Leveling fresh characters in WoW has become harder. Presumably, some bugs from patch 8.0 are to blame.
With patch 8.0, World of Warcraft has been thoroughly revamped. Especially the stat squish is still causing numerous problems. Those who want to level a new character are subjected to a torturous process.
What’s going on? When leveling a new character, many players feel that progress has become too sluggish since patch 8.0. Fights take longer than before because enemies now have more health points in relation to the damage abilities deal.
What is the reason for this? The pre-patch 8.0 has once again performed the “stat squish” in World of Warcraft. This was meant to make all numbers in the game smaller and easier to read. In most cases, this has worked. At the maximum level, numbers are again decent, and the actual strength compared to the enemies has not diminished. In older areas, this has not worked. Here, fights often take longer and turn into boss encounters.
Companions are extremely weak. Warlocks, mages with frost elementals, and hunters are complaining en masse. Frequently, their companions are so weak that they are knocked out after just one or two hits. Summoning the creature takes longer than their actual usefulness in battle.
Some abilities are particularly harsh. Individual abilities of enemies do not scale at all. For example, in the starting area of the Pandaren, a player can be blown away with 50,000 damage – and this when the character only has about 200 health points. That is probably a rather difficult start to the hero’s life.
Players hope that Blizzard will quickly rectify this. Many fans want to level a few twinks and bring them to the maximum level before the release of Battle for Azeroth on August 14. Currently, however, it’s more of a torture and has little to do with fun.
Have you leveled again since the patch? What is your impression of the new stat scaling? Should it stay this way, or will the fun be lost?
