kill people who dont do this and stand no chance
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Wyrmslayer Says:
June 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pmIn my opinion there is nothing wrong with level locking. Yeah you may get beat up from time to time, but is that really such a big deal? To be able to fight each other is the reason we play pvp, if you have a problem with people killing you then pve is the way to go. Ever Quest takes a huge time commitment to get to higher levels and not everyone wants to play like that. if you are willing to put in the time to make it to level 70 then you should be willing to put up with the relatively small amount of time lost to a pvp attack.
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Tamo Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 11:12 pmPeople who level lock tend to have higher lvl alts who can twink them by mailing them huge amounts of plat. The T2 level locked character can then pay huge amounts of plat to buy up all the fabled gear and master level skills. This jacks up the price of those items and makes them too expensive for new players who don’t have higher lvl alts. They just want to xp through to the higher tiers (like the level lockers did with their high lvl alts). The new players can’t do that because they are constantly ganked by the twinks. They either have to spend hoards of extra time gathering rares (getting constantly ganked in the meantime) to earn the money to compete with the twinks in PvP…or constantly have to endure reviving after getting killed repeatedly by all the level locked twinks.
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Bart Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 12:57 pmI myself like the level locking, but for reasons that havent been discussed. I will ONLY play on a pvp server. That said, Im not a bigtime pvper, i just play on the server because it gives gear more meaning, and its just more realistic. I enjoy level locking because of the pve aspect of the game. Its so easy to level now that I could fly through the levels no problem up to 50 id say at least. However, theres so many fun stuff to do and zones to explore, just in the 20s, that I have locked my leveling so that I can quest all of these zones, and not end up too high of level to still do the other zones. I know, some will say that you still can kill greyed out mobs and do greyed out quests, but I dont know, I just hate doing gray mobs and gray quests.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
[...] and Everquest II I believe that level-locking is the savior of everquest II’s pvp servers. Please check out this article to find out why. To summarize:Level locking improves the [...]