All the progress and 13+years goes down the toilet

[Rune B]

If you didn't enjoy leveling, then this squish is PRECISELY for people like you.

If you did enjoy leveling, then why complain about all the good times you had?

[kattarina]

I recently leveled a character too, in 8.1.5, and I enjoyed it a lot. Levels being quick felt fun to me. No, you don't always get something big, but you do every 3-5 levels which is probably the same time 1 level will take now so there's very little difference. I prefer the smaller, more frequent upgrades interspersed with larger upgrades myself though. But to each thier own.

I honestly don't care either way at this point. I'm more excited by the removel of the lvl caps for the zones- I think they can do that without the lvl squich. But it may make the experience better for a new player. Can you imagine someone getting into a game, with 8 expansions packs and 120 lvl cap? I think its the right call.

[Kyphael]

The time to level will definitely be decreased.

The time to level from 1-60 was lower pretty much every expansion, so couldn't you make that same argument for all of them? Why level 1-60 in vanilla when you could do it much faster in TBC, Wrath, MoP, etc?

You shouldn't feel bad about the time being decreased as time goes on... what matters is the personal experience you had at the time. Did you have fun back then? That's what matters.

If they do this correctly, it will feel better to level new characters than it does right now.

I suppose I'll see when I get my hands on the new leveling experience, but parting with a roster of level 120's and 80 twinks would still be bittersweet at best even if the new leveling curve is as fun as the original.

[Lucetia]

Why will Blizzard just wipe all the character progression and all these years just goes down the toilet. 120 to 50 is just big slap to the face and all these years feel now pointless. Why not just stat squish?

Several of my friends asked the same thing. Asking what was the point if they are just going to squash us. There's really no reason at all for them to do it. Sure people will say leveling is more streamlined/faster or you get something every level. They could do that now and space it out more if they wanted to. For instance the new system says dungeons is a possible reward for a level they could do that now and space out some dungeons. Granted with the new system probably half the new levels or so will just be more dungeon unlocks.

I agree, especially after leveling one of every class to 120... what's even the purpose of a new 120 boost if it's getting squished to 50? What the hell level are my level 80 twinks going to be!?

Since every 1 level in Shadowlands is equivalent to 2.4 now they'll be 33.3.

Did you feel like you were nerfed with the stat squish in 8.0 too?

A lot do yes. Going from X amount of damage to peanuts damage is essentially a nerf. Also, considering the fact that even solo'ing time increased in some instances.

You do realize you're still leveling 120 to 130 right? It's not like you're not adding another 10 levels lul.

50-60 = 120-130

Except your not. Since 1 level in Shadowlands = 2.4 levels now you are basically going from 120 to 144 in the expansion.

[Melchior]

Better question to ask: Do we know how this will effect soloing older content/raids/dungeons?

According to the website:

"All expansion zones are getting more flexible, too; they’ll be able* to scale to you and your friends while you level to 50, so it’s easy to try a zone you’ve never played.

*You can still outlevel dungeons and crush them for transmogs or fulfillment."

[kattarina]

Better question to ask: Do we know how this will effect soloing older content/raids/dungeons?

I wonder that too. Not so much the lvl squich, but the removal of lvl caps. If all zones are lvl 10-50, what happneds to the dungeons of those zones? Can you queue for all dungeons at any lvl? Will soloing ICC be the same difficulty as soloing Eternal Palace? Maybe raids will remain lvl appropriate to the expansion

[-aiko-]

Apples to oranges.

It's really not. Your argument is flawed because that time was not wasted. You spent that time and were rewarded for it at the time it was relevant. Your character is not reverting in progression...relatively, your new level 60 will be stronger than your 120.

[Firefall]

According to the website:

"All expansion zones are getting more flexible, too; they’ll be able* to scale to you and your friends while you level to 50, so it’s easy to try a zone you’ve never played.

*You can still outlevel dungeons and crush them for transmogs or fulfillment."

Weird. How can they even make that work to the same scale it does today? Wouldn't all content from like Vanilla and BC need to be level 1 or 2, tops, to deal the equivalent to the millions of damage we can do now in that content?

[Uoyredrum]

Been playing since vanilla and I think it's about time they did it. It's a good change and will make leveling feel much better.

[crakerjack]

Why will Blizzard just wipe all the character progression and all these years just goes down the toilet. 120 to 50 is just big slap to the face and all these years feel now pointless. Why not just stat squish?

Just what exactly is being wasted? I'm genuinely curious. How are you making the association between a level squish and losing stuff. Just what exactly are you losing? What's being lost? Levels? What do those levels even mean when you're still the same whether you're 50 or 120? For me personally, I feel like this complaining originates from a bias that's un-explainable.

[Stickiler]

Weird. How can they even make that work to the same scale it does today? Wouldn't all content from like Vanilla and BC need to be level 1 or 2, tops, to deal the equivalent to the millions of damage we can do now in that content?

If I had to guess, when they say overlevel, they may set it up so that if you're into the shadowlands levels(50-60), you deal the huge amounts of damage you currently do, but if you're lower the dungeon scales. Or possibly if you turn off XP it'll give you the boosted damage. Not sure which, but they'll have solutions ready for it.

[Tantaburs]

I'm upset it's getting lower because it feels like I literally lost levels. It may sound silly and arbitrary, and I'll concede it is if the time played 1-60 in Shadowlands ends up being the same it took 1-120 in BfA, but if it turns out 1-60 in Shadowlands is half the time played, then I literally did waste time leveling a bunch of high levels and twinks.

That's a fine position to take I'm not saying you are wrong for saying that 60 feels worse than 120.

I'm saying you can't both say that 60 feels worse and say that if the time is the same there is no difference between 60 and 120 for new players.

Also the time will be very close to the same

[kattarina]

Weird. How can they even make that work to the same scale it does today? Wouldn't all content from like Vanilla and BC need to be level 1 or 2, tops, to deal the equivalent to the millions of damage we can do now in that content?

lvl 1-10 will be a new starting zone (depending on race, maybe?), after that, 10-50 you can choose whatever expansion to lvl in. Like now you can lvl 1-60 in westfall if you want, content scales up to lvl 60. In shadowlands everything will scale up to lvl 50. I'm guessing dungeons work the same. If you can be a lvl 12 in Pandaria maybe you also do pandaria's dungeons at lvl 12

[Arthzull]

Apples to oranges. MMO's are symbolized by characters' progression. I play an MMO exactly as a measure of character progression. Time played = x amount of high level characters. A reboot, even a soft reboot, or in this case a "squish" trivializes time spent leveling x amount of characters to a level I wanted to achieve determined by MMO rules.

Of course I don't expect a ten year old TV to be worth the same today as the day I bought it, but I do expect the characters I leveled 5 years ago to still be the same level today in an MMO by virtue that an MMO does not get rebooted like console game progression does with sequels.

Your point is kind of irrelevant, in about a week everyone will be max level 60 and will be in the endgame. This is just a number no one has taken what you have done in the past 13 years, your power is still going to scale, you are going to have the same power at 50 as you would at 120, no difference, your achievements are not going away so what is the issue here? Everyone has been begging for a level squish and now that Blizz has given it to us in a good way everyone is mad....I don't get it.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I mean the squish I think over all is a good thing. The issue I have with it is really nothing changes. Its going to be the same talents and everything you earn now. Just now you get something every level. So if you are REALLY happy with how the game is now than its just a more often of what you like. But its just the same thing you have had since what.. MoP? Nothing new? That is the part I am unsatisfied with. Not furious about by any means but rather underwhelming for me.

[Feanen]

Just what exactly is being wasted? I'm genuinely curious. How are you making the association between a level squish and losing stuff. Just what exactly are you losing? What's being lost? Levels? What do those levels even mean when you're still the same whether you're 50 or 120? For me personally, I feel like this complaining originates from a bias that's un-explainable.

Agreed. Level number is literally the only thing the OP can say they will be "losing." But level numbers are arbitrary. Blizzard could come out and say, "Levels will now be measured in Roman numerals," and that'd be how it'd go. As you stated (in different words), saying your character(s) are losing or being "wiped" of progression simply because the number changes but the relative power is the same is complaining for complaining's sake.

[Eldar45]

How can you be excited? I preordered the xpac and it said I'll get boost to lvl 120 and right after I heard they'll wipe 120 characters to 50. That is just big scam... they should mention it in SHOP that characters will squish to 50 so people can think twice if they'll buy the expansion.
But I guess by not mentioning that they'll get more preorders...

But you aren't losing anything. You are literally losing nothing. The arbitrary number next to your portrait don't really mean anything. If you are doing 200,000 Pyroblast crits at 130 or the same at 60 what does it matter?

They are trying to bring value back to levels. You know, how you used to get excited for a new skill or new talent every couple of levels, but for a long time you didn't get anything for gaining a level except you got closer to end game content.

[kattarina]

I mean the squish I think over all is a good thing. The issue I have with it is really nothing changes. Its going to be the same talents and everything you earn now. Just now you get something every level. So if you are REALLY happy with how the game is now than its just a more often of what you like. But its just the same thing you have had since what.. MoP? Nothing new? That is the part I am unsatisfied with. Not furious about by any means but rather underwhelming for me.

I think its aimed at new players. Getting into a game with 8 expansions and a lvl cap of 120 looks overwhelming.
Getting into a game with a lvl cap of 60, where lvling feels rewarding and you dont have to worry about any expansion besides the current feels alot nicer. In the end, nothing really changes besides the number, but it may bring new subcribers into the game. Its a good move for blizzard I think

[Firefall]

lvl 1-10 will be a new starting zone (depending on race, maybe?), after that, 10-50 you can choose whatever expansion to lvl in. Like now you can lvl 1-60 in westfall if you want, content scales up to lvl 60. In shadowlands everything will scale up to lvl 50.

Oh no I get that. But currently when you go back and solo old content the reason it is so easy is because we are exponentially stronger than it because of how stat squishing has worked, right? So if the content now "can" scale up to 50, and so let's say Onyxia can be killed with one cast Heroic Throw now, to make it a challenge/playable at level 50 but as easy as live 8.2.5 at level 60, level 51-60 either needs to count for (in the background) the thousands of times the stat inflation we have on live, or the content needs to scale back down to a lower level if you're above 50.

Both options are much "faster" at suddenly turning you into a god in old content than it is on live. I guess they could put the stat inflation on some sort of curve that starts very slow so you don't notice? Like have it back loaded so 70% of it is in the last 3 or 4 levels.

[Mferna]

You guys are so fucking whiney omfg. The game is old af and is becoming too clustered blizz has to do this. No new player wants to level through 130 levels worth of old content, I even don’t want to make Alts because of that grind. Y’all literally make it sound like Blizz is picking one of your characters and deleting it. ITS JUST A NUMBER ON your SCREEN, they’re not erasing your memories or achievements lmao. The same logic can be applied to saying level squishes should not be implemented because they lower the numbers and are taking power away from your character because you have worked for this power and the number that shows up on the screen after a chaos bolt crit should be 34,762,272828xq7+*11 instead of 60,000. Like cmon, grow tf up and just play the game bro...