That too. It would change nothing. Itâs only a visual change.
Both you and Blizzard asked for this, so brace yourself⊠itâs going to be a long read.
My views on how you can fix leveling would start with bringing back the old talent system (but revamped with updated talents that are relevant to todayâs game and is larger than 51-points) that gives 1 talent point every level. This system gave players a lot of choice. Do not mistake me saying that for claiming that there was no Meta; of course there was, but there is always going to be an optimal spec, regardless of what system you implement.
What I love about the Original talent system is that you could build your character however you wanted. Hybrid classes were literally just that. Even as a warrior I could choose to go arms but still put 20 or so points in to protection so that i would become much sturdier than any other warrior that chose to go pure Arms because I would have Last Stand âŠas ARMS! Can you believe that?! It was amazing! It may not have been optimal, but it was cool! and⊠It was my choice to do so.
This is what this game used to be so much about: the choice and the freedom to do whatever you wished. To truly build your character the way you wanted and to set yourself apart from other players of the same class.
The next thing that I would want are Class quests that reward a strong blue item that can not upgrade in quality. Maybe even make it epic, the point here being that these quests reward are something to look forward to.
Something that would last you for a while, items such as Whirlwind Axe for Warriors back in the day. Something that is obtained through hard work from a long quest chain that took you all over the place. A reward completely guaranteed and outside of the bitterness of RNG.
This â for all classes every 10 or 20 levels starting at lv10 (lv-10 being an introduction class quest similar to your first totem quest as a shaman or defensive stance for warriors up to lv120 with a final class quest at lv120 that gives you a weapon cosmetic for each spec that is unique to your class. Consider it something similar to Herritage armor; A reward for reaching max level but itâs for weapon-slots only and class-specific instead of race-specific.
You could even make the lower-level class quests reward an ability. Again the prime example being the Stance quests for Warriors, Totems for Shamans or Forms for Druids. Having to unlock these truly made you feel like you deserved these abilities and like you were truly a druid, warrior or shaman in training.
Next up they should bring back RPG elements such as spell ranks and actually having to go to a Class Trainer to learn new abilities and skills. While this may seem tideous at first it gives you a reason to visit a city aside for just the auction house and it really gives a purpose to capital cities once again aside for the economic aspect of the game (e.g. the AH).
Every adventurer has to come back to base camp every once in a while to re-stock on supplies, after all!
I also propose an experience-gain revamp. Currently the amount of experience that is required to gain a level ramps up the higher level you become, while this Ăs logical I do feel that this is one of the reasons why people hate leveling so much: At a certain level it starts to become tĂło tideous and time consuming especially if you are forced to level in a zone you dislike (more on this later).
Blizzard should figure out a specific number of quests that you need to complete to gain a level. Currently at level 20 you require 44K experience to level up to level 21 with every quest giving around 4K experience which means that you need to do about 11 quests. I do feel that 11 is too little seeing as how this doesnât take in to account experience gained from mob kills, looting chests, killing rares or deliver-quests but this is just an example.
Make it so that players have a rough idea on how long each level takes. As for the previous example of lv20 to lv21 itâs about 15-20 minutes. I would suggest around 40 minutes per level past level 20 as level 1 to 20 is pretty much considered the âtrialâ / âlearningâ period. It would line up perfectly with receiving your first mount as well.
To go along with the Experience-gain changes I would also like to see them increase the damage that mobs deal. Right now I can pull 10 mobs on a fresh allied race without heirlooms and be out-healed just from victory rush because I am able to kill a single mob within 3-4 seconds without them actually dealing any real damage to me. So increase their damage and health pool to the point that they actually pose a threat to me and that I have to be at least somewhat careful with how much I pull.
I want to be afraid!!
Alongside this I want to have them buff the damage and health of rare mobs even further. Rare mobs are supposed to be mini-bosses and right now theyâre complete pushovers that grant you free loot. Completely undeserved.
With normal and rare mobs out of the way, I want to see Elite monsters back in the open world. It gives the world a sense of real danger; enemies that I would never be able to defeat alone and for which I need to group up with other players for. This would of course also mean giving us back 3-5 player Elite quests that would grant significantly more experience than regular quests and would have some cooler rewards.
Lastly, I want them to remove the minimum level requirement of all outdoor zones past level 20 (So every zone except for starter-zones such as; Durotar, Elwynn Forest, Tirisfal Glades, Mulgore, Dun Morogh, etcâŠ)
The reason that I want this is because I want full control and complete freedom to decide where and how I want to level up my characters. Not only that, it would also fit incredibly well with Allied races.
Imagine the following: Creating your Dark Iron Dwarf for the first time and your first leveling zone being Searing Gorge. Learning more about the history of the race that you are playing through the first zones that you choose to level through or how about creating a Zandalari and choosing for being sent to Stranglethorn Vale just like how the Trolls of Yojamba Isle first were back in Vanilla: To deal with the threat in Zulâgurub.
These are the main changes that I would want to see instead of some random level squish that will not change anything relevant anyway other than the number on my portrait.
This is not to say that this is all that should be improved upon; All of the above would only be a very good start.
In the future after these changes were to be implemented I would also like to see a complete Profession system revamp so that those too can be utilized while leveling.
So why do people currently hate leveling? Itâs uneventful, mind-numbing and boring.
Everyone that I have discussed or argued with in these threads about this topic have one thing in common with each other and that is that they all say âI want to say âDING!â and have it mean something again.â, but they forget the most important thing: The reason why that it meant so much back in the day when you leveled up was because you survived in a dangerous world full of adventure.
This is an MMORPG.
I want to have adventures in dark forests and deep caverns.
I want to group up with players and make friends because we managed to make our way through the sludge fen in The Barrens together. Those darn Venture Co. goblins! So much aggro!
I want to have that true sense of progression: not just progressing in a linear fashion like how Blizzard seems to want us to; but to progress in any direction that I wish.
I want to find my own place in this dangerous world.
You should all read https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/start. Itâs the starting page for World of Warcraft.
âChoose your destiny in a boundless realm.â
None of what I just wrote is even remotely close to impossible to achieve.
All it requires is for Blizzard to understand and make the decision to proceed.
Iâm sorry that this was such a long post.
Just know that it all stems from a place of great passion and love for this game and franchise that I have played and been a part of for over literally half my life.