Level Hold pros / cons

Returning player from around 5 year break.

Is there any changes to level holding? Is still the primary pro being that people don't recognise how powerful you might be?

I notice there are some new metrics around reviving and potentially other actions so just wanted to know what the most recent meta surrounding level holding was as I couldn't find a specific forum thread for it.

My understanding is that level holding is not a good idea nowadays and is more a self imposed hard mode rule.

There are so many battle stat predictor scripts available that holding your level to trick someone is very rarely viable.

Furthermore, people used to hold level until their stats kind of reached the average of the next level(s), so they don't become an easy (levelling) target. 

However, there are so many inactive levelling targets in Torn now, that most won't bother trying to enrage active players, especially in a good faction.

Levelling up provides extra life, which is very much useful and is considered as your 5th stat if you are active and warring.

So, AFAIK, it is not meta and you should not really hold level.

Thanks, yeah I had thought it looks to be obsolete to level hold

There’s still reasons to level hold although you’ll miss out on merits, if I knew to level hold when I started i probably would’ve stuck at level 15, more defends and once ya have enough money the Smurf bonus is supposed to be the best in the game if you held your level low enough and had tons of stats, I went for defence too though so the lower health would’ve hurt my playstyle, probably better going with dex if you’re level holding

If you are still in crimes 1.0 and hacking for income and you absolutely don't want to switch to 2.0 then I would suggest level holding for easy busts. Otherwise level holding is just for fun pretty much.

Pros:

Get the odd defend against players that only look at level and don't have any Battle Stats Predicton.

Main Cons:

Fewer HP's meaning you are easier to defeat by equal stat players because they have more life.

Fewer Merits

In the current game with tools like BSP and Ff Scouter, other than for either the challenge or the Lolz, I can't think of any viable reason to not advance your level.

health is the 5th battle stag

IMO if you have to ask, don’t hold 

Im was a level holder as I focused more on networth and didn't want to be especially weak in BS for my level.  However, unless you plan to get a Smurf weapon, I don't recommend it.  

This is some grade A bullshit! Will be back to elaborate later.

Cool, can't wait to hear more from someone with your time spent in the game.

My comment was aimed at new players.

(Please note that I mean that I am looking forward for more explanation and it wasn't aimed to be a dig even if it sounds like it)

We have a guy level holding for rw, he gets wayyyy more per hit then me and thus is much more effective during wars especially with a warlord gets around 10 per hit whereas I get 2-3 😭, I should have held but I thiugh was based on account age

If you get 2-3 respect from a war hit then that's a skill issue, not a level one.

You need to hit targets that give 3 or close to 3 fair fight for maximum respect.

Getting 2-3 respect in an RW means you are hitting waaaay below your own TBS

Probably due to them not really holding that much off. I’ve level held maybe 5-10 levels at a time before just mass leveling. 

I usually get 6-9 respect

So what it comes down to with level holding is that, for the vast majority of situations, the cons outweigh the pros.  (Not necessarily in number, but in general value.)

CONS:

More health in fights genuinely means a lot.  (I can beat someone with double or more of my stats using an HEG, if they're level holding at 15 or something similar.)

Might be hard to find effective FF targets compared to your stats, due to the above reason.

You're liable to burn through a lot more medical items when chaining or warring, because even if an attack does the same damage to you that it would to a level 100, that's a much more significant % of your total HP.

You're liable to get Hospitalized due to Crit Fails on crimes much more often.  (If the damage from the crime would exceed your current HP, you get sent to the hospital.  Often for a very long duration.  More HP cushions against that.)

Many factions disallow level holding, so it might be harder to get into a competitive one if you're not already extremely high stats.

PROS:

You might get some free defends because new players don't know how to use tools to guesstimate your battle stats, and underestimate you.

Smurf Weapons can be a major power boost.  (This realistically does not offset the difference that HP makes, especially when defending.)

You provide less Respect to attackers during wars or chains.  (Base respect gains are based on level, and then modified by Fair Fight.)

At the end of the day, if you're not trying to play super competitively, or if you want to intentionally increase the challenge of your gameplay, there's nothing wrong with it.  Torn is a diverse game, and there isn't really a "wrong" way to play it.  As long as you aren't breaking the rules, play how you want to play.

Im holding my level because i personally feel like my stats need to be higher before i work towards level 100

I held at level 50 and now level 75

I also would hate to level up and max out at like 88 or 93 or some yucky number like that, I like those nice round looking numbers!

How would max out? Genuinely curious.

Level holding is lame, especially at lvl 34.

As a level holder you get owned in group fights- 

01:58:14 - 07/01/26 A7X (and 18 others) attacked and hospitalized you [view]

Would not recommend 

As in im not sure what my current true level is, so if i decide to start levelling up and go for 100 however my true level is only like 93 or something I'd be slightly annoyed

You mean like how many level-ups you have banked right?

So you could feasibly jump from 75 all the way to 100?

I had thought about that, banking 5 at a time but realised you can't see any more than having one upgrade ready to go.

Level holding is cool ya'll just salty