In my first play through I did only a few of the side quests and the main story line quests and the level progression was about right. But when I started doing a new play through doing a lot of side quests I hit the level cap about a third of the way though the main story line, I ended up scraping that one and started another after I modded the IXP Base Bump. I started of on a IXP base bump of 200 and that didn’t seem too quick until I got to about level 10 when I switched to IXP base bump to 250, I felt I changed up too soon but now I am at level 16 it feels about right. But I will likely to change up to 300 later in the game.
I felt the same with FO3.

So my question to the forum is should Obsidian (and Bethesda) have put in an option to choose your level progression rate? And if yes should they patch it in, or make it part of the last DLC or wait until FO4?

No, it's not.
I mostly complete the game and what I wish to do with my character before even reaching the cap.
Shouldn't be any slower.
And optional?
Sure.
As long as I get an optional lvl 25 cap and an optional 1:1, 2:1 skill distribution as well.

Its ok if you like a quick play through but I prefer a long play though and during a long play through it sort of ruins the experience when you hit the level cap. For me its ok I know just enough to mod the IXP though I am not fully happy with my results, for people who know less then me and like a long game they are stuffed.

I used a mod for slower leveling and reached the cap before the end (not really a long time, but still had several things to do). That said level progression is quite a bit better than Fallout 3.

For me it's perfect. I've never gotten higher than 27.

i think it's ok. it very hard to find a 'right' balance, as there are so many different player habits when it gets to questing.
i reached lvl30 after about 2/3 of my total game time within a playthrough.
to me it isn't a problem to continue playing without getting XP messages anyway, so i'm easy to please in these things.

Some route would grant you more exp, it is part of the game.

I think it is a bit of both - a bit too fast and fine. I haven't gotten further than level 28, so from that point of view it is fine, but the pace in which the player gets better feels a bit too fast.

I am just curious here, but when you stop leveling, you want to stop playing the game? Even if there are things left to do?

I have played this game through 4 times, almost completing it each time*. In all the playthroughs but one, I was pretty close to level 30 by the point of the end game, one character was at level 30 as the end game started. OK, the current Playthrough is ignoring the MQ and doing nothing but side quests, but that character is only at level 21 almost level 22 just last night. However in no case did I feel I was leveling up too fast.

Then again, other than Perks, I ignore the Levels as this game is not about what level you are, at least to me. Well, getting high enough in levels to buy the AMR is important, but that is it. If they would leave an example of this laying around, I would not even worry about that.








*(I am avoiding the end game for some reason this time around, might have to fight that battle this weekend on one of the 4 saves I have for that)

i hit level 30 yesterday with only 12 side quest/main done plus all Dead Money.

Yes the game needs an option to halve or even quarter the EX points

In the base game? Not at all. But I do think that after DLCs (and several quest mods) I will manually slow mine down. And the leveling in this game is tons better than Fallout 3, I die sometimes even at level 30 which was unheard of in FO3.

Like CCNA said, why does reaching max level mean you stop playing?

I like the level progression, I don't want to be stretching to find things to do for more experience and like having my stats up well before end game so I can experience the game fully. If you still had a max of 50 in your major stats by end game with skill checks being as they are it would kinda svck, I'm all for multiple playthroughs but only being able to pass a singly type of check per play...


I like the levelling as is, I think it is a little fast at first but ends up at a nice rate, I don't have the DLC yet so no comment on the 5 level increase.

The lack of levelling enemies is the biggest boon here, if enemies levelled with you then it's much more important but as it is New Vegas' levelling is flexible.

I don't care about reaching a level cap. What I don't like about leveling "too fast" is you become too powerful, too fast...at least in/for the vanilla game. And yes, becoming too powerful often demotivates me and I get bored. So for myself, lower-xp mods help, but another option that would work for me is to just make things like spending skill points and choosing a Perk when you level voluntary. If I DON'T WANT to spend my skill points or pick a perk yet, I shouldn't have to, I should (imo) be able to do it later. Why is it mandatory to do so before I can move on?

...in fact, can you alter that in the GECK? Maybe there's a 'force level up action yes/no' in there somewhere..

The level cap is there to stop you maximg out every skill, so it doesn't matter whether you reach 1/4 way through the main quest, or right near the end. The important thing, for me at least, is that you don't become too powerful, which was definitely the case in F3 with Broken Steel.

Of course, the main downside of hitting the cap too early is having to play through the remainder of the game without the rewarding ka'ching of accomplishment every time you overpower a bloatfly with a machine gun. I need that sound!

Never had a problem with the level cap myself.
If it were gone I'd not miss it either, I try to play to role not level.

Fact is if you explore and perform a bunch of side quests, and in areas that require a challenge.
You'll hit the cap sooner, this is reward play.
If gamers were not so much in love with level ups, XP, better equipment and hidden bonus content.
Rather on story playing in of its self there would be no need to level up at all.

I've always found that with my play style that leveling has always been too fast. Perhaps an option of slower leveling would satisfy some people.

I can understand why some people quit playing when they reach the level cap; To me it just kinda stops being fun anymore. For instance, after playing my character for 114 hours I am at level 28 now, without my slowed leveling mod I would've lost interest in continuing that character long ago because there would be nothing left for me to strive for. I would have achieved all that I would become. Leveling up, to me is most of the fun of playing.

Well, I always keep a Godly Character save for those times when power suits me. However I agree that I would like some challenge to the game as I go along, at least in the new areas I come to.




Yes, I do miss that sound, immersion breaking as it is.....

You'd probably love Dekaron/2moons then.
It's grindtastic.
(Seriously, it has no level cap and the highest spell is like 150 or something which takes a year of instances to reach.)

I don't find the leveling too fast, but then I tend to stick to quests that can be done sans combat and level my combat skills late in my builds, so progression tends to be slower than it would if I tagged a combat skill at the start, ran it up immediately, and started blasting everything in sight.

On the opposite end of things, I also tend to have a couple of characters who I force-level to the cap via the command console in order to have full skills from the beginning. These characters mostly get used for testing purposes since they already have maxed skills in several areas, and I do not finish the MQ with them nor progress it past a certain point.

Leveling is very fast when you hack and unlock every container and computer you find.

But i agree, leveling is a bit too fast. Especially with the addition of challenges. Keep in mind though, they did increase the level cap in NV and the XP needed for each level. So NV leveling was atleast better then FO3 in terms of scaling.

Now if only they would give companions levels....mmmm


OH!!! and for what its worth. Console gamers cant mod the leveling process. Which upset me a bit

I think characters level way too fast as well - but I realize that everyone has different play styles, and that some(most?) people like it as it is.

More choice is always good though - The "one size fits all" approach is never going to work perfectly in a game that can be played in so many different ways.

I was thinking about a week ago that it would be really nice to have a trait to choose at the start of the game that reduced all xp by a factor of 2. Given that the game already has the code in place to increase all xp by 10% if the player chooses the "swift learner" perk, it should be really easy to implement - and by making it a trait, there are no new menus to confuse anyone.

Or it could be a perk give by a zero weight item, that is added to the player's perk list like the companion related perks are. An f2 shamanistic cursed idol perhaps?

As all console players, I have no option to load any user-mods but I'd certainly pay for it in an official dlc.

The developers for New Vegas opted to implement an optional hardcoe mode for this version of Fallout (which BTW was inspired by a hugely popular user made mod), I don't see why it would be a huge deal to implement an optional hardcoe XP mode as well. Perhaps that would be something the devs could look into for future games.

It’s not about hitting the level cap and not wanting to play any more because I’m not getting any more XP, it’s because I was barely half way through the main quest line and my character was way too strong, there was no challenge in it.

the problem is there really aren't many high level enemies, once you're about level 15 the game is too easy and since there aren't many quality enemies or serious threats on the map at high levels the game is far to easy, there is no sense of danger once you're about level 15, once you have some good weapons, there almost isn't any point in leveling up, you become like a god by level 20 with no reason to level up any more after that, let alone 35 levels, and people said you're a god in FO3, new vegas is even more dramatic, you're like a walking terminator at level 15 with not much to cause you any problems, there just isn't any serious threats on the map once you have some good weapons. so there doesn't need to be 35 levels, 20 levels is almost too much for new vegas. in this area the game is super unbalanced, its just way too easy. nothing hardcoe about new vegas, its a good game but its a not a hardcoe game, its more like a beginners type game.

Level progression rate is just fine the way it is. If any modifications are done to it by way of patch, then those modifications should be optional and implemented by player choice only.

I think the cap should be removed altogether. 35 isn't really good enough for me. I know I'm missing out on gaining at least two more levels from the several remaining quests I have yet to complete. Even without a cap, I don't think I'd get about level 37 or 38 (or maybe level 33 if I don't do Dead Money).

I say if there's going to be an option to reduce XP gain, then there should be an option to play without a level cap. No need for bullet sponges, no need for worrying about mythical game balance, no new perks added in, just get rid of the cap and we'll level up like we have 35 times before (or 30 for those without Dead Money).