Does WoW need level scaling for the older zones?

Community General Discussion
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WoW has historically been about spending your time in the latest expac and only going back to farm things. But is it time to revitalize the older zones by introducing worldwide-level scaling?

If quests/NPC’s/loot etc. all scaled to you no matter where you went, it would mean that ultimately gearing would be redefined. The devs instead of making new gear which becomes obsolete next expac, could invest their time into making more permanent gear which can be upgraded every expansion.

This is just an example but maybe something like, 1 “legendary” gear set per class thematically designed for that class. This gear could be upgraded with the latest runes/enchanments etc. that an expansion provides but these drops would only happen at the latest content in the hardest content (raiding/mythic/arenas).

Every expansion would bring new thematic forging to this base legendary gear set that can alter how the armor looks but from a power perspective, the latest expac just modifies the power capabilities of the armor to create a synergy with your class (maybe even bringing more utility with it).

Meanwhile, players who do NOT want to participate in “end-game” content as we know it today, would still be free to roam around the open world now scaled, and all other gear items, assuming player is max level, would just scale to the next ilvl below this legendary base set, but never above it.

This would allow casual players to participate in things like heroics, maybe non-legendary arenas, and still “play the game” while not having to invest themselves into end-game content to keep chasing the power.

Hardcore gamers get their permanent gear system that keeps building on itself both vertically and horizontally, and casual players have the entire world at their fingertips now scaled to them and everything becomes relevant again.

This means professions/crafting would make a huge return as well. For players who like to run old dungeons/raids for mogs/pets/mounts, the devs could have a “legacy” version of these instances that keeps the original scaling as it exists today. Only less broken (looking at you legion).

Lastly, a permanent system for casual players to compliment the permanent gearing system for HC players would be player housing.

5 Likes
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If the npcs and mob scale to our level Wow wouldn’t be playable to casuals .What are you thinking of level 1 being a level 60 ? gg.

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stupid idea…

11 Likes
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Just let me mana bomb each zone for max XP so I can hit 60 in 5 minutes duh /s

But, No, Scaling shouldn’t be in zones like that if I read it correctly.

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What? You would start at 1…and level up to 60.

Only difference is as you level up, all zones level up with you. So you can level up to 60 literally wherever you want to.

2 Likes
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idk that’s just not the point of reaching max level though. The point is so you can level up in the current content

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Perhaps I’m getting this wrong ,yet say I wanted to from at level 30 I go the level 30 zone the whole zone level to my character level 60 ,how is that profitable ? They do that anyway,only wish the herbs and ore ,cloth would too but that’s a pipe dream.

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It works for ESO

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The problem is that we have this entire world of content that is completely irrelevant with this current model for the game…

So for those of us who can’t be bothered to manage multiple alts and rather just experience it all on one toon, its just a wasted opportunity…

This may come as a huge shock to some but not all of us, and I repeat, not all of us enjoy rushing to end game just to raid log…I would much prefer taking an ESO approach and explore the world/focus on crafting and questing than raiding/mythic…

I just hate ESO’s lore and boring world and prefer to be incentivized for exploring the WORLD of warcraft instead…because it’s infinitely more varied and interesting, to me. But it’s not fun when you face roll old content…there’s zero element of risk.

5 Likes
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Level scaling ruined wow leveling, it is a flat journey with no ups and downs everything is always your level so you hit mobs for the same % of health from level 1 to 50.

You never get to feel strong or weak. Never have to cc things, you never have to plan out pulls or ask for help. Level scaling was a solution to a developer problem not a player problem and the game has been actively worse since it’s inception in legion

14 Likes
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At this point they should probably just get rid of levels altogether. Every expansion is some stat squish or level squish or something that completely borks huge chunks of content. Levels are already not super relevant because 95% of the time you’re just sitting at max level and everything either scales to your level anyways or is obsolete so your level doesn’t really matter.

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I don’t care which way they do it, if they remove these arbitrary numbers 1-60 and just focus on item level that’s fine too whatever…the point is that at the end of the day, older zones npcs/creatures/quests need to be relevant again if the old world is going to matter or be revitalized.

As it stands, this game has 17 years of content of which only the last 6 months of it matters.

Does this make sense to yall? If you’ve experience every single zone for the past 17 years then good for you, that’s not going to attract a new age of players to eventually replace you or replace the 30% of players that have left the past 2 years…

We need a revamp.

4 Likes
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Honestly, it be easier just to have a whole new game.

1 Like
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While I agree it does work for ESO, it only works because skill level is more important than total level, you can try to power level to 50 in that game, but if you don’t focus on leveling your skill aswell your character is still useless.

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I don’t really enjoy it, but it does bring in players to all zones rather than just the latest

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Scaling sounds cool, but they always mess it up. Nothx.

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I applaud the attempt at doing something novel for capped gameplay, but good luck convincing people that instanced content shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all. People really, really love being cooped up behind instance portals.

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Level scaling is cancer.

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It may be irrelevant to you, but it’s not irrelevant to those of us who enjoy the fact that we can still go back to older zones and overpower them with the gear we acquired in later expansions, making open world and instanced group content now soloable.

I quit the game for over a year due to forced level scaling in Legion, and I would do it again if every single zone in the game scaled up to max level. It would completely destroy my enjoyment of the game since universal level/ilevel scaling renders all supposed power gains to be utterly useless.

7 Likes
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It may be relevant to you , but it’s not relevant to those of us who want to enjoy the fact that we can still go back to older zones and enjoy scaled content that sustains risk/reward elements and thus opening the world to exploration rather than focusing on World of Instancecraft Dungeon Q lobby simulator.

See how that works? Two sides of the coin, not one side is better than the other just because you decided to bold the word “you”.

1 Like