In autumn, the next expansion Shadowlands for Blizzard’s MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) is released. The addon not only brings new content but also a reduction in levels. A table shows you how far you fall.
What is the so-called level squish? The level squish refers to the loss of your levels after the release of Shadowlands. The loss of levels coincides with the fact that Blizzard wants to reduce the number of levels in WoW. With Shadowlands, the new maximum level will be 60. Currently, it is 120.
This means that every player in WoW will be adjusted to these new levels, and most will likely lose levels.
Your levels will look like this with Shadowlands
This is the level you will have after the release of the addon: WoW players are now wondering what level they will fall back to once Shadowlands is released in autumn. You can see this in a new table (via WoWHead).
You see that primarily if you currently have the maximum level of 120, you will fall back to level 50. From there, you will go to the new maximum level 60, which will be introduced with Shadowlands.
Why is this level squish happening? According to Blizzard, leveling in WoW has not been particularly interesting anymore. By reducing levels, each level-up should become exciting and meaningful again. With each ascent, you will receive improvements that feel really good, and you should look forward to each level-up.
The new system is supposed to give you a better feeling of progress.
However, the adjustment of levels does not change anything about the balancing. As a level 50 hero, you will still be able to fight against monsters or complete raids just as well as you could at level 120.
This is how leveling will be adjusted: With the level squish, a level adjustment is also introduced. You can start in a new starting area, where you will level up to level 10. After this, however, you can choose where you want to continue leveling up. The options are:
- Classic (“Vanilla”)
- The Burning Crusade
- Wrath of the Lich King
- Cataclysm
- Mists of Pandaria
- Warlords of Draenor
- Legion
- Battle for Azeroth
You can also jump between the contents if you want. Once you reach level 50, you will proceed to the new content of Shadowlands.
In WoW, you can also skip levels through boosting. Whether that’s good or bad, you can read about it in the MeinMMO article “Boosting services in MMORPGs like WoW.”
