Lineage II Speeds Leveling, Explained in Dev Diary

[Cody Bye]

Throughout the release of Lineage II, many casual players have often complained about the time it takes to level their characters. The tedious need to grind through levels in Lineage II is about to be altered forever with the upcoming Gracia content upgrade. With this release, the developers have completely changed the rules of the game, making leveling easier all the way up to level 60 and beyond. For more on this change, the Ten Ton Hammer staff has nabbed the latest developer diary from the NCsoft team, along with three new screenshots. Enjoy!

The big change is that leveling a Lineage II character is now extremely easier—and we say “extremely” in a fairly conservative manner. A normal new character that goes through the beginning quests can gain a few levels in just a few minutes, and players should find leveling now quite easily, all the way up to level 60 and beyond. Players that could spend several months of hardcore grinding to get up to a competitively high level will now be able to accomplish the same feat perhaps a month, if not less.

You can read the rest of the L2 dev diary by clicking here!

[Lizante]

While I admire NCSoft for continuing to develop their 4 year old game, Lineage 2, what was arguably one of the best, if not the best all-out PvP MMOs in its day, I don't think the game will see very much growth from now on in its non-Asian markets.

As a long time player since L2 NA Closed Beta, I finally shelved my 2 L2 accounts a few months ago.

While some of the changes appear refreshing, many Lineage 2 aficionados, including me, questioned some of the updates and "improvements" over the last year or so -- not the least of which is the new mega-nerf of the Archer classes.

And while, I know, NCSoft hopes to woo new players to L2 by greatly reducing the game's legendary, excruciating grindfest, I don't think they will endear the long term players who've spent many months (hardcore folks), if not years (normal players), leveling their avatar(s) past level 76.

[Cody Bye]

*shrugs* It sounds like it was the Korean devs, not the NA devs that decided to do this. I dunno though.

[fierywater]

If they had done this a lot sooner, L2 might have performed significantly better in North America. It's a shame that they're only just doing this near what's probably the end of its lifespan (at least for active development), given that Aion is coming soon.