Level Limits in Classes
I was rereading the V9 solstice and got to the part where Erin talks to the GDI, where the latter mentions that the highest-level innkeeper ever was level 73.
I've been thinking about that and it's made me speculate about what the level caps might have been for the classes we've seen:
> There haven't been any level 90 Warriors (I don't think there were thousands of individuals who reached level 90 in the past anyway) who weren't masters of some weapon or martial art. After all, Warrior is a class that levels up by fighting stronger opponents (even considering that the classes become more abstract, they still maintain a certain foundation). Erin defined the Dead Gods as weakened level 80 individuals, and there would probably be few opponents in the world who could match what they can do (the least Kasigna did was stop time worldwide), even if they are Immortals, therefore reaching level 90 using this approach seems unlikely, as at some point there would be no more challenges of sufficient difficulty. Masters of [...] would be exempt from this, since they can level up with, well, mastery of their craft, so even though it would be difficult, they would have a better chance.
> A pure [Survivor] can only reach level 49; after that, their class consolidates into something else, even if it's a multi-part class, eventually becoming an aspect of a different class. After all, reaching level 50 requires initiative and decisiveness. You can't get there just by surviving whatever the world throws at you; you have to change things or at least emerge victorious, not just survive.
> [Witch] is a class prone to stagnation. It depends on the intensity of its users' feelings, but to paraphrase witches of the past, any emotion fades with time. And while [Witches] can be incredibly powerful when it matters, that means that most of the time they won't advance if that advancement isn't important to their craft. That's why I believe there haven't been any level 80 witches, and that Belavierr is the highest-level witch to have ever existed. Most of them would be like Califor and Oliyaya; they would achieve a certain degree of peace in their lives, or their profession would lead them to a grand feat that would end their lives (after all, sacrificing one's life wouldn't be foreign to them, if it mattered). In any case, if the highest-level witch to have ever existed (admitted by any experienced witch you ask) only reached level 70, it's doubtful that any other could have surpassed her.
Anyway, classes can change, and as Erin demonstrated, any class can be redefined. This is more of a mental exercise about what history has told us so far.