I was reading Tobolds MMORPG Blog when this topic caught my eye: “WoW introduces speedleveling“. I do not actively follow World of Warcraft anymore so any information I get is purely from news sources or reputable blogs like Tobolds. So, going with the information that Tobold has given, apparently Blizzard is going to increase the amount of experience gained from quests and decrease the experience needed for each level from 1-60. With the expansions we can safely bet that the level cap will increase. This means that eventually we could be looking at level 100+ in WoW if Blizzard pulls an EQ1 and starts breeding expansions like a rabbit.
It saddens me to hear that Blizzard’s answer to their own impending growth is to force players into a faster leveling treadmill. Why can’t it be left the way it is guys? The greatest part of WoW was/is the journey from level 1 to level 60(now 70). The quests were fun and the dungeons were awesome. I loved doing Scarlet Monastery and Zul’farrak. I really enjoyed having to plan my questing routes to include my favorite locations such as the race track in Thousand Needles. If this “speedleveling” is true then what is the purpose of having a leveling process anyway? You’re going to herd everyone like cattle into the raiding mindset by making the levels mean nothing. I would expect something like this from a game that had poor or no content for players to enjoy in the early and mid game but not from one with the most polished leveling treadmill out there. Do not force players into your raiding content by sending them all to the end-game with nothing left to do but raid.
Why not leave leveling the way it is? Back in Dark Age of Camelot there was a feature introduced (that I still disagree with to this day) that allowed players to instantly become level 30. Why not do something like this to allow players to move past parts of the game they do not like? Your current solution is going to affect everyone; not just those raiders who have forced you to look at your leveling gameplay as an “obstacle before the game”. That’s right, Blizzard considers leveling not even a part of the game anymore I guess. Apparently the game begins when you can throw away 50 hours into a raid and still have nothing to show for it.
Don’t ruin the good part of your game for everyone when there are options available to you that will allow you to make everyone happy. Do not ruin the classic content!
I understand what you mean, but I can also understand the point of the change. After all, can you imagine trying to convince someone who’s never played WoW before to buy the game and both of its expansions when they’re facing having to go through all 80 levels?! Particularly, say, if they’re thinking of buying in order to join friends who are already up and raiding. I think they’re doing this to make it easier to drag other new players in.
That said, I agree that there should be other options!
I see your point of view Keen and I see your point of view Heather. I guess I am in the middle of the fence…I know sounds political, but because I did play WoW off and on for a couple years and I did play TBC to level 70 I see why Blizzard has decided to tinker with the leveling system. I can’t say I think it is right by any means, but I can see the reason.
I too do believe the game is the leveling process. I am a casual gamer at heart and I only tried out a raiding guild to be left with a nasty after taste in my mouth just because I didn’t have the DKP that granted me all the cool gear, it just seemed like a massive waste of my time and it wasn’t that much fun after a month, so I quit Rapture on Sen’jin and went back to my occasional random invite in ZG with my warlock…
To me it just makes sense to add an instant leveling system for these people who want nothing more than to skip the content. Or perhaps make the increased exp optional. I’m not a casual gamer and I’m not a hardcore raider elitist – but I do see the need for both play styles to be accommodated. It’s a shame Blizzard is going down the single minded path.
I played World of Warcraft from the start, including TBC. In my opinion, the addon content is much more fun than the classic content. With every new Char (got my third one to 70) I crave for level 58, when I can pass through the portal and can have nicer quests, shorter ways between them, more Instances for every Level and so on.
In my opinion it would have been better to improve Classic Content, but it´s not really a surprise seeing Blizzard take the easy way.
Hope you don´t suffered to much from what I wrote, English is not my native language 😉
I agree with the need to change the level in WoW but I think it would have been better for them to introduce something like /level where ALTS can be instantly leveled to a percentage of your highest characters level. As others have pointed out I think people will miss alot of content if they are leveling too quickly.
I think this is the only decision that really makes sense. The time to level 1-60 was about right. When the cap is raised to 80 it shouldn’t take any longer than the original 1-60 time in my opinion. This way you still end up going through most of the content/areas but don’t take forever to reach max level.
To me the most enjoyable part of levelling is the earlier levels because it doesn’t take forever to ding to a new level and gain some new ability. After 40 things become too much of of a grind. With faster levelling I get my achievement hit much faster.
I think, as long as it’s an option and not forced, there would be no problem. As a person who has leveled multiple level 60s myself, I think it’s a great idea, but I also wouldn’t want to be a new player missing out on so much by being forced to level too swiftly.
None of my casual friends have ever managed to hit 60 never mind 70, so I’ve never grouped with any of them. They play for 2 weeks, get a level then cancel again.
If WoW let me start a new character at level 60, I might actually purchase it. So far I’ve only played the beta and trials… didn’t like it much, too much like other MMOs I’ve played. But let me jump to the endgame, that would be interesting!
Actually, if you listen to the interview with JC liked over at Curse Gaming they are not strictly going to “speed leveling.” What they are trying to do is address the mid levels where many players bog down and lose interest. They are adding many of new quests for the levels of 35 to 45. They are making world elite quests non-elite, opening up even more content for solo/ small party players. In addition to this they are also lessening the leveling curve. It’s one part of an overall attempt to remedy the mid level doldrums. I think it’s a good thing.
My kingdom for an edit button. My post reads a little too much like a WoW fanboy, would tone it down a bit if I could.
In any case, I would say that the 21-57 game is not nearly as polished as the 1-20 and 58-70 current game. Especially when you play one of the new 1-20 areas and get dumped back into the old world, the transition in polish is jarring. It’s a really stretch to get through the mid levels without hitting STV. STV was “meh” to me the first time. My fifth time through was like paying a subscription fee for the privilege of filling out tax forms. Having two or three viable paths for the mid levels instead of 1.5 (the current game) sounds like a good thing to me.
Give me the ability to /level to 60 or increse XP only IF I have a character who is maxed in level on my account.
I’ve seen the non raid content and the raid content. We all know the point of the game is to raid, raid and then raid again. I was never lead to think that this game was about having fun 🙂
I started playing WoW in January of this year and have a lvl 70 now and a couple of lowbies. The problem I had when starting the game is that my friends alreayd had high level characters and it just simply takes TOO long to level up. That being said I don’t think the answer is to simply power level everyone. If you’re a new player you should have to go through the grind it teaches you the game. But for people that already have high level toons it’s a burden. Here are some of my suggestions.
I have seen several other suggestions on other posts ut I won’t steal them you can read them on the various blogs and forums these are just my 2 cents….
1) increase XP to 200% in instance to encourage people to group up and do them(takes so long to build a group). Also, have main bosses that give optional rewards, you can have this nice blue/purple weapon/armor or the “Orb of Knowledge” which would instantly level you 3 levels (or whatever X lvls). Now you would have a choice that would have pros and cons. Going 3 lvls will make your gear old quick, meaning you have to spend more gold. Taking the weapon will mean you have to lvl through those 3 levels BUT that weapon or armor will last you well beyond those 3 levels. Also, include the “Orb of Knowledge” into high level instances and make it SoulAccount bound so a high level person could mail it to an low level alt, so the experienced player can power level an alt but a noob has a longer path. Of course make each ord in an instance only viable for toons within the level requirements of the instance; no farming a lvl 20 instance to level you 50 toon.
2) Include new low level content in the expansions. Right now ALL areas in TBC are 60-70. Why not have one or two new lands that are 20-35 and/or 40-55. This would allow new players to expeirence the game regularly but experienced plays to see new content with alts. Or have that area be an increased XP questing area, and you need the “Key” to go through the portal that gets you there but that “Key” can only be gotten in a high level instance and is SoulAccount bound, so new players still have to level normal to teach themselves the game but high lvl people can power level their alts even more. AND make it inaccessible to players above its level. Meaning a 70 could not go there only the lower toon. This would encourage people to have alts to see new content AND require them to support themselves.
3) PvP specific, iM on a PvP server. I knew that meant player v player but what I didn’t know then was what a pain in the a$$ it was going to be when the 13 year old bring there high level toons over and gank lowbies in low areas just for fun. I cant get anything done, it serves no purpose as they get no honor and I cant do any damage to them. It is just to piss people off and makes my night miserable. If a player will yeild no honor for the kill make the target invalid. I understand PvP but PvP for 70lvl vs 20lvl, is just stupid.
4) Getting around Azeroth at low level is an absolute PAIN. Have some mod drops that are “Scrolls of Teleportation” that can teleport you to any flight point that you have discovered regardless of where you are. So you don’t have to be at an FP but you can move just like a hearthstone. Or have multiple hearthstone via a quest line completion. Going back to 1) have this reward be optional, the second heartstone or “Orb of Knowledge”. Im not trying to get orb of knowledge crazy but have it available and make the choice a difficult choice between 2 items.