Shadowlands Level Squish and Old Raids

[Valysar]

They'll probably fail miserably like the last time they've done this. But beta will serve this purpose I hope, I attend to do a lot of xmog runs on beta (Antorus first).

[clownpenisfart]

Not at all. If they simply dropped the amount of XP required to hit 120 by 65%, you'd level up super fast, right? So the pacing would be destroyed and each level would not be meaningful, you wouldn't get anything interesting or cool.

the only meaningful and cool level is the last one (the one that used to signify that you never had to endure the boredom of doing a quest ever again), regardless of how many there are

[bryroo]

The level squish is unnecessary and only going to make launch even more complicated when things are broken, poorly tested, and don't function as they should just because the implementation of a level squish is going to be monumental work for Blizzard on top of making sure the new content they release is polished and bug-free.

People out there genuinely think that halving the levels is going to completely renovate the old game.

[clownpenisfart]

People out there genuinely think that halving the levels is going to completely renovate the old game.

but "number go up" will have so much more ~meaning~!

[bryroo]

but "number go up" will have so much more ~meaning~!

Yes actually, that's how RPGs have worked for decades. Level up are the psychological reward for the player's effort.

Blizzard never had to imagine implementing systems that would be in place for twenty plus years when they built world of warcraft.

They also never thought they'd having to cater to people who find triple digit numbers intimidating

[huddling]

Yes actually, that's how RPGs have worked for decades. Level up are the psychological reward for the player's effort.

Yeah, people like to be told they are being rewarded, it's well known that you can get people a little shot of dopamine by giving them anything and telling them its a reward. On the game I work on, the UI team speaks of "rewarding moment" when they play a little animation to pat the payer on the back for unlocking something, no matter how pointless that thing may actually be.

A good example is achievements. It's essentially a game design cheat: instead of making the game actually interesting and rewarding to play, you hand out hollow rewards and play some fancy animation and sounds to trick people's brain into reacting to the act of being rewarded, rather than to the substance of the reward (which is actually negligible).

This only works for so long until people catch on, and then it doesn't work anymore. Some people catch on sooner than others (I stopped being tricked into being excited by the mere act of leveling up 15 years ago in a different game before I ever played wow), so there are diminishing returns to these methods. In a game like wow that can hardly attract new players (because quite frankly gamers have different tastes nowadays), it means you are kinda screwed when your tricks stop working on the old ones.

Blizzard think they can continue hacking it along with the old recipes. They're wrong. If they want people to keep playing wow, they need to make it actually interesting to play, because it's becoming harder and harder for people to delude themselves into thinking that wow as it is now is fun. Redistributing the levels is not going to help and is a huge waste of time and resources.

Or they could once let people just pvp without trying to force them through the RNG gear grind, because unlike pve, pvp can be intrinsically fun regardless of the rewards.

[Schizoide]

People out there genuinely think that halving the levels is going to completely renovate the old game.

It isn't about the level count alone. The end result of the Shadowlands changes:

- You level to 50 (former 120) ~65% faster
- You get something every level. A new ability, utility, or unlock.
- You can level completely in one expansion without being forced to hop around

The combination of these three things will make leveling a new character much more pleasant.

[music49]

They are not just halving the level count. They are changing how leveling works.

Level 1 - 10 New Starting island for everyone
Level 10 - 50 any one OR MULTIPLE expansion (not sure where vanilla content fits in) (unless your a first time player then you are forced to do BFA, not sure why)
Level 50 - 60 - Shadowlands

This is not supposed to make leveling faster or slower. The point is to enjoy leveling, and make each "Guild Chat: DING!!!" be worth something and feel good. At the same time we will still have heirloom armor that will speed things up for those of us that have already done the content multiple times and wouldn't mind getting to current content a little faster. And for those that got a little over time at work there's the level boost. I'm looking forward to leveling completely in Panderia and hopefully it works out for the best.

[FuujCraft]

They are not just halving the level count. They are changing how leveling works.

Level 1 - 10 New Starting island for everyone
Level 10 - 50 any one OR MULTIPLE expansion (not sure where vanilla content fits in) (unless your a first time player then you are forced to do BFA, not sure why)
Level 50 - 60 - Shadowlands

This is not supposed to make leveling faster or slower. The point is to enjoy leveling, and make each "Guild Chat: DING!!!" be worth something and feel good. At the same time we will still have heirloom armor that will speed things up for those of us that have already done the content multiple times and wouldn't mind getting to current content a little faster. And for those that got a little over time at work there's the level boost. I'm looking forward to leveling completely in Panderia and hopefully it works out for the best.

The 1-10 starting zone is also optional. You are not forced to do that. Also you can still choose whatever route you want to get to 50. You can level the way like you do now, going to zones you want to, grab a few levels and go the next. You can also choose "Chromie Mode" where you select an Expansion and go there to level from 10-50. Only a new player has to play BfA to get to 50, because they want new players to get cought up with the story.

[Schizoide]

I believe both the new 1-10 zone and 10-50 in BFA are mandatory for new players. If you already have a level 50 on your account you can begin in the old starter zones and then level in vanilla or whatever expansion you want.

[knightblazer85]

in regards to the squish.

so long as i can get into the siege of orgrimar on a shaman at some point to get the krokon dark shaman transmog and get into the old raids for mounts. i dont care.

the squish works to my advantage because i have about 8 characters to level between both factions for profession stuff and for the order halls for the class mounts and artifact transmogs. plus i have to set up a horde garrison. and chief above all. i still have to do lore runs in outland, northrend, cataclysm and pandaria.

my main question about shadowlands is what's going to happen in regards to the pre 9.0 professions.

[czarek]

Who cares thb. Leveling gear is to dump especially if u have full heirlooms