How to implement good leveling in MMO-RPGs?

A game without levels

One approach is to not have levels at all.

Character progression can be done in other forms (equipment, skills learned, player experience etc).

However, players still like to "see" the power level of an enemy before engaging with them, so the game would need other systems to display some sort of power level to enemies:

• Create a hero lvl score based on [items];
• Have a hero score based on [skill] -> so instead of having a fixed lvl, bind it to the player's recent performances.

This way, players would all start at similar point, but through finding treasure and powerful items they could become stronger for others that see them.
And by measuring and rewarding skill / gameplay, it would reflect much better how strong a player actually is as an opponent.

Related content: https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/pekmza/how_do_you_think_the_main_quest_should_impact/

How do you think the main quest should impact progression?

Recently I posted an image on r/blackdesertonline, sharing my thoughts on the Valencia questline. In particular, how I disliked the Valencia II quests, which were poorly written (about two backstabbing graverobbers - Afuara and Zobadi), had two boring objectives in each quest (steal from NPC or dig in random spot in desert without auto-pathing). A commentor compared it to FFXIV, calling the whole game a fetch quest. I discussed with him about FFXIV, and he mentioned how he didn't think it was worth going through the MSQ to progress the game. He wished he had skipped cutscenes or used a story boost, and mentioned that FFXIV would be better as a hub world with dungeons like PSO2.

I don't have this endgame mentality, and I enjoyed every part of FFXIV, the story in particular. It made me think of the major differences between BDO and FFXIV. I enjoy both games, but I think that FFXIV's story is better. It is consistent from ARR and builds upon itself as it explores the lore. Being able to go to places later on in the story is a natural progression. However, BDO's main story is based on exploring different areas and their lore, which can be with side quests as well. BDO's main story is optional. It is a sandbox MMORPG, and you can skip story arcs like Valencia and go straight to Kamasylvia. You can also avoid the story altogether, level up, get better gear and go grind mobs in endgame locations.

Personally, I think that FFXIV way of progressing through the game by locking content with the MSQ is better. What do you think?

players rush through content because the good rewards are only at the end. for me, this ruins the game since I am left with 2 options:

• also rush through.
• or be the last to level up (and often end up without groups to do 'old content').

so i think that certain level caps should be locked behind certain item levels. This way, players aren't forced to join in the story if they don't wish to, but they have to at least farm some items at multiple roadblocks.

but i have no idea how something like this would play out, and I dont think it is a perfect idea either. This part of MMOs needs some innovation.

Items as Progression Barricades

Related to how items can be upgraded (How to make items more relevant in MMO-RPGs? #post-2)

Lore: As items charge-up by absorbing the life essence of enemies, at certain points the weapon needs an upgrade to be able to hold more power.
The upgrade can also unlock new attacks and/or abilities.

At certain power-levels, require players to run certain content to unlock higher item-levels.
Objective: avoid players rushing the content, and make players engage with more boss fights from each level range.

Exemple: players could need 1000 souls + an essence of 3 different elements of bosses (in the level range) to upgrade a weapon to the next tier.