Dynamic Leveling Experience (Content Preservation)

[vondevon]

A key feature of Legion which I hope to see adapted in the future is the dynamic leveling experience of the first several zones of the Broken Isles. Players had the ability to enjoy the content they wanted without regard for the zone level, because all of the content scaled with their character. This afforded opportunities to pursue whichever story lines were most appealing, and/or complete entire zones at one's own pace, without being punished for lingering after one had already out-leveled the content. For me, the transition between levels was seamless with the only jarring moment being the 109 to 110 jump in the first 1-2 weeks of the expansion (prior to sufficient tuning).

I would like to see this flexible/dynamic leveling expanded to all of Azeroth.

As the game ages, and Blizzard continues to release new content, old content will be used less and less. Cataclysm attempted to solve this by reworking Azeroth's zones - and while I enjoyed the new adventures it brought, later refinements to the 1-MAX leveling (heirlooms, LFG, exp-req. reduction) encourages players to breeze through those levels too quickly to see any of it. Often I find that traveling to the next appropriate zone takes longer than the amount of time I will spend leveling in that zone before it becomes obsolete.

If dynamic leveling was applied to all of Azeroth (and beyond!) then players would have the freedom to enjoy the stories they want and explore each zone at their leisure without worrying about being the "appropriate" level. Thoughts?

[Deleted]

A key feature of Legion which I hope to see adapted in the future is the dynamic leveling experience of the first several zones of the Broken Isles. Players had the ability to enjoy the content they wanted without regard for the zone level, because all of the content scaled with their character. This afforded opportunities to pursue whichever story lines were most appealing, and/or complete entire zones at one's own pace, without being punished for lingering after one had already out-leveled the content. For me, the transition between levels was seamless with the only jarring moment being the 109 to 110 jump in the first 1-2 weeks of the expansion (prior to sufficient tuning).

I would like to see this flexible/dynamic leveling expanded to all of Azeroth.

As the game ages, and Blizzard continues to release new content, old content will be used less and less. Cataclysm attempted to solve this by reworking Azeroth's zones - and while I enjoyed the new adventures it brought, later refinements to the 1-MAX leveling (heirlooms, LFG, exp-req. reduction) encourages players to breeze through those levels too quickly to see any of it. Often I find that traveling to the next appropriate zone takes longer than the amount of time I will spend leveling in that zone before it becomes obsolete.

If dynamic leveling was applied to all of Azeroth (and beyond!) then players would have the freedom to enjoy the stories they want and explore each zone at their leisure without worrying about being the "appropriate" level. Thoughts?

I'd like that too.

The problem I see with it is, that if lvl 1 orc warrior zugzugqt starts leveling in durotar, he could end up max lvl in felwood.
If we pretend, its like it is now (just with scaling) this makes even less sense then now...
With a complete world revamp this problem could be solved IMO.

[vondevon]

I'd like that too.

The problem I see with it is, that if lvl 1 orc warrior zugzugqt starts leveling in durotar, he could end up max lvl in felwood.
If we pretend, its like it is now (just with scaling) this makes even less sense then now...
With a complete world revamp this problem could be solved IMO.

Yeah I was thinking about that and I would be okay with something like gated dynamic leveling. So that can be broken up by expansion - which would mean you could still only get up to level 60 doing vanilla content, but you can do any of those zones in any order you choose. To go beyond 60 you still have to go to Outland but then you can do any of those zones.

[Cuque]

That's good in an in-game perspective. But lorewise Legion has one of the poorest narratives of the latest expansions an I think thats because leveling scaling. You don't have a linear progresion in the story.

[Squishy Tia]

If it's an option, no problem. If it's mandatory scaling, they can kiss a metric crapton of subs goodbye. Many of us don't like scaling (including iLV scaling), and we don't want WoW to become Guild Wars 2.5. I've got zero problems with people that want to enjoy the storyline without worrying about outleveling the content, so long as I'm not subject to the same restrictions as well.

[Alayea]

If it's an option, no problem. If it's mandatory scaling, they can kiss a metric crapton of subs goodbye. Many of us don't like scaling (including iLV scaling), and we don't want WoW to become Guild Wars 2.5. I've got zero problems with people that want to enjoy the storyline without worrying about outleveling the content, so long as I'm not subject to the same restrictions as well.

My thoughts exactly.

[Accendor]

A key feature of Legion which I hope to see adapted in the future is the dynamic leveling experience of the first several zones of the Broken Isles. Players had the ability to enjoy the content they wanted without regard for the zone level, because all of the content scaled with their character. This afforded opportunities to pursue whichever story lines were most appealing, and/or complete entire zones at one's own pace, without being punished for lingering after one had already out-leveled the content. For me, the transition between levels was seamless with the only jarring moment being the 109 to 110 jump in the first 1-2 weeks of the expansion (prior to sufficient tuning).

I would like to see this flexible/dynamic leveling expanded to all of Azeroth.

As the game ages, and Blizzard continues to release new content, old content will be used less and less. Cataclysm attempted to solve this by reworking Azeroth's zones - and while I enjoyed the new adventures it brought, later refinements to the 1-MAX leveling (heirlooms, LFG, exp-req. reduction) encourages players to breeze through those levels too quickly to see any of it. Often I find that traveling to the next appropriate zone takes longer than the amount of time I will spend leveling in that zone before it becomes obsolete.

If dynamic leveling was applied to all of Azeroth (and beyond!) then players would have the freedom to enjoy the stories they want and explore each zone at their leisure without worrying about being the "appropriate" level. Thoughts?

I would really dislike that. Scaling is always bad because it takes away character progression, which is the only motivation in wow gameplaywise.
So we actually need LESS scaling and not more.

[vertigo12]

I'd like that too.

The problem I see with it is, that if lvl 1 orc warrior zugzugqt starts leveling in durotar, he could end up max lvl in felwood.
If we pretend, its like it is now (just with scaling) this makes even less sense then now...
With a complete world revamp this problem could be solved IMO.

Ends up in Felwood with a tie up story of cleansing the place (Phased/scenario) from it's fel state. Xavius related story arc and nightmare as well. Fel corruption related to a specific class warlock/dh or pally/priest

It would need a tech which also gives dynamic questing (xp and xp rate) as well as dynamic rewards.

[Softbottom]

Yea no. I like stomping content when I'm trying to farm shit. I don't want everything to scale to my level. Fuck that noise

[Etamalgren]

I think they should allow zones to scale up to 10-15 levels over their max level, but not if it would put it over the level cap for the expansion. Ex. Mulgore is a 1-10 zone, mobs in it can scale up to L25, Silithus is a L55-60 zone, mobs in it can only scale to 60, since 60 is classic's level cap.

That should be more than enough for people to go through the content of an entire zone without completely overleveling it (assuming they don't do any dungeon runs and just quest, at least...)

[Spotnick]

It will not happen because of people like the person above who thing having content you one shot is normal.

However, I really hope they will put world quests in the old world at some point, limiting ourselves to a new zone every xpac is kind of stupid when you have this huge world you never use anymore.

and THOSE should scale.

[DeicideUH]

My opinion is that they should put a minimum level in zones, but all zones scale up to (previous expansion's max level). For instance, this max level would be 100 currently.
Then, they redistribute those minimum levels, and make past expansions' contents all start at level X (example: 60)

So, when you hit level X, you could choose any previous expansion continent to go, and keep questing there. That way, each alt can level in a totally different way. When a new expansion comes, the old one has its zones' minimum level downed to X.

[Hisholyness]

what blizzard should do is allow players to cap themselves in certain areas but gain full XP as thoug their current level. I believe GW2 does this.

For instance, if you are a level 45 but you go to Azshara as horde you can scale down to an appropriate level (18?) and complete quests and gain XP as though you were completing level 45 quests.

[Aggrophobic]

No, oh please no.

Blizzard can NEVER make content optional and I really have no intrest in going back to the old zones.

This is a borrible idea in every way.

[Teri]

The big thing that scaling will enable is to not go through the same linear order of zones again without never getting to the end zone of an old expansion.

Like, why not start Netherstorm at 58 or 63 if you want to . Or go to Dread Wastes at 85.

Lore wise, sure, there could be an argument, but overleveling and skipping it on every alt is worse for OLD content.

I would love scaling, there just gotta be a few soft caps, so no level 100+ in old world at all if you are at 110.


Now, even if they just scaled on a per-expansion basis it'd be better then current situation, right now you practicly never reach netherstorm, dread wastes or twilight highlands or something unless you skip other medium range zones, cause entry-point zones usually cannot be skipped for 1-3 levels (especially if you go there at 58/68)

entry point zones for the 10th+ time get super boring

Instances have a big favor for a per-expansion scaling and not a crazy overlap like below:

Putting all expansions in a giant 60-100 range would make things super confusing story wise, but personally I don't have any issue with it.

[tuesday the paladin]

I'd be ok if they scaled up to the max level for that region. So kalimdor and azeroth scaled up to 60, TBC scaled up to 70, Wrath scaled up to 80, Cata to 85, MoP to 90, and WoD to 100.

[chipwood]

One of the things that gives a sense of progression while leveling is that some areas are initially too hard, but when you increase your level and gear, now you can go there. I actually missed that in Legion.

[tss]

They should do it, but it should be bracketed like [1-60][60-80] and then by expansion. Or, even better, they could just bracket 1-80 together (but keep the minimum levels for BC/LK) so you could actually have a cohesive Cata-and-onward experience without jumping back to 11 and 9 year old content. You could finish an entire continent, then continue on with Vash'jir/Hyjal (let's be real, just Hyjal). You shouldn't be able to go from Durotar to Silithus though. Zones should have a minimum level, just no maximum.

[Ielenia]

I would like to see this flexible/dynamic leveling expanded to all of Azeroth.

My only issue with such an idea is that it forces a complete and total disconnection, story-wise, among all of those zones. I mean, how weird would it be to go to the Burning Steppes, meet with John J. Keeshan greeting you by being surprised you're still alive and not dead like all the others and have no idea what he's talking about... and then go to Duskwood and find out that John J. Keeshan has been inactive for a long time, drowning his sorrows in ring fights?

[Invisibelf]

My only issue with such an idea is that it forces a complete and total disconnection, story-wise, among all of those zones. I mean, how weird would it be to go to the Burning Steppes, meet with John J. Keeshan greeting you by being surprised you're still alive and not dead like all the others and have no idea what he's talking about... and then go to Duskwood and find out that John J. Keeshan has been inactive for a long time, drowning his sorrows in ring fights?

About as confusing as being told that we killed Garrosh or that Cairne is now dead, and then going to take orders from Garrosh then VJ then Garrosh then the dark lady would be. Probably less so.