Does the leveling feel too quick?

[AlmightyGerkin]

I'm at day 3 and I've done 1/2 of the first zone story so far and am lvl 64, I think the current setup is far better than the older one of going from hub to hub since you can run through the campaign as fast as you want or slow down and do side stuff, and some of the side stuff is worth it like flying around for an hour upgrading dragonriding

Think that is one of the things that made WoD leveling decent was with what you stated.

[Caprias]

So...

+50% more kill and fetch quests that aren't really unique or impactful for the story.
+50%~ more stuff you need to kill or fetch on average per quest.
+longer ttk and downtime (well.. depending on gear and class of course, thank god I chose a warlock for tbcc/wotlkc).
+more traverse time.

And suddenly dragonflight leveling would have been better to you? Because those are the reasons outland/northrend take the time they do.

If that's what you like just imagine killing stuff and right clicking stuff in world quests or dungeons at level cap is still part of the leveling process and you're good to go, just squint a bit when looking at your level or something like that.

[Biomega]

Twitch/Youtube spreadsheet culture truly ruined all games. A whole breed of people who have such short attention spans and patience they can't bother to go through a progression of story and power before "GOGOGOGOGO" sets in.

That's not the issue at stake here, though. You're already in basic agreement - what matters is "a progression of story and power". You don't need leveling for that. In fact, it's very possible people would like a robust progression system that a) doesn't gate endgame content; and b) isn't over in 10 hours flat much more than they would the throwaway content of leveling. Heck, Blizzard themselves admit that it's that, which is why they've decided that playing the story once is enough and that after that, people just want to do "the normal WoW stuff" even while leveling. The fact that they're keeping leveling around is just their fear that a break with tradition will frighten people.

[Tojara]

There's actually a lot quests in the zones, you just don't have to do them if you don't want. I think pacing wise it's about the same as SL, BFA and Legion, we just get the ability 30 minutes into it which obviously makes it a lot faster.

Lets not kid ourselves though. The game has evolved and while the vanilla 1-60 is truly part of the game, the re-release of TBC/WoTLK shows that leveling really hasn't aged that well. If they wanted they could tune the XP from mobs and objectives to be artificially smaller so that you basically need to do everything in most of the zones to get to level cap. Like an above poster mentioned, would the game be a better experience if it was more fetch quests, more kill quests or more travel time?

It's basically the same length as the past 3 to maybe 5 expansions, we just get flying super quick into the experience. Travel doesn't feel awful in DF and anytime you might possibly get annoyed at quests taking forever are absolved by the very fact that you can just zip around.

World design is great though. Personally it's my favorite since WoD as far as how it 'looks'. Lets of verticality and the game is obviously built around flying mounts, which is the first time it's ever truly been like that. Cataclysm gave us flying immediately and it didn't really make the leveling experience faster because you essentially had to 4/5 zones to completion to hit max level anyway.

I don't think leveling is outdated enough to where I would get rid of it. Forcing people to do it once is absolutely fine, and whether you like the narrative or not, they created the game and want to show it to you. Thank god dragonriding is account wide and you can basically do whatever you want with your alternate characters. Explortation, rare spawns, and campaign quests at whatever area you want to do them in (yeah, you can skip the opening area and go right to Azure Span if you want and start the campaign there if you want).

[Tyris Flare]

Hey friends.

So I am curious what everyone thinks about the new leveling the last few expansions have had. Does leveling feel too fast?
After playing WOTLK classic, it reminded me how much leveling was a part of the expansion where it would take about a week to 80 instead of the 6 hours it takes some people to hit level cap on Dragonflight.

Do you like the fast leveling or do you wish it was a little longer of a process?

I think slow leveling was fine in 2004, but it's a different world. I want to get it over with as quickly as possible now.

But for the people who enjoy it, there's still a mountain of quests to do.

- - - Updated - - -

So...

+50% more kill and fetch quests that aren't really unique or impactful for the story.
+50%~ more stuff you need to kill or fetch on average per quest.
+longer ttk and downtime (well.. depending on gear and class of course, thank god I chose a warlock for tbcc/wotlkc).
+more traverse time.

And suddenly dragonflight leveling would have been better to you? Because those are the reasons outland/northrend take the time they do.

If that's what you like just imagine killing stuff and right clicking stuff in world quests or dungeons at level cap is still part of the leveling process and you're good to go, just squint a bit when looking at your level or something like that.

Right, it was all just boring padding. Which again, was kind of novel 20 years ago but isn't anymore

[3DTyrant]

I'm pretty much a few quests into Azure Span and almost lv 67, it does feel fairly quick (so do zones) compared to SL, so I'm not going to complain.

[Dizzyswiftz]

Leveling is an outmoded concept. Progression can be done in ways that doesn't translate to doing meaningless shit for 1-2 days on every character you want to play, before getting to the parts you'll ACTUALLY be doing for the rest of your time with them. It's a holdover from a history that's long been transcended, and the main reason they're keeping it around is nostalgia and tradition. It has no significant functional component to it anymore because anything you THINK leveling does you can just do better now in ways that don't include a bunch of throwaway content.

Leveling is essentially a time gap to extend the life of an expansion. Leveling adds 8 hours to the game experience that wasn't there at lvl 60, before entering the new "expansion". It gives you time to adjust to new skills, new builds, etc. It doesn't just throw you into a raid or M+ with no knowledge of your new and improved class. The pre-expac stuff is solid, with an introduction to class specs. But they don't really shine until level 70 w/ gear scaling applied. So honestly, the leveling experience is needed; At 6-8 hours to level to completion, I think that's a proper amount of time. /shrug

[Coolface330]

Leveling is an outmoded concept. Progression can be done in ways that doesn't translate to doing meaningless shit for 1-2 days on every character you want to play, before getting to the parts you'll ACTUALLY be doing for the rest of your time with them. It's a holdover from a history that's long been transcended, and the main reason they're keeping it around is nostalgia and tradition. It has no significant functional component to it anymore, because anything you THINK leveling does you can just do better now in ways that don't include a bunch of throwaway content.

I agree with this post.

What people don't realize, is eventually, 5 year old Timmy is gonna get the same gear as you because he keeps playing the game. People's e-d**ks can't handle this. So they wanna be special Snowflakes compared to Timmy when Timmy's working his ass off to have the same gear as you/catch up.

TLDR: People are gonna get the same gear as you, eventually, because they're playing the same game as you. Just because you beat Mario Bros 1, doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't possess the ability to catch-up.

[Ryzek]

Its is quick and the game is better for it. I take my time and do every quest on my first toon. I'm 69 barley entering Azure Span. But for alts the quicker I can level the better. I still enjoy leveling overall but that is only for one toon, after I get to leveling alts I don't care too much for it and just want it over.

[Thirtyrock]

I understand what you're saying, but I have to disagree. This could be my ignorance, but the game was much more popular when it wasn't a "Get to the end content as fast as possible" game. Hitting level cap and having all the gear I need for raiding 1 week into the expansion feels... ehhh... I worry I'm going to just get bored much quicker now.

This is an understanding is reductive. WoW's height of popularity had to do with SO MANY things that are unrelated to the length of leveling. It was the first casual and solo (somewhat) friendly MMO. It was the first so many things. Then you combine the tie in of Warcraft III with WotLK...It was the best possible situation for high subscription numbers.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm at day 3 and I've done 1/2 of the first zone story so far and am lvl 64, I think the current setup is far better than the older one of going from hub to hub since you can run through the campaign as fast as you want or slow down and do side stuff, and some of the side stuff is worth it like flying around for an hour upgrading dragonriding

Great point. I'm doing side quests so I get every zone full on, but I'll hit 70 before finishing the questing experience. I know for a fact that if you just do the campaign you won't hit max and will have to do side quests.

[MrKnubbles]

The only minor complaint I have is that I did the campaign and finished at level 68.

Really? I got to 70 before finishing the campaign.

[Thirtyrock]

Thanks for all the replies homies.

I might just be in the minority on this one then. I personally enjoyed the leveling in BC/WOTLK more as it felt like more of an adventure and not a race or quick task. Playing classic only reminded me of that enjoyment. To each their own though.

I don't know that you're in the minority, I don't know that you're not.

I made it to 80 in Wrath Classic and...The nostalgia wore off during the leveling process. The zones were beautiful, the game was fun but...damn, It took FOREVER. I like the story to continue AFTER endgame, something I think Mists did particularly well, so you still quest and stuff after hitting max level. But to me, personally, it feels bad to spend so long getting to max level. I prefer a great engaging story that can be completed in under 24 hours of play time with a sequel at max level that takes much longer.

- - - Updated - - -

Twitch/Youtube spreadsheet culture truly ruined all games. A whole breed of people who have such short attention spans and patience they can't bother to go through a progression of story and power before "GOGOGOGOGO" sets in.

OR...Human nature is what it is? People literally claimed that books would cause people to have shorter memories...This argument is, at its core, "back in MY day..."

[Dristereau]

I'd rather have a relatively quick levelling experience because Campaigns can also be added at max level that require a lot more questing and reasoning to do, such as Suramar in Legion or the Covenant/Korthia/Zereth Mortis Campaigns in Shadowlands. I also have lots of Alts and really don't want to spend weeks levelling them through content I've already done.

Levelling felt fine honestly, I really liked how crafting gave experience, the zones felt decent and well made, the story was much better than Shadowlands for the most part and there were Rares to kill that gave experience. I felt like Shadowlands was a linear, slow, dull and unfun grind with no variety that made me hate it. Dragonflight levelling felt closer to Warlords of Draenor, with really good zones (Frostfire ending <3), treasures and toys giving experience, options for going through zones and additional things like perks which were randomised slightly so characters of the same class got them at different levels. After levelling once in Dragonflight you can do what you like. Before Threads of Fate in Shadowlands you were doing the same linear drag again and again. I also personally didn't love Threads of Fate much either, Shadowlands levelling experience stands out to me as the worst they've done.

[Piando]

I like it more the new way. I'm 66 not just headed into Azure Span. On the other hand, my main in WotLK is still just 77. It's not that I don't like leveling per se, it's just that I don't have that much time to play the game and I do prefer end-game content. Now in WotLK I still don't know if I'll be able to raid anytime soon whereas in Retail it's likely going to be fine.

[Relapses]

Really? I got to 70 before finishing the campaign.

I didn't do any of the side quests, didn't do a single race, didn't craft a single item, didn't do any random dungeons... focused entirely on the MSQ so that's probably why.

[chiddie]

Really? I got to 70 before finishing the campaign.

If you do the campaign ONLY (no side quests, no gathering, no crafting, no dungeons) you probably won’t hit 70 before it ends, unless you are fully rested all the time.

I don’t know if it’s because the background or the dragons theme or flying or whatever, but I’m having fun in this first trip, a fun I didn’t have since MoP.

While in SL I felt the urge to get to 60 asap and leveling seemed to last forever (also because I hated all the zones apart from Revendreth), this time feels somehow different.

I am taking my time, doing side quests, reading stuff, staring at stuff, just exploring, it’s feeling really good. I also think that if you want to rush, you will probably be able to, so everyone can experience it at its own pace.

I don’t miss classic leveling honestly, reason number one I left classic where it is is exactly because leveling takes forever and you have no ways to speed it up at your own will. I still remember how terrible it was TBC in this sense when it released 15 years ago.

[Nyel]

Yeah, I don't like it at all. You're rushing through the leveling phase to get to max level and realize that there is not much content at all. It's a pity.

[Nork]

I'm still level 67. I'm enjoying questing a lot doing just the main storyline. Moreover, it's full of side quests that I'll do when I reach level 70. Some people are levelling 24/7 and they complain that the levelling is too quick. Are you serious, mate? Take a break, levelling is as quick as you want it to be. If you wanna become level 70 in one day, do us a favour and don't come here to complain about how quick levelling is.

[procne]

Currently leveling is a very bland experience. I like leveling in classic, where it can pose some amount of challenge. But on retail it's too easy and very boring. And any feeling of progression was taken from it - my character doesn't really get stronger during it, because everything scales to its level, and gear upgrades are meaningless. The quests are boring, woke and silly - typical filler content. With this in mind I would say it's not too quick.

[Teriz]

The speed at which I hit max is highly determined by how much I enjoy the content. I zoomed through WotLK, MoP, Legion, and BFA because I enjoyed the content. It took me months to hit max in WoD and SL because the content didn’t hold my interest. I’m at 65 in DF and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.