I've been thinking recently about the whole leveling process as it is today compared to what it was several years ago and have come up with some conclusions that may very well be an optimistic view of leveling come the next expansion. Now I know I havent talked about the expansion at all, and I really do not intend to based on two reason: it is not expansion time yet so I wont spoil anything and there are a wealth of info on the net about the expansion already. you are free to look elsewhere for people's blogs, reviews and videos on Cataclysm. As for me, I am perfectly fine living dwelling in this current world we now live.
So with that said, let me just list some of the major points in leveling that has changed the face of, well, leveling in wow.
1. Experience points required to level has been decreased.
Needed a million experience points to level? no, not anymore! you only need 990,000 points instead!! yay!
2. Ground mounts are accessible at level 20 instead of 40. Epic ground mounts are accessible at level 40 instead of 60. All for much less gold than before.
This change actually makes sense. Back in the days where level 60 was the highest level, getting an epic ground mount was useless for leveling, since you've already leveled already. see how it makes sense now? kinda.
3. Flying mounts are purchasable at level 60 instead of 70. The cost has been reduced as well. Epic flying is also purchasable at 60. Cost can be reduced based on reputation with Thrallmar or Honor Hold. Cold weather flying can be purchased and learned by level 70s to fly in Northrend. Earlier flying always lead to faster questing.
4. Looking for Dungeon: Randomizer. The best thing for leveling since sliced bread. Actually, using the dungeon finder tool will get you leveled up a whole lot faster than doing quests. And its no effort trying to get a group together. Just queue, and eventually you're in. While waiting, you can do quests.
Random dungeons also give you extra experience and a bag which yield blue quality items that you can use to round out your gear. Instance only drops cuffs and robe? fear not! my awesome Satchel of Goods will give me gloves and belt. yep, awesomeness.
5. Hierloom Gear is purchasable by all 80s and can be sent to Alts. Not only are Hierloom gear pretty cool and sometimes offer stats that are superior to what you'll find in dungeons, the shoulders and chest piece give extra experience. that’s 10% extra from the shoulders, and +10% extra from the Chest/Robe. Total is 20%. Who can complain? And since you're probably never going to switch out the gear, your enchants will stay on the item for a good while. I mean where it matters most (level 1-60 anway).
Now let me try to analyze all of these changes the best that I can. After all, I am an analyst for a bank. I figure I can be an analyst for change in leveling for a game.
Less is More
The first change is the reduced amount of experience needed to level up through to 70. This change allowed for faster leveling but did not offer a change in the game play as it did with other changes. this simply made it so that several quests can be skipped, or zones even. For example, at level 40, there are basically three zones where you can go to level up which included Feralas, Tanaris and Hinterlands. Now Hinterlands does have an area with level 50 mobs, but for the most part, these zones are all accessible for the brand new level 40 player. Before the change to experience, I remember going through all three zones and doing quests in all three zones and still was not able to level out of those zones after having done everything. yes, everything. okay maybe. first I was in tanaris and feralas with trips to hinterlands. eventually, I completed practically everything in feralas, tanaris and half of hinterlands. eventually, when I got the quest to kill preistess hex, I was level 48. she was level 50. it matched perfectly. almost. but today, if I simply quested, I can completely skip feralas and just do tanaris and hinterlands and be level 50 by the time I am ready to kill priestess hexx. that make any sense? I hope so.
Because we are able to skip zones, the leveler will then be able to decide for themselves which part of the content they actually want to play. Some folks do like killing pirates and ogres in tanaris. others prefer the lush green forests of feralas and hinterlands. Others still, would prefer to finish out the late level 30 regions and try their luck at the early level 50 regions once they hit late 40s, but will try their best to drudge through hinterlands just to get there (Do people level in Burning Steppes anymore??). Level 50s have the choice of going to Felwood, Searin Gorge, Blasted lands, UnGoro Crater or Western Plaguelands. You'll only really do two of those areas. Then at 55 to 58, you might just touch Silithus, Eastern Plaguelands, or Winterspring. Then off we all go to Outland. And then Half of outland is basically optional as well.
With the choices at hand, I am sure someone in the background is taking logs of the patterns each and every individual is exhibiting. This will go well towards designing future content, im sure. Although the general idea is clear, offer good rewards, don’t make us travel through five different zones picking up five different items and then going through 3 dungeons we don’t have interest in doing just to get us to do a quest, the players habits and choices in doing content speaks louder than words as to what we are willing to do. We are basically telling blizzard that this zone and this set of quests are preferred over that zone and those types of quests. see how that goes? helpful, no?
So the side effect (by design or not) is that we end up with more choices in our leveling experience through level 70. And even in Northrend, there really isnt one way of going through the zones. Instead, many find that once they hit 80, only half of the zones in NR have been discovered. I've played several characters to 80 and have still to exhaust all of the quests in all of the zones (albiet lately, I've been using the dungeon finder tool way more than before).
Because Elwynn, DunMorogh, the Barrens and Darkshore are effin huge
Honestly, when I was a level 8 mage running to the tower of azora in elwynn, I was hating every minute of it. the walk was ridiculous. then I had to walk everywhere else. it was annoying. flight paths make things faster, but in all honestly, 50% of my gametime was consumed with walking. exciting. I know. especially when im trying to avoid mobs. hey, that is a game in and of itself. If I were a warrior, I would charge at critters to shorten the walk. honestly I would.
When I finally hit 40 I purchased my first horse ever. I was on a human mage at the time and loved running around theremore with the slow ass horse. yes, it was a slow ass horse but it was my horse! not to mention the animation sucked, and it looked a little stupid riding on it, but still. it was my horse and my level 40 "reward". and then I stopped playing my mage. it really felt like hitting level 40 was the highlight of the game. end of game! but nowadays, the reward is cheapened by the cost of the mount and the level in which it is attainable. This doesn’t take away much from the game, because the real "reward" has shifted over a bit to the flying mount. specifically, the epic flying mount.
With this change I am able to travel back and forth to my quests a whole lot faster, especially when they want me to travel to three different places to get certain items that only exist in those spots (the water totem quest that I've done recently is a perfect example of a waste of time trave everywhere quest at level 20. get a quest from the trainer to go to questgiver1. qg1 tells me she needs something that only qg2 can offer. off I go to qg2. she tells me I need item1, return to her. then she tells me I need item2, return to her. then she tells me to go to another contenent and get item3, then return to her. then she tells me to go back to qg1. qg1 tells me I have to return to the other continent and do a quest, then return to her. I do the quest, return to her. then bam!! I get my effin water totem, tyvm.
see all that running? I hope quests like those die in a fire. I wanted to falcon punch qg2 so many times. why not just tell me all the ingredients so I can just get them all at once??? anyway, with mounts, traveling back and forth becomes a little easier and ridiculous quests like these (especially REQUIRED quests like these) can actually become bearable. I got the quest at level 20 and didn’t even complete it until I was level 25 since it took so friggin long just to travel.
I actually like this change. I actually wanted shoe enhancements only for low levels that would help us run faster back when mounts were attainable at level 40. I actually wanted something at level 20 (like a skateboard) that would increase my run speed by 40%. but im glad we got ground mounts now.
Because Outland is just as big as Elwynn, Dum Morogh, Barrens, etc.
One thing I'd like to point out is that the change in level requirements for ground mounts does not change the style of play, or the "game" of leveling at all. it does make things faster, but it doesn’t change the game we play all that much. When we reach outland and are able to purchase flying mounts, the game changes.
Because people are able to fly in outland at level 60, this makes questing infinitely easier, especially when everyone can skip mobs by flying over them and head straight to the quest mobs to kill. I've done this with a character already, and although he only had normal flying, flying helped him to skip the riffraff and focus on getting to what he needed to get to. I don’t have to fight my way through an area, hoping that I can kill the questmob without trouble. because if I die even once, I might have to deal with respawns on the way out. dropping down to kill the questmob or grab some sparkley thing without having to go through the mobs protecting it makes the game quite different. the challenge may be a little different, but the tediousness of having to get there has been removed.
There are still quests where you do have to kill things, and quest objectives inside caves do require you to actually walk through the cave and kill things along the way. This part of the game has not changed.
I will have to make part two. be back!
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