History Main / LowLevelAdvantage

* ''CaveStory:'' Many players insist that the level 2 Blade is better than the level 3 Blade: it does much more damage per second, provided you SpamAttack from very close. And the Nemesis is a LethalJokeItem that gets worse as you level it up: At level 1 it's one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and at level 3 it's status as a weapon is a pure formality. And it levels up from a single experience pick up.

* Resource management is a key feature in the mini {{Roguelike}} [[http://www.qcfdesign.com/?cat=20 Desktop Dungeons]], and levelling up will restore your HitPoints, ManaPoints and status. Hence, a widely-used tactic is to start fighting a boss while a few XP short of a level-up, burn through your resources, and then go squish a low-level monster for a mid-fight heal.

Other times, especially in multiplayer games, this trope is used to avoid scaring off new players with particularly harsh [[ContinuingIsPainful penalties for death]] and similar things, or to give them a chance to get used to the setting before such things are imposed. It's not uncommon for MMORPGs and similar games to waive most of the penalty for death for lower-leveled characters. Low-level characters are also frequently exempt from PVP, which can be a mixed advantage.

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

* In ''PlanescapeTorment'', the combat stats of the BigBad scale with The Nameless One's level. Of course, with so many ways of TalkingTheMonsterToDeath, fighting remains a sub-par option in any circumstance.

This trope represents {{RPG}}s where there are particular advantages to refraining from LevelGrinding. In {{MMORPG}}s, this feature is known as AntiPoopSocking. This can exist when there are benefits that are LostForever if you try immediate grinding, but also when there are tactical advantages caused by a level gain. Or when the game uses EmptyLevels.

* ''DragonQuestVI'' and ''DragonQuestVII'' rely on the player winning battles against decently challenging enemies to gain job levels and consequently skills from advancing. Each area has a maximum level at which job points are awarded; if a character exceeds this maximum level, they will not be awarded job points and not advance. Therefore, grinding can lead to some big trouble in class developing.

* ''DragonQuestVII'' relies on the player winning battles against lower level enemies to gain class skills. If they player's level is higher than the enemy, then the hero gets no class points. Therefore, grinding can lead to some big trouble in class developing.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' allows the player to manually lower their level (which translates to shrinking their HP pool in combat). Lower levels grant higher drop rates.

* ''CaveStory:'' Many players insist that the level 2 Blade is better than the level 3 Blade: it does much more damage per second, provided you SpamAttack from very close. And the Nemesis is a LethalJokeItem that gets worse as you level it up: At level 1 it's one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and at level 3 it's the absolute weakest weapon in the game.

** In a reversed case, leveling your Pokémon too much will cause it to be disobedient if you're not the Pokémon's original trainer and don't have the right badge.

** Safer Sephiroth [[strike:has]] [[FinalFantasyXIII had]] the highest HP of any final boss of Final Fantasy. But there's still nothing stopping a player from spamming KOR.

* ''NetHack'' characters can reach level 30, but the merits of doing so are debated, and depend on the character. Higher level characters are much more likely to encounter [[MookMaker Archons and Arch Liches]], and may not be significantly more powerful.

* ''TheElderScrolls IV: {{Oblivion}}''. Enemies all over the game world only level up when the player levels up, but because you activate leveling up by sleeping after gaining a certain amount of experience, it is possible to avoid leveling up. The trick is that while doing so, you can still individually increase skills in such a way that you're over-powered compared to the enemies you fight. Although the game restricts a few things to certain levels, the main quest can indeed be completed at level 2. Combining the increasing monster difficulty with the fact that careful metagaming and [[MinMax min maxing]] is ''required'' to avoid a chronic EmptyLevels effect, the game is a lot easier for an insomniac amateur than a well rested expert.

*** The fact that your allies during the main quest are some of select few humanoid NPCs that don't level up with the player hardly helps--if the player delays too long, allies are rendered useless and escort missions near impossible. On the other hand, if the player delays too little, he may find his allies overpowered, rendering things too easy and having said allies basically win by themselves. The same goes for summoned creatures--overpowered if acquired early, little more then [[WeHaveReserves cannon fodder]] when used later.

** Final Fantasy Dissidia also does this. If you are leveling up to get that one move that you can spam like crazy, guess what? Your opponent also levels with you, and probably gained some move that trumps yours.

* The masters in ''BreathOfFire 3'' teach skills, but each master teaches each skill only once (skills can then be transferred among party members). The reason to avoid leveling without masters is that they adjust your stat gains on leveling.

** ''CityOfHeroes'' goes even further, leveling up doesn't just restore all your health and endurance but also grants you a large short-duration buff to every stat you have all at once. Also if you were dead during a fight that you team wins, if you soaked up enough XP from the victory to level-up you will be revived as well. It's rather amusing to get back up in the middle of a major battle and be stronger than before. The end result is that it is often best to be close to, but not at, a new level on mission start, so you can actually take advantage of the buffs.
*** Because you get a sizable XP bonus for finishing a mission, this can frustratingly leave you with the nice power surge, and nothing to beat up before it wears off.

* ''TheElderScrolls IV: Oblivion''. Enemies all over the game world only level up when the player levels up, but because you activate leveling up by sleeping after gaining a certain amount of experience, it is possible to avoid leveling up. The trick is that while doing so, you can still individually increase skills in such a way that you're over-powered compared to the enemies you fight. Although the game restricts a few things to certain levels, the main quest can indeed be completed at level 2. Combining the increasing monster difficulty with the fact that careful metagaming and [[MinMax min maxing]] is ''required'' to avoid a chronic EmptyLevels effect, the game is a lot easier for an insomniac amateur than a well rested expert.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' features a heavily reduced difficulty curve for players below level 20, primarily affecting mana and health regeneration but also how certain stat modifiers scale. The curve is pronounced enough that a properly equipped level 1 character could theoretically outdamage a level 10. However, since base stats are fixed at each level, there's no advantage to exploiting this in the long term unless you plan to be a Battlegrounds twink.
* ''{{ADOM}}'' has numerous quests that are LostForever above a certain level.
* ''NetHack'' characters can reach level 30, but the merits of doing so are debated, and depend on the character. Higher level characters are much more likely to encounter [[MookMaker Archons and Arch Liches]], and may not be significantly more powerful.
* ''CaveStory:'' Many players insist that the level 2 Blade is better than the level 3 Blade: it does much more damage per second, provided you SpamAttack from very close. And the Nemesis is a LethalJokeItem that gets worse as you level it up: At level 1 it's one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and at level 3 it's the absolute weakest weapon in the game.

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* ''TheElderScrolls IV: Oblivion''. Enemies all over the game world only level up when the player levels up, but because you activate leveling up by sleeping after gaining a certain amount of experience, it is possible to avoid leveling up. The trick is that while doing so, you can still individually increase skills in such a way that you're over-powered compared to the enemies you fight. Although the game restricts a few things to certain levels, the main quest can indeed be completed at level 2.

** Theres also the issue of damage being capped (via both available magicka and a limit on stats), while health is not. Basically, once the player reaches a certain threshold, their damage stops increasing, but the health of enemies around them isn't, leading to long, drown out and incredibly dull fights with not only bosses, but with a simple leveling mook. However, monster damage is not in fact capped, meaning that as the player reaches the point where they were supposed to be able to challenge the nine divine themselves (say level 40 or so), its more or less impossible to get through fights without resorting to use of a GameBreaker (which there are plenty of, and thereby render things too easy, but still long and drawn out).

* {{ADOM}} has numerous quests that are LostForever above a certain level.
* NetHack characters can reach level 30, but the merits of doing so are debated, and depend on the character. Higher level characters are much more likely to encounter [[MookMaker Archons and Arch Liches]], and may not be significantly more powerful.

*** That's actually a really bad idea. Her class gives her a bunch of unique feats for free that boost her strength with blasters. You'll want to wait until around level 18 to Jedify her so she gets the maximum bonus. Same with Atton and the Sneak Attack feats. If you want Jedi powers, use Kreia or Visas, since they start out with them.
**** Not that bad an idea. Jedi powers vastly, vastly improve any character. And part of being a powerful gunner is force speed, force stun.

** In ''FinalFantasyI'', your stats growth was effected by your current class, so you got the best stats by leveling up as little as possible before the class upgrades.