Level scaling has been horrible for years now; some mobs hit like a truck, and others do nothing. And with the super fast leveling, it just adds to a bad combo all around. Even getting gear is not exciting. The leveling system in retail is bad all around. Yes, we can go to any expansion and enjoy the content, but to enjoy it all, you have to turn your XP off and deal with mobs that either hit super hard or do nothing. They need to find a solution that benefits all players so leveling can be something that’s smiled upon instead of frowned upon. They need to go back to their roots with classic combat/engagement, which made players think and work together, unlike retail, where the world is mostly dead. Retail is just mind-numbing in certain aspects, and it’s a shame. Only if Blizzard would change something instead of promoting leveling boosts and rushing through their game. Going slow (not one-shotting everything) and enjoying the world and everything it has to offer is what captures people into this world. I do hope something changes one day.
As the expansions go on, it gets worse. I remember when the scaling started more and mobs were literally OP. Blizzard fixed it, and then, in classic Blizzard fashion, it did nothing. Over time it’s gotten out of hand. Your level goes up fast, but your gear will be trash.
Also, getting new players to understand all their systems is very difficult without a friend’s help. Imagine trying to explain level scaling and time walking. Why do they keep dying to a trash mob because their gear sucks from leveling too fast? Obviously this game takes time to learn; we all know that, but the tutorial and scaling ruin that fun for newer people. They start in this world, and in like a day or two, they can do Kaz Algar with no understanding of the game or lore or just a sense of the world in general. Not everyone cares about the lore, of course, but we should get new players hooked on this world and why things are happening, especially in the older zones like Northrend or heck, anywhere with zones that have wonderful lore and whimsy to see.
You have to remember the game was designed way different than what we got now. You can only change something so much before you need to just wipe away the beginning and start again.
Generally levels would take MUCH longer and MANY more quests. Which was the main way to get gear while leveling. Most of which are all still available. If you’re counting on drops from dungeons than yeah I could see the problem. But you should be getting gear quiet easily through quests.
If you are just dungeon zerging then the AH is your best friend.
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I’m more talking about the new player experience; they don’t know all these little tricks, you know? I agree you can spam dungeons and other tricks for gear; there are definitely ways. 100%, this game has been going on for years. It’s going to be tough to change, but if Blizzard wants to, they will find a way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6_RjDRLLaY
I’ve watched a lot of videos from long-time WoW creators and players on this topic, and I’m still not sure what the one fix would be. I get that the current leveling system was designed to be more alt-friendly, since in Classic it could take weeks or even months to level casually, and that could feel frustrating, especially if your class dropped in the meta. That often meant getting locked out of group content outside of raiding, at least that’s what happened to be both times during Shaman changes in Pandaria, and the Paladin changes in Legion.
Maybe the current system just needs better onboarding, like a revamped Tutorial Island that reflects modern expectations, as many veterans have pointed out, and of course fixing level scaling would go a long way too.
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Yeah, either way it’s a tough situation to fix, but a better tutorial would definitely be a great start!
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A better tutorial and a less frantic, toxic playerbase, neither of which we’ll get.
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