High max hero level > Blizz max hero level

I was pondering something. If I have a hero that has a max level of 18, with 4 abilities (3 standard, 1 ultimate) that have maximum levels higher than the usual 3-3-3-1 that Blizz decided upon, is the gameplay truly that much different between maxing at 18 versus maxing at 10. Let's pretend that the spells of the level 18 hero are roughly the same as the level 10 hero

I've been pondering if anyone feels having more levels to an ability affects gameplay that much.

In one hand fewer levels means each level is a bigger deal, and the skills and stats scale up faster. On the other hand, more ability levels means faster leveling, but each individual level has less meaning.

Pray, how does more levels mean faster leveling?

Answer: It doesn't.

Ok, let me rephrase that a bit:

It takes as much time for the lvl 18 to max out as it does the lvl 10, meaning the level 18 advances 1.8x as fast. However, the spells are a smaller progression than the level 10 character spells. Spells on the level 18 hero become 1.5x more effective per level, but the level 10 hero spells become 2x more effective per level.

Those are example numbers more than precise numbers (so don't nag me on the number crunch please).

Going over 4 levels per ability can cause a small performance penalty as the game can no longer use the basic optimized database structure for those abilities.

The time it takes to reach maximum level is entirely decided by the designer, regardless of how many levels that is.

Therefore, if I want simple gameplay, I design for few hero levels. If I want more flexible gameplay, I design for more hero levels. However, I don't go so high that I need more than 4 levels per hero ability.

More spell levels is only worth it if you want to make the whole 'levling process' more drawn out, ie the time to achieve each level is the same and people just spend more time before maxing out. Otherwise i just don't think >3 levels adds anything to the game. Take most AoS's where the game only really 'begins' at max level: levels 2-4 are fairly irrelevant.

The exception is if the number of skill points avaialble < the numbrr of skill levels available. If this is the case than changing granuation can tweak the amount of vairety between builds.