Is SL leveling boring?

[Otimus]

Bastion is pretty, and the quests are interesting even if I hate the faction there. Maldraxxus is like a pile of leftover Legion assets covered in fart gas. I absolutely hated it. Ardenweald was pretty awesome with some nice payoff. Revenderth was pretty great, but it was over way, way, way too soon. I feel a bit too much of the story of each zone may be too tied to expansion-wide covenant progress, and that drags things down. Any time you have to be in the Maw is an absolute drag. (Worse that you have to be in even more at level cap).

I don't think most of it was boring, but my summary would be most of it is over way too soon, and the Maw can go fuck itself. (If their intent with the Maw was for it to feel oppressively anti-fun, they sure succeeded) It'll probably be a lot more interesting leveling an alt. I haven't done that yet, with that threads of fate thing.

[Incarnia]

I like it. More or less strictly following the campaign questline, with doing a side quest here and there, gives a more diverse and enjoyable journey (imo). That way you won't bore yourself to death in Bastion till lvl 55.

I knew this going into SL, (been on beta), and honestly feel Blizzard might've made a mistake in not pointing this it out more in game. That you have a CHOICE, and don't need to grind out each zone till they're empty on quests. To me it actually feels like following the campaign is the intended way to level the first time around.

[ClassicPeon]

In some ways I agree with this. I don't think leveling means much. Rethinking the content used for leveling as endgame content would be interesting. See next comment.


I would argue that there's a difference between slow leveling and meaningful leveling content. Leveling content needs to be rethought and I would not be against the concept of removing levels entirely from the game. Whatever purpose they once filled they do not now. This is really about rethinking how stories are told within the greater fabric of an expansion, Something different from a separate trivialized thing set off to the side.

100%. Thats why it still works in single player rpgs(as an example). The way we play wow atm though it just doesnt work. They could have kept the 10 levels as a sort of visual que that we venture into a new expansion and just made the levels take like 20 minutes each from lore introductory quests in each zone.

The sidequests in the zones are utterly pointless.

[Icoblablubb]

What? I play on Moon Guard and leveled to 60 within the first two days and didn't experience lag in any zone. Ardenweald certainly was more demanding graphically, but that isn't lag.

which just means no raidgrps are farming mounts especially valfir on Moon Guard ..

[WowIsDead64]

Overall I liked WOD concept more. It had short introduction questline. And after that quest line Garrison was already available to you. I.e. you could start to progress immediately. I liked it very much, because I wasn't forced to rush towards max level to start doing endgame content. Second thing - leveling itself was really quick. There was no time to get bored. But! You always had an option to complete Loremaster after getting max level. And I was always doing it just for fun. Not because I was forced to, but because I liked it. That's IMHO the best way to approach to leveling. Allowing player to skip questing, but not allowing his to start progressing in endgame, still isn't good game design. Leveling is still used as some sort of gating.

[Leyre]

Funny enough, doing WQ in bastion is horrible for me while leveling there is the opossite, its really great

[Rusken]

Why do you play World of Warcraft then?

Uhh, because it's an endgame focused MMO that has really enjoyable endgame? I like raiding and dungeons and even some PvP from time to time. Mindlessly killing x of y while gathering x of y over and over isn't super exhilarating gameplay.

[Randomfellow]

It was a little boring. But, really, be honest with yourself: when was the leveling experience of any xpac free of boredom? Never in my opinion.

---
Really the only zone I found boring was Bastion. Otherwise thought the leveling experience was ok.

Current 10-50 is pretty nice imo. It's a little too easy and fast, BUT! your freedom to do any location is extremely good. Did one char in TBC, one in WotlK and both experiences were great.

[Depakote]

Uhh, because it's an endgame focused MMO that has really enjoyable endgame? I like raiding and dungeons and even some PvP from time to time. Mindlessly killing x of y while gathering x of y over and over isn't super exhilarating gameplay.

That's not really true but go ahead and complain about a game that you refuse to play properly though, i'm sure that'll be helpful.

[SirCowdog]

Hmmm...I had a bit of a bore mid Bastion. Too much following NPCs and watching cutscenes or do stuff like "click here as we have another ritual / cleanse a guy / repair a forge" etc.

But I really liked the Maldraxxus story. Ardenweald is a mixed bag. I think I am 4 /6 in the chapter but it definitely feels like the story is already exhausted and I just want it to be over and move to Rivendreth.

On the other hand....maybe being kind of "forced" to play through the entire story is beneficial. In Classic and TBC I just went "fuck you all" once I hit max level and just dropped the story where I was. Played completely through it in WotLK / Legion and BfA however and liked it.

After thinking about it for a bit more, I think what's happening to me this time around is that I have been completely disillusioned with WoW. I really only just want to play the end game. And the leveling barrier filled with escort quests, exposition NPCs, and other forms of unskippable cutscenes holds NO value for me like it did in previous expansions.

I just REALLY don't give two dogshits about the story this time around. I don't care about Anduin, or Jaina, or Thrall, or some faceless NPC introduced this expansions. If Blizzard could stop wasting my time to pad their fucking engagement figures, and just let me play the god damned game without holding me back constantly and sticking their god damned fingers in my face every 5 minutes trying to tell me how to play and what's fun..... yeah...that'd be great.

[Lolites]

From all your posts I think you really just need to let this game go. It's very common for people to become bitter about things they once enjoyed but it's not healthy. Just move on!

from all his posts i think he doesnt even play and only come here to troll, 1.12. so before this thread about only being lvl 55 he made a thread about how bad endgame in maw is...

[callipygoustp]

Current 10-50 is pretty nice imo. It's a little too easy and fast, BUT! your freedom to do any location is extremely good. Did one char in TBC, one in WotlK and both experiences were great.

Looks like you quoted the wrong person and posted in the wrong thread.

[Nelle]

I've leveled 2 chars through campaign and multiple chars with fate (only doing the 4 available dungeons) and I like it so far. Just wish the zone-bar-quests could be done by doing dungeons only, so far they only fill to like 80% before you 60

Now I'm just waiting around for some sort of Heirloom or bonus xp before leveling the rest of my army.

[Nachtigal]

Ive never enjoyed leveling more In any expansion than shadowlands. It’s purely subjective.

[Depakote]

After thinking about it for a bit more, I think what's happening to me this time around is that I have been completely disillusioned with WoW. I really only just want to play the end game. And the leveling barrier filled with escort quests, exposition NPCs, and other forms of unskippable cutscenes holds NO value for me like it did in previous expansions.

I just REALLY don't give two dogshits about the story this time around. I don't care about Anduin, or Jaina, or Thrall, or some faceless NPC introduced this expansions. If Blizzard could stop wasting my time to pad their fucking engagement figures, and just let me play the god damned game without holding me back constantly and sticking their god damned fingers in my face every 5 minutes trying to tell me how to play and what's fun..... yeah...that'd be great.

Seems you're mad about having to play the game. Quite weird honestly.

[Soon-TM]

I finished bastion and have not yet been able to bring myself to log in again since then. Before now I've NEVER had a leveling experience bore me so bad I didn't even want to keep playing.

I feel your pain m8. Bastion is one of the most BORING zones I've ever had the (dis)pleasure to level at. But Maldraxxus is noticeably better, I'm not a big fan of Ardenweald, but it works... Kind of, and Revendreth is just awesome.

Basically, the only issue with levelling is that huge slog called Bastion cockblocking the rest of the campaign. I guess my alts will level up via Threads of Fate, there is no way I'm doing the entire Kyrian campaign again. Zzz zzz.

[Imurbandaid]

Seems you're mad about having to play the game. Quite weird honestly.

Yea I mean, honestly. He is also complaining about just wanting to play at end game and how leveling is too much a bother but it's the fastest lvling there has ever been. Think it took me 10hrs or something and I wasn't even trying to speed run it. Between a 5hr 1-50 and a 10hr trip to 60 its faster to get to max level than ever.

[Algorath]

I suspect this was down to you missing side-quests, rather than them actually not being an option, unless you started at 48 or something (which may be more extreme). Starting at 50 with zero rested I made it just fine with only some sidequests.

- - - Updated - - -



Whilst I agree that Revendreth is the best, I don't it's a "gap in quality" issue, I think it's a pacing issue. The one criticism I really have of SL is that it starts slow. The Maw is slow, and most of your time is spent staring at NPCs as they rattle on, or walking places with them. Then you get to Oribos, and stand around whilst NPCs talk. Then you get to Bastion and... do slow, calm quests which I think were meant to be a juxtaposition from the Maw, but just didn't feel like it (because the Maw, with NPCs helping isn't that scary). Then by the end of Bastion stuff has sped up a lot and is improving. I thought we were generally good except for a couple of moments where Ardenweald drags, after that. Revendreth then really ups the pace and pulls it all together and is pretty funny to boot. I don't think it's that more skill went into Revendreth - I think it's just that because they made the pacing faster and were doing a more exciting part of the story, it lead to a much more exciting vibe to the leveling.

I think you misunderstood. I skipped every "optional" quest - Doing the campaign only led me to having these odd moments where I needed to progress to a higher level to continue the campaign.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, I've had the game since launch and I've just reached level 59 and I've barely started in Ardenweald. Sure, I have a lot less time to play these days compared to when any other expansion launched, but despite that I still don't feel that urge to login or play till sunrise. The new zones aren't really my cup of tea, the characters you meet aren'tthat interesting either and the story of the zones (only done Bastion and Maldraxxus) aren't exactly mindblowing either. The tempo is off, and the way that you have to leave a zone to progress without actually finishing it seems really wierd.

- - - Updated - - -



Not an option? What exactly do you mean? I saw plenty of side quests being presented in both Bastion and Maldraxxus.

Yeah that's my writing being a bit off, sorry lad. I meant that by skipping all optional quests, I was forced into these weird moments where I lacked 30% of a level before I could continue levelling with the campaign.

[Imurbandaid]

I decided, that gold is pointless anyway, if I wouldn't play this game, so I decided to spend it on tokens and buy SL and month of sub for them. Just because this game doesn't have endgame trial, so it's "buy to try" thing.

And first thing I've noticed - leveling is boring. Not because it's easy. It should be easy. This happens, when Blizzard focus too much on story and forget about fun. It just doesn't bring such feeling of excitement, as Cata or WOD leveling. I've been playing for 3 days, but I'm just level 55 and I've just started Maldraxxsus. And I've already got tired of leveling after Bastion. Yeah, we can skip it on alts. But leveling is usually major part of content for me, so I like, when it's replayable. Skipping it will remove big part of content from me. I just hope, that endgame will be better.

I can't say, what is wrong with it. Overall it's idea is understandable. To show you Covenants, so you would be able to make your choice. I understand, that back in old Vanilla-WotLK times leveling was even slower. It was like journey. Reaching max level was really like a festival. That's, why devs were sending fireworks to you to celebrate it. But something has changed in leveling process since Legion. It started to be way too "serious" and "dry". It's focused on story too much. And what makes content replayable? Yeah, if you already know that story, it's not interesting for you to see it again, again and again. And it's not compensated by other factors, such as fun or feel of progression.

Overall I feel, that what I do - isn't meaningful. I already know, what Covenant my characters will join. And therefore this "introduction" isn't interesting for me. It's just some sort of time gating before doing actual Covenant content. Blizzard just don't make leveling as some sort of standalone content, that is meaningful by itself. It's about story and story is unfortunately one-time thing.

In this case WOD leveling was the best. You were working towards progression of your Garrison back then. Dunno why, but it was bringing (and still brings) the biggest satisfaction feeling and excitement to me. Because it's some sort of per-character progression, that is still interesting even after completing it once. SL leveling is just...meh? Something happens. I do something. Kill some mobs. Collect some trash. Help somebody. But for what? I won't chose Maldraxxus on this character anyway. Why should I know anything about it? Why should I help somebody?

The love for nostalgia is real. This leveling was smooth, told a story, and was fast in case you have to do it again (as well as offering threads of fate on the side). Dungeon lvling is also quick now if you want that route. Complaining about having to follow a story but saying classic-wotlk leveling is great? I almost offed myself back in wotlk with alts trying to force myself to choose between boring tundra and howling fjord to start for the millionth time or levling the whole time dreading that moment when I need to finish off in storm peaks or icecrown. Leveling has always been about following a story and its quicker and smoother than ever now.

[Nynax]

After thinking about it for a bit more, I think what's happening to me this time around is that I have been completely disillusioned with WoW. I really only just want to play the end game. And the leveling barrier filled with escort quests, exposition NPCs, and other forms of unskippable cutscenes holds NO value for me like it did in previous expansions.

I just REALLY don't give two dogshits about the story this time around. I don't care about Anduin, or Jaina, or Thrall, or some faceless NPC introduced this expansions. If Blizzard could stop wasting my time to pad their fucking engagement figures, and just let me play the god damned game without holding me back constantly and sticking their god damned fingers in my face every 5 minutes trying to tell me how to play and what's fun..... yeah...that'd be great.

This is basically what I was gunna suggest to everyone that feels leveling is boring. Technically it's not like the quests are functionally any different than all the quests that came before. What is different is a general lack of investment. Even MoP had more consistent characters, we got to follow our faction's progress, see what kinds shit Taran Zhu has to deal with now that we showed up, prance around with Stormstout a bit.

Shadowlands leveling is kinda one long "Okaaaaay.....who the fuck are you?" Then you spend most of each zone trying to "fit in" with the locals, before someone finally reminds you that you're supposed to be asking for help. Meanwhile Bolvar and the Ebon Blade are doing fuck all, any reminder that you actually have a faction is either locked up in Torghast or nonexistant.

I'd say questing this expansion is the most "alone" our characters have ever been, in a new land, and it feels kinda boring because the lore and characters we're invested in got kinda left behind. There isn't really a *ahem* thread of fate connecting the experiences together. Each zone just kinda ends with "well....I guess you're done here. You should probably go back to Oribos and debrief."

Edit: Now, if you genuinely enjoy exploring random new stuff and you're the type of person to be like "oh! piece of candy!" Shadowlands leveling is actually quite fun!