These sort of games always have extremely high exp requirements for the last few levels (and 38 is the last level that has impact on battling). The practical impact of levels past 30 is pretty small (and 30 is when the level requirements skyrocket). After 30 you're likely focused on the certain pokemon you need, and not so much your level. I don't really pay attention to my level, other than using lucky eggs when I have 60+ evolutions to do.
Logic behind difficult levelling up?
[I've never played any mobile game seriously prior to Pokemon Go, so hoping knowledgeable players can educate me. I'm at Level 37 and more than a 100 lucky eggs (or a few months of regular playing) away from Level 38.]
Why is the XP needed to level up at higher levels so ridiculously high? I've seen that some games go beyond Level 1000. It wouldn't hurt Niantic's server resources if they programmed in more levels, would it? Wouldn't it also motivate lots of players to keep playing just to move up levels and provide a virtual sense of achievement? What could be their design/intention?
Answers
The max level in the original games is Lv100. Considering Niantic has only released up to gen2 and the main series is now at gen7, they might intend to increase the max level by 10 for each next generation to come so that we'll have other goals as we're catching new generation mons.
Other mmorpg do that as well. As they release new patches/updates, they increase the max level cap.
I think they will increase the cap for sure eventually...
I'm still very motivated to level, but I don't think about it other than saving candy/mons for evolution. It's just an endless grind which comes with just playing, attacking, prestiging.
I just play "casually" which seems to be more than "most" people due to owning a dog and each level, sit more and more comfortably in gyms...
Eventually, everyone will be level 40 though so that's a concern with rampant shaving already.
i think it's so people can get to level 30 pretty easily so they can be competitive.
the power gains are above level 30 are marginal so it's essentially a soft cap while still giving you a bit to grind for after that.
The main thing you play for at this point is to fill out the missing parts of your roster like a C/DP machamp and a dt/O dragonite or for city players to complete their full squad of 95%+ Dt/OR dragonites and B/SE t rexes.