Will I have to worry about hitting the level cap before getting through most of the game's content such as with Fallout 3?
*My first vanilla play through with Fallout 3 I hit the level cap well before finishing half the world map...

The vanilla cap is 30, and the world is said to be more balanced, so I doubt this will be a problem.

It should be balanced out for level 30 this time. Fallout 3 was made for a 20 cap.

By the time I get to 30 in Fallout 3 ive usually done all the quests, including DLC. The vanilla cap in FNV is 30 and I cant see it being increased with DLC.

Hmmm... I wonder about that... If we assume there WILL be DLC, and that it will be at least as large as The Pitt or Point Lookout, and that it will likely come out at a point when many players have maxed out their starting characters.... then a level increase might be required... Maybe up to 35, or 40 depending on how many and how large the DLC will be.

Alot of this is subject to play-style too. If your a power-leveler and hang out in the wastes alot gaining XP instead of questing, then you may indeed cap-out before all the content is done. I GECKulate that the balance will be a Ton better than we had with Fo3, as there has been alot of time and tweaking done. But I still suspect folks will hit the level cap early.

My only hope/concern is that once a player hits level cap they are not God's like we were in Fo3 at level 30. Once I hit max level, all my specials were super high and skills all maxed out, so its not just the levels its the special and skill increases we get while leveling and the affect those have on gameplay. If I were worried, it would be about skills getting too-high once people hit level 30 - but I'm not worried about it one bit. I'm sure the balance will be very rewarding.

Keep the faith!

18 days, 11 hours 24 minutes

Honestly, with a game like Fallout and a system like SPECIAL, there comes a point when leveling should just stop, otherwise you can max everything out and become a god, and none of your specializations or character building decisions matter any more. In my opinion, whatever the level cap is in a game, it should be impossible to reach without putting in some serious, serious, effort and grinding in that direction. You shouldn't naturally hit the level cap just by doing all the quests. You should have to put in some time farming XP to hit the game limit.


That is one thing I found interesting in FO2. You couldn't really hit 100% in all skills in single playthrough - the points just weren't there. But skills went up to 300 in FO2. The cost for each skill point over a hundred just kept getting higher. But it allowed you to "super-specialize" in your core skills if you so desired. You didn't have an instance like in FO3 where you have maxed your tag skills that fit your character story and now have to pick another skill to raise. Instead you could become a true master in your tag skills, pushing them beyond anyone else's in the game world if your were willing to totally fore-go any other skills to do so.

in the new podcast the developer said one of his great achievements was hitting level 30 so yeah it must be harder?

Chocolate > Vanilla

Yeah, but i interpreted that as in, 'it was a challenge due to the time i had to do it in...', However, i could well be completely wrong about this. And actually, i hope that i am wrong, for my game's sake.