So… they announced that SL will pinch our hard earned levels to 50 so that we may grind back to 60?! I mean if that’s true then what are the specifics? I mean do you need to be level 120 to go back to 50? Does level 50 now get to just troll on in to the grind with everyone else? Why did I just spend days grinding like a donkey only to have that effort wiped? Will we get anything for time and levels earned already?
Much love btw loved Legion sad I wasn’t here to play it…
tldr- How does level pinch work?
Yes, you MUST be 120 to be 50, otherwise you’ll scale lower. Also you spent that time leveling cause you decided to now instead of later. Also lvl 60 in SL = lvl 130 in current scale so it doesn’t matter. A lvl 60 will become 25, ect…just get 120 now unless you wanna work harder later.
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After looking around at a few other games seriously for the first time in years I can honestly say it’s literally childish to keep squishing everything into 3 or 4 digit numbers to keep the largest audience possible who can still read what’s happening on the screen.
If you took an 8 year old kid and threw them into other games that do no try to dumb anything down or squish any numbers to make them easier for stupid people to read, they would immediately get lost and want to stop playing the game. Diablo 3 is going into the trillions I believe now. Eve online would just start laughing hysterically if you asked them what they thought of squishing numbers down into the 3 or 4 digit range again so people could “read them easier”… You can use visual aids to help read big numbers. millions could become M, billions B, trillions T. Easily distinguishable visual options if you are too young or stupid to read big numbers.
I am personally against squishing in all forms in all games. Squishing numbers has done nothing but decrease the overall quality and enjoyment in games for me, a cheap “reset” to help developers avoid thinking outside the box or innovating, instead just resetting the numbers with a squish and repeating the exact same power creep grind that players essentially already did.
I didn’t even mention the software bugs that squishing creates. I don’t really want to go into the bugs side too much because those can technically be fixed over time but squishing in general feels regressive, and doesn’t really fit in RPG genre gaming philosophy. It just looks like you are pandering to little kids and stupid people who can’t read big numbers or big numbers make them “uncomfortable” so you squish the numbers to make everyone “more comfortable”
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It’s a conversion, you don’t lose anything. 120 today is the same as 50 in Shadowlands. If you’re below the level cap right now then you’ll be placed somewhere between 1-49. Every expansion has new levels, so going 50-60 would be the same as 120-130 if they didn’t squish.
You’ll still solo old content just as easily and keep your power level. The main difference is all expansions, except Shadowlands, are on the same level with each other now. Leveling will be considerably faster, there’s more freedom in questing, and it’s better rewarding along the way.
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The squish is less about balance and more about having numbers classic players can wrap their head around. They want to turn classic players into retail payers purchasing a new expansion.
We all know the squish will do more harm than good.
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You either weren’t here for 7.3.5 or you just don’t remember it at all because I guarantee you there will be changes felt and there will be problems and there will be bugs and there will be disappointment with the new level squish.
It’s not a guess or a theory I know this is going to happen because they have already committed to the squish and this has happened with every single type of number squish I have ever seen in WoW, no exceptions.
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Thank you peeps for the fast response. I will keep my furry head down and keep on grinding away… only 9 levels to go I just recently came back missed WoD and Legion… So where do I find some weapons that will replace the glorious bastards I acquired?? 
Raid Finder here I come…
I think the shadowland is like sweat pants to overweigh people they don’t want to Amit there a problem.
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cryptic
Maybe it will feel like BC?
Provided I feel just as power at level 50 I did at 120, I really don’t care that much. If things scale correctly, it will be fine.
I definitely prefer the idea of gaining a level and getting something over the current system where leveling feels extremely dissatisfying. Also 130 is a dumb number, 120, and 110 are dumb numbers too.
is the problem that you aren’t being handed a gold star or a little cookie every time you gain a level or is the problem that the pacing of the game is completely ruined because it took you 90-120 minutes to gain that level, and you got nothing that felt like a reward when you finally reached that goal.
So is the problem the pacing of the leveling experience or is it that the number 120 is just way too big for your brain to process and you start getting agitated and stressed out when you read numbers that go into 3 or more digits?
Yikes, relax tough guy. I’m personally just a fan of smaller numbers aesthetically. Didn’t expect such an aggressive response.
no you described a pacing issue and you tried to blame it on the number being a number.
everything you described is pacing issues. It feels bad to spend 2 hours gaining a level, and nothing actually happens that you can see or feel that implies you are somehow better off for spending the 2 hours it took to gain that level.
That’s pacing.
This is why good feedback is so hard to find anymore, because so many people have literally quit this game and they are no longer here, they left long ago.
So the voices that were saying what’s wrong, why it feels wrong, not being afraid to defend their arguments and their logic, they are just gone, and what we still get is the constant white-knighting and thank you blizzards that never really point out how we lost millions of players from the start of BfA, because I think we were finally getting back to the old subscriber numbers before BfA became obvious for what it is.
So honestly, the game could just get worse and worse as more and more people who genuinely cared about the game leave and it ends up becoming a very high turnover rate game like Eve Online that is completely subsisted by a steady stream of new players checking the game out, dropping some money, and shortly quitting thereafter.
I see it more as an aesthetic change personally. Seeing giant numbers take up your screen is just tacky. 100% of anything is still just that, so that’s basically all it is, right?
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For me personally there was too much that changed and then changed and then changed again… too much time was lost. I have to deal with that. I like changes and upgrades and overhauls that enhance but I don’t like it when they give you something nice and then take it away.
For me Legion had what I wanted from what I can tell and then took it away. The game I am playing now is fine, It’s still WoW and still fun and worth it. I am just playing catch-up while simultaneously looking ahead to see what big changes are coming so that I might stay informed. When I read about Shadowlands I got a bit annoyed. However if the pinch rewards long times players that worked hard for what they got then I’m ok with it. If they take away then I’m less ok with it…
In my opinion people think that lowering the lvl number will fix what’s wrong sorry it will not. You will still have the same problems wow has now it will NOT fix thing and might break something since it is a 15 year old game ever heard of Murphy law.
basically.
the game is “end game” focused. Leveling drags to me since I find myself going “are we there yet???” a lot lol.
Assuming current scaling stays in the leveling may slog at times because you are always the same. Even with auto adjusting looms. You remove gear RNG there. several slots just get their +1s no questions asked. But the mobs get their buffs on the way too.
Like me in outland on one alt. those orcs by the front gate takes say 4 rotations on a bm hunter at 60. Now at level 77…its still 4 rotations. I’ve moved on beyond this gate area orc. I have been in Nagrand, other places. And start of outland just scaled to that.
This will not change until…you over level or break cutoffs like ilevel. 120 and ilevel 400…is where I feel good now. Mobs are like good henchman. they die much easier.
We are after all the champions in theory who beat arthas, a black dragon, demon legions, etc. A mere blood troll lackey should not be a real fight. Ever…120 and 400+, wish granted. Hence the “end game” focus to this game.
Scaling stays as is…this will not change. We will still be “weak” until level 60 and those gear rotations are in progress. Its what we have now…with a smaller number.
they could call levels 60-80 level 2 to 3. Just 2 levels…I’d not care. its still a decent chunk of trash mob x always being say 3 to 4 rotations to kill while leveled for the zone.
Now you go hit up some MoP/cata, touch of WoD to break into +10 levels…now that trash mob by the outland gate is proper mob trash. it dies easier.