World of Warcraft: The cake is a lie!

We take a look at the new trailer for World of Warcraft featuring the promised boost to level 90. Why is Blizzard doing this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the maximum level from the mailbox? And what the heck does this have to do with cake?

Maximum Level with Pre-order of Warlords of Draenor

A gnome is stumbling through the desert of Tanaris and sees a mailbox on the distant horizon. After dragging himself there, he is greeted by postcard-sending furry creatures who seem motivated by sadistic pleasure to boast about their own lifestyle:

My axe, my raid group, my fun.

The message is clear: While the level 90s are celebrating, the gnome still has to wash the dishes until he finally reaches level 90. It somehow reminds one of a dish soap commercial: While Villariba is already celebrating… – you know the rest.

But the gnome also finds a way to become level 90 directly, accepts it, and the fun begins. Instantly level 90, instantly playing with friends, and off we go. Because those who pre-order the next add-on Warlords of Draenor will receive an instant boost to level 90.

Trouble in Paradise

Okay, now the trailer also glosses over some things. A fresh level 90 cannot immediately participate in the hot activities of his friends, but must first gather equipment at level 90, study the various boss fights, manage with his character, and orient himself somewhat before he can help a raid group.

All that aside, the exciting question is: Does Blizzard really believe that players can only have fun at the maximum level? Do they see their world as a desolate valley, the valley of dead content? Do they see low-level players trapped in eternal level limbo? Do they think, in Blizzard’s eyes, we spend our time lonely and alone in agony until, at the end, somewhere on the horizon, the paradise of maximum level awaits us? Is this the cake that we were always promised in the portal?

Blizzard and the Level Qual

Blizzard has been trying for years to make the leveling experience as painless as possible. Once you have a shiny level 90, you can send items to your own low-level character that guarantee him bonus XP. Furthermore, the leveling process has been repeatedly accelerated by simply reducing the required XP. With the Recruit-a-Friend program, there was also so much bonus XP that some levels went by unnoticed. While handing in quests or completing a dungeon, it seemed that certain levels were simply skipped.

Anyone who has ever experienced how a group equipped with heirlooms swept through an innocent instance and only stopped to congratulate each other on their level-ups is reminded of a swarm of locusts.

Blizzard and the Desolate Realms of the Shattered World

Blizzard really seems to be stuck on the idea that the path to the maximum level is for most players an annoying task that must be completed as quickly as possible. The fact that for many players the journey is the goal seems to have worn off over the 10 years of content.

Especially The Burning Crusade, the leveling distance from 60 to 70, feels desolate and empty today. The quest structure, the phasing, the storytelling of interconnected stories – all of this has been refined by Blizzard later, perhaps even perfected. In the oldest, unspoiled corners of the world, the storytelling quality and variety in quests are lacking.

Keeping all the old content constantly on par with the latest is not possible. With Cataclysm, a similar attempt was made:

[pull_quote_center]The old world, the leveling experience from 1-60, was changed. Players did not reward it because it took valuable development time away from endgame.[/pull_quote_center]

For years, Blizzard struggled to creatively deal with the problem. They combined low-level zones across servers so that players felt like part of a living world. They redesigned group quests so that they could also be tackled solo. Lucrative detours in dungeons were intended to distract from quest monotony; even in battlegrounds, you could now level up. Everything was done, nothing helped in the long term. The creativity seems to have come to an end now.

Then let them eat cake!

The level boost with a pre-order is therefore quite consistent. Blizzard sees the former hero’s journey from 1 to 90 as a tedious tour that many players want to get through as quickly as possible.

[pull_quote_center]Whether at the end of the journey, with the maximum level, a cake-filled paradise truly awaits the player or not… that is another question.

A rather stale taste sets in at the latest with the expansion. Players can then directly purchase a level 90 character for a considerable sum of real money in the in-game shop. So you pay Blizzard to not have to play a large part of the game in order to get to the delicious cake at the end as quickly as possible. Hopefully, it’s not a lie.

Additionally

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  Negative: It reminds of the infamous annual pass story, that with such an action, in a content drought that will likely last another year, they want to bind players to the game through a pre-order.
• Positive: If it eliminates power-leveling or other absurdities like character buying on eBay from the game, then there is something good about it.