Leveling in WoW, to some it's a nuisance and to someone like me it's one of the best things about it. So today, I would like to explain to you guys why I like it so much. Enjoy!
Waking up early, putting on coffee, and starting a good leveling session in Loch Modan or Mulgore is one of my favorite vibes I've ever experienced. WoW in the morning is a mood.
I remember on original patch 1.12.1 there was some kind of "special" morning fog and ambience sounds in the morning and made it feel like REAL morning atmosphere. (Could compare it on free servers and classic, even colors are diffirent... snow in 1.12.1 is more blue, classic is grey ).... simply, those times were awesome! :)
What retail has lost, in my opinion, is the true identity and character of the game - which was the world itself. Every zone was new and refreshing with a unique atmosphere and feel to it. I enjoyed simply exploring the world and learning more about the lore. It was always a treat to see some significant lore spot from the RTS games. I remember being stunned the first time I visited the seat of Kil-Jaeden in Hellfire, knowing who he was and how powerful he was from WC3. I did some PvE and PvP end-game, but most of my time was spent questing and trying to obtain Loremaster even at max-level. And not for the Loremaster title itself, but so I could get to take the entire world in, zone-by-zone, meter-by-meter. Unfortunately, I think retail has become more of a simulation as there is so much fluff, so much content, rep grinds, mini-games, that it's less about exploring the world and more about checking off a list in order to obtain a certain rep, mount, or pet. Also, in classic, every race felt truly unique with their own identities. Exploring the early classic zones from vanilla to pandaria felt like I was truly visiting and learning about the race's cultures and archeticture. Sure, it was fantasy, but it all felt so grounded. Whereas from Legion onwards, it felt more and more like I was visiting a fantasy world that intended to be a fantasy world.
Retail feels like a M+ rat race imo and wotlk classic a GDKP rat race. Vanilla is the best official version of the game online now imo. Would love if Bliz would release official TBC servers but knowing i'm in the minority it will most likely never happen.
It's interesting because I don't feel like retail lost anything at all but only gained things. I got to try classic on the stress test servers and then I played on launch. I played for a full week just trying to immerse myself in the game and experience it fully. I levled my Enhancement Tauren to lvl 51 and that's where I stopped as I entered yet another zone and knew exactly what I was about to experience. Grinding more quests just like every single map before this one. I had a fun time at times with finding people for dungeons and getting gear, exploring the world. I just feel that classic doesn't offer anything beyond what retail already does better. It was an interesting experience, I'm glad I did it and I'm very happy that people who do enjoy it have that to play, but I never understood what people meant when they say that "Retail lost their identity and immersion". From having played both I think that, that sentence is used to often as fact, when it's just an opinion, just like you pointed out.
I had played warcraft 3 before wow came out, and it was a good couple years into tbc before I finally got to play wow myself. I had a horde character, and I had been to under city multiple times, but one time I stopped for a second because something was really familiar, then I realized I was standing in the throne room from the cutscene, and just had to take a moment to soak it all in. Retail wow is missing this sense of awe and wonder vanilla still manages to give off.
I personally think dragonflight is the best WoW has ever been gameplay wise. I love the world and just playing. That trumps all immersion factors for me. If I’m having fun thats all that matters
Yeah, I agree 100% I think it's why I'm excited to jump back into WoW Classic Hardcore. I'm ready to enjoy the leveling with the thrill and excitement that a mistake will matter alot.
Spot on Hamster. I always found raiding to be a very on-rails activity, just gated by time and rng. Leveling is never the same experience, because there are many variables that affect your path to max level.
My brother told me, after he got Diablo IV, that he wants to hardcore rush to the endgame to finish it and get best gear as fast as possible. I was baffled and shook my head, like you are buying a game for 100€ to rush and basically skip like 80% of the game?!? I love leveling in WoW because i see the world, get some lore, can do fun but simple quests and see my character actually grow in power. Other people dont need that, they dont play for the Game but for Gameplay, they dont care if it is WoW, if it is Azeroth or a Tauren warrior, they care about numbers and being the best compared do some yadayada. Everybody should do what is fun to them, but WoW is just not for me anymore as it is lacking "side features" more and more when back in the day you could just do something at all times that was not progress or questing.
This is what I noticed during wow classic vanilla. Since wow is no longer an RPG today but everything is minmaxing, and it has contaminated vanilla, my favorite moment is leveling. This is only during the leveling that you can play "your character" as you really want. And not a stereotypical class (with a specialization and an imposed template) for endgame pvp or pve.
Leveling is the best part of WoW, always has been. I'm currently playing on ChromieCraft and my god have I gotten bored of my 70s really quick. But leveling my next character is always fun.
I enjoy leveling and dungeons because of awsome Lore wow has to offer. I don't like to just rush mindlessly 20+ times BRD, Strat, Scholo to get my pre bis but i rather enjoy story it has to offer. Helping argent dawn in getting rid of powerful scourge lieutenants in cursed crypts, or unmasking scarlet crusader grandmaster. Venturing into the ruins od ancient Highborn city of Eldre'thalas and learning it's lore. When it comes to raiding it's pure mathematic. Optimise your character to the fullest so you can perform best on charts, while listening to raid leader cringy jokes. That's why i really stoped playing wow, because of playerbase mentality.
I enjoy leveling so much that I don't raid. I enjoy logging in and out when I want, taking breaks, and love the whole leveling process. One of my favorite things is to fish at night, with my headphones on, listening to the ambience and the water.
WoW is better than real life, simple : ) progression is also the best feeling. Starting a new fresh server, one year later seeing the character grow in stats, friends, adventures... all for it to be restarted to go again and again and again, i love it and i think i need help XDDD
I agree the game really starts at max level but jumping on an alt and doing outdoors content is so therapeutic. Leveling alts is the best part of the game, rest is mindless min/maxing.
I am seeing this video kinda late, but I completely agree. I quit official WoW and right now I am playing on TurtleWoW and leveling in my own pace. Level 17 hunter also leveling leatherworking only to make gear for myself.
Playing on Warmane's Lordaeron server for the authentic wotlk leveling experience I had back in like 2010, this time I'm rolling alliance cause I was always horde when I used to play... it's been fun so far, not even lvl 15 after like five hours /played lol
Pshycologically blizzard was able to find the sweet spot to give you a dopamine fix (gear reward, new spells, talent point ect) to time spent playing the game. It is very close to gambling addictions. Truly amazing development. Im the exact same way, ill make a character, play and get to 60, and make a different character... I never liked doing the same thing over and over with just a chance at getting one piece of gear. And be locked down to a schedule every week, that relied on 24 other people. I truly love the starting zones, how the quests are laid out. Planning how to do every quest effieciently to save time to get the most done. I thuroughly enjoy the barrens, but after that, it seems too grindy. 30 is where it starts to get lost on me. Mindlessly killing mobs one by one is not my favorite thing. So when there a point like 29-31 on horde side. I usually make a different character. The basically no quests available, and you have to do RFK 4 times to get to shimmering flats kills me.
totally agree, I have been a Altoholic since the real WOTLK times, And first time ever when Classic 2019 hits, i even lvled up 5x 60s and geared them well :)
there's no true slow, free of cash shop, engaging GCD like there was with classic wow. Everything was so... unique. Like, yes some stat lines and crap made no sense but dude... that's the whole point of an rpg. I wish Ip's weren't locked down to just one f'ing current owner, there SHOULD be ways to copyright ur crap, but by name alone? F that man, we need the names. What kind of bootleg censorship is this we all just accepted from the pervious ages? =_= it's literally killing talent, look at movies nowadays, absolute GARBAGE. If it wasn't for the garbage laws we have, we could have that newer Classic WoW by now, but no. As if shovelware would win out... bro people vote with their wallet. So whats the deal? Sigh... I know the truth in congress... But you guys won't like it, for my bloodline died fighting in a past war, and these homies in media and higher ups are doing nothing to solve issues in the West... As a Newfy, half my populance is dead, so how come these rich elites won't do anything to fix media and copyright law? :/ It's just so f'ing confusing to me...
I like leveling too! Hell I have every class at cap in retail. It’s fun! In classic you can’t pay me to do it… well maybe $1.5 mil I’ll do it 1-60. It’s garbage. The gameplay doesn’t have the activity to keep me interested. So much damn downtime. I like playing and not waiting to play. Auto running isn’t playing. To me, Diablo 3 power leveling to cap in 15 minutes is godly. It’s fun. I don’t have the time to spend 6 days leveling. 5 days of that just traveling. Doing things multiple times isn’t enjoyable unless there’s a reward to the loop that is content. For me, I played the shit out of RE4 because I found it fun to speed run. But once it stopped being fun I stopped. I didn’t even like the remake much and I played 100 hours. In dragonflight, I’ve never played an expansion more, I was desperate to kill heroic Sark. I did it and had no interested and reclearing. I cleared the content I wanted to, got 2k rating and stopped. If I have an itch I have every other class to gear up quickly. For me, games have to move fast. And where I once had a liking for classic, I have absolutely grown out of it. When I played classic when it re-released, I hit cap and just stopped. My goal was 60 because I didn’t finish the grind as a kid because I couldn’t stand how long it took. Manned up and did it. Killed onyxia, realized how awful the game was and never touched it again. I’m happy I did it but it’s the most garbage leveling experience. I would try to be on at awful hours just so no one else would be killing mobs in good quests spots. I’m glad people still enjoy this game but, in my opinion, it’s been objectively obliterated gameplay wise over the years.
What Retail lacks and what Blizzard devs fail to grasp is that the world and the character ''journey'', gradual growth are the most important parts of a true MMORPG. They keep nerfing experience requirements, buffing exp gains, make mobs weak and your character god-like with infinite resources...the world offers no danger and by extension requires no awareness, no caution, no thought. It's sad and depressing to see the game become this themepark/casino of worthless, repetitive things, a literal hamsterwheel, if you will. I was a part of it for a long time...now i'm sick and tired of it...nothing changes. I've tried leveling and quit, it's not the questing itself, it's the fact no matter what clas you play, you have infinite mana/energy/rage/focus, everytihng dies in 2 hits and mobs do nothing to you. It's beyond awful. The endgame alone should never be the focus in design, ever, merely an addition, a separate phase. Whenever Blizzard puts out news about exp buffs, boosts, sales...i just facepalm, words can't describe how wrong that direction they are heading is. I love Classic because investing a lot of time and effort makes for a long-lasting sense of fulfillment/reward, where as the instant gratification of Retail doesn't, and i'm at a stage where just the thought of it makes me nauseous. I don't want quick rewards, i want to feel like i've worked my @ss off things. That's what classic offers.
i was born in 03 so i was too young for regular classic, and when classic relaunch started i didn’t have much time because of school. And now that i’m graduated and stuff i can play as much as i want, and i enjoy leveling in classic as i only got to do it in in the relaunch for a few months until like level 35 before TBC came out. But seeing everyone wanted boosted and stuff, not seeing people in the real world and such ruins the vibe i have for leveling. Kinda sucks.
I've been playing Classic for about a year now (new WoW player) and I've raided to the point of getting full BiS on a Warrior - and now I've just quit raiding, it's not fun at all anymore xD so I've just been levelling one of every class to max level because it's so much more fun than raiding at this point. Raiding got old really fast and levelling is the reason why I fell in love with this game so it holds a special place in my heart. I might go back to raiding eventually if I wanna try some raids on something different than a Warrior but honestly I don't even feel the desire. & I ALWAYS play like I'm playing a new character completely, I never send anything from my main to my alts. It's not fun to me at all. Sometimes I even play without using the auction house EVER to try and help my professions etc.
I'm the same. My favourite zone for leveling is EPL. Cataclysm kind of wrecked the game for me though. Sure there were new quests but it just wasn't quite the same. And on another note, in 19 years of playing WoW I've never leveled an Alliance toon. Went through a couple of the starting zones, but that's about it
I do enjoy leveling too, but only in party. 2-5 Alone its just too boring for me, i played way above 40+ lvl60 on all privat servers and its just nothing new to me anymore. If i just level by myself. I love it most if i play with someone who baerly played vanilla wow, or not at all, and just teach them slowly / let the figure things out how they work. And i just stand by and enjoy their first time wow:) If multiboxing would be allowed in pve only, i would enjoy lvling again probably. But sadly its forbidden everywhere.
fuck yea just the sheer time spent designing the world and quests and NPC's for lvls 1-59 compared to the end-game stuff you can see where the focus was the classic wow was mostly a levelling game, not the lvl-60 game
Too many games these days focus on giving you a ton of cool shiny things fast to keep you enticed into playing rather than what was, in my opinion, the best aspect of MMOs and games in general. The sense of adventure, the slow and steady progression as you master your class, the knowledge you gain and the friends you make along the way. These are the things that made games like WoW great to me, and the funny thing is, I never even played it. I was a MapleStory kid. But I can still completely relate to this video. Leveling to me was never what you had to do to get to the game, it _was_ the game. The little things like trying to find a group to run a dungeon with or running into a random adventurer doing the same quest as you were the heart and soul of the game. I tried playing retail WoW a little while back and while I was blown away by the game, after a while I got burned out because it seemed like too many of the people I ran into just wanted to do their dailies or lockouts and be done with it, whereas I spent dozens and dozens of hours just playing through the starting zones. Those "heart and soul of the game" moments sadly barely happened at all, save one friendly chap I happened upon in Gilneas when I started Worgen (awesome intro story btw). I don't think things like this are gone, it's just no longer the focus of the experience of the game and unfortunately I've found that just checking the boxes or going from the next thing to the next thing to the next thing is a great way to lose your passion or enjoyment of something. I haven't played classic and would probably enjoy it a lot more than I did retail, in fact I do intend to do so, but for now I'm just completely tired from what I went through in retail that I don't even want to think about it.
15th Time 😂 or 40th for some of us, yeah leveling can be as enjoyable as endgame. New classes/specs can be especially fun, can't wait for COA someday to launch.
I think at this point I just can’t get into the game and that makes me so sad. The highest level I’ve ever gotten is 20 and I just can’t keep playing. 10-20 is just not fun for me. I switch back and forth from retail and classic to compare and something like Druid is just horrible compared to classic. You don’t get cat form until level 20. That’s insane man
Is very simple if u play retail and u enjoy the leveling content is because is the only content u are confident u can really do. I don't think any WR rank 200 guild memeber will enjoy this in retail. There is no hard--core raiding in this game in private servers. Hard core is doing Mythic raiding trying to get Hall of Fame i retail. And after you reach max level u start to play the game.
For me the feeling of downing that first raid boss on an alt u are still learning. (For me it’s shadow priest) as I’ve become very skilled and familiar with my main (elemental shaman). But that feeling is so good. and also just gearing up the character and doing content u have done before but with action bars full of skills u aren’t completely familiar with. Also leveling has become stupid easy and ridiculously fast now days so trying to rush it is basically going at a snails pace because it’s already so dang easy and fast
Yeah, i agree 100%. I want to add that i wish there was some sort of an experience to be had during levelling in retail too. Unfortunately as the focus was turned into end game more and more players were educated to just rush through the levelling phase of the character progression. Now i dont think it is a bad thing to have that as a choice for veterans. I just dont see why WoW forces even the newbies to rush through the experience. Which as an experience is very confusing in addition to not teaching enough to the player to be able to adapt without third party tools. I personally would like to have some sort of a challange during my levelling instead of destroying an entire camp pressing only one button while watching a video from youtube on my second monitor. That doesnt feel like an experience to me, no offence. And again i am all for those who wants to be able to rush through it without any effort too.
I'm discovering how much duo and trio content there is in vanilla which I missed soloing first few times through. Every zone has like three big areas with tightly packed elites.
Questing is the best part of the game. I love just riding into a town picking up quests, reading the wanted posters and going from there. I love how you can quest however fast or slow you like.
Im with you there hamsterwheell! I play private servers because I enjoy leveling. I hate private servers with increased quest/kill xp because it makes finishing a zone and getting those sweet quest upgrades less rewarding. Playing with immersion and the AI voice addon has made vanilla leveling a whole new thing. Each zone really has a great story and it's enjoyable to play through it like its the first time
I agree with everything you said in this video. I didn't even know I was waiting for someone to make a video like this but I'm very happy somebody finally said it. Thank you for another great video.
You always adore whay you miss the most. 2004: Leveling was THE content 2012: Everyone was sick of leveling because they've done it billion times 2020: Everyone was playing only endgame for the past decade so they miss the leveling again.
See this is how I play this shit. People are sweaty little goblins trying to always rush through shit but the best part is just enjoying the journey, not clawing your way anxiously to the end destination.
Back in wow classic, I made a night elf druid as my main, remaking my first ever character from my time in wotlk. I had never gotten to experience anything past darkshore in classic, so I was just enjoying the experience. My guild kept berating me for taking so long to hit 60 because I was working on alchemy along the way. Could I have raced to 60? Sure, but then I wouldn't have met as many people that supported me on my quest to 60 as a balance druid. It was a really fun experience.
Leveling is a great experience in classic, especially for the fact that its so replayable with the amount of classes available even years after playing the game i still find new things in it. If you explore the regions and not just go where the quests take you. Once you have a main the alts are at your own pace and own build, best way to learn why something is not good is to just try it out. Some talents are just fun to pick.
My WoW philosophy: create a character you love or you know you will get to love. Take your time and enjoy the zones you love. Think of how weak you are and how powerful you will become. Your character is a long-term investment. Put your love into it. Even though, you're weak at the start, play to your class' strengths and help as many people as you can. Stop. Look around and chat with other players. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Don't think too far ahead. Enjoy the now and plan for the immediate future. Take risks.
Vanilla has the best leveling. In fact, Vanilla is the best in terms of everything. I tried both TBC and WotLK. TBC is good but WotLK is where my enjoyment stopped.
I enjoy leveling as it's similar to rogue like games, you advance, you get gear pieces (especially in older expac.), your environment changing, many more... but they cannot add engame leveling, sadly. I also play rs3 ironman, which is similar : ).
Been playing since vanilla and leveling is honestly the only thing I genuinely enjoyed in wow. I only ever raided twice, once in wotlk and once in pandaria, and even thought it was fun, I take a leveling night in westfall over raid nights any day. I honestly wish there was a version of wow, or a brand new game like wow, that was built with single player in mind, instead of being an MMO. That would be amazing
I share the same sentiment. Leveling in WoW is an experience I can’t really get with most other games. Funny enough the closest game for me has been Call of Duty because of the prestige system lol endless “content” for me
For me it's a chance to learn a new spec or try to figure out how to do something i haven't tried before. Attempting to pull way more mobs than normal and seeing if i can consistently increase my pace. Figuring out the little ins and outs of exactly how spells and abilities interact with the world and with your targets - there are lots of intended and unintended interactions that you can exploit to your advantage. The random encounters with allies and enemies in the field (i prefer pvp servers) Or deciding to take a different route to 60, trying out quests i never bothered with before, seeing the sights etc. That's what makes an MMO so much fun though - we dont all have to play it the same way, and all the different people doing their own thing is what adds real flavor to the world, to the community which is a big part of the available content for us all to enjoy. It isnt just about the quests or the world or even the class you are playing, it's the people that really sets an MMO apart. Appreciate the video btw, nice to see people speaking fondly of MMOS - despite how much the genre has declined imo.
I did the whole adventure from 1 to cap and raiding seriously with some casual PvP on the side 2004-2010, so when Classic came along, all I did was level every class and race, as well as 1 hunter "hardcore" to 60, and a duo Tauren druids to the 30s with my twin brother, and that was what fit into my lifestyle as a husband and father, and it was a chillax good time
I'm a lot like you. EXCEPT I have to have a total end goal. The original experience was me leveling to get to get the content at 60 and seeing people geared to the tits or even with crusader on their weapon made me so excited to get there myself. I used to also read the dungeon crawler books and imagined how much damage weapons would give me in this seemingly impossible end game content. It seemed to far out. I had to be max level too
I have the theory that Altcoholics like us love Fire Emblem as well, since you can erase the character, or the game, hundred times, level the same class or go on with the same characters and everything changes
When I played WoW, the levelling was the amazing part. The number of ad-hoc groups created to complete some over-spawning cave or get credit for some slow spawn boss monster were quite numerous...and fun. Although, I gotta admit, looking at those zone graphics from 2003 now kinda hurts my jaded, modern sensibilities.
i love lvling in mulgore and the barrens, rest is meh.. but these two are my fav :) doing 3rd tauren druid on everlook since there is awesome patch for lvling 1.7 :)
Your a masochist maybe lol, i like lvling but i have done it enough times that it's just a pain to do unless it's something new to me so that means new xpacs.
Yeah but raiding is a lot like that as well, you learn fights, go with raid group and first few times it's enjoyable but later on it gets tedious. Wow is grindy game , be it raids, pvp, leveling. The reason people enjoy end game content is flashy new upgrades with it's sweet purple color but in later xpacs even loot became unmemorable.
I learn that I hate questing XD I just like to kill things and dungeoning. Undead starting zone quests are probably my favourite, npc talks about their new life, lament, stuck to the past and unknown future. but generally, they are fetch quests. Xd
