Levels, items and stats have been adjusted to make reaching a new level feel more meaningful while simultaneously making the leveling experience faster than before.
Their implementation demonstrates that they still have no idea why leveling continues to feel so broken, despite claiming that they learned from Classic.
Here are two of the major differences between Classic leveling and Shadowlands leveling.
In Classic, I get a sense of improvement as I gain levels. In Shadowlands, nothing ever seems to change. Here’s why:
Classic - Enter a zone at level 20, fight a bunch of level 21 mobs, and barely get by. Leave the zone at level 25, completely decimating all the level 21 mobs that were giving you so much grief. That feels good.
Shadowlands - Enter a zone at level 20, fight a bunch of level 20 mobs at a set difficulty. Leave the zone at level 25, except now all the mobs in the same zone are also level 25. Did anything change? No. Will the next zone I go to be any different? No. I’ll still be fighting a bunch of stuff my level that will be just as easy/difficult to handle as the stuff I just left behind. The whole experience is just meh.
In Classic, I pick my difficulty when leveling. In Shadowlands, I’m stuck at a set difficulty for the entire experience.
Classic - If I want a harder leveling experience, I accept a bunch of orange quests, head into higher level areas, and punch above my weight class. If I prefer to go with a relaxing easy mode experience, I stick with the green and yellow quests, go to areas around my level or even lower, and punch below my weight class. There’s something for everybody.
Shadowlands - You have no choice. You’re stuck at a set difficulty, and you have no way to tailor the experience to your personal preferences. Want an easy leveling experience? Too bad. You’re stuck with mobs that are exactly your level. Want a hard leveling experience? Too bad. You’re still stuck with mobs that are exactly your level.
There is no sense of level or power progression. Higher levels aren’t unlocking harder areas in any meaningful way. Higher levels aren’t making my life any easier in lower level areas.
Anyone my age remembers the ending of the Superman II movie where Superman loses his powers, gets them back, goes to the cafe where he was bullied, and beats the snot out of the bully. We used to get to experience that in WoW. Now we don’t. No amount of level squishing will ever bring that experience back. I’m sorry Blizzard just didn’t get it.
The “majority” minimize the amount of time they spend leveling anyway. The reason I’m in the minority is that the crappy leveling experience has driven would-be levelers away.
Correct because nobody cares about leveling. Its been 16 years we just want to play the end game. a “rewarding” level experience is not something we care about. Difficulty in end game is the name of retail so go back to classic if that’s what you want
Now who’s in the minority? If you make the game exclusively for players who have been playing it for 16 years, the end result will be self-fulfilling. You’ll only have the same few players from 16 years ago. The endgame is the part of the game that should be tailored towards your needs, not the leveling.
I like how you’re implying that when you’re killing lvl 21 mobs, they stay lvl 21 all the way until you hit 25 in classic, and you’re still killing lvl 21 mobs lol. A zone might start at lvl 20, but it gradually levels up the further you go into each zone too. There isn’t even enough experience in a single zone to complete a single zone. You bounce between zones to get your lvl up to do the higher lvl stuff easier. I don’t quite think that’s much better.
I enjoy being able to start in 1 zone and actually finish it without having to hit up 2 other zones and finishing their partial stories, just to finish the main one I want to do.
different generation of gamers, they probably won’t like old leveling and if they do they can go play classic. You’ve barely touched retail and came here to tell us how bad leveling is. Leveling is literally irrelevant just like it is in classic.
leveling in classic was only fun when it first launched. People are buying boosts in classic all the time and you cant find a group to play with for your life.
where are these hallucinations coming from that everyone loves classic leveling
That’s not true. I can feel getting stronger when I get new abilities, despite monster scaling.
It was the same before they implemented scaling. I’d be struggling on two equal level monsters when I’m level 15, but not when I’m 45 because I have more abilities to help me. Downtime is lessened too, so I can chain pull more easily.
So which is it? Are you constantly killing increasingly higher level mobs or are you bouncing between zones to get your XP up? You don’t need to answer. It’s the latter, and you get to pick what level quests you do in the process. If you want an easy mode experience, you do Westfall, Loch Modan, and Darkshore. If you want a tougher experience, you go to Darkshire, Redridge, and Ashenvale ASAP. You know you have a choice. To try to claim otherwise is disingenuous.
I’m not complaining about that. I’m not expecting them to bring that aspect of the experience back. I’m just saying that the mob scaling is unfun.
Okay, so I will recap. You do not like the new leveling experience because you cannot go back and punch a bully in the face ala Superman II? We also gain power, but expect our opposition to remain in a set state for eternity? They should be getting stronger too, so the scaling makes sense.
I have every rep maxed except for Rajani. I have the Aqua Team Murder Force achievement. Your definition of “barely” is very different from mine.
To you. Speaking of “barely touched” content, why are you so fixated on cheerleading the current leveling experience if you don’t even want anything to do with leveling.