So leveling a commander to 15 takes 1,045,000 total XP, which is the same as grinding about 5.25 of the +91 ascension lvls and there’s 54 new prestiges to unlock, so that’s the equivalent as to having 283 more ascension lvls to grind, which I think isn’t too bad at all.
or to put it another way that’s (1,045,000xp per prestige x 54 Prestieges) / 49500 xp which is what you get from a brual win with bonus and random = 1140 brutal co-op matches to unlock all the prestiege
I think the provided longevity will be great.
If ppl are still speed farming, that’ll take a few days tops (don’t forget the holiday bonus and warchest), even without those.
On the other hand, it can take a long long time for some who are casual. Either way it’ll be great fun.
@ FearrWhalins
Thank you for the positive spin. I am actually really excited about the prestige system. I’m a level 246 in coop with all commanders unlocked and leveled up. I am just playing for the joy of the game (I’m a 21 year SC veteran). Having a new objective is great. I pretty much have all of the achievements but you don’t get anything worth anything for doing that.
Calling it a grind isn’t true for me (except maybe for Stetman 
I really like playing random commander so I have to challenge myself. I have been considering a new account just to reset everything so this is perfect.
Yeah… I’m not really a fan of such a hefty grind. I don’t have a ton of time to spend gaming every day, and SC2 isn’t the only game I want to spend time with. Getting a commander to 15 is a tiring enough process for me, and having to do that 3 times just sounds like a chore.
I also wonder how much worse the grind would be if I wasn’t capable of doing brutal difficulty. Not that it’s a particularly high mark, but not everyone is there.
I find it strange when people say it will be a grind.
Why would that be a grind? I think people need to expand their perspectives on this whole thing.
Given that none of the above isn’t all that fun (or un-fun), simply just are. What is so grindy about releveling?
Do people know once you reset, you can choose to use the prestige while leveling? It is a different experience in that sense. (I will admit, I haven’t confirmed this myself, but several ppl are telling me that’s how it works). So that’s a far better experience and nowhere near a grind.
A grind would be tedious, and if the focus is simply on the “level number”, then sure it’s a grind but then how is that any different than “grinding ascension day in and day out”? I don’t know, I don’t get it.
I have no interest in leveling every commander, since I don’t want to play half of them. I’m happy with 140 ascension levels to grind.
I haven’t played the game in a month or two cause I just can’t figure out how to enjoy brutal+, but this will at least give me something to to do for awhile
By whose definition? Maybe by whatever definition you’re working with, but certainly not mine. I think making us arbitrarily reset the progress we’ve worked towards just so we can get one new thing is pretty silly. Maybe you enjoy the early levels of commander play, but I find that in the lower levels, they don’t have a lot of things that separate them from other commanders and make them really interesting to play–sometimes not even different from basic versus gameplay. It can be exciting to unlock this stuff for the first time, and it helps you learn the commander, but I wouldn’t wanna do it again.
I’m not entirely sure how this relates to what I said. Sorry.
With such a narrow definition, every game is grinding all the time. Obviously people enjoy the core gameplay, but personally I don’t like the idea of having to reset my progress just to… progress. I also enjoy the lower levels of each commander a lot less than I enjoy the later ones. That impacts my enjoyment of the game as a whole.
And it would be one thing if this was the only “Prestige” system they had in the game, but there’s already one in place, and it’s called ascension levels. I’m sure a lot of people here have already long since hit the cap for mastery points, but I’m still earning mine. And this cuts into that, and runs contrary to it. By resetting my commander progress, I can’t level ascension. It’s two systems that are at odds. It’s just clunky.
This post actually gladden me to know that the game would have a longevity for me and some player enjoy, it’s basically a time sinker for each day.
Which is better than leveling to 1000 with close to no beneficial gain.
Only grind the commanders you like or play a lot.
I’ve got all commanders at lvl 15 right now.
But won’t be touching Stettman, Fenix, Alarax etc…
I’ve been so starved for new content and a new experience that I don’t even really log in for the weekly mutations anymore.
I’m ready for some longevity in content that I can’t finish in a week so that it keeps me excited about logging in. I want to play the perks that look and sound lackluster just for the purpose of playing them, learning them, seeing what is possible with them, etc. Some of these perks that seem bad could be amazing for specific scenarios. There is a lot to unpack here with all these perks, and I’m looking forward to the journey with all 54 of em.
The grind isn’t that bad, especially if you play with friends. I, for one, am extremely looking forward to it hitting live.
I leveled up everyone to Mastery since I wanted to try out everyone. I have my faves and not-so-much. Despite being enamoured with Artanis after playing with Karax for so long, I did return to Karax as my main.
I find hunting AF as Zeratul to be a chore (and yes, am aware of the rally line tricks in his Premonition bubble). If I get Mengsk on Randon CO, I’ll apologize to my ally in advance and let him know I suck at him and don’t really like playing as him either.
I can only speak for myself, but the reason that I call this a grind is because I have to sink several hours into what I don’t enjoy doing just to unlock the new and exciting content, especially because the most efficient way in terms of time taken to unlocking prestige will be to grind VT in pub alone, or find someone to carry me through CoD B+6, which is very very grindy.
If getting 1,045,000 experience was the only thing on that I had to do, then I wouldn’t really mind that much and I’d do it at my own leisure of one or two random brutal/brutal+ per day, but being locked out of contents that I unlocked previously, such as commander level perks + mastery levels that I already unlocked + protential to try weekly mutation with the commander that I decided to “reset” until the grueling task is completed isn’t very exciting.
When they release a new commander, leveling them from 1 to 15 is a grind. But now, we might have to do it 4 more times depending on the prestige. Yay.
I’m not too sure about new map being “far smaller” than a new commander because of interactions with mutations.
I guess you could call co-op games a “grind,” but unless you’re working towards something specifically, such as commander level, mastery level, ascension level, or achievement, I wouldn’t consider it to be a grind because I’m just playing the game in a way that I enjoy.
For me, ascension level just comes with doing what I enjoy and it’s not my focus because it has 0 interaction with how I play the game, compared to how the level reset would force me to play at a disadvantage.
Yes, I know that you can choose to use the prestige while leveling, but some prestige doesn’t kick in until you’re at higher commander level, such as Zagara’s “Scourge Queen” prestige, where 8 free banelings and 4 free scourge doesn’t unlock until level 7, and additional zergling isn’t included for non-swarmling strain, all the while not being able to use Zagara hero unit and her mass frenzy+roach drop, so you can actually put yourself at even further disadvantage.
I’m not going to spend that mutch time playing the same old maps. Also levelling in this game is not fun. There’s too much quality of life stuff locked behind the levels.
Watched the video regarding the prestige system on CtG YT. Some commanders changes seem very interesting, some are maybe handy for mutation and some seem pretty useless at this point.
Overall good to see change is coming to Coop and with the revamp to the editor I hope we start to see some new missions soon too 
I’m not a fan of grinding over again from level 1. I don’t mind a long time grinding as long as I have all the toys that I’ve acquired.
This reminds me some MMORPGs 20 years ago that had the “reincarnation” system, where max level players could reset themselves to level 1 while keeping 10% of their stats. It was a real hell.
Well the point is these prestiges are sidegrades, not upgrades (most of the time). By prestiging, you’re TECHNICALLY progressing by unlocking more, but if you’re not getting stronger, is that really progress?
I think this makes it different from many prestige systems which give you a flat buff to damage or health or something. OBVIOUSLY those are upgrades and it feels like you’re obligated to prestige in order to further beef up your stats.
But here, if you enjoy the base commander, you have 0 reason to prestige.
I hate grinding to unlock gameplay mechanics, especially in an RTS.
That stuff has place in RPGs and similar where you develop a character.
In an RTS i want all the gameplay options available from the start.
Imagine having to grind for XYZ hours before you can build Immortals or Siege Tanks…
Like I said, I don’t get it.
You guys who “don’t like the grind”. After reading another set of responses it still hasn’t answered a thing. Just always “I don’t like it”, which is fair if that’s all based on feelings.
However, did you guys stop to answer a more realistic point? How did you think it was going to go? Should they just simply give you the prestige? Because that would be even dumber. Seems like people just want instant gratification.
Basically in the end, if you don’t want to grind, the prestige doesn’t affect you one bit. So why complain about “well I don’t want to grind”? Cuz it’s not even mandatory. On the other hand, if you did want it, and you hate to grind, what was the alternative solution? Tie it to Ascension? That wouldn’t work since a ton of ppl have been sitting at 1000 for a very very very long time. Lol.
They can make 3 new progress bars for each commander. Players can just play normally to fill the progress bars. Players can pause or switch progress bars.
It’s not the equivalent of ascension, because in that case you have access to the full power of the commander whereas this requires grinding on a weak version. It’s bearable as ascension levels, but it’s extremely painful as a leveling thing.
Also, for a new commander, you need to do the leveling 4 times, not 3. 3 times for the talent, and 1 time to get back up to level cap.
It’s bad. It should be tied to ascension levels or level 16-18.