I would love to see the removal of heirlooms from the game.

[Wylyth1992]

Yeah, don't touch my heirlooms, having 1 or more slot I don't have to worry about keep up to date until end game is good.

[Rune B]

Heirlooms also much more easily facilitate transmogs, which I reckon will be an even bigger part of the game in Shadowlands.

[Wheeler]

The problem is gear rewards suck. I went 10 to 20 levels with out an upgrade for a slot on my warrior alt and that was with heirlooms. Heirlooms were a band aid for the poor gearing of leveling when they were introduced and still fill that role now. There is a lot more work needed to give a "rewarding experience" then simply removing heirlooms and adjusting the speed you level.

I just did a few of the heritage armor leveling journeys.

I had more than a few scenarios where I noticed how worthless every drop was since I was running heirlooms. And the speed felt appropriate too.

[gpunk]

I would not

[WoWIsThatAPotato]

I actually kind of understand. There's something fun about getting a new piece of gear and equipping it. Heirlooms take that entirely out of the game - Since you're using the same pieces the entire time. Especially when they now have the chance to forge to higher quality.

People are going to think that this is about speed of leveling, but if it's about the gear, and you just want the speed tailored to match heirloom leveling (or close to it) without the heirlooms, I think that's a great idea!

Hmmm.

You can use heirlooms for only half of your total equipment, so new gear acquisition is still a thing with those (no major piece upgrade tho, since heirlooms occupy the most important parts).
Also, for heirlooms to be used throughout the whole leveling, you need them upgraded to max level, which requires a hefty amount of farming /gold. People using max level heirlooms probably have a /played that would make experiencing leveling irrelevant.

But I get where people are coming from. Leveling in classic was really fun, while in retail is a chore. But I think we need a bit more than heirloom removal to makes things more exciting.

[exochaft]

The problem is gear rewards suck. I went 10 to 20 levels with out an upgrade for a slot on my warrior alt and that was with heirlooms. Heirlooms were a band aid for the poor gearing of leveling when they were introduced and still fill that role now. There is a lot more work needed to give a "rewarding experience" then simply removing heirlooms and adjusting the speed you level.

That's the problem with blanket statements, such as the removal of heirlooms due to reason X, Y, and Z: many of the problems are layered issues that occurred over expansions due to various systems clashing and game design changes.

After the heirloom revamp, most of the time your heirlooms are around blue rarity for gear you could acquire from your level. Not always, because sometimes there are quest/dungeon/boss rewards that are overbudget for your level, and they were usually weapons, but not always (as an example that I can think of off the top of my head, the end-of-zone reward in Val'shara was equivalent to ilvl acquired at lvl 110, but you could get it around lvl 100-102). There are also some heirlooms that scale different and change up as you level, such as WoD trinkets and the MoP heirloom weapon rewards for killing N/H/M Garrosh. There's even some BoA items that were gained from archaeology and rare farming that have much lower player lvl equip than their respective ilvl and power. Anyways, my general point is that heirlooms are way more in line with what you can obtain to where they can be worse than gear you acquire while leveling, and any min/maxing of gear actually has you changing gear even if you're using heirlooms as you level.

More in line with what you're saying, XP bonus aside, heirlooms are great at filling in gear slots. People need to keep in mind that it wasn't until Cataclysm where the intro questlines systematically replaced every gear slot, quickly replacing your pre-Cataclysm gear with the power boost necessary to tackle the Cataclysm leveling experience (plus, the mastery system was introduced then, and the gear helped balanced people out). Before that, quest rewards were all over the place with no rhyme or reason to their order. The speed at which we level contributes to this issue, but the main problem is that there's no guarantee you'll get an upgrade (or even fill a gear slot in extreme circumstances) prior to Cataclysm as you level without the heirloom system. It's not uncommon when I level to still be wearing sub-lvl 40 gear before hitting Cataclysm questing zones in my non-heirloom slots. To make matters worse, itemization and stat allocation is not standardized across all the expansions, particularly in earlier expansions before Blizz tried to eliminate completely useless gear and rewards.

All that being said, I do recognize that there is a problem with the leveling system right now, but heirlooms are not the source of the problem and are not the main contributor. The main issue with leveling is that the experience is a jumbled mess that spans over a bunch of expansions with varying systems, gearing/stat methodologies, and power curves... and it's not cohesive in the least. Adjustments to the power curves, itemization, addition of heirlooms, etc. are all adjustments Blizz has made to alleviate some of those issue by getting people through the leveling process as smoothly and fast as possible, because frankly the game isn't about the leveling experience anymore (whether you like that or not is up to each individual and another debate). However, Shadowlands looks like Blizz is finally going to take the plunge and overhaul the level process so it's not just a hot mess being held together by a few bandages. Doesn't mean heirlooms can't have their place, as there is a lot of time/gold sunk into getting heirlooms and upgrading them... and Blizz just removing them outright would be pretty awful.

Heirlooms are still a choice in the long run, and the changes in SL should make it feel like more of a choice if the leveling overhaul is done right. If the gear/power progression is much smoother and sensical in the SL leveling system, then heirlooms will feel more like an actual choice than the only way to not feel terrible while leveling up.

[LanToaster]

Hmmm.

You can use heirlooms for only half of your total equipment, so new gear acquisition is still a thing with those (no major piece upgrade tho, since heirlooms occupy the most important parts).

Not entirely true. I use 11/16 Slots with Hairlooms. 12/16 are Possible.

But I get where people are coming from. Leveling in classic was really fun, while in retail is a chore. But I think we need a bit more than heirloom removal to makes things more exciting.

Well, I personally didnt like Leveling in Classic/Vanilla, the first time it was an Adventure, (The same as its now), every other time it devolves into a Chore. Some people like me dont do particular well with: "Doing the same thing all over again"

Leveling with ShadowLands gets better. Gearing while Leveling is at least for me not really a concern, the bigger concern would be the Level Scaling. From 1-MaxLevel you dont get "Stronger" in relation to your Enviroment.

Thats the bigger Issue in my Opinion. Without Hairlooms you get weaker with each level.

[Eazy]

Yeah, just make a guild-cloak giving you +100% EXP buff. The heirlooms are problem because other items from the dungeons/quests are useless for alts.

[PenguinChan]

Yeah, just make a guild-cloak giving you +100% EXP buff. The heirlooms are problem because other items from the dungeons/quests are useless for alts.

Still a major flaw left that Heirlooms fix, which is inconsistent drops and progression in loot when you're leveling very quickly. You really feel this when your tank and / or healers do not have good gear. DPS it's shitty, but at least you aren't dying by too much damage or not enough healing. Fix this then that's fine, but I really feel like many people don't understand how much Heirlooms help in having a more consistent ilvl. Let alone when Shadowlands comes along and everything is level synced, which means you'll be punished for leveling really fast without up-to-date-gear.

[Wildmoon]

While, I am aware of their negatives, I kinda view them as rewards for veteran players. In others MMORPG, you can pull gears from your main to help your new characters. In WoW, you have heirlooms. In fact, I think Blizz could make heirlooms more interesting and distribute them all over fringe activities like fishing tournament, various festivals, etc as rewards more so than they already do.

[Flurryfang]

Still a major flaw left that Heirlooms fix, which is inconsistent drops and progression in loot when you're leveling very quickly. You really feel this when your tank and / or healers do not have good gear. DPS it's shitty, but at least you aren't dying by too much damage or not enough healing. Fix this then that's fine, but I really feel like many people don't understand how much Heirlooms help in having a more consistent ilvl. Let alone when Shadowlands comes along and everything is level synced, which means you'll be punished for leveling really fast without up-to-date-gear.

Then just make it an option. It would not take much for Blizzard to put in a 100% exp cap on gear, so that you can choose to use all the heirlooms or just the cloak, without you losing exp gain.

To be honest, it would just be great if you could go turbo or normal speed in the game. Heirlooms are cool as permanent leveling gear pieces, if you don't want to think about new gear while you level, but having them be the only way to gain stable +EXP is not giving you many options.

- - - Updated - - -

While, I am aware of their negatives, I kinda view them as rewards for veteran players. In others MMORPG, you can pull gears from your main to help your new characters. In WoW, you have heirlooms. In fact, I think Blizz could make heirlooms more interesting and distribute them all over fringe activities like fishing tournament, various festivals, etc as rewards more so than they already do.

The problem is then, that for some people heirlooms ruin the leveling experience, so im not sure its completly a reward.

But i do agree, that it is a system, that Blizzard could do so much more with. Since they are items, that never works at max lvl, they could easily make them more fun, wierd and janky, putting some spice into the leveling experience if that is what one seek. As many have said before, it is especially hard to understand, why Blizzard have not yet completed the heirloom set, so that you can gear yourself out completly from lvl 1 and aslong as you want.

[Blackmist]

Why the fuck would you want levelling to take longer?

Also, I don't like PvP. Can we remove that from the game? Can we remove levelling? I don't like that either. See how that's a mental argument?

[Hellspawn]

Just make Dungeon/Quest rewards a bit better then heirlooms and cap the xp bonus reasonable.

[Eosia]

No, no, no and... no. They do not "socially isolate" players. Nor is the game "designed" around them. They are an OPTIONAL mechanic for players with max-level characters to level other characters faster. That is all. So the "expectation on how the game is actually played" because they have actually played it without them already.

Nor are the "best gear for your level" as there are many points where they are not.

And there is no "lower level market outside of transmogs" because the game literally throws gear at you during questing.

Nice attempt at a troll post but all for naught.

[Flurryfang]

Why the fuck would you want levelling to take longer?

Also, I don't like PvP. Can we remove that from the game? Can we remove levelling? I don't like that either. See how that's a mental argument?

Well OP don't want the experience to be slower. He said, that Blizzard should just put the heirloom buff directly into the game and just remove the gear O.o

Also, you might want it to be slower, because you enjoy it. Maybe the speed-up experience feels worse, or maybe even rushed.

So your entire "mental argument" is completly misplaced.

[Tiwack]

I'm excited to learn how heirlooms will handle and function after the big level squish. They're for people who've already done the journey to max lvl once and whether they want to use them or not on their alts is up to them. Most wear them for the xp bonus and slots they can forget about til they're at endgame and they're priced appropriately for the service. Maybe the xp or power of them will be nerfed, who's to say atm?

[Athulua]

Heirlooms were introduced because even 1-80 was cancer after nerfs in Wrath. It's just now tolerable again with x2 exp.

Leveling was cancer ever since it became meaningless for the game itself.
Which is since The Burning Crusade came out.
Yep, each expansion including the very first one was designed in a pocket universe fashion, where EVERYTHING is revolving around the most recently released expansion. Dungeons, professions, materials, consumables, raids, pvp, questing... yes, everything. You go back to older stuff ONLY for things like pursuing achievements or cosmetics. Sure you can craft that hard khorium sword for xmog, good luck selling that though. It may take months.

Classic was a different story, leveling to 60 is just as important part of the game as doing things at 60 (which aren't that many to be honest, players used to endless treadmills from retail actually ran out of stuff to do and are bored)

Atm it will take you between 20 and 30 hours to hit max level, this is still a lot and it is boring as fuck. It actually takes even longer because of how much mandatory content you have to do at level 120 to take part in any sort of content. You have to do the neck quest, the cloak quest, have all reps at friendly (or you won't get world quests at all), need to do 8.2 and 8.3 introductory zone questlines...you're still basically leveling even though level says 120.

[mhdoe]

This has to be the biggest non issue thread so far.

[Unholyground]

I think that heirlooms should be more useful than they are, why not have expansion specific upgrades that allow them to catch up automatically if they have been imbued or upgraded so you don't have to grind your dick off on all your alts so much. So maybe have them scale once you get the special polish for whatever expansion you are in and when a main patch comes out automatically scale it up based on your highest characters item level, obviously not as powerful but have it within like 15 item levels.

[Alyajna]

I've long thought heirlooms should be reworked because they take away from some of the only interesting parts of leveling... right now almost any items you get from a dungeon or quest while leveling is absolutely useless for a seasoned player, even most players will have already gotten the transmog appearance already. It just makes the entire journey feel even more useless.

I would like to see them be a buff you can activate on your character that gives the same thing it does now, exp and a slight boost to preformance. But perhaps the boost is something like your stats are increased by 0.5%, stacking for each buff that you have (basically as many buffs as there are heirlooms). This makes it so you get the exp bonus, and gear becomes an upgrade again because the heirlooms equipment is gone and the gear you have is amplified. (buff disabled at max level)