The “new leveling” is celebrated by many. But it also reveals some weaknesses of World of Warcraft.
With Patch 7.3.5 of World of Warcraft, Blizzard fulfilled a long-standing wish for players. Leveling in Azeroth has been revamped, as all zones now scale with the player’s level. This allows characters to experience zones in their entirety and they will only rarely level “beyond the quests,” making them lose significance.
We have subjected the leveling to an intense test in recent days and come to the opinion: While pure leveling is indeed better, it simultaneously brings many weaknesses of the game to light.
The Choice – Freedom that Excites
Blizzard’s primary goal was to give players more choice. Those who wish can now experience a variety of classic zones and have always free choice thanks to the generous level ranges. Already at level 40 in Silithus? No problem! At level 60 straight to Northrend because the shattered world is boring? Possible!
Thanks to the many mission boards found throughout inns and cities, there are clear indications of which areas are available for selection – a glance at the map would suffice, but that would almost be work.
Here Blizzard must be clearly praised: All zones are now relevant and finally, one can fully enjoy the story of an area.
Which zones are particularly worthwhile have been explained here:
The Illusion of More Challenging Fights
Also new is that enemies no longer fall with a single shot. To defeat a foe, a typical “autoshot” from the hunter is no longer enough. Each mob actually takes a few seconds to be defeated. This makes fights feel at least more challenging – but it’s an illusion. You can still pull many enemies simultaneously without being seriously in danger. The enemies deal only little damage, and it is only with 7 or 8 opponents that there is a real threat.
However, it is difficult to pull 7 to 8 enemies simultaneously in the “Cataclysm” world, as they are quite spread out.
The duration of fights has increased, but the difficulty has not – it simply takes more time to defeat an enemy.
No Power Gain – Levels Are Meaningless
As nice as it is to always have reasonably challenging enemies that don’t fall over with a sideways glance, another phenomenon is disheartening: A level-up loses all significance.
When I beat a level 25 Worgen in Duskwood with level 25 and the golden “ping” of the new level falls over me, it feels great, of course.
However, this is relativized by the fact that not only do I reach level 26, but the Worgen do as well. This leads to the effect that my character does not feel more powerful despite the new level. Worse still: With a DoT-based class, such as the Warlock, this can lead to identical enemies now not dying with the same spell sequence. Where previously “just dotting everything” was enough to secure a kill, further abilities are now necessary.
Although my character gets stronger, he becomes weaker. That does not feel right.
The Talent System Fosters the Feeling of Weakness
This effect is further amplified by the talent system. Having to allocate a talent point only every 15 levels is not a new problem, but it barely mattered with the leveling speed before Patch 7.3.5. Now, with longer fight times and the lack of power gain upon level-up, talent points are additionally missing as a clear incentive. 15 level-ups to the next talent point are often many hours away. The level-up no longer feels special.
Lack of Abilities at Low Levels
The available abilities of the different classes have been repeatedly trimmed in World of Warcraft. After “superfluous” abilities were removed, other skills are tied to specializations. For example, a Holy Priest has no “Shadow Word: Pain” and a Affliction Warlock has no Shadow Bolt. What is easy to cope with in the endgame area through artifact abilities and full talent choice feels terrible at the first 30-40 levels. Hitting opponents with only 2-3 abilities is neither a challenge nor particularly fun.
This varies from class to class, but if you get only utility abilities or passive bonuses for 10 levels that have no (noticeable) impact on gameplay, then leveling simply does not feel right.
Conclusion: The Choice of Areas is Better, but There Are Clear Problems
I cannot agree with the basic attitude of many people that leveling in World of Warcraft is now fun again. Yes, the opponents live longer, and yes, I can finally confidently finish zones.
The update definitely provides a nicer experience for new players wandering through Azeroth for the first time. However, veterans are likely to quickly feel a sense of powerlessness and thus also senselessness when leveling. Only those who do not know the quest lines have the sometimes beautiful stories of the areas as additional incentives. However, those who have already quested through all zones many times will not be blown away by Patch 7.3.5 at least in this respect.
World of Warcraft still needs further refinement for the leveling phase (for non-newcomers) to become enjoyable again. The scaling in Patch 7.3.5 was an important first step – but it was not enough.
