As a passionate RPG gamer, few things excite me more than an epic journey of continuous character progression without arbitrary limits. That‘s why after over 600 hours in Bethesda classics like Skyrim and Fallout 4, my biggest complaint has always been hitting the level cap and losing that profound sense of growth.
So when Todd Howard confirmed Starfield won‘t have a limit on levels, I couldn‘t contain my enthusiasm. This seemingly small decision has enormous implications on endgame, replayability, and how we approach character planning. Join me on an epic thought experiment as we ponder the boundless possibilities of unlimited spacefaring adventure!
Why No Level Cap is Huge
Let‘s first talk about why removing level restrictions is such a big deal. In most RPGs, progression hits a brick wall once you max out your level. You may have a powerful endgame build, but there‘s no more meaningful advancement left. Your journey of growth and discovery abruptly ends.
Starfield tosses that limitation aside. Our characters can now ascend to godly power over hundreds of hours through an endless climb of levels with no peak in sight.
As Todd Howard put it:
"We avoid level caps because it allows everyone to just keep going. We really love that feeling of constant discovery and constant growth."
This means we always have something to aspire towards. If I ever feel my spacefaring crusader growing stagnant, I can set them on a quest for the next level and perk. It gifts us a profound form of horizontal progression – not a sprint to the finish line but a relaxing stroll that lasts for as long as we desire.
What does that never-ending progression path look like though? Let‘s dig deeper…
A high level character overlooking the landscapes of Starfield
Character Progression Systems Explained
Starfield features deep RPG systems that collectively offer staggering character customization potential. I live for this stuff, so let‘s get into the details!
Attributes are core stats tied to basic functionality. When you level up, you get small boosts to:
- Health: Determines total hitpoints
- Stamina: Governs sprinting, jetpack usage
- Encumbrance: Effects carry weight capacity
Perks are passive buffs unlocked with perk points earned each level. They enable powerful build-defining effects across 3 trees:
- Combat: Weapon impacts, stealth, crit damage
- Pilot: Ship abilities, scanner range, fuel efficiency
- Explorer: Survival bonuses, follower slots, crafting yields
Here are some starter perks I‘d likely pursue first:
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Adrenaline Rush | +25% weapon damage at low health |
| Gunslinger | +10% pistol damage |
| Salvager | Crafting yields more components |
And here are some god-tier high level perks to aspire towards:
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Juggernaut | +100 to Health |
| Glass Cannon | +30% damage dealt and taken |
| Pack Mule | +100 carry weight capacity |
Skills represent your proficiencies in things like science, engineering, combat, dialogue. When leveling up, you earn skill points to increase these 24 skills. Higher skill levels do things like:
- Unlock new crafting recipes
- Increase harvest yields
- Improve prices/rewards
- Expand dialogue options
Here are a few key skills I‘d focus on early:
- Persuade – Better prices, speech checks
- Disable A.I. Subroutines – Improved hacking
- Advanced Material Manipulation – Craft space suits
This combine systems allow tremendous flexibility in custom tailoring your playstyle. And now without a level cap, we can take our carefully sculpted character builds to unimaginable heights over hundreds of glorious hours.
A character gaining a new perk point after leveling up
New Kind of Endgame
Most RPGs with level caps hit a dead-end once you max everything out. What do you do after completing the main story, side adventures, DLCs, and faction questlines? Without meaningful progression left, things start to feel stale.
By removing restrictions, Starfield‘s endgame becomes pushing characters to their most god-like extremes. I can envision friendly rivalries forming in the community to see who can reach the highest levels. Can someone hit the fabled level 1000 mark? What insane perk combinations will they wield?
I can already imagine an absolutely broken level 500 Juggernaut/Glass Cannon build with endlessly stacked weapon damage and brutal kill animations. It gives me delightful shivers!
And if we ever feel like taking a break from the towering heights of extreme progression? No problem! We can reroll new characters and enjoy sculpting their early journey all over again. This leads me to my next point…
Dramatically Expanded Replayability
One of my favorite parts of RPGs is planning new characters, trying experimental builds, and seeing stories play out with different choices. Unfortunately, in level capped games, repeating earlier content can feel like a dull chore.
Starfield flips that problem on its head by removing the ceiling on advancement. Now, recreating earlier adventures with new characters is not just replayability – it‘s essential for pushing progression limits even further!
On my first playthrough, I may focus solely on completing all main and side questlines to absorb the full story experience. My character build will be haphazard, grabbing perks and skills I find interesting without any cohesive plan.
But by the time I reach level 75 and beat the game, I‘ll have expertise analyzing all systems and mechanics. Now I can start a 2nd playthrough, this time with laser focused intent – break 100 levels efficiently through rapid exploration and resource harvesting. Every perk, every skill will feed into crafting income. By late game, I‘ll have amassed a fortune from my merchant empire that funds purchasing weapons and gear instead of needing to grind it all manually.
Then maybe on my 3rd character, I ignore the main quest completely and speed run faction reputation to access unique loot rewards. My goal is getting endgame equipment as fast as possible to snowball my pooltable into some insane proc chain build.
Starting fresh each time, I can utilize the ridiculous content breadth of handcrafted worlds, radiant side quests, and procedural planets to set new challenges and progression strategies. Skyrim kept me engaged for 600 hours with a hard level 50 cap. In Starfield, the only cap is my imagination!
A space scene overlooking a Starfield planet
Challenges of High Level Scaling
Of course with great power comes great balancing responsibility. Removing level caps sounds amazing on paper, but also introduces challenges, especially once players start hitting extreme thresholds.
Enemies and challenges have to continue scaling upwards to match our capabilities. But taken too far, this makes gameplay far too brutal. On the other hand, if threats don‘t keep pace, we‘d become unstoppable gods effortlessly crushing everything with little effort.
In an interview, Emil Pagliarulo Lead Designer for Bethesda Game Studios explains these challenges:
“We know we have to manage player damage output and stats really carefully. If you get to some outrageous level — I‘m not going to say what that level is — things can get wonky. We are accounting for extreme cases so that 200 hours into playing, the game doesn‘t start doing unpredictable things. Players will be incredibly powerful at super high levels, but it won‘t break everything else.”
This reassures me that Bethesda recognizes these pitfalls and playtested accordingly. Likely there are diminishing returns tapering off our power at extremes to maintain balance. So while we‘ll still feel progression, it prevents completely breaking things.
Of course that only applies to most average players. What about dedicated grinders pursuing level 1000+? Surely balancing has to break at some impossible point!
While we can only speculate, I envision god-tier characters eventually plateauing to Fixed power levels even while levels increase. Other RPGs handle this by making final levels require literal millions of XP – more of symbolic bragging rights than power spikes.
I also expect the universe itself will have to expand and escalate proportionally – adding new solar systems, undiscovered galaxies, challenges and enemies exceeding anything we‘ve encountered. It becomes less about difficulty spikes and more expanding the scope of adventure itself.
After all, Starfield‘s universe is touted as being two to three times bigger than previous Bethesda games. Surely much of that scale must be designed with nigh-immortal spacefaring heroes in mind!
Become a Spacefaring Legend
Removing level caps seems like such a small change on paper – just a few digits of code. But for immersive RPG fans like myself, the implications fundamentally redefine how we engage with game worlds.
Starfield presents not just a 100 hour epic journey but a continuous, neverending adventure where our characters can grow into living legends. Will I stop at reaching level 100? 1000? Or push the boundaries of my customized Vasco until no mortal can rival their might?
That‘s the beauty afforded by near infinite progression systems. With quadrillions of procedurally generated planets awaiting discovery, nothing ties us to any static narrative. Instead, we define our own stories of ascension however we see fit.
Raise a glass my friends – to pursuing spacedfaring glory without limits! See you among the stars for the next thousand hours of adventures. 🚀
