Will the Leveling Pact feature be coming back?

[ShardWarrior]

Mostly a question for the Homecoming folk - as I understood it, this was causing issues on the server so it was disabled.  Are there any plans to bring this back?  Was a nice feature and would love to use it with my kids.

[GM Sijin]

I can't speak to long term plans. I can say this is highly unlikely any time Soon™ unless someone takes it upon themselves to write a completely new function (or massively rewriting the current one) in a way that plays nice at scale.

[ShardWarrior]

Thanks for the reply.  Wow, that bad eh?  Shame as this was a nice feature. 

[Broken_Prey]

I loved this feature too and sad it isn't in the game anymore. I was thinking about asking too so I'm glad you did. 

[EmmySky]

I left the game in 2010 and don't remember this 'leveling pact' of which you speak.  What did it do?

[Roderick]

2 hours ago, EmmySky said:

I left the game in 2010 and don't remember this 'leveling pact' of which you speak.  What did it do?

Two low level characters (Below 5 or 10, IIRC) can join a level pact. While their XP values are different (For example, if a level 10 invited a level 1), the higher level character gets no XP, and all their XP is given to the lowbie instead. Once they're in sync, all XP either one earns is split 50/50 between them, even if one is offline. If they're teamed, this has no discernible effect, but when playing separately, it guarantees the characters will always be the same level.

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Leveling_Pact

 

Edit: The wiki says Leveling Pacts went live with Issue 13, which was in 2008. That means you were around while they were.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Roderick

[EmmySky]

Ok yeah I have slept since then lol, I have 0 recollection of that.  By that time though, ex-hubby and I had our 50s so didnt need it, although that woulda been handy for the kids getting their toons up to play with us.  

 

Thanks for the info!

[Erydanus]

It was definitely a niche use but it had its benefits. Like, I had a leveling pact with a buddy. We were doing the same missions anyway but the pact made sure we dinged together in case of debt being a factor or one of us being online and getting in on say a giant monster before the other one did. It also felt kind of like we were a special team. But I knew a LOT of couples who routinely did this. Also I think it was an artifact of a time where the leveling curve was more steep and debt was a bigger issue.  So, not as important now and with the amount of effort it would take to implement, probably not worth it. 😞

[Lost Ninja]

As at the time I typically played duos, I used it a fair amount, it meant that I could break my duo, do some teaming then go back to the duo and still be the same level. However I always felt is was a "WoW has this thing so we'd better have it to compete..." type of thing. (Specifically: Recruit a Friend)

[nzer]

1 hour ago, Lost Ninja said:

As at the time I typically played duos, I used it a fair amount, it meant that I could break my duo, do some teaming then go back to the duo and still be the same level. However I always felt is was a "WoW has this thing so we'd better have it to compete..." type of thing. (Specifically: Recruit a Friend)

I don't think recruit a friend ever had an exp sharing mechanic like this, you just got an exp bonus while partying together. IMO leveling pacts are better, albeit more exploitable for power leveling. I'm kind of sad they're broken, but with exemplaring/sidekicking they're not really necessary.

[Lost Ninja]

7 hours ago, nzer said:

I don't think recruit a friend ever had an exp sharing mechanic like this, you just got an exp bonus while partying together. IMO leveling pacts are better, albeit more exploitable for power leveling. I'm kind of sad they're broken, but with exemplaring/sidekicking they're not really necessary.

It was the "Play with a friend and get a bonus" style thing. Not the specific mechanics. Though I seem to recall you could grant bonus XP to other characters for each level achieved in a RAF IIRC, or was it granted when you hit 60? Something like that I think. My first level 70 Paladin got to 60 in that manner (mostly PLing my RAF duo through Scholomance and Stratholm (Had to look that name up it's so long since I gave a damn about WoW). Good times (in both games). 😄

Edited November 22, 2019 by Lost Ninja

[MetaVileTerror]

If we do get it back again, I think it would be nice if they permitted a grace period where we could Pact existing characters who are above Level 5.  Or perhaps a mechanic where any character below 50 can Pact.

[ShardWarrior]

On 11/21/2019 at 9:17 AM, Erydanus said:

Also I think it was an artifact of a time where the leveling curve was more steep and debt was a bigger issue.

That wasn't the reason for it at all.

[biostem]

On 11/21/2019 at 9:17 AM, Erydanus said:

Also I think it was an artifact of a time where the leveling curve was more steep and debt was a bigger issue.

I thought it was more like "I don't have weekends off, but my buddy does, so instead of neither of us being able to play our characters until those rare times when we were both on, we could continue to play them, yet remain in-step with each other"...

[Haijinx]

 

With exemplar/sidekicking being basically seamless now, is it even really necessary?

 

Seems more a relic of the clunkier systems past. 

[Doc_Scorpion]

3 hours ago, Haijinx said:

With exemplar/sidekicking being basically seamless now, is it even really necessary?

To some degree, yes.  Characters sidekicked up are -1 to the mentor, which means mobs that con white to the mentor con yellow to the sidekick (and so on as you move up the color ladder).  You can tune enemy levels via notoriety settings, but the mentor and sidekick will still have that 1 level difference.

The other (original) reason for it, level locked zones & content, is mostly a non-issue nowadays...  Unless I'm wrong, Ouroborous is the only remaining level locked zone and has the only level locked content.  (Lvl 10 to enter, lvl 25 to run the content.)

[ShardWarrior]

3 hours ago, Haijinx said:

With exemplar/sidekicking being basically seamless now, is it even really necessary?

 

Seems more a relic of the clunkier systems past. 

The level pact system was/is entirely different than the exemplar/sidekicking system. 

[Haijinx]

6 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

The level pact system was/is entirely different than the exemplar/sidekicking system. 

Yes, but if we'd had the exp/sidekick system we have now.  I wonder if leveling pact would have existed?

 

[MetaVileTerror]

The Ouroboros Zone is actually not level locked; using the Ouroboros Portal is though (level 14).  You can get to Ouroboros through the Echo Zones at any level.  However, the frozen flame crystals still require you be . . . probably level 10?  Maybe 15.  I can't remember.

 

Cimerora is level locked to 35, and The Hive and Abyss are level locked to 45.  All PvP Zones are level locked as well (15, 25, 30, 45).

 

I'm personally ready for all those locks to go away, honestly.  "Just" put a pop-up dialogue box when attempting to enter those zones, with a 5 second countdown timer so it can't be dismissed straight away, which says something like "You're about to enter a zone which is beyond your current abilities" blah blah blah, "click Yes to proceed."

And while we're at it, please remove the level locks on the Hero-side Accolades and Vanguard Day Job.

[ShardWarrior]

On 11/22/2019 at 8:33 PM, Haijinx said:

Yes, but if we'd had the exp/sidekick system we have now.  I wonder if leveling pact would have existed?

 

Why wouldn't we?  Level Pacts can allow those who are offline to earn XP if the other in the pact is online playing.  It keeps everyone the same level, including powers/slots etc.  If I'm 50 and sidekicking my son on his level 5 toon, he doesn't have access to the slots, powers, enhancements etc.  Same for exemplaring down to him.  Were we able to level pact, he would be at equal performance level.

Edited November 24, 2019 by ShardWarrior

[siolfir]

2 hours ago, MetaVileTerror said:

And while we're at it, please remove the level locks on the Hero-side Accolades and Vanguard Day Job.

There are level-locked Villain Accolades as well (for the same reason - requiring level-locked TF badges or badges from level-locked PvP zones; High Pain Threshold requires a debt badge which means no less than level 10 and you're a complete masochist if you get it at level 10).

Edited November 23, 2019 by siolfir

[MetaVileTerror]

Yes, the Villain-Accolades are level-locked by the sub-Badges being gated behind level-locked content.  However, that's different than the Accolade itself being straight-up level-locked itself.  I have all of the prerequisites I need for three of the Hero Accolades on my main at the moment, but I'm level 17, so they aren't awarding.
But regardless, I'd like the locks removed from the Task/Strike Forces too, so then even the Villain Badges will be available too.

[boggo2300]

On 11/23/2019 at 12:25 PM, ShardWarrior said:

The level pact system was/is entirely different than the exemplar/sidekicking system. 

I may be wrong but I thought it was introduced either at the same time or after sidekicking became SuperSidekicking as well?

[Lines]

30 minutes ago, boggo2300 said:

I may be wrong but I thought it was introduced either at the same time or after sidekicking became SuperSidekicking as well?

*Consults the Tome*

 

Looks like levellings pacts were i14 and supersidekicking was i16.

[Parabola]

I used to use this for duos I was dual boxing. What was weird was that eventually they tended to get very slightly out of sync anyway - one would always ding an enemy or two before the other.