Hypothetical Expansion 7: Raising the Bar

Scenario 7: Renown and Level Cap Raised

The Possibility: We now enter a possibility which the player base hasn’t really asked for, yet the developers have stated that it is a possibility in the future. That is the possibility of raising the level cap to 50 and/or raising the renown cap to 90 or 100.

Developer Feedback: Now if we look at this site which has the titles posted (which Mythic will tell you is a third party site and they are not responsible for its content) then we see that titles exist for renown rank 90+, presumably RR81+ was removed for unknown reasons. I lump these two together because although they are different ‘pools’ in my mind they go hand-in-hand. On several occasions the developers have said that they have looked into raising the renown cap; however, even though in most players minds raising the level cap goes hand in hand with this, the developers have stated that they do not intend on raising the level cap due to other changes to PvE that would have to be made (I have no source for this statement but I have heard from someone who knows the goings on on the inside so I trust the statement.)

The Pros: For players who like to be the best of the best, raising the renown cap would be a carrot-on-a-stick for that much longer.

The Questions to be Raised:

• Currently RR80 is a let-down. Unlike the other increments of 10 from RR40-70, you do not get a mastery point, you get a hidden +1 to every mastery tree (which equals something like 12 more damage to your abilities). Different people say different things about what you get at 80 but to state what I know: you do not get a mastery point – you get a hidden +1 to all your trees, you get your 80th renown point, you get a title, and can wear your last piece of Sovereign gear. Given the let-down that 80 is what reason would we have to grind  RR to 90 or 100? Would there be gear? Would the rewards actually be worthwhile?
• Renown is not a measure of skill by any means, it is simply a measure of time committed to the game. I don’t know the exact math, but give or take I can say that RR1-68 is roughly half the total renown in the game, and 69-80 is the remaining half. Once you hit 69 the amount needed for the next level begins to grow at semi-exponential rates, no longer jumps of a few thousand, but jumps of 10s of thousands of renown. Going off the growth rate of the renown required per level I would assume that renown rank 81-90 would have a time commitment roughly equal to that of RR1-80 and renown rank 91-100 would be possibly RR1-90 x2. Like I said I don’t do math so who knows – my point is the renown required for 100 would take months to acquire. At this point how would renown not be a grind? Considering you get the same renown from BOs and keeps it seems like this would be an unbearable drag.
• T4 is already a mess in terms of Renown balance. In my mind you cannot raise the renown cap without separating higher renown ranks. It is already unfair for a RR32 in devastator gear to be fighting with a RR80 in full tyrant/sovereign. Would these players be separated finally?
• Raising the level cap in my mind would require a fifth tier for further chapters and mobs that are level 41-50, would this happen? If so where would tier 5 be and how would it work with the fact that the campaign is capped at the capitols. It would seem rather odd that after culminating the campaign with the king fight you progress to a 5th tier… what would you fight there? Sigmar versus Tzeentch? Do we take tier 5 to the heavens and fight the gods themselves? If not how do you carry the story line into a 5th tier?
• Level 50, new abilities? New tactics? New Morales? A 5th career tactic slot? Another bag? A pet monkey?
• If you raise the renown cap but do not raise the level cap, certain players would grow rather weary of playing the same six scenarios every day fighting in the same 9 zones every day trying to fill ever bigger renown bars. How can you possibly consider keeping us in t4?

The Finances: This ‘expansion’ in my mind does not smell financially wise decision at all. In fact all this expansion does smell like is financial incentive without any thought. “Gee how do we get player to play longer without actually giving them new places to fight or new things to do… I know raise the cap!” Lets face it people who are already RR80 and still play are not playing for the gain, theyre playing to kill. People who unsubbed probably left because there was nothing new, the renown was a grind, or the game wasn’t to their fancy (bugs, PvP orientation, etc).

Conclusion: I don’t believe that raising the cap would get anyone to re-sub or it would draw in new players. It would just give the 80s purple numbers again. If someone’s 80 and still playing its because they love WAR, not because they want to grind to RR5,742. Raising the renown cap is no incentive for player to play, especially considering the lousy reward we get for hitting RR80, I mean come on, not even a fireworks display or banners in Altdorf? Raising either cap without actually implementing a fifth tier to separate the boys from the men would essentially kill T4. You think being a lvl 32 in T4 is bad fighting RR80s… try fighting RR100s… talk about getting one-shotted by throwing knives.