Blizzard, I love leveling and this game but..

#0 - Dec. 18, 2007, 6:04 p.m.

I feel like I have been leveling way too quickly.

I'm not an elitist. I'm an extremely casual player most of the time. My personal playstyle is to level up a character to max level and then repeat on a new toon. I hate grinding for gear but love the feeling of progression I get from leveling and personalizing a new character while running instances, quests, and pvping with friends.

I was at first happy to hear that you were revamping loot in old dungeons and changing the experience required to level. The day 2.3 came out, I was giddy with anticipation.

Now that it's been out for awhile and I've had time to feel it out, I'm not quite so giddy. I find myself unable to run any of the instances I used to be able to run because of how quickly I level from quests and kills. By the time I finish the quests in an area, I've outleveled the instance. Before, one level a day was a good time investment, but I now find myself getting as many as four a day when I have extra playtime (thank god for Christmas break!)

While I realize that some people hate leveling, I urge you to consider implementing an option of turning progression back to the classic pace for those that play the game this way. I know I'm not the only one that dislikes endgame and wants to savor the rich flavor of the lowbie zones and instances with buddies.

That being said, I love this game and hope that you will implement this option so my friends and I can resume our preferred playstyles. Thanks!

**edit: because I feel like this clarifies the point I'm trying to make**

Think of it this way: Think of some of the best games you've ever played: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Fallout, Half-Life 2... etc. What if in a recent patch they took out half of the content required to finish the game? For me, this is exactly what happened in patch 2.3, and I would like to have that feeling of meaningful progression returned. I don't see what's so bad about that, especially if it were an *option* (Menu > options> Enable Classic Leveling Speed [X]) and not a requirement.

Eyonix

#27 - Dec. 18, 2007, 6:35 p.m.

Leveling is without a doubt, much faster, especially between levels 40-60. You like myself, have leveled multiple characters numerous times, so it's going to be even easier for us since we're extremely familiar with the zones, the quests, time efficiency, etc... Keep in mind, however, the level cap is now 70 and before long will be 80. The new leveling pace created by the 2.3 changes helps ensure that a new player isn't going to feel like leveling to cap is an impossible task. It also helps encourage veteran players to create and level up additional characters.

To be honest, it also make the leveling experience more fluid (more in line with the leveling experience of Burning Crusade) and for most, more enjoyable.

I am sorry that you're less than pleased with the changes to leveling. We certainly don't want to make changes that interfere with a particular play-style (well, depends on the nature of the play-style:P). In any case, I'd ask that you consider the following:

Allow more time for potential adaptation.
Think of the larger picture moving forward, i.e 1-80 will soon be the new 1-60.
Put some thought, if you haven't already into "your proffered play-style". Are there any areas of the game you might enjoy, but have not actually tested first-hand?
We intend to offer a great deal of casual friendly content for Wrath of the Lich King.

Eyonix

#48 - Dec. 18, 2007, 6:51 p.m.

Q u o t e:
If you feel like you're levelling too quickly, fix it by altering your own playstyle. Don't log out in inns, do more BGs along the way, kill gray mobs, whatever...but please don't slow it down for the rest of us who hate levelling.

This character stopped at 45, around the time of a lot of my toons, because to me, post ZF to level 60 was excruciatingly boring and slow.

In the old days, we could level through turning in battleground marks for experience and rep, and if I had known that Blizzard was going to eventually take that away I would've moved my characters up that way when I had the chance. The dailies are much appreciated and a nice addition to the game, but I wish that Blizzard would let us level according to whatever side of the game (PvE or PvP or a combination of both) that we enjoy the most. About the only PvE I can stand these days is running instances.

So, while I respect your playstyle and feeling that you're levelling too quickly, you're in a very small minority, and it seems that it's good for both Blizzard and the majority of the player base to move toward the endgame content faster.

Seriously, really great suggestions. Good job trumping my response! :P