Starting level at 4?

[Rary]

just wondering...if i make a char and decide to start him at lv 5, and then change my mind after i play with him a bit, can i go back and make him lv 7?

You can advance to level 7 anytime till your level 7.

Yes at level 5, you have a disadvantage against level 7's. But level 7's have a disadvantage to level 9's. So this doesn't matter in this case.

Also remember that a fighter at level 4 has 40 hp's. Nothing a few spells can't handle, especially if the mage gets hold person at that level, the fighter is toast.

You say people want the upper edge over their opponent, yes, why do you think they leave and log a higher guy. A level 5 is the same to a level 7 as a 17 to a 19.

Most people will never start at the lower level because they just want the highest level possible. If I put a lever at Ares to grant 300,000 xp I'm willing to bet 90% of the people would use it. Why? They like to be high level, then they wonder why their bored and log off in 1 hour.

The whole fun of arena is teamplay and powering up because of it. If you lose any of those 2 things, the game becomes not so fun. Ever play an arena where you get no XP and everyone is level 20? Boring. Ever play dual matches the whole time? Boring. Starting at level 5 just gives those that wish 2 extra levels.

[Protoss119]

But you have to work towards L9. Chances are there will be more L7s than there are L9s.

Neither Sorcs nor Wizzies get Hold Person at L4.

Not necessarily. There's a big difference between spells available at L5 and spells available at L7, as compared to the difference in spells available between L17s and L19s.

Not like they couldn't make a new build and see how IT works...

But there's a ton of "those that wish". It takes longer for them to get their build to L20 and compete with the highbies should they start at L5. And even if they get to L20 in a heartbeat, they could always start on a new build. In conclusion, I think many players are more interested in finishing their build than savoring the teamplay (not that they don't savor it, they just don't savor it very much).

[T3hRedMage]

I have to agree. The people that seem to like to start at lower levels are people who have played there a while, seen countless build combinations and have a lot of higher level characters. It's fun to work together and rape people, however, most peoples ambition is to level their character and see if their build idea is successful. Starting at level 4 or 5 hinders this. Considering the XP curve currently, it takes atleast two months for an average player to reach level 20. The days where you could get to level 20 in a day or two are over.

[Casas]

If I was had time, I could make a L20 in less then two days. I made L20's in a few days a long time ago.. only difference now is we make more XP.. so I don't really see a problem repeating the process. All it takes is other people (god forbid we make XP off killing a million dragons).

[T3hRedMage]

Took me three hours to kill 50 dragons. That's about.. 450 XP.. I spent two days playing a character when I first started playing again. I got her to level 13.