Lvl squish, how it could work

Community General Discussion
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Ion said he wanted to see thoughts on a lvl squish. This is something that i am very much in favor of. I hope to outline in this post how said squish could work by going over details.

Cut Levels in Half Next Expansion

  • Every max lvl character would log in to see their character at 60 after the pre patch.
  • Characters at less than max would have their characters be divided in half. Odd levels would be half rounded down plus half an xp bar. (examples: level 44 would be 22, 75 would be 47 and half xp bar filled ect.)
    (Also obviously you have to take into account experience progress bars that are between levels at the change. This would be a problem that Devs would have to look at, but shouldn’t be a huge hurdle for them to solve)
  • New cap would be 70 (or 65 if you want expansion progress to be slower)

Leveling Zones and Dungeons Reworked for Scaling (Again)

  • What is now lvl 1-60 content would become levels 1-30
  • Levels 30-45 would be choice of BC, Wrath, or Cata content

(Side note: Having cata content here I think would be great because after the Cata old world rework most of the questlines involve Cata storylines. They way it works now, the player Does Cata story stuff then has to go back in time to BC or to Wrath, then continue the Cata story)

  • 45-55 would be choice of Pandaria, WoD or Legion.
  • 55-60 BFA (so that the most recent stuff doesn’t become obsolete immediately)
  • And finally 60-Max would be whatever the new stuff is.

What to do with Starting Hero classes and Allied Races

  • Allied races start at 10 instead of 20
  • Death Knights start at 27 or 28 (with intent of being 30ish by the time they leave the start area)
  • Demon Hunters start at level 42 or 43(intent to be 45 by the time they leave start area)

Profession Progression

With the BFA changes to professions I actually think you just leave it how it is. Dividing the professions into each expansion content is perfect and doesn’t need to be changed much. Just make crafted items the opriate lvl for characters playing through that content. (i. e. BC, Wrath and Cata should have the same craftable ilvl gear)

New Mount Progression

This one is a bit tricky because part of me wants to save flying until it’s absolutely necessary at 60 but then you restrict some content of BC, Wrath and Cata without it. So I’m going to provide 2 options for this one.

Option 1: No Flying Until 60

  • 60% ground at 20
  • 100% ground at 40
  • 280% flying at 60
  • 310% flying also available at 60

(This is virtually unchanged by the squish save for removing lowest fly speed and lowering 310% speed to 60 instead of 80)

Option 2: Mount Progression Bassically Halved

  • 60% ground at 10
  • 100% ground at 20
  • 280% flying at 30
  • 310% Flying at 40

(I removed the 150% flying on this one too because 3 tiers of speed is a little much)

Also for both options I would like to see pathfinder requirements removed for old content, like WoD and Legion and maybe BFA. It made since when the content was current with the expansion, but now seems punishing to players who are trying to level through it, but didn’t play or get the achievement at the time.

Pros and Cons of This Change

Pros

  • Leveling no longer seems like an overbearing or impossible feat.
  • Leveling also feels more rewarding from level to level by having skills and talents be given at smaller intervals.
  • Numbers at Max level don’t seem over inflated

Cons

  • Dividing a character’s level in half can visually make him/her feel less powerful to the player.
  • Players who have purchased character boosts may feel like it was a waste of money.
  • Character boost sales may drop with players viewing manual leveling to be more accomplishable.

Overall I think the pros outweigh the cons on this and I’m sure there are some pros and cons i missed as well as details pertaining to leveling that I missed. I’m anxious to see what everyone thinks of this.

19 Likes
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bumping this post

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I like your idea. I am personally in favor of a level squish. Although it sounds like a big task to undertake.

The flying mount training would have to coincide with the BC/WotLK/Cata area as there are areas in certain zones that are only reachable by flying mounts. So I think option one is out of the question.

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Yeah, I know. Maybe install FP to the unreachable areas to make them now reachable, but yeah the easier thing is option 2

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I would do the following level splits instead:

30-40 Wrath or BC
40-50 Pandaria or WoD
50-60 Legion or BfA

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I think it’s retarded. Leveling doesn’t feel like an impossible feat as it is. You can level a char from 1-120 in a week.

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My biggest worry is if I’ll be able to solo old raids effectively like I can now. I’m hoping the number tuning will make everything doable, but I still have that slight worry in the back of my head. I know it’s something silly and probably not a big deal, but it’s really the only thing that bothers me.

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It’s not really about speed of leveling. It’s more about the psychology and mechanics. It’ll allow each level to feel more rewarding by not spreading out talent points and the cap less daunting psychologically to new players.

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I could care less. It is still going to take just as long to level to max and it is going to suck. Plus, squishes have proven time and time again to feel bad. I’m not into it.

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YOU can. You don’t speak for the entire playerbase. You also failed to outline any actual drawbacks - “It doesn’t take THAT long to level” is A] subject to variables and B] not the entire point of a level squish.

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I think it’s time for a level squish.

It would allow for a more enjoyable leveling experience than we currently have.

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No. I’m a “new player” and I started playing because of the high level cap (Legion, 110). Please stop speaking for “new” players, you aren’t one.

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I don’t need to outline anything. I never said I’m speaking for anyone. And you don’t speak for me, that’s why I’m stating my opinion.

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Nope. Levels aren’t the problem. Only the talent system is the problem. Revamp it. Problem solved.

I refuse to take the same amount of time to hit 60 as I do to hit 120. I don’t want a slog. I want the game to keep its levels to show how much content there is.

I want a talent system that is more engaging and rewarding. That does not mean revert to the old one. I am looking at something similar to Old Republic. Take things like Azerite traits and talents, give certain talents at certain levels and choices of traits as we go. Make the interface interesting, too, and you won’t see the need for destroying how many levels we have.

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They would have to explain this really well and probably bribe the playerbase a little bit or I can see a huge amount of the player base freaking out over what would look like lose of progress.

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I think it would feel much slower because it would take more time to achieve each level.

I don’t think that would feel very good at this point. It would be worse than just a stat squish.

…my vote would be “no thank you.”

1 Like
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I’ll present another alternative to the Squish. Max Level 60. Then each expansion gets a set of levels 1-10. BC gets Crusader Levels, Wrath gets Wrathful levels, etc…

This will allow new players to play through 1-60 Old Azeroth content and jump straight to the latest expansion.

Characters at 120 automatically get level 10 for each of the expansions.

Characters that are max with ea expansion get bonus multiplier for soloing old raids and dungeons of expansions they’re max level for. i.e. A character maxed w BC and MoP gets 2 damage bonuses for BC and MoP raids and dungeons, but not for Cata raids and dungeons. So if they’re max w 7 expansions then they get 7 bonuses.

This will allow existing characters to still slay in old raid tiers and dungeons, while allowing new characters to jump straight to new content after finishing Old Azeroth 1-60. This would also allow old expansions to be relevant to new characters and players if they want to play through those stories or ignore them if they want.

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All I know is if it affect my ability to run old raids/instances for little pets/mogs then I’m gone. That’s a lot of what I enjoy in game, actually most of it.

:cookie:

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It will only feel more rewarding if they make it more rewarding. If leveling moves along at a decent clip it doesn’t matter how many levels there are.

Anyone who claims a level squish is going to fix the game is making it up as they go. What are the chances that they can implement this without breaking lots of stuff? Zero.

This will be accompanied by removal of probably half the content in the game.

You are playing the game wrong. You will be assimilated.

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120 levels can take a new player with a job a month. I lost 3 friends I tried to recruit because even Cata lvl 1 graphics are so brutal.
With talents pruned to near-mobile levels, why do new players need 120 levels to learn their skills?
Start at Legion, since the content was so good, and it will keep them hooked. Send them to Icy Veins for a tutorial, 20 levels is more than enough to get your feet wet, then let them play with their friends within a week, which is why they probably joined in the first place. You can still sell the lvl 110 boosts for the lazy ppl.
But more max level accounts will generate more subs than the guy that quits at lvl 38 because the quests are gray and he doesn’t know where to go. Old zone graphics are yuck anyway.