I may be the odd elf out here, but I actually really appreciated the old leveling system pre-squish when level cap was 120 rather than 60. I loved being able to spend the first 60 levels in either Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, spending 60-70 in Outland, 70-80 in Northrend, 80-85 in Vash’ir or Hyjal, 85-90 in Pandaria, 90-100 in Draenor, 100-110 on the Broken Isles, and 110-120 on Kul Tiras. I always appreciated the journey, and each time I leveled a new character (especially this one) it made that character feel more unique and important.
Nowadays, I feel like it’s even more of a rush to hit level cap and raid rather than simply taking in all the amazing experiences Azeroth and beyond has to offer.
So, I’m curious. Do any of you miss traversing the realms of WoW pre-squish on your journey to hit level cap? Or, do you prefer the current system?
27 Likes
Not sure. Just started on my first character since early BFA.
That said, I am absolutely not going to miss Outland and Northrend.
Outland was a chore, and while I love Northrend, about half the zones have not aged well.
I do think that I will miss the longer ‘zero to hero’ journey, but I’m really happy that I don’t ever have to see HFP again.
6 Likes
I miss the exp potions bonus areas and treasure things that worked better than the do now. Also, I miss my exp bonus heirlooms.
I also miss powerleveling this was nerfed before the squish though.
6 Likes
I don’t know I’m sort of on the fence. I think something needed to be done with how high the levels were getting but I absolutely hate level scaling.
4 Likes
Nope. New system is way better.
I just wish the 50-60 leveling was the same format.
12 Likes
The new leveling system truly encapsulated Blizzard’s attitude to all content that happens before the current expansion.
“Irrelevant! Don’t look at this stuff! It no longer matters! Go go go gogogogogo!” As they SHOVE you through previous expansions as fast as humanly possible.
A shame, too. As the worlds they created are big and beautiful and mysterious.
17 Likes
Not at all. I like the great freedom of this post-squish world and overall it actually is much faster.
I don’t miss the old one, I was a strong advocate for years for the level squish to happen. In particular I loathed being forced through Outland and Northrend for 60-80. That level range can go to the Void! Actually no, then I feel bad for the Void Lords. They deserve better. 
4 Likes
World of Warcraft. More like zone of Warcraft!
They should change the title like fast and furious it’s got nothing to do with cars and Warcraft has nothing to do with the world.
America what happened to your balls?
1 Like
It is a shame because 50 to 60 at this point is such a crapfest that I just would rather not level at all. It just isn’t fun content to me.
9 Likes
I’m on the fence. I think 120 was to much, but at the same time I hate being rushed to end game so quickly. I don’t like WoWs end game and much prefer the journey over the destination. Maybe if the end game had more variety and didn’t try to push everyone into instances then I would like the end game more.
5 Likes
No, Chromie time is a superior system.
3 Likes
No worries, I totally get others like them. It’s just my personal thing 
Aesthetically they’re definitely cool, awesome looking zones. It’s just for the gameplay of their quests my opinion is not fond. And for some reason it felt like it took so much longer to level and gain exp 60-80 than any other level range. Twas a graveyard for so many of my alts.
1 Like
I don’t care about the levels themselves, and I don’t think it’s bad to be able to level entirely in one expansion (it goes a long way toward making the story more cohesive if you’re not swapping zones halfway through every time)…
But I’m not sure how I feel about the sheer speed of it all from a design standpoint. I don’t personally enjoy leveling anymore, for the most part, so from that perspective I’m appreciative of it. But if the design goal is to rush people into endgame faster… why is leveling even in the game anymore?
Oh I completely understand. Back in the old days (pre-Cata), both Outland and Northrend leveling felt like they took forever. But at least I really did appreciate the aesthetics, the atmosphere, and especially the music. Terrokar Forest still has the best soundtrack to date IMHO
1 Like
There’s one part of it I miss. There were a few ‘tricks’ that one could do that can’t be done anymore. Would you believe me if I told you I levelled only through a few starter areas?
Anyways here is what I miss;
-
doing the human and dwarf starter zone. Getting a 1-20 party sync using an alt account let you do these starter areas again and get tons of experience.
-
Being able to repeat starter areas like Elwynn forest through party sync. I would literally never go past Westfall as I never liked journeying too far. It also felt like I was ‘sticking to my kingdom’ personal lore wise.
Now when you party sync those starter areas are in a 1-10 zone and you’re not able to sync lower than 10.
With that said overall this new system has been incredible. They’ve basically brought back a huge relevance to content that would be completely dead otherwise.
I basically only leveled alts for the past few years on WoW. Personally I enjoy the new chromie time leveling because we can choose right off the bat what sort of content we want to play in. It offers faster leveling, however you like to.
The biggest problem I’ve experienced with the actual chromie time is not having enough abilities at low level to properly do certain dungeons that have been designed for higher level play back then. Interrupts are the biggest missing factor I notice on my characters.
So right now I truly do not believe it’s an issue with the leveling, but the destination itself is what feels like a sort of roadblock on our path of adventuring. It’s felt this way even before the level squish too me, but the feeling comes faster now, the end game hasn’t been as wondrous as it used to be maybe. Or there is a sudden lack of choice once we get to that level.
Anyways I am comforted that we can go back and complete as much as we like on our characters whenever we want too. There isn’t anything wrong with doing that, and nothing wrong with reaching max faster than before for those who want to play max level content.
Only wish the end game felt a little more inviting.
Leveling has always been my favorite part of the game. I thought I would love the leveling squish, but I really don’t… It was cool at first, but doesn’t have the longevity that old leveling did.
Unfortunately for WoW, since trying out FFXIV, I have realized that is the leveling experience I have been wanting forever. Complete stories with old raids still relevant.
4 Likes
nope. I like the new 0-50 much more.
2 Likes
I miss TBC and Wrath style leveling, but I do not miss TBC style gameplay.
I rolled a Paladin on Classic TBC, and dear God, there’s boring, and then there’s… whatever you call that.
People like to harp on about FFXIV’s “slow” GCD system, apparently they don’t play on Classic, lol. Seal, Judge, wait 5-6 seconds, judge… /yawn.
Staring at your character while they auto-attack for 5, 6 seconds is just plain boring.
That said, I wish I could take Shadowlands style gameplay and do Classic TBC style questing and leveling.
But no, in modern WoW you zip zip zip through levels, if you aren’t dinging a level every 30-60 minutes then it ain’t “fun” enough I suppose.
EDIT: And the seal-judge-wait gameplay doesn’t get any better until late levels, like at least 45-50 when you finally get Crusader Strike at the very bottom of the Ret Tree.
1 Like
