Players need to stop seeing leveling as a chore, and Blizzard needs to stop designing for players who think it’s a chore. The problem is that the game is so hyperfocused on end-game content and gearing, and tries so much to guarantee rewards instead of just having X boss have Y chance to drop Z item, that players constantly have that finish line in mind and see everything in-between as an annoyance to be skipped as fast as possible.
This isn’t what made WoW great. This isn’t healthy for WoW. Leveling used to be the game. Can we please take a moment to ask ourselves why every single piece of feedback from players these days is different flavors of “let me skip this”?
That’s not the solution I would prefer but yeah, if leveling is designed as timegating to get to “the good bit” instead of being fun and rewarding in and of itself, why even have it?
Pandora’s Box has been opened, and there’s no putting it back in. You can’t make leveling more “difficult” or time-consuming than it is now, at least not for all players. Not everyone wants the same things you do. This is one of those changes that will never be reversed. If anything, I’d expect them to nerf leveling again to make it even quicker.
The only thing Blizzard could do is allow players to opt into a difficulty slider during Chromie time. I assume they’ll use the open-world difficulty setting from Legion Remix as a test for this sort of system in the future.
In some fashion, yes. After all, you do need something to do after you’ve reached max level. But around, I’d say, BfA? There’s been an even harder shift towards end-game grind, which makes everything prior feel dull in comparison.
I’m hoping they do. In fact I’ve asked for this sort of system before:
I mean MMOs have alwayd end game content for max level players, but I wouldn’t say the early days of WoW was “hyperfixated” on it. Hell, Naxx was barely seen by anyone because they made it so difficult.
Though I understand where you are coming from, I actually have the opposite opinion. Considering what they turned wow into, why have leveling at all? Like the actual levels and stuff, it seems clear that the goal is on gear and instances so why not just fully double down on that. And remix can be for the older expansions whenever there is a lull in things to do?
I know this seems antithetical to an mmorpg and would have been shocking in something like classic, but classic and retail are not the same game. As of now would anything really change retail if they just gave us a static character, I mean the world levels with you so I don’t really think it would change much in the current game.
Anyway, that’s just my take on it. I do think we are in this weird in-between right now.
The game’s been out for almost 21 years now. There are very, very few new people coming in. For 95-99 percent of us, levelling is a chore. Levelling used to be in the game when there were a handful of expansions and you could still see the story. Now there’s 21 years of expansions and story and to level up through all of that at a slowed down pace as it was years and years ago would be grueling to say the least and not at all practical.
Yeah, Blizzard caters to all sorts of gameplay styles, so I don’t see why they can’t make some changes to the leveling experience and systems to accommodate those who want to take 6, 10, 14 days (or more) of /played time to reach level cap.
If people want the open world to feel more like Classic (without actually playing Classic - for all the “gO pLaY cLaSsIc” Andys out there), then Blizzard should find a way to make that happen. Something like M+ but for the open world, with mob scaling and similar mechanics, maybe even affixes, would also be cool.
As long as it’s optional, I don’t see any harm in it. Heck, I’d probably level in it.
I suppose maybe leveling alts is kind of a bother (well, I enjoy the first like 60 levels but after that it feels like hitting a wall when I can’t do Chromie time anymore). But I really enjoy the process of leveling through a new expansion for the first time on my main.
I wish they’d make the questlines even longer, add more side quests, etc. I don’t mind taking my sweet time getting to max when it’s my first character. I prefer it, in fact. I read every line of quest text and enjoy every minute of it. So I really hope they don’t try to reduce the questing/leveling experience any more than they already have. That being said, I’d not be opposed to making alt leveling faster, once you’ve hit max on your main. But I guess I don’t really have a dog in this fight, since I don’t actually play alts for the most part.
I would personally not like affixes in the open world, even though I know they’re doing it for Legion Remix. Kinda feels like a lazy way to increase difficulty, and acts as a reminder that I’m playing a game instead of feeling immersed in the world. But aside from that, absolutely, sign me in.
Well you remind me, they did, with Warband Mentored Leveling. And you can’t even disable it
Yes, it used to be, but times changed. And no, since all the focus is on end game, we don’t need to go back to the days of taking forever to get an alt there. As someone who leveled 13 through vanilla, BC (god I hate BC) and all the rest when heirlooms were the only way to speed up the process, it sucked.
If you want that long slog, it’s there for you to experience in all its grinding glory. And it’s included with your sub, in several variations.
Let me ask you this why was classic so split? there was say 20% of people who liked it 20% who were bandwagoning and the rest were falling asleep playing it. Its because people dont like meaningless fetch quests and chores. Slowing it would make the game unfun for the vast majority of people. Might boost up character boost sells tho
Also its very healthy for WoW if you want to go see a story you still can . you can disable XP even if you want to make it challenging. But people want to raid , M+, delve etc not do a slog of fetch quests and repeated chores like in vanilla. So if you want a slower experience just go turn off XP stop complaining and let us enjoy the game as we want to enjoy it its retail after all and there is so much QOL ways to play it your way.
Fair enough, I was just spitballing. The point is, Blizzard should do something, as long as it remains optional. If they can spend dev time on “Dastardly Duos” and other time-limited events that may or may not return, they can certainly take a look at leveling and explore ways to make it more engaging for players who actually enjoy it. It literally harms no one if it is optional content.
