One of the things I love most about old-school MMORPGs is the feeling that your character is never truly “finished”.
Gear matters. Levels matter. Spells matter. But I also think there is enormous value in having a very slow form of permanent character progression that continues after reaching max level.
This is one of the things EverQuest eventually solved extremely well (early on - Kunark/Velious) with Alternate Advancement.
I am not suggesting that M&M should simply copy EQ’s AA system.
What I am suggesting is the underlying idea:
Experience should continue to have value even after level 60.
Why I think this matters
In many MMORPGs, vertical character progression effectively ends at max level.
Once you reach cap:
- XP becomes meaningless
- new abilities stop arriving
- your character’s growth becomes almost entirely dependent on gear
That changes the psychology of playing your main.
Before max level, almost everything you do contributes to your character becoming stronger.
After max level, killing mobs can start feeling like something you only do because they guard loot.
I think M&M is exactly the kind of game where that does not need to happen.
The world is built around camps, grinding, exploration, grouping and spending a long time with the same character. That makes it a natural fit for a very slow post-level-cap mastery system.
The important part: progression should be small
I do not want endless exponential power creep.
A level 60 character with years of progression should not trivialize content that was designed for level 60.
The gains should be deliberately small.
Something like:
- 1–2% improvements
- tiny resist increases
- small HP or mana improvements
- minor spell efficiency
- slightly improved pet durability
- tiny reductions to cast/recast times
- modest skill caps
- utility improvements
- quality-of-life improvements to existing abilities
Each individual point should be modest.
But over months and years, the character slowly becomes more refined.
Example: Mastery Points
Once a character reaches a certain point — perhaps level 50, 55 or 60 — experience could begin contributing toward Mastery Points.
These could be divided into a few categories:
General Mastery
Small improvements available to everyone:
- +HP
- +Mana
- +Stamina
- +Resists
- slightly faster recovery
- minor carrying capacity
- small improvements to defensive skills
Archetype Mastery
Improvements shared by similar classes:
- casters: tiny mana efficiency or casting improvements
- melee: slight endurance, accuracy or weapon-skill improvements
- priests: minor healing efficiency
- tanks: small mitigation or hate-generation improvements
Class Mastery
This is where I think M&M could make the system genuinely interesting.
These should enhance the identity of each class rather than simply increase numbers.
For example, an Elementalist could eventually invest in things such as:
- slightly stronger elemental pets
- reduced mana cost on pet summons
- minor Companion Strike improvements
- slightly longer Elemental Empowerment
- improved pet resistances
- small improvements to individual elemental identities
- reduced reagent costs
- quality-of-life improvements to pet commands
None of these need to be huge.
The point is not to create a level 90 character disguised as level 60.
The point is to give the player something meaningful to work toward.
Diminishing returns would be critical
The first points should probably be relatively attainable.
Later ranks should take increasingly more experience.
That gives newer level-60 players meaningful early progression while preventing veteran characters from accelerating endlessly away from everyone else.
For example:
Rank 1 might take a few hours.
Rank 5 might take considerably longer.
Rank 10 might represent a serious long-term investment.
Eventually you are chasing very small improvements because you love the character, not because they are mandatory.
Avoiding the “mandatory grind” problem
I think this is the most important design constraint.
If the system gives too much power, every player will feel forced to grind hundreds of points before they are considered useful.
That would be bad.
A fresh level 60 should still be fully viable.
A veteran character with hundreds of Mastery Points should be better, but not operating in a completely different power tier.
I would aim for something like:
gear and normal levels = major power progression
mastery = refinement
That distinction matters.
Why this fits M&M specifically
M&M is built around the journey.
The game already rewards:
- long-term grouping
- camps
- exploration
- rare drops
- social play
- character attachment
A slow mastery system would reinforce all of those things.
It would also make old content remain useful.
If experience still matters at 60, then helping friends, revisiting older zones, farming camps, doing expeditions and simply grouping for fun can still contribute to your main character.
That is very different from a system where only the newest loot matters.
The psychological part matters too
This is probably the biggest reason I want something like this.
I like logging into my character and knowing:
“If I play tonight, this character will be slightly better when I log out.”
Not necessarily because I got lucky on a drop.
Not because a raid boss dropped my BiS item.
Simply because I spent time adventuring with that character.
That sense of persistent growth is incredibly powerful in an MMORPG.
My ideal outcome
I would love to see M&M eventually have:
Level 1–60: major vertical progression
Gear: major horizontal/vertical progression
Mastery: extremely slow, permanent refinement
The system should never replace gear, grouping, exploration or new content.
It should simply make experience remain meaningful forever.
I think that would give players who genuinely love their main character something extremely valuable:
a reason to keep playing that character even when the level number stops increasing.
This could also reduce the pressure to make 1–60 artificially slow.
Players who enjoy a long leveling journey can still take their time, while players who reach 60 quickly are not immediately faced with a character that has stopped progressing.
