What will the level cap be?

Another hot topic right now is what the level cap will be in Diablo 3. No confirmation has been given as to whether or not it will remain at 99, as was the case with Diablo 2. There have been hints that we may see a max level of 100, but who knows..?

Regardless, whether it be 99 or 100 is not really of major concern; after all… it’s only one number. The real question is how attainable max level will be, and will questing just be another speed run to 80, or will players actually quest through the levels at a moderate pace. After all… the journey is supposed to be half the fun, right..? 🙂

In Diablo 2, obtaining max level was all but impossible with the exception of the most hardcore and dedicated players. Leveling also became exponentially more time consuming in the upper half of the 80’s. It would be nice to see a system that could allow hard-core casual players the ability to max their characters out with a reasonable effort. I’m not saying within a few weeks, but perhaps within six months to a year.

As a 5 1/2 year veteran of Diablo 2, I found it quite difficult and unrealistic to level much past 90 without a ridiculous amount of time wasted spent. I can see making max level a reward reserved for only a few, but perhaps make it a little more reasonable and attractive goal.

Another idea would be to introduce a system similar to World of Warcraft, in that initially the level cap would be relatively low, but would increase with each subsequent expansion. I like that idea. In addition to that, it would allow Blizzard the opportunity to introduce possible new talents or allow for players to experiment with a variety of builds. Then again… that would start to make Diablo 3 a bit like WoW.

Scratch that. 😉

We likely won’t know much about Blizzard’s intentions for the level cap until BlizzCon, as indicated by Bashiok’s post: