pdb1:You've this question to us a lot throughout the years which is
totally understandable, but lemme ask. Why is level 201 so important.
What about the level makes the game playable, when we have so many other
things beyond just a level to offer?
Nico, I've tried to explain this to you before, but in a nutshell, the answer is this:
When all of us start this game, we start at level 0. In a short period of time, we can get to level 100. Many people playing this game set personal goals and then they spend time and money to reach those goals. By level 103, we can get all the best balls and equipment that we want. The fact that there aren't any better balls and clubs beyond this level doesn't mean that people quit spending time and money to "reach that next level" because thousands have done so. The same is true with tiers and every time WGT came up with higher tiers to reach, that was something else for people to work towards achieving.
The ultimate level to reach is level 200 currently. Then there isn't any level beyond that to provide any incentive to "go for the next level" because level 201 is at an unreachable 2.145 billion xp! Why should someone with 50-250 million xp be stuck at the same level with those who only have 32.2 million xp?
Our country club currently has 10 members at level 200, with more to reach that soon. We had six more than that, but one left to start his own club, and the other five quit playing this game altogether all for the same reason... that there was no other level to reach. Most of our remaining level 200 members in our club have stopped spending time and money to continue getting more xp. They play with their free passes and that's it.
I played a skins foursome game last night with a member of another club who is at level 199, and he has been playing a lot recently to reach that goal of level 200 and he only needs about 150,000 xp more right now. His comment in our chat was that as soon as he reaches level 200, he is done spending another dime in this game. His mentality is like a large percentage of others that I know who reached level 200. These are your highest paying customers and they either quit spending any money or they retire from this game completely.
WGT promised about five years ago that they would "adjust the xp beyond level 200 soon" and so some of us trusted this would happen and kept playing for xp. Now it appears that you have no intention of ever doing this and without the incentive of "the next level to achieve", WGT will simply lose a lot more business in the coming years.
You are about to lose my business. I will continue to play for xp (albeit more sparingly, as has been the case the past year+) to get our CC to level 23 by this summer (not because we get anything for it other than CC pride of being the highest-level club), and then I am done. I will play with my free passes and all of the balls in my inventory until they are all gone. When I am down to starter balls, I will then be done playing this game for good like so many other level 200 players have done the past few years.
The only thing that would change this for me and others is if you do adjust the xp to make levels beyond 200 reachable.
~Nancy