Is the leveling experience going to be as terrible as BfA?

[Accendor]

After seeing after yesterdays raid again how approximately 50% of my characters damage comes from Essences and Corruption and half his Rotation only works because of double Azerite Traits I fear that the leveling process in Shadowlands will be even more painful than in BfA. It was already terrible in BfA to get weaker every level without getting anything in return and it currently really looks like Shadowlands is repeating the same pattern.
How are your experiences in the alpha there?

[Flevor]

Alpha is making good progress,some specs still need work like shadow priest because it feels really terrible,most specs start to feel good in their base form without the borrowed power.

but yea some specs do need some work so one can only hope

[Super Kami Dende]

Considering we are literally getting a bunch of abilities returned from pruning and some talents made baseline. I doubt the problem will be that severe if any at all.

[VinceVega]

First level will feel weird unless you are mythic stacked. After that you will get an ability every two levels.

Even if it does feel weak you get used to it in a few hours.
Corruption will be gone i think. Or won't work above 54 like the legendaries back then. Azerite either the saem or it will be removed in the pre-patch along with the heart and you get the new system to check out.

Will you feel weeker. Yes. That is the way it was since the beginning. Would be about time to get used to it^^
How can you get more powerfull from here? My Haste is so high if it gets higher my GCD will get in the way.

edit: They should remove everything in the prepatch to circumvent the weird power curve while leveling imho

[TheLucky1]

Was the leveling in bfa that terrible though? I agree with the regression of secondary stats/legendaries etc. but the experience itself? For example on an alt where you don't have that regression.?

[Doffen]

Was the leveling in bfa that terrible though? I agree with the regression of secondary stats/legendaries etc. but the experience itself? For example on an alt where you don't have that regression.?

No, you didn't notice it on the alts really that you leveled up from scratch in BfA. Seeing there have been so many good ways to level up in BfA I think the leveling experience has been pretty good. Korrak, Islands, Timewalking, dungeons and now the XP-boost I'd say the variety have been good.

And even those I leveled from Legion to BfA with legendaries I didn't really have any issues. Just like other expansion. You feel weaker in the end, but that's not something new. Though corruption, essences and AA have greater impact than legendaries had(seeing the Weapon was already depleted), but then again our spells get "boosted" through leveling from 50 to 60 I would take a strong guess on "it's going to be fine"

[ClassicPeon]

After seeing after yesterdays raid again how approximately 50% of my characters damage comes from Essences and Corruption and half his Rotation only works because of double Azerite Traits I fear that the leveling process in Shadowlands will be even more painful than in BfA. It was already terrible in BfA to get weaker every level without getting anything in return and it currently really looks like Shadowlands is repeating the same pattern.
How are your experiences in the alpha there?

Is this something you have looked into?

Because on alfa your abilities actually get upgrades as you level up, aswell as you getting a new ability in the zone you are leveling in.

[Accendor]

I don't know guys, if you tell me you did not feel the massive power decline between Legion and BfA than I don't know what to tell you. The issue was even addressed by Ion in a Q/A relatively early in the expansion.

Is this something you have looked into?

Because on alfa your abilities actually get upgrades as you level up, aswell as you getting a new ability in the zone you are leveling in.

Actually, I did not know that, thank you for this information! I am assuming however that in the end you feel max. like you do now without corruption?

See, my problem here is that I actually really like the leveling phase, but in BfA it felt completely useless. Meaning that if we would have stayed on the old level and had our stats and abilities squished, it would not have made a difference (part of this is also due to zone scaling).

From your feedback it kinda sounds the same for BfA to be honest - Like why have leveling if the only that that happens during it is that you get weaker? If you would get stronger I would understand and like it, but with the current iteration just staying at max level and work with achievements to track progress would make much, much more sense.

[Dracullus]

Azerite traits/essences should be removed on pre-patch like weapon skills/traits. As for corruption, it should be removed either in pre-patch with rest BfA stuff, when you zone in to Maw on launch or just don't remove it at all and let this gear carry you to 60. Turning in off midway through leveling like Legion legos would be huge mistake.

[Popastique]

BFA leveling was painful? that's new

[Laughingjack]

I didn't find leveling in bfa to be bad. Later on the whole grind for a week once you hit level cap just to have the same amount of essences as everyone else got old though.

[Soon-TM]

For what I've seen in YT, it really depends on your class/spec. As of now, it looks like some specs will work just fine without all the BfA clutter (Arms, FDK, Affliction), while others are really struggling with the loss of borrowed power (Fire, Arcane, and especially Shadow, which is just a mess).

[melodramocracy]

Difficulty didn't make BfA leveling terrible. Poor story design and tedium did.

[Brostin]

I don't know guys, if you tell me you did not feel the massive power decline between Legion and BfA than I don't know what to tell you. The issue was even addressed by Ion in a Q/A relatively early in the expansion.

Are you really asking for people's experiences and then saying they are wrong because Ion said so?

Vengeance Demon Hunter felt pretty much the same to be honest. Guardian Druid wasn't the best, but it still isn't because apparently being the worst at everything is acceptable.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

As its a video game we play for enjoyment, nothing will be "terrible" and if anything was, it certainly would not have been leveling our mains out of Legion, but yes if you found issues with player power drop off in Legion, you will find it 10x worse in Shadowlands.

Its just leveling though.
Takes like 10 hours total and you will probably be oneshotting mobs if corruption still works.
I kind of hope it doesn't, because its already super quick combat times even on these template characters which are wearing gear worse than Normal Nyalotha.

[Weeps]

Considering we are literally getting a bunch of abilities returned from pruning and some talents made baseline. I doubt the problem will be that severe if any at all.

I am happy some abilities are returning but it'll be meaningless if we hit mobs with a wet noodle, going through rotations 3-5 times per kill.

[uopayroll]

If you found BFA levelling terrible, I am afraid you will not like levelling in Shadowlands, the next expansion, the expansion after that, the one following that one, the next expansion, and levelling in any other game you decide to try afterwards because you dislike WoW levelling so much.....

[Grenzstein]

If you found BFA levelling terrible, I am afraid you will not like levelling in Shadowlands, the next expansion, the expansion after that, the one following that one, the next expansion, and levelling in any other game you decide to try afterwards because you dislike WoW levelling so much.....

It's a very glaring issue with the WoW Playerbase, they can't understand that they don't like the game anymore and keep hoping for magical changes. It's ok to dislike the game and stop playing, no need to create issues. BFA Levelling was fine, the same as any other xpack i guess, the game had issues with some decisions but nothing that bad.

[infinitemeridian]

The leveling in BFA was bad more so because the quests in the zones were boring and monotonous. The power regression wasn't as big a deal as that in my opinion.

[f4ncybear]

It's actually gonna be worse in the long run since they are returning to linear leveling instead of pick a zone.