Lanefan
Victoria Rules
In a game where you bump as you go and don't ever need to train, I'd agree.I get all of that. My point is that to the wizard, fireball might happen at level 2, 6, 12 or 18 for all he knows. All he is aware of are those changes as he gradually grows stronger. In fact, to the wizard there probably are no levels at all. He just gradually gets stronger and more knowledgeable. Think of yourself in your career. If you have been in it for any length of time, you are very much better at it than when you started, but you couldn't truly name me a level that you were at.
The levels themselves are metagame.
But in a game like mine that requires training in order to access (nearly all of) the benefits of a new level then for caster-types in particular it would almost be like school: what grade are you here to study? For divine types: what circle are you training for? For Monks, what belt are you aspiring to? For Bards: what college? Etc.
It's only with the non-casters where it gets murky.