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If a character with 16XP plays AP3, AP4, #1-17, and #1-99, they'll have 24XP (level 9). Assuming AP4 will be sanctioned for play by this point, the first SFS PCs are likely to reach level 9 at Origins (June).
Even more PCs will hit level 9 after #1-19 is released in July and as #1-99 is run in more locations.
Besides the possible sanctioning of AP5, nothing has been announced for tier 9+. Even if AP6 were sanctioned, we would also need a minimum of 3 tier 7-10 scenarios to reach level 11 in order to play it with a SFS PC.
So should we expect to start seeing tier 7-10 SFS scenarios this Fall? Or should we plan for such PCs to enter a soft retirement until higher tier scenarios become available?
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Soft retirement. I'm in your same boat GMing the AP. The upcoming Special is only Tier 1-8. So don't Level your character too high if you want to play it.
The plan for the rest of the year is a Tier 1-4 every month and one other scenario every month, with several less 5-8s planned than 3-6s.
I don't think any 7-10s were announced.
Organized Play Lead Developer
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Here's the extent of what I'll say at this time:
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I will say that I'm not hurting for play, so that's a plus. I have a 6.0, a 3.1 and a soon-to-be 2.0 through a combination of playing and GMing.
As someone who's never gotten past three books of any AP, I was ECSTATIC to hear that the next two Starfinder APs will be only three books each.
The credit from those will really help people propel characters to higher levels sooner.
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I totally get it. IMHO #1-06 (the first tier 3-6) may have been released a month early, even. At that point there were a few ways to have a level 3 PC, but IIRC AP2 was just sanctioned so the maximum XP achievable was 13XP (AP1, AP2, Q:ItU, #1-00 through #1-05).
So when #1-19 is released in July (assuming AP4 will be out by then) we'll be in roughly the same position as when #1-06 was released.
At least locally, most players have a primary PC in 5-6 subtier plus one or more level 1-4 PCs. After playing #1-14 and #1-15 (so either at PaizoCon or just after) many of our local SFS players will have level 7 PCs.
Just my opinion, but I think it'd be nice to see a tier 7-10 around end of September. I'm not suggesting tier 7-10 every month, or even every other month, but often enough that it doesn't feel like players' primary PCs are going into soft retirement.
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Starfinder Society Developer
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Here's the extent of what I'll say at this time:
When we were first announcing Starfinder Society to the public and discussing it through sundry media, we explained that we'd be starting with lots of low-level content and gradually building up to higher levels.
When considering when to introduce a higher adventure tier for the first time, we consider not only what the theoretical maximum level of PCs might be but also how much material we've provided to get people to that level. If there's only one path to reach a certain level of play, we tend to wait until we have a few more adventures in play so that somebody's not locked out of higher-level content in the event their character died during one of the few critical scenarios in that chain.
Thursty and I have been discussing Tier 7–10 scenarios and narratives for several months, now. We haven't announced any dates for when that first one would come out.
John hits the major points on this, and it's something that we're certainly discussing internally. That being said, we're in a weird position right now. I've had a lot of organizers ping me to ask for more Tier 1-4 content, and to emphasize the 3-6 range when we're not doing 1-4s. On the other side of the coin, I've had several messages from dedicated players who want to start delving into 7th level+ content right away.
Overall, these a "good" problems to have?
As John mentioned, we've already been discussing an internal plan to move up to higher level content, but we need to be cautious on how we do that. One thing players will start to note, is that some of our newer content is increasing the difficulty (another request I've had from some corners of the community) and while that is very exciting, we need to be careful that some of this content doesn't end up with knocking a player down from the "Quest to Tier 7+" and then that player has to struggle to catch back up. Fit in faction missions and storyline missions and the juggling of what other tags get put into a scenario... it's an interesting and evolving puzzle!
I will add one thing: I don't want people to get into the "soft retirement" mindset. Note, the Guide doesn't ever mention retirement and it's our intent to really focus on adding in higher-level content when the time is right!
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and while that is very exciting, we need to be careful that some of this content doesn't end up with knocking a player down from the "Quest to Tier 7+" and then that player has to struggle to catch back up.
It hasn't happened yet, but PCs of this level have enough fame accrued for a raise dead if it does.
Also, "hardcore" SFS players GM at equal or greater frequency so they often have 2 high level PCs.
I will add one thing: I don't want people to get into the "soft retirement" mindset.
Me either, and this is really the purpose of my post.
AP5 is in the mail, AP4 needs to get sanctioned sooner or later. When it does I don't want the decision over which PC to apply the GM chronicle sheet to feel like a decision over which PC I'm putting on ice.