A question I’ve asked multiple times, and the unfortunate answer is that the developers don’t appear to care and the players who do have largely been driven off from the game; those that remain are almost entirely endgame-focused.
But focusing on the design side, there’s a few things to take into account:
It’s no secret, though I’m not in the mood to track down the source for this. The game doesn’t make it’s money off of subscriptions, it makes its money off of microtransations. The WoW token (essentially gold-selling), mounts, and other services on the store.
As a consequence of the above, the game is targeting “whales”, players who spend large sums of real-world money on the game’s microtransactions; this is especially prevalent when those purchases can be used to gain an advantage in the game. The token gets used to essentially buy gold, which is used to purchase carries and boosts through content; that’s effectively “pay-to-win”, even if it’s not a direct purchase for the advantage and technically the gold could be earned the old-fashioned way. Other, more direct advantages are the AH-mount that cost $90 USD; and it was limited-time-only.
The game has increasingly shifted towards a “seasonal” model, essentially a new season every major patch and raid tier. This includes a reset of the gearing progression, largely by invalidating the old season’s progress through catch-up gearing methods. That means the whales are pumping more money into Blizz’ pockets to facilitate their progress with every season. That being said, you can’t turn leveling into a seasonal model; so Blizz has shortened the time it takes to get through it, allowing you to hop into their seasonal endgame model.
Looking at the seasonal endgame model, it’s all built around content that’s designed to be repeated for chances at rewards. Classic Skinner Box design, really; the chance of getting something the subject has always been far more effective at retaining players than a guarantee to receive it after doing the requirements. Once again, you can’t turn leveling and standard questing into a repeatable system; it’s just a linear path to progress through. As such, they just speed players through it so that they can hit the endgame content loop.
The “Great Vault”… let’s be honest, it LOOKS like a slot-machine. And it kind of is, considering it’s all randomized to an extent and pulls from a very large loot table. You’ll still get something out of it, but the only guaranteed thing is the currency if you forgo the gear pieces.
So, we come back to the original question – Why is Leveling an Afterthought?
Because leveling players are, relatively speaking, useless to Blizz.
The only thing they offer Blizz is a subscription fee, and we know that isn’t where WoW makes its money. They make their money off of microtransactions, and the seasonal endgame content loop is what’s built to support that. So they speed players through the leveling process to get them to where the game makes it’s money – the endgame.
True, but the issue is that leveling is so fast now that players barely get a chance to learn their class. New players blast through the leveling process and suddenly find themselves at 70, ready for the new content, with little to no understanding of how their character works.
This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if the game had fewer abilities to manage. (Not that I personally mind the current number of skills, it’s manageable as a veteran player.)
Sure, that’s where the fun begins for veteran players. But for new players? They could benefit from a much more engaging and rewarding “new player experience.”
This isn’t a fair argument. The OP is clearly expressing frustration with the game they’ve been playing for years. And let’s be real, the leveling experience has undeniably been watered down over time so his comments are justified.
It wasn’t watered down, they just cut out the slow slog. Going through T3 delves is probably the hardest leveling content the game has had. It isn’t hard but certainly moreso than anything I saw in classic.
I somewhat disagree here, honestly. Most spellcasters in classic are unironically a single button to play the class. Warrior and paladin is just an autoattack simulator. It’s not that WoW used to be better at preparing you for high level play, it’s that high level play wasn’t developed at all.
The destination (for me at least) is KSH/AotC, not max level. Max level is the starting point for the journey. Leveling isn’t a journey, it’s a slog you have to go through just to begin the journey.
Vanilla through… I’d say a good chunk of WotLK, it was more of a ladder you worked your way up. You’d be doing one raid tier, then progressing onto the next. Missed out of Cata, but MoP somewhat retained that structure until the Timeless Isle became the main source of catch-up gear.
The “seasonal” aspect came in full-force for BfA, as I think that was then they started actually calling them “seasons” and changing affixes for Mythic+ seasons (that lined up with raid tiers). I left before the end of that expansion, but there was definitely a “set” of content tied to each raid tier and season with catch-up mechanics to accelerate players into the newest content… but when I came back at the tail end of DF, it was outright being called “Season 4” on a lot of stuff.
But really, this is just reinforcing the notion that the player should be constantly chasing progression in some form, be it raid tiers or seasons. Leveling content doesn’t lend itself to a seasonal reset, it’s one-and-done until the next expansion.
Gold and the WoW Token. Keeping in mind that players who are considered “whales” may not necessarily be the most advanced players. WoW still holds quite a bit of value in WoW, if only in larger quantities. Just to point out a few things it’s gets used on:
Carries and boosts through content.
BoE gear that gets sold on the Auction House.
Crafted items, particularly expensive/rare reagents or expensive vendor items.
Consumables for raids, particularly those which need to be refreshed after every failed attempt.
And yes, repairing your gear.
And of course, other services come to mind as well:
Level boosts, as useless as it seems these days. Still, I imagine they don’t mind someone paying to be even lazier and skip the process.
Server transfers.
Race & name changes. Faction changes as well, I guess.
It’s all coin in Blizz’ pocket… and we haven’t even got to mounts, toys, and cosmetics yet.
The monthly subscription fee starts to look like a very small percentage when all those start adding up.
Largely due to it being neglected and treated as chore by Blizz themselves. They could make leveling a much more interesting process and design it to be better content, but they see no value in doing so.
I can’t find a single time where leveling was in a better state than TWW. We still have MoP and WoD classic to check up on but I highly doubt it’s going to be better than what we currently have.
If only there was a “journey” to be had. After 20 years of playing the same game with my 78th alt Elwynn Forest doesn’t seem that big of a journey anymore. The “journey” you’re looking for starts in the end game in a form of gear progression. Beating the script dragons or clearing out the baddies in the coldest dungeons or other heroes in the arena, that’s the journey.