The risk of creating issues that prevent us from running old content as smoothly as we do now is something that concerns me. Not saying we wonât be able to, but I really donât want to suddenly find myself struggling to complete old raids with my lower levels(e.g. my 100 druid can no longer smoothly clear heroic firelands because of squish)
If this is something they plan on going forward with, I hope Ion and company will be as transparent as possible throughout the development.
It seems odd that there would be a question asking if people are aware of something never announced and then goes on to ask what they think of the idea.
When Ion âfloatsâ ideas like that he has already made up his mind they are going to do it anyway. It shouldnât come to anyone as a surprise since he doesnât understand a thing about people wanting to play for character progression.
Not satisfied with merely pruning abilities, features and progression systems, Blizzard now wants to prune the levels we had earned previously. Blizzard seems to think that a level squish would âfixâ the lack of meaningful character progression in the game.
It wonât.
Even with 60 levels, there arenât enough talents and abilities spread out enough in current spec design to make character progression feel meaningful. Too many RPG elements have been removed from the game over the years to make that possible. And like the item level squish, theyâll just be back in this boat in a few expansions.
The fundamental, underlying systems are broken. It doesnât matter if there are 20, 60, 100 or 130 levels - not a single one of those levels feels like it actually improves your character. The game is designed around reaching level cap to do current content now - THAT is a bigger issue.
The only way to fix character progression is to go back to the underlying system and redesign it, taking the best elements from the origins of the game (where meaningful character progression existed) and revamping what a class is. For example, modern WoW is spec-focused to the point where every spec is really a different class - your âclassâ choice really only determines which specs youâll be able to play. When a Paladin was a Paladin, and could tank, or heal, or DPS, and swap dynamically in a pinch even mid-combat (imagine a M+ where your tank dies during a pull - the paladin swaps in a shield, taunts, and backfills that role - that brings meaningful utility to a class).
Character power progression is meaningless. As a result, levels are meaningless. Much like the item level squish (item design needed a full revamp, not just a reduction on a bell-curve stat allocation - itâs so bloody lazy), all this does is remove a sense of progression and achievement from players (youâre taking away something I already earned) - UNLESS it is accompanied by something much more meaningful.
They probably have an announcement scheduled to go out soon, but due to miscommunication between departments accidentally sent the questionnaire out earlier than intended.
WOD and Legion is what I canât stand. Disclaimer, Legion content is actually very good on the whole, Iâve just done it way too much the past year or two and tired of it. This is why CHOICE is good!
Thatâs very true, but we donât know what else they plan to bring along with the squish. Squishing to 60 would make it significantly easier to rework specs for meaningful progression â theyâd only have to worry about 60 levelsâ worth of talents and abilities instead of 130 levelsâ worth.
oh how misinformed and unaware you are⌠the real reason why Recruit-A-Friend is on haitus, is due to the exploits players have discovered they can do with it, even on free accounts.
One of those exploits for example, allowed players in 2019 on current build 8.1.5 to access the long blocked off holy grail of exploration, the long locked away GM Island and even the fabled Interrogation room, amongst other areas in-game players shouldnât be able to access normally, the most broken being utilizing the exploit to bypass encounters i.e. boss skips, and generally just go where youâre not suppose to be yet, beyond the ocean fatigue lines into hidden development areas, etc, and even beyond the literal terrain world map edge and even under it into the endless grey void (iâd imagine not healthy for the server/game to be in a location/position that shouldnât be possible and wasnât designed/coded for)
Ion mentioned in a Q&A at Blizzcon that he liked the idea someone in the audience mentioned about it. He said he wanted to know what the players thought of it. I guess this is that time, although saying âupcomingâ really throws a wrench into it.
I didnât receive the survey, but I am down for a level squish. Being 60 was fun. Being 120 just seems like a big number for the sake of big number.
I have no faith that they intend to do anything other than squish levels and keep character design the way it currently is, until proven otherwise. Recent history has shown us that they see squishes as a way to bandaid problems, not fix them.