Level squish

Adding stuff doesn’t always fix everything: that’s how Blizzard got into this mess in the first place. They knew that levels were going to be a problem going into Cataclysm and MOP (when levels capped at 85 and 90), so I’m pretty sure they’ve been looking for way to fix this that didn’t involve just putting a hard limit at 100 or something. Compressing the leveling process makes the state of leveling more rewarding because it takes just as long to get from 10-50 as it does from 1-120; the time spent leveling wasn’t the issue, it was how much jumping around from expansion to expansion you had to do once you broke past certain thresholds. Expansions became less about questing and story line and just grinding away until it was time to leave. The expansions that were fun when they were current turned into just another hurdle on the way to max level, and that is not fun. It’s also something that they learned from Classic: if every level has a reward, even incremental ones, then the leveling feels better. Compare this to how current leveling goes: after 100, there are no rewards to your character, and it feels like crap because all that really matters is getting to endgame content ASAP.

For example, of how the squish might help your character feel better, the talent progression system is compressed: the current is 15-100, but the talent gain isn’t consistent (every 15 levels until you hit the last tier). If you can compress that from 10-50 or even 1-50, you should be able to shrink the usable talents from 7 tiers to 5 or 6 - something nice every ten levels on top of gaining abilities and improved abilities. This potentially means one of two things: some talents might actually become baseline, and less junk talents. (Admittedly, I didn’t watch the presentation on talents, so I don’t really know how this is going to go; they could be bringing back skill trees, for all I know. That’d be nice.)

Two, as I mentioned before, the leveling process itself is greatly simplified: choose an expansion, and spend as much of your time there as you want. Want to spend 10-50 in Northrend? Go for it. Want to hurt yourself and do it all in Draenor? Knock yourself out. No more jumping around when the levels run out, no more unfinished storylines, no more going to a new expansion being completely undergeared because of scaling issues, just pick a timeline and go with it.

Look, I know it seems like you’re getting weaker because the numbers are smaller, but you’re getting more bang for your buck, numerically speaking.

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Same. I would love to play WOW where my character goes to Pandaria (or Northrend) at a relatively early level and spends enough time there to finish off the majority of the zones. I don’t care for leveling squishes myself, but the suggestion that this could be a possibility made me an enthusiastic supporter of the idea.

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Still dont mind it and if I dont have to go through WoD im ok with that.

You do know they are gonna adjust the ilvls of the gear in game to match the new system?

yes you are.

if i loot a piece of equipment with my level 120, why can I not send it to to my level 50 yo wear? If level means nothing then my level 50 should be able equip the pieces looted by my 120.

Your not losing any power, just the number of levels is being toned down. People screaming and crying about how it wastes years of their time are just making a weak smokescreen just to complain about something

Once the squish has happened, then the exact same level 120 gear will be usable on your level 50.

Right now, save for gating what gear and content you can get, levels are almost meaningless. At level 80, I have 95% of the abilities I will receive. At level 100, I have all of them.

Yet, I still have 20 levels to go before things start changing. Those levels are meaningless.

Afterward, if Blizzard keeps their promise, every level should unlock something. They will have meaning.

With the being able to choose an expansion to level in and extra speed added in? It’s all gravy.

level squish is not going to fix quest. you will have to slaughter 100+ bears to get 5 livers.

all they need to do make leveling 100% faster and fun.