Shadowlands Leveling Changes and Level Squish, Flying Changes, Icecrown Skybox

[Lumy]

Shadowlands Leveling Changes and Level Squish
In Shadowlands, new players that have never created or leveled a character will automatically begin in Exile's Reach. Veteran players will be able to opt out of this zone and complete the starting zone for their race.

Allied Race characters (including Death Knights) start at Level 10, however Demon Hunters and non Allied Race Death Knights start at Level 8 and have to go through their starting zone experience before they can progress further.

Expansion	Level in BFA	Level in Shadowlands
Vanilla	60	25
The Burning Crusade	70	27
Wrath of the Lich King	80	30
Cataclysm	85	32
Mists of Pandaria	90	35
Warlords of Draenor	100	40
Legion	110	45
Battle for Azeroth	120	50

Shadowlands Riding and Flying Changes
In Shadowlands, once a character finishes their starting zone experience and reaches Level 10 they can learn Apprentice Riding from a Riding Trainer or Flying Trainer.

Artisan Riding has been removed, which means players can upgrade from Expert Riding (150% flying speed) directly to Master Riding (310% flying speed) at Level 40.

Faction discounts are still present in Shadowlands. For example, characters that reach Level 40 and are Exalted with their appropriate faction will benefit from a 20% discount and will be able to purchase flying (Master Riding) for 4000.

Riding Rank	Mount Speed	Required Level	Cost
Apprentice Riding	60%	Level 10	1
Journeyman Riding	100%	Level 20	50
Expert Riding	150%	Level 30	250
Master Riding	310%	Level 40	5000

Shadowlands - Icecrown Skybox
The Icecrown Skybox has been updated to reflect the aftermath of the fight between Sylvanas and Bolvar.

[Omedon]

Ooooh boy, getting popcorn for the realization that we’ll be on the ground for 15 levels while possessing full pathfinder achievements for various expansions!

[ChaosWolf]

Wonder how the squish will affect the leveling requirements for allied-race heritage armor?

[TigTone]

Wonder how the squish will affect the leveling requirements for allied-race heritage armor?

Probably set to 50 or 40.

[Synical123]

Ooooh boy, getting popcorn for the realization that we’ll be on the ground for 15 levels while possessing full pathfinder achievements for various expansions!

What do you mean?

[Omedon]

What do you mean?

You can’t fly until 25.

You can enter WOD, Legion or BFA at 10.

You can’t fly until 25, even with pathfinder.

[Synical123]

You can’t fly until 25.

You can enter WOD, Legion or BFA at 10.

You can’t fly until 25, even with pathfinder.

I mean... then don’t go into those zones lol. There was a post on Reddit of a guy saying level 1-50 took like 12 hours of casual play not trying to speed run. I think you can handle a couple hours without flying

[Omedon]

I mean... then don’t go into those zones lol. There was a post on Reddit of a guy saying level 1-50 took like 12 hours of casual play not trying to speed run. I think you can handle a couple hours without flying

I mean, yeah, you know that, and I know that, but it's still going to be a bit of an eruption once that dawns on some people. It does arguably devalue the achievement. New value for a new reality, sure, but not everyone will take that without batting an eye.

[Synical123]

I mean, yeah, you know that, and I know that, but it's still going to be a bit of an eruption once that dawns on some people. It does arguably devalue the achievement. New value for a new reality, sure, but not everyone will take that without batting an eye.

I call those people cry babies and just move on. The leveling without flying is still faster than it was with it with 120 levels so who cares lol

[Drusin]

I mean... then don’t go into those zones lol. There was a post on Reddit of a guy saying level 1-50 took like 12 hours of casual play not trying to speed run. I think you can handle a couple hours without flying

I'll reserve my comments for PTR when I know xp gains likely aren't being inflated for alpha

[Lucetia]

I mean... then don’t go into those zones lol. There was a post on Reddit of a guy saying level 1-50 took like 12 hours of casual play not trying to speed run. I think you can handle a couple hours without flying

That's also highly inaccurate at the moment.

1) He's a speed runner so he knows the paths.
2) Chromie isn't in so he had to go around manually to do things instead of the proper level setup since they said the goal is to go 10-50 in one expansion.
3) It was without heirlooms

There are probably a lot more variables unaccounted for since it is Alpha. I'd wait until it's more fleshed out before we start throwing time numbers out and stuff.

[Fawkess]

Hopefully they remove past pathfinder achievements, Imagine buying flying as a new player only to realize you can't use it in BFA levelling

[Misuteri]

So what’s going to happen to BG splits?

If you have a 19, 29, 39, 49, 70 etc.... what happens to them if doing BG’s?

[Bane-Thunder-God]

So what’s going to happen to BG splits?

If you have a 19, 29, 39, 49, 70 etc.... what happens to them if doing BG’s?

Same brackets as Vanilla dude.

Considering the new level cap is 60. Assume the brackets will match vanilla.

[Ragnarohk]

Glad I used this XP event to level 5 more classes to 120. Sitting at 9/12 (Can't get myself to level DK/Warlock/Mage).

What do 120s start as? lvl 50?

[Synical123]

That's also highly inaccurate at the moment.

1) He's a speed runner so he knows the paths.
2) Chromie isn't in so he had to go around manually to do things instead of the proper level setup since they said the goal is to go 10-50 in one expansion.
3) It was without heirlooms

There are probably a lot more variables unaccounted for since it is Alpha. I'd wait until it's more fleshed out before we start throwing time numbers out and stuff.

Wouldn’t this just make his time... faster? Also he mentioned he was in no hurry he was just casually leveling. Also, I know it could for sure change in time and difficulty but even if this time was doubled that’s a really fast leveling experience

[Ielenia]

Shadowlands Leveling Changes and Level Squish
In Shadowlands, new players that have never created or leveled a character will automatically begin in Exile's Reach. Veteran players will be able to opt out of this zone and complete the starting zone for their race.

Allied Race characters (including Death Knights) start at Level 10, however Demon Hunters and non Allied Race Death Knights start at Level 8 and have to go through their starting zone experience before they can progress further.

<table class="news-table" style="max-width:500px;"> <thead><tr><th>Expansion</th><th>Level in BFA</th><th>Level in Shadowlands</th></thead><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Vanilla</td><td style="text-align:center">60</td><td style="text-align:center">25</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">The Burning Crusade</td><td style="text-align:center">70</td><td style="text-align:center">27</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Wrath of the Lich King</td><td style="text-align:center">80</td><td style="text-align:center">30</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Cataclysm</td><td style="text-align:center">85</td><td style="text-align:center">32</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Mists of Pandaria</td><td style="text-align:center">90</td><td style="text-align:center">35</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Warlords of Draenor</td><td style="text-align:center">100</td><td style="text-align:center">40</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Legion</td><td style="text-align:center">110</td><td style="text-align:center">45</td></tr> <tr><td style="text-align:center">Battle for Azeroth</td><td style="text-align:center">120</td><td style="text-align:center">50</td></tr> </tbody></table>

Wait. What?

I thought they said that, once we're out of the starting area, we get to pick which expansion content we want ot level through, from 10 to 50. What is this?

[Tatakau]

It's like treading in dog shit, no matter how much you wash your shoe it's still gonna smell.

[Lucetia]

Wouldn’t this just make his time... faster? Also he mentioned he was in no hurry he was just casually leveling. Also, I know it could for sure change in time and difficulty but even if this time was doubled that’s a really fast leveling experience

It could be faster, it could be slower. It's really hard to say. I was just saying we shouldn't be throwing around times as facts (not that I'm saying you are at all) because we know how the community will try to use it as facts or why something should be one way.

12 hours for 10-50 though imo is still a bit long. Granted it's about ~18 minutes per level which doesn't sound bad, but idk. For new players this isn't bad, but I feel like if you've leveled so many times it should be faster. Yeah we have heirlooms, but currently getting them on Alpha is a pain so we don't know what kind of reduction we are looking at. Depends on how much it is then it might not be bad at all.

What do 120s start as? lvl 50?

Yes. There's a chart in the news post showing the breakdown on levels.

[Omedon]

Hopefully they remove past pathfinder achievements, Imagine buying flying as a new player only to realize you can't use it in BFA levelling

You know... I hadn't thought of that angle.

This points strongly to one of two outcomes:

1) Pathfinder is dead and purchased flight covers all but the most current expansion (assuming 10-50 has a new expansion added to it every 2 years)

2) Pathfinder expansion zones' flight will be gated behind the achievements, and this will be disclaimed with the purchase of base flight, that it doesn't work in WoD or later.

Option 1 potentially tips their hand about the future of level cap, that it may be 60 forever.

Option 2 is... messy. But again, a new player only has access to BFA. Maybe the new player is meant to... stay grounded until the level cap?