75 to 100 hours? And the level cap is 12?

[Vivisector 9999]

So the developers have stated playing through everything will take 75 to 100 hours... yet the level cap is only 12.

How is that going to work? Will leveling be so glacially slow that it'll actually take that long to max out? Or will I hit level 12 sometime before that point and face the remaining 50+ hours not progressing my characters in any meaningful way?

[Lord Adorable]

Leveling slows down dramatically after level 5 in D&D.

[dulany67]

Personal opinion: Act 1 lvl 5, Act 2 lvl 9, Act 3 lvl 12

[Hub]

Like a lot of games, the 1st levels are fast, and it becomes longer each level up.
We certainly will have a goof amount of 3nd act at max level to enjoy the skills, but not before.

[SpaceNvader]

Originally posted by Vivisector 9999:

So the developers have stated playing through everything will take 75 to 100 hours... yet the level cap is only 12.

How is that going to work? Will leveling be so glacially slow that it'll actually take that long to max out? Or will I hit level 12 sometime before that point and face the remaining 50+ hours not progressing my characters in any meaningful way?

12 at or near start of high level content and it will take awhile to get there. This is not Diablo or WoW.

[Ronin Gamer]

Most campaigns in table top don't go beyond certain level ranges so I've heard and almost never make it to 20. It's not that unreasonable to assume the same here.

[TripSin]

Originally posted by Vivisector 9999:

So the developers have stated playing through everything will take 75 to 100 hours... yet the level cap is only 12.

How is that going to work? Will leveling be so glacially slow that it'll actually take that long to max out? Or will I hit level 12 sometime before that point and face the remaining 50+ hours not progressing my characters in any meaningful way?

No, they said it would take like 75 hours if you just rush straight through it. You sound like the kind of person who would do that, though. For many people who actually take the time to enjoy the game and explore, a single playthrough will be a LOT longer than just 100 hours.

[Recjawjind]

Level 12 is high level in dnd. Youre a famous world-class adventurer at that point. Any higher and youre getting into demigod territory. It's a completely reasonable stopping point. Every single level matters a LOT.
Also this opens the potential for higher level caps in expansions, if we get any of them.

[TheManInTheAlley]

Brother, it's D&D. There are only 20 levels in total, and level 17-20 is reserved for killing Gods. 15 and 16, demigods. The spells, skills and powers in those levels, they would break the game, and not in a fun way. In a Zeus eating cherries on Mount Olympus, struggling to stay awake on a big fluffy pillow while lackadaisically tossing firebolts at ant-like humans kind of way.

Maybe with an expansion in a year, Larian will raise the cap to 15, but seriously, 12 is powerful. 12 is really, really powerful, and part of the journey is also going to be perfecting gear through looting and item gains. It will not be boring.

[katzenkrimis]

Originally posted by Vivisector 9999:

75 to 100 hours?

Will leveling be so glacially slow that it'll actually take that long to max out?

Higher levels will be very slow, to the point where you'll forget about it and instead focus on puzzles, exploration, dialogue, loot, and questing.

It won't be a big deal.

It's not like Starfield, or whatever other Action/Adventure games that you play, where you can hit level 75 in a week or two, without sleep.

And depending on your level of patience, the difficulty settings, how good you are these games, and whether or not you're a completionist, it'll take you a lot longer than 100 hours.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Yeah, witcher 3 was estomated at around 100h or so including all dlc. It took me around 192h.
This games EA content was estimated by larian at 30-40h. My personal time for my first playthrough was around 90h
So I expect at least 200h for me personally most likely even more than that...

[Vivisector 9999]

I appreciate the answers, everyone. Thank you.

[Zaris]

I personally dislike that Larian only offers 12 lvl instead 20 while nearly every other D&D (like) pc game managed to offer the full progression (up to rank 9) and only BG1 stopped at lvl8-10.

Even worse that the playtime will be like statd 80hrs for MAIN story and full side content >150hrs or something like that. Which means you stay on the same level for 10-20hrs without moving forward. In comparison the old games like Icewind Dale had about 30hrs for ~18-20 level ups.

On the other hand D&D5 is imho the worst D&D version so far for a pc game because of the quite dumped down progression, you get most times a passive and some hp every level and that's it. Most usefull spells are already unlocked at lvl5 (haste, fireball, spirit bubble) and concentration limits the combat even more by only allowing one active buff / summon / dmg spell depending on concentration while the old games let you summon 5-10 monster, 5-10 group buffs and stacking multiple AOE spells.

So all in all it doesn't matter too much that Larian stopped at lvl12 because D&D5 is too dumped down for a PC game.

[Flip]

I preferred 3E where the normal lvl cap in games was 20 and the first 10 lvls where reasonable. Not a fan of BG1 and PF: KM in terms of low lvl cap and very slow lvling because the early levels are boring, you have hardly any skills.

I think 5E is different though and seems like you get more tricks early. Will see how magic users feel, the fact they have given a decent damage cantrip means they can still contribute after using their two spells at low lvl.

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by Flip:

I preferred 3E where the normal lvl cap in games was 20 and the first 10 lvls where reasonable. Not a fan of BG1 and PF: KM in terms of low lvl cap and very slow lvling because the early levels are boring, you have hardly any skills.

I think 5E is different though and seems like you get more tricks early. Will see how magic users feel, the fact they have given a decent damage cantrip means they can still contribute after using their two spells at low lvl.

the only "boring" level really in 5e, imo as a DM and player, is level 1... and sometimes 2, class depending. Even level 1, Clerics get their abilities and whatnot frontloaded unlike other classes that usually get them at level 3. Some classes start getting cool stuff at level 2.

I personally enjoy the struggle at early levels as a player and as a DM. Later on, barely anything is a challenge, so the struggle to survive at the first few levels are incredibly memorable to me, both as a player and as a DM running games.

[HozzMidnight]

I stopped playing the current version of EA when I hit level 5. I had just got to the Underdark and, IMO, did everything (read all the books, notes, talked to every NPC I found, uncovered all the map I had access to, etc.) I could short of that and any content beyond that. That took me 24 hours.

I have read that if you 'do everything' 75-100 hours becomes 150-200 hours, I don't see how that is possible based on my EA experience and the understanding that Act 1 is a 1/3rd of the game.