After all the New Year’s stress with friends visiting, cleaning the apartment, and then a 24-hour sleep, I finally had a lot of free time. What could be better than creating a new Twink in World of Warcraft to kill some time in the low-level areas?
What could possibly be wrong with that, you might ask…
Too much XP, too short stays
First of all, I want to say that I didn’t use any heirlooms – nothing that would still increase my earned experience points. Nonetheless, I already had quite a “luxury problem” in the second area: the quests were too low for my level.
I had completed half of “Tirisfal” when they already wanted to send me to “Silverpine Forest.” No sooner had I settled here to help my dark lady Sylvanas with the Worgen problem, than they sent me to the “Hillsbrad Foothills” to drive the remaining humans out of their holes and to shut up an overzealous apothecary.
In short: I could barely keep up with the storyline. Whenever the plot of the respective area really started to pick up pace, my level was already so high that I could actually move on.
Two different needs
Because of this quick leveling, two different needs are now fighting within me. On the one hand, I want to reach the maximum level as quickly as possible to have another character with a garrison and the associated resources. On the other hand, I want to experience the beautiful areas and especially follow the stories told through quests and the environment itself. In the past, this was not a problem; it was still necessary to complete at least one area entirely.
Today, after just a handful of quests, one becomes so overpowered that the two motivations of playing are at odds: Do I want to level efficiently or experience the story? Do I struggle through areas that no longer give XP, or do I give up the storylines?
The purpose of leveling
It wasn’t until I had my new Twink that I realized leveling in World of Warcraft serves only one purpose: oneself. One levels up to increase their level. No longer is the fun of the stories or the urge to explore at the center – at least the current design of the low-level world is not set up for that.
Yet the game world has so many wonderful stories to offer, and with “Cataclysm” so much effort was made to make all the old areas more exciting and narratively challenging – why does a newcomer now have almost no chance to experience the world in all its variety? It’s a mystery to me. If Blizzard could do one thing, it was to excite me for their universes by putting the plots and characters in the foreground – why should one only experience this in the level 90+ areas?
Currently, leveling is neither here nor there – a frustrating necessity and no longer a form of presenting the game world.
