Yeah as I said above why the max talent level is 15?
Why not a nice level 10?
It’s still a multiple of 5. The editor actually has the max as 20 if it makes you feel better, just 16-20 weren’t implemented.
eh fair enough… It would take ages to level up if we level them up by 15.
Wait, why do I have a feeling they will release a super pack that allows commanders to benefit 16~20 talents??
15 level is quite fast to get and no 16-20 level highly likely won’t be there and it is not needed. It’s just some free space just in case, when you write something, you do that often so numbers won’t need changing too often in development process.
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Thank god there isn’t 20 levels.
Mastery is where it is at. Getting to 15 is basically just a motion, let alone 20 to make that short journey longer.
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Agreed. If WoW has proven anything, it’s that level bloat is terrible. I find it leveling for that long intolerable. With only 15 levels for a commander though, they can be leveled in a few hours - long enough to get a good grasp of the commander, and not any longer.
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So why not 15? Why it has to be something else?
Haha, glass half empty and half full 
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This is simple. They listed ideas for abilities they wanted Raynor, Kerrigan and Artanis to have. They separated them out into potential progressions. They had roughly 15 items in each. They went with 15, job done.
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If I follow the difficulty guidelines (lv1 to lv7 @Normal, lv8 to lv14 @Hard), I found it takes me about a whole day’s worth of playing to get to lv15.
And yeah, I read up that WoW revamped their leveling system from 120 levels to 50, in order to reduce the “grindiness”, and get progress quicker.
And even then, some of the talents are sort of recycled. Many of them is you get something, and then a later talent says you get an improved version of that. For examples:
Artanis - Solar Bombardment (from 200 to 400 salvos)
Swann - A.R.E.S. Warbots (from 4 to 6)
Zagara - Drop pods
Mengsk - CD nukes
Stukov - Aleksander, but now it can MC enemies with its AA attack
Dehaka - he can now access higher levels
IIRC, 3 to 4 levels end up being “upgrade caches”
There is a difference in unlocking something versus improving it though.
It’s like you build cybernetics core to unlock stalkers but research blink to improve them.
Allowing a level 3 commander to bombardment the same as m90 is going to have some huge power spikes that by having it already does enough. Granted, if you say “can’t it be designed better?” Sure, it can but couldn’t many things?
I don’t think we should fault the developers for doing the talent trees this way. If all talent levels gave are free passive buffs, then each commander would be so op.
I think the 15 talents work, but getting there takes too long. I understand many will say it takes only a few hours and I’ve seen threads of people discussing how to speed through it that fast, but there is nothing fun about that. Sure 10 years ago that would have been no big deal but when life turns you into a casual gamer, you develop an aversion to grinding when gaming.
For me it is the way it is structured. Likened to Diablo 3 or WoW, it is a system of standardized levels where the character is designed around being played at the max level. For that reason, you start a new character in a state of deprivation where grinding levels is required to unlock withheld attributes until you reach baseline. Instead of a customization system that allows you to enjoy the journey, it switches me into “grinding mode,” repeating the same safe or learned approach every match to guarantee victory experience.
Being decent but not great, I have been able to switch to hard at level 4 or 5 and estimate around 25 games or so to get to 15. Averaging 20 minutes a game, I could do it maybe in 8 hours. If you factor in maps that can’t be finished early or the occasional disconnect where you get dropped in the last few minutes yielding 0 experience, it takes longer. With throttled available play time, it can take more than a week for one commander. Then if you want to try another one, you have to consider if you want to divert that many matches to go back into that mindset again. It has made me rethink how many to purchase and play. Ironically I typically have a good grasp on the character by level 8 and the last 5 levels are basically farming. Some characters have a level 15 perk that changes their playstyle so you relearn them to a degree anyway.
I never understood why Blizzard could take a good idea and add a “repeat the same thing for hours on end” mechanism to dumb down the fun factor.
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In this aspect, it is me who don’t understand why you don’t like it. 
Simply put, it’s just opinion. There is nothing good or bad about it.
It was really fun to unlock new talent abilities, but ofc, they’re not all created equal. For example, unlocking Karax’ lv11 (Kahlai Ingenuity) meant I could build Pylons and towers instantly, which was a world of difference. Those Khahadarian Monoliths have a bt of 80! That’s rouhgly 1/3 the time of a level upgrade! Painful thing was having to relevel up characters from scratch, knowing what I was missing out on 
Had that same feeling with Raynor. I took over a Raynor ally who quit, and when it was time for me to level him up myself, it was painful to realize that instant Supply Depots were something that becomes available only later on (lv12).
That said, I’m glad it’s all over. Everyone’s leveled up. I wouldn’t mind trying out pre-mastery COs again, but not the whole dang thing. IIRC, it took me 12 to 13 hours. That said, when I realized that Mastery and Ascension levels were shared between COs, that sealed the deal for me in the game’s favor. There would be grinding, but it’s kept to a more minimal level. I initially thought Coop was a cheap shot at RPG-level grinding, but it’s not a full fledged RPG in that regard.
They’ve put mastery points in to that 
I still remember reading a review for Diablo 2 on Amazon. The reviewer relates a psychology experiment where a rat will furiously push a bar if it knows there’s a chance it’ll receive a food pellet, and continue to do so until it’s received. Even at the expense of hygiene, socialization, etc. Diablo does that with dropping loot, receiving rare items/equipment. On a related note, casino games and machines have utilized such tricks.
To clarify, I don’t mind the design of the talent abilities as is. I was just pointing out that one level that “unlocks this ability” vs. another level that “improves that ability” are conceptually the same difference. As such, it’d be quite a stretch if we ended up having to fill out 20 talent levels instead.
Yeah, I don’t believe in having levels for the sake of having them. Simplicity is elegance. And I think the team, for the most part, shares this thought line.