Remind Me Why I Want to Leave Silver Level?

[belgarathmth 21]

Hello, I think I made a topic about this long, long ago, but it's ancient history and forgotten. 

So, I'm now level 42 with my Shadow Warrior on silver level, no deaths, and I'm still adventuring in the high elf area and having a great time. I followed the main quest all the way up to the desert where you find Khorum, and I started consuming way too many health potions, so I went back to the first area to get stronger. 

A word about my play style - I am in no hurry to do anything in the game, and I couldn't care less about bragging rights of any kind. I like to gradually uncover the entire map. I've gotten the lesser cartographer achievement before, but never the greater cartographer achievement, which is a long term goal of mine. I am also an avid collector. I care more about collecting complete sets of things than just about anything else, and collecting light sabers. I figure that my obsession with uncovering map synergizes well with my collection obsession, since uncovering map gives a bonus to magic find. I'm also a "lazy" player. I don't seek nail-biting challenge. I seek quite the opposite, actually. I like to find a meditative, very relaxed state of mind while playing, where there is just enough challenge to keep me concentrating, but not so much as to trigger adrenaline release.

At first, I was going to rush the main quest with this character in order to get to gold level and beyond, because that seems like what almost everybody in this community does. But then, I started becoming a health potion addict against the death fog monster in the swamp, and against even the trash mobs in the desert, which is my cue that I'm not having fun. I should also say that, although I'm not hard core, I *hate* dying with a passion. More than two or three deaths will make me give up on my character. And I came far too close on several occasions in the swamp and the desert at silver level 38ish.

TLDR: What are the benefits exactly of rushing through the game levels to niobium? Are there sets that won't drop until that level? (On CP 1.60 I'm already getting set pieces I've never seen before, much less collected the whole sets, and there are no zone level caps.) I think monsters on progressively higher levels get base stat bonus increases. Is that all there is to it? Do some of you only enjoy the game if you're constantly in danger? Is it about adrenaline rush to you? Is it about bragging rights - "I beat the game on Niobium with my build and made level 200 with no sweat, so you should admire me and listen to me," and that sort of thing?

[Flix 5,116]

You'll hit the difficulty level cap in Silver eventually. That's usually my cue to move on to Gold. After that though there's no rush though. You can do everything in Gold and Platinum without hitting any caps because the leveling rate slows down.

Btw you are correct, there are a fair number of legendary and set items that don't drop until Gold or higher. Some also have more modifiers at higher levels.

[belgarathmth 21]

@Flix , What is the silver level cap? I wasn't aware there was one. That does apply to CEP 1.60, right?

[Androdion 880]

It's the maximum cap for the monsters' level on the difficulty you're in. Basically it sets both a lower and upper limit to the monsters' levels per region and per difficulty level. So you'll eventually be of a higher level than mobs in Silver when you hit the cap, making the challenge non-existent.

For me the rush to Niob is all about getting the best modifiers on gear (which scale with difficulty level) and going well over mastery level to have a better understanding of my build on more dangerous grounds.

[belgarathmth 21]

But don't the later versions of the CEP remove the level caps? I was thinking it does. If there's a level cap in Tyr Lysia in silver, it's way higher than 40-something. My character is level 46 and is fighting level 51 creatures in Tyr Lysia and Artamark.

[Flix 5,116]

Difficulty level caps are still in place. 60 for bronze, 100 for silver... I forget the rest.