Originally Posted by
Somaldelhar
i think the real shame is that you're defending it because "i don't wanna level for the Nth time so let me skip it". this is the worst possible logic when it comes to game design. just skip it. your like a kid playing an RPG. you skip everything and then what happens? you dunno what to do. thats what. not that everyone would be affected like this, but i can definitely see it being a problem. that aside though, theres a larger underlying problem.
blizz selling 90's like this, heirlooms, etc, its a way of saying they have essentially given up on designing leveling content. a game DESIGNER, has given up on DESIGNING PART OF THE GAME. and you all are advocating this. you all make me sick. rather than "how can we make the leveling process more intereting? less of a grind? a better way to teach players their class?" you all just say "SCREW IT".
you wanna know one way to make leveling content more interesting? randomized events. not quests, not mobs, EVENTS. and i'm not talking large holiday stuff either. i mean events that can happen randomly out in the world of warcraft while leveling, perhaps a random large-scale attack between horde and alliance forces that your input can affect(in contested zones). and i don't mean outland PvP objective type things. i mean PvE fights. large amounts of regular mobs attacking other large groups of regular mobs. the side that has more after a certain amount of time wins that fight. this would confer a benefit to the winning side, and maybe even a detriment to the losing one.
for non-contested zones there could be events that pit your faction against whatever monsters they may be facing at any one time. for example in eastern plaguelands you could have a large scale attack force heading from stratholme to lights hope, and its the players jobs to make sure it is either weakened or defeated by the time it gets there, or it can potentially cause very bad effects(like losing quest-givers or something), and beating them back could confer a buff of the light that increases damage against undead for until the next attack. of course there would be warnings to this and they would be geared for at-level players. maybe phase people of a higher level so that they can't participate in the events, to make it interesting. it would have to be realm(or connected realm) specific though. i realize that plaguelands is technically "contested" but aside from the duels that go on near thondoril river, theres not much PvP. its more of a neutral zone, and a good place to have an "everyone is equal, common enemy" type thing going, against the forces of stratholme. another thing is, there could be a different benefit to just "stalling them" for a certain amount of time, and "beating them back" entirely. perhaps some sort of achievement(that changes depending on the size of the force beat back), a trophy, a piece of gear, maybe a pair of mogg-able gloves that have the argent dawn insignia on the back of them, with a faint glow. of course, these events won't all be solo-able. some will require anyone in the area to help with it like stratholme. others will just be large scale fights that the player can participate in. of course the mobs will be somewhat hard to deal with so a single OP person can't just faceroll his way through the entire opposing army.
and by randomized, i mean completely. not on a set timer. they have the rolling mechanic already that gives a seemingly random number between 1 and 100. use that to determine a time when said event will happen. its not that difficult a thing to manage honestly, once its set in motion. have a seperate roll for the type of event(depending on area's, certain ones may only get 1 kind of event). the third roll will decide the sizes of the forces that will fight(except for cases like the plaguelands ones, where lights-hope would most likely stay for the most part un-altered, aside from dialogue and what not). this would also mean tiered achievements based on the size of the forces that are fought. again lights hope chapel could have a "Beat back the undead scouts" and a "triumphed over the undead army" achievement for smaller and larger army sizes respectively. mind the forces won't change drastically in contested scenarios, as that would confer an un-fair advantage. its just that one might be slightly smaller or bigger then a set average. not by a lot but by a notice-able amount. for non-contested ones though, the army could range from anywhere from a few groups of 10 to a a few hundred undead. there could even be an option to teleport right to the combat, or rather, the starting point for your side in the conflict(again, for example, lights hope chapel), with a warning saying that the creatures in said area may or may not be a slightly higher level than you after the event is over with, and things return for the most part to normal.
other ways would be to even out the leveling paces between expansions(and levels) so they don't take dramatic climbs in time needed, but still rise as you level. make dungeons a challenge again. then people wouldn't face roll them and get sick of them in a single sitting, and give them incentive to do quests as a faster alternative to dungeons, while dungeons hold better gear.
there are PLENTY of ways to improve the leveling process. instead of improvement though, you are advocating turning a very large portion of the game into dead weight for a single continent that will become dead weight in a year or 2. you all make me sick to my stomach. those of you that don't advocate this god-awful mess of a catch-up mechanic, i salute you.