While I don’t disagree, that’s sort of the point - that we would keep getting stronger, not weaker for our efforts.
Oh, I completely agree, I still think it’d be better than having to level up 5 or 10 more levels, only to be weaker than when you started and then grind out to get back to the power you had before you can start progressing in power again. The current system is really very much like “1 step forward, 2 steps back” and it’s really discouraging. This is the 1st xpac where I haven’t bothered to level my alts (I have at least 1 of every class @ 110 or higher) and its’ largely due to this issue - it feels pointless & frustrating to do so.
I’m suffering though WoD right now on my fat dr00d, and it’s just a freaking slog.
I’ve been plying WoW long enough to have seen various squishes before, and none of them have mattered in the long run except to make the game more playable after it had gotten out of control.
What, exactly, is the difference between dealing 100 damage and dealing 100,000,000 damage when you don’t have enough screen real-estate to actually display that many zeroes anyway?
On top of which, 100 vs 100m doesn’t actually matter as long as the number you’re affecting is properly scaled to the number you’re putting up. If I swing my sword there is zero difference between dealing 100 damage and 100 million damage to my target as long as they have, appropriately, 1000 health or 1 billion health because it’s actually the proportion that matters.
A level squish?
I’m not level 120. I’m max level. The moment I dinged my last ding for this expansion level ceased to matter entirely. Only my gear’s ilvl matters now. If I woke up tomorrow and was level 50, it wouldn’t change a thing as long as I didn’t lose any of my ability to affect the game world. Hell, if I actually gained a bit of power in the squish, I’d be a lot more than simply happy with the squish.
TL;DR: Squish don’t matter. I’m already max level. Just don’t chop anything off of my class.
you pretty much summed up what i want from the level squish in a single post. im fine with a level squish, however if abilities go, im not okay with the level squish. for example, if an ability comes at level 62 right now, and they squish it to 60, then the ability should be available at level 26, since its about the same point in the game, not be cut out entirely (EDIT: fixing and adding to conversation)
If we get a level squish every level feels more important and impactful. I’m all for that, but only if they abandon the philosophy that only the endgame matters and leveling is a chore to reach it. Make those levels matter if you want to squish them. Otherwise… keep the +10s coming til the servers go down.
Ultimately, the concept is fine. Anyone that is afraid of ‘losing levels’ clearly doesn’t understand basic math, and I encourage everyone to write your senators and congressmen so we can address this public education problem.
However, the concern of Blizzard actually executing the squish is legitimate. Blizzard’s squishes and scaling systems are still being fixed. They say they’re confident that future squishes will be made easier, but I don’t entirely trust that.
Nobody is claiming this will make the entire ‘leveling’ process more fun. But it will certainly make the actual ‘ding’ more satisfying and scale more properly. A new player gains nothing from level 100-120 right now. So why does that gap exist? It doesn’t need to. The squish means the same rewards are applied across fewer levels, make each individual level matter more.
It’s not about fun. They can’t make leveling fun. It’s an old, boring mechanic. This squish would help with skill and talent distribution across non-max characters. Though I’d be incredibly surprised if they could implement it without breaking a ton of stuff for months.
I don’t just mean level rewards, but the usefulness of professions too. A warrior should be using blacksmithing for superior gear as they level, as it stands leveling professions, and professions in general are useless. That needs to be fixed before any level squish is even conceived of.
my idea is fun through reward, as giving a player rewards tends to feel more fun than not giving rewards at all. so if you got a special item for reaching level 35 that only people who got level 35 get, then im all for it. however if they just squish the levels and dont give reward at all then its a no for me
This will give them the opportunity to remove even more inconvenient old content from the game. No doubt it will be hammered through after a brief period of time on the PTR where players report thousands of bugs, none of which are fixed.
Ion thinks if players rarely get meaningful rewards, it will feel like you won the lottery if you get anything at all.
My 42 balance druid did a quest last night and got one of them there newfangled upgrades. I think the quest item was supposed to be a 49, but it forged up to 61.
ive studied several game’s game design, and have learned a lot from it. from level design, to reward systems, to even how gunplay, mechanics, etc. work. i have a good understanding of what makes good game design and bad game design, however it all depends on the community’s reaction. the main reason why ion brought it up in the Q&A, he wants the community’s opinion on it before they try to execute or scrap that plan.
I would be totally fine with a level squish. It’d make a lot of sense as an x.0 patch. Everything pretty much resets between expansions anyways. Just make sure we can still wear our max-level gear.
Logging in and being lvl 50 and therefore unable to equip some of your old gear due to whatever algorithm accidentally not resetting the level requirements of the gear would feel pretty bad until it was hotfixed the next day.
I’m personally all for it. I would love to see the impact a level squish would have on currently dated content.
Would WotLK be more challenging? Would Pandaria feel relevant? I think there are so many fun ways they could implement a level squish that could breathe life into many of the older pieces of Warcraft that don’t get much, if any, playing time.
Yes! Squish 120 to 60, 70 is the new cap in next xpac. Then 80, then 90… and do a 1/3 Squish back to 60 and do it again. Tie the Damage and ilvl squishes to the same intervals to create consistency. Open up leveling to let us just play wherever we want longer, instead of doing 10% of 6 different expansions to get there.
I don’t think infinitely scaling mobs would make the game better. Lots of people would be really upset if they had to slog through max-level mobs in a starting zone. They want the power fantasy of getting stronger over time.
I liked the scaling changes that have already been made, and I wouldn’t be against a squish. I just don’t think something this big is going to be as easy to pull off as people think.