Coming from playing classic to retail wow… it’s just absolutely ridiculous how fast leveling is this days… at least up to lvl 70. I’m literally doing the intro to Shadowlands on my DK, and I’ve barely gotten through a portion and have already gotten two levels (from around 50). It’s like (to no surprise) Blizz just wants you to get to the max lvl available to you so you buy the expansion (duh, capitalism… that’s what it’s all about).
I’m trying to enjoy previous content on my older characters I didn’t level up earlier, and although, sure, scaling means your level is almost pointless now, you gain levels WAY too quickly and get abilities on top of abilities before you can learn to play with them. How are new players supposed to adapt to this if they get all their spells thrown at them at once? Is this really how people want to play? If you’re ONLY goal is max level gameplay, maybe an MMO isn’t the thing for you…
This is why modes like Classic have such a high popularity. It’s about the journey, not just the destination… I feel like Blizz has probably forgotten that along the way to corporate consolidation.
Retail has been out for 20 years. There’s nothing special about “leveling” any more. Those who enjoy retail enjoy what the end game point has to offer. Blizz knows this, so they’ve railroaded the process to get people to where they wanna be faster.
It’s almost like they’re aware most of their player base has done that content to death and is trying to grease the path to the newest content, and still have a classic version available for people who want to play 20 year old content like it’s 20 years ago. That would be pretty savvy.
And the new players I play with don’t seem to have a problem with “all the abilities” though the common statement about classic is “i dont want to watch my guy autoattack the same monster 72 times for a carrot while i occasionally press a button.” Granted they got bored by level 20 so never saw the other 4 buttons.
If you’re brand new to the game I can get that leveling can be fun but after that first character you really don’t want to deal with it again
If you enjoy leveling and things like that that’s great there’s nothing wrong with that. OP classic exist for people like you. I’m glad you enjoy it but not everyone does. No one’s twisting your arm to come to retail just stay in classic if that’s what you enjoy.
I enjoy my Jeep Wrangler and a lot of people enjoy sports cars. Therefore I but Jeep Wranglers I don’t go out and buy a sports car and try and turn it into a Wrangler
Yes I agree there is something special about the levelling process in classic, you play and participate with others, decisions are crucial especially in hardcore and the world feels real.
Without a doubt in my mind I’ve had some of the most fun I’ve had in gaming period on my priest’s journey in classic. I’ve saved lives, flirted on boats, had more close calls than I can remember and the loss of my nearly 40 character. Value + fun to the time I’ve spent in that game is WELL worth it.
But that’s all it offers. Once you hit max that magic wears off. There’s a long winded chain for raid, you do and complete that and raid log for limited loot or quit/or r make another character.
That’s where retail shines - be it LFR/Delves or M+ and grouped raid there is so much fun to be had. Doing content with friends or maybe an old boss in hopes to get a Mount! (We trying for fire owl in amirdrassil lately). Retail offers a lot more to do and is super fun too
The thing about Classic WoW the journey sucked and the destination was spamming a 1 button “rotation” on raid bosses with 3 mechanics the game was boring then and its boring now. Leveling is a chore it was never fun it was the thing you had to do to get to the thing you wanted to do.
The game is not centered around leveling, it is all about after you hit max level.
And to use your words, level 80 is not the destination. Your character’s gear/mounts/toys/achievements you aspire to get by the end of the season is the destination.
