What I want to see in the Next Expansion

[BillyG]

I think one of the biggest hurdles to attracting new players is the level cap. If the next expansion is like the last one the level cap will be 95. I think new players come into the game and soon realize most of the really neat stuff doesn’t happen until you hit the level cap. The look up from those low levels and 95 seems very far away, and they can’t fathom investing the time to hit that cap so they leave.

In the next expansion I’d like to see players be able to either create at least one new high level toon say level 89 per-account or the introduction of a new heroic class that starts at level 89. What do you think?

Yes, I know the leveling gets sped up with each expansion, but that isn’t the point.

[Seefer]

No, just no, there are too many horrible players who actually leveled............imagine how horrible they would be without? Think of how bad DKs were in WOTLK, 1 out of 10 was good the rest were just BAD.

[Deleted]

I'd rather they just stick with their current method of reducing xp needed each expansion. As Seefer said, a lot of players already make it to max level without learning most of their class. If you completely remove that then they have absolutely no chance (unless blizzard introduces an awesome tutorial for the new class).

[Foto]

I understand the daunting task of leveling a new toon. I have a 2 level 72s ish and a 90, I got a mate RAFing me with one of the toons but I simply do not want to level them because its such a grind, I understand the need to understand you're toon and honestly on my 72 mage I am appauling I know I am so for those new to the game any faster leveling is just not helping, too many spells and leveling content is too easy to develop any skills

I'm all up for a hero class that starts at 80ish, if its burning legion based could be 70, but by God I hate the fact there is 95 levels (its daunting) and I feel it would be the same for new players too

[docterfreeze]

85 sounds a little more reasonable.

[Golden Yak]

The leveling isn't too bad anymore. I think if they just reduce the experience needed for the previous expac content, that'll get players up to max level at a good pace. Reduce the exp requirements to keep the leveling time constant.

[-Superman-]

We don't need more "instant, just add water" players. What the game is lacking is the old school player base who loves MMOs and is willing to put in the time and effort to level their character and learn their class. Last thing we need is some 90 second lvl 90s running in with green items talking about how boring the leveling is from 90-95.

[Crym]

It takes less time to get to max level now than it did when the game first launched. Maybe it's just because I'm much more efficient, but in either case it's not that much of a barrier and there are plenty of alts and other new players playing at low levels that, when combined with CRZ, make the leveling zones busy enough that there's plenty of game before max level.

The community might make leveling more obnoxious (90s ganking, people telling them to "hurry up" so they can play together, etc...) but the game itself is pretty relaxed and fun while leveling.

[Northem]

In the next expansion I'd like to see:

• New characteristics playable races: Ogres and High Elves
• New Hero Class: The Demon Hunter
• Outland fully upgraded and updated with new areas to explore
• Resurgence of Alliance-Horde war
• New heroes: Turalyon, Alleria, Rexxar

In other future expansions would like to see:

• The Emerald Dream
• The South Seas and all their islands
• Azshara underwater empire
• The ancient kingdom of Azjol-Nerub
• New Class: Necromancer
• New neutral race: nagas
• The depths of the Barrow Deeps
• A bounty hunting system
• Large-scale naval battles
• The accession of King Rastakhan and his Zandalari to the Horde
• A deities system: The Path of the Titans
• New specializations for current classes
• New heroes: Queen Calia, Gul'dan
• Among many other things...

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Bloat is a huge problem, but skipping content is not the answer. If that were the case, why not forgo raising the cap and just have each expansion redo 1-60?

Bloat is going to be inevitable, but Blizz screwed themselves over more than they realize when it comes to bloat. They want expansions faster and smaller. Well one side effect of that is 5-levels.

You need the ilevel curve to become increasingly exponential so players aren't raiding this expansion's content in last expansion's gear. That's why ilevel and stats have bloated so badly since Cata.

Expansions also have a certain life span, after which their content becomes old, stale, and boring. For WoW that's about 2 expansions. Faster expansions means smaller expansions means more content becomes outdated faster. Instead of 10 levels becoming stale in 2 years, it's 5 levels every year. And the size and time commitment of that content is the same as if it were 10 levels.

[Trickname]

It really isn't hard to get to that max level now compared to what it was for a clueless mmo player to reach 60 back in vanilla. And as already mentioned the majority of players are bad enough as it is.

[Monteverdi]

Leveling is becoming a more daunting task with each expansion, and this is bad for the game. People can complain about 'just add water' characters and claim that people need to be 'committed to putting the time in' (and seriously, dokhidamo, your signature says you're a 'permanent ex-WoW player' because of tri-spec? hilarious.), but the fact is this attitude just doesn't cut it. As the bar to entry becomes higher, while the game gets older, fewer new players will come in to replace the older players who are going out and the game will stagnate. Forcing players to play through 7 years of outdated content just so they can run with their friends is poor design, and I completely expect Blizz to add some kind of mechanism to alleviate this at least somewhat.

I think a good solution would be to make the leveling process quicker (much as they have with each new expansion) but also introduce a quick path up via scenarios. For example the path to 60 for a human character could begin like this -

• 1-10: The scenario begins in Elwynn forest where you are trained in the basics of your class. You are tasked with meeting 3 sparring partners - each who instructs you on the use of a primary class ability. After you've completed this 3 objectives, a final objective pops up - defend goldshire from Hogger and his Gnolls! You clear 3 waves of Gnolls and then face hogger, who requires proper use of the abilities you've recently trained to defeat him. Upon completion of the scenario, you are instantly leveled to level 10.
• 10-20: The scenario begins in Lakeshire, currently under assault by Blackrock Orcs. The player meets 3 NPCs - a tank a healer and a DPS - which explain a bit about each role and then offer to join the player. If the player is in a tank spec, the DPS and Healer NPC join him/her., etc. They then face several waves of Blackrock Orcs that have abilities that must be dealt with appropriately by that role (example, a tank spec player must keep aggro off of the DPS and Healer and also kick an important ability. A Healer character must keep the tank character up and dispel harmful effects from the DPS, etc.) Upon completion, you are instantly leveled to level 20.

This could go on and on, but the idea is that, through this set of solo scenarios (that can be quicker than leveling, but can also be tuned to not be 'easy') you are given a crash course in your class and also the basics of the game. Rewards for completion could be a set of non-DEable, non-sellable green gear comparable to quest greens for that level range. This could last to level 60, or all the way up to 85.

[therealbowser]

No.

However, I'm not necessarily against the next hero-class 'starting' (by the time they leave the starting zone) at level 68 or 80.

Starting at 89 is ridiculously overkill. If you can't even enjoy alts enough to level them, you have no business making them.

[Deleted]

Leveling is becoming a more daunting task with each expansion, and this is bad for the game. People can complain about 'just add water' characters and claim that people need to be 'committed to putting the time in' (and seriously, dokhidamo, your signature says you're a 'permanent ex-WoW player' because of tri-spec? hilarious.), but the fact is this attitude just doesn't cut it. As the bar to entry becomes higher, while the game gets older, fewer new players will come in to replace the older players who are going out and the game will stagnate. Forcing players to play through 7 years of outdated content just so they can run with their friends is poor design, and I completely expect Blizz to add some kind of mechanism to alleviate this at least somewhat.

I think a good solution would be to make the leveling process quicker (much as they have with each new expansion) but also introduce a quick path up via scenarios. For example the path to 60 for a human character could begin like this -

1-10: The scenario begins in Elwynn forest where you are trained in the basics of your class. You are tasked with meeting 3 sparring partners - each who instructs you on the use of a primary class ability. After you've completed this 3 objectives, a final objective pops up - defend goldshire from Hogger and his Gnolls! You clear 3 waves of Gnolls and then face hogger, who requires proper use of the abilities you've recently trained to defeat him. Upon completion of the scenario, you are instantly leveled to level 10.
10-20: The scenario begins in Lakeshire, currently under assault by Blackrock Orcs. The player meets 3 NPCs - a tank a healer and a DPS - which explain a bit about each role and then offer to join the player. If the player is in a tank spec, the DPS and Healer NPC join him/her., etc. They then face several waves of Blackrock Orcs that have abilities that must be dealt with appropriately by that role (example, a tank spec player must keep aggro off of the DPS and Healer and also kick an important ability. A Healer character must keep the tank character up and dispel harmful effects from the DPS, etc.) Upon completion, you are instantly leveled to level 20.

This could go on and on, but the idea is that, through this set of solo scenarios (that can be quicker than leveling, but can also be tuned to not be 'easy') you are given a crash course in your class and also the basics of the game. Rewards for completion could be a set of non-DEable, non-sellable green gear comparable to quest greens for that level range. This could last to level 60, or all the way up to 85.

and your avatar tells me that you are a Death Knight, you started wow late and want something easy to play and level.