The Azeroth Blues
by Paul Sherrard 
Jan 25th 2007 at 2:25PM
Unlike some other draenei and blood elves, I'm not 60 yet. I hit 40 last night on my Draenei Shaman, and immediately picked up the mount and converted to mail gear. Then, a feeling of emptiness came over me. I was puzzled. I've leveled up before through Azeroth, this Shaman will be my 7th trip to 60 (and now beyond), and I really do enjoy leveling. What's hit me though is a feeling that I'm stuck in the same old content.
It's not that I don't love Azeroth, I really do. It's been my home away from home for almost 3 years now. It's just that while I'm grinding away through levels in the "old country", all my guildies are out in the Outlands having fun and getting drool-worthy gear from mobs I've never heard of. Yes, I have some awesome company in the leveling grind (frequent commenter Skew is a good friend and guildie) as we both get our shamans raid-ready, but really, there's no sense of awe and exploration in Azeroth anymore.
Would Blizzard have done better to implement a bit more mid-level content in the expansion? Levels 1 through 20 were fantastic on Azuremyst and Bloodmyst isles, and I've heard the Blood Elf content is just as fantastic. There's something particularly cool at the end of the Bloodmyst quest series that leaves a player feeling good about the world and their place in it. And then you head into the rest of Azeroth.
There are a few new quests and my fellow Draenei are popping up as quest givers themselves, but overall I'm left with the feeling of "been there, done that", and the experience of being forced through the same content again to get the new race into the new zones.
If this expansion pack is supposed to give us a whole new experience, why are we forced to spend a large chunk of time between new content and new world doing the same old thing? Yes, the expansion is awesome, and to create a whole new 1-70 experience for any player would take an incredible amount of time and resources, to the point of being completely absurd.
So what can be done? Should we have the opportunity to change races on our existing characters, provided it's in the same faction? Should players who have a 60 or 70 be allowed to start a new character at level 30 or 40?
Are any of you feeling this way, or am I really just a big whiner? Can you think of any solutions for the next expansion pack that could introduce new races but not force the run through the same old content to hit 70 (or 80 or 90)?
I've got the questions, let's see if you've got the answers.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Expansions, Draenei, Blood Elves, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tseran Jan 25th 2007 2:43PM
I actually had a lot of trouble starting a second character. My first character was a NE hunter and I spent a lot of time soloing, and never even touched an instance until pretty late in my gaming, about level 40 in fact. There was a lot of content I missed because I was just grinding monsters and the occasional quest. I have a couple alts I want to try and level, but I definitely feel the blues going back to my lowbie alts. Especially when it comes to having to run around rather then getting on a mount and riding in style!
I agree that they should have added more mid-range quests, since there are a pair of new races infesting the world that are trying to find their place.
Heike Jan 25th 2007 2:55PM
I agree with you on the same-old, same-old for just about everybody from lvl 20-60. But I think you're wrong that it would be an unreasonable effort to create new alternate content for those levels. It wouldn't need to be enough to completely replace the existing leveling content, but four new zones - one for each set of ten levels - would add a lot of variety to intertwine with the regular quests.
n00bian Jan 25th 2007 3:29PM
Actually, it rather amazes me that with the boatloads of money Blizz doesn't have a group who's only job is to generate new albeit simple quest content for the game on an ongoing basis. Certainly there are quests which are fixtures, but others should change. All the moonwell quests are fixed for instance in the NE areas, but some of the other quests could be changed out so starting a new alt in that area does feel a bit different character to character over time. Another is that GM's should take over NPC's or boss creatures on occasion, just to spice things up. To really live up to the name "World" of Warcraft, some dynamic, even live content is in order. I believe that Blizz is no different from other MMORPG vendors in that they figure you will get bored and quit after they have gotten their $150+ game cost out of you and they see nothing in it for them to put in new content. IF they didn't take this attitude and really focused on new content quests through time to replace the old and make leveling new characters fun, they might keep people around a LOT longer. I know though deep in my heart it will _never_ happen . I mean, my god, is it THAT hard to rewrite a quest to kill/retrieve/deliver X?
Rich Jan 25th 2007 5:41PM
I totally agree - my new Draenei Priest is 22 now, and while Bloodmyst was a blast, leveling from here to 58 is kind of daunting. My highest alt is 26 (my main is a 63 Warrior) and I can't really seem to muster the willpower to go through all those quests a second time.
roseroyce04 Jan 25th 2007 3:04PM
Just change the current quest givers to the same format as the Ghostlands quest givers.
1. Rewarding rewards (less vendor trash)
2. Unique rewards (I got a crit rating ring from a levl 14 quest, other could get spell crit!)
3. City reputation gains (In Ghostlands, quests increased your reputation with Tranquillien and a Provisioner allowed you to buy sweet items for having high rep)
So basically; update the quest rewards and add a provisioner to certain towns.
Couldn't hurt.
Seper Jan 25th 2007 2:59PM
The first thing My buddy and I aggreed on when we rolled our draenais and BE's was taking our time and finish every quest possible. Because after that we are back to the same ol same ol.
All the people who have been lvl 60 for awhile really deserve all the new content. But on the flipside.. alot of the lvl 60s I know have been at 60 for awhile and they were still having fun with the "old" content.
My highest is 47 now and rerolling an alliance character is annoying because we will be doing the same quests. I wish they had added a few more quests in each area and especially in areas that arn't used alot. Like any major city or places like desolace. It wouldn't be hard to add quests like kill 10 warrior centaurs or wateva. But to people lvling up it would be a godsend and for people who have already lvld up a character it would be like a new experience.
Everyones hitting lvl 70 so fast and it will be back to the same ol same ol so they should have made more midgame content for people who reroll now.
ObtuseMoose Jan 25th 2007 3:37PM
@roseroyce04 QFT. I wish the rest of the mid-game content had recieved the same approach overhaul so it was all like Ghostlands. I realize that's almost impossible to achieve, but Ghostlands did such a superb job of fixing significant chunks of what was wrong with pre2.0 Azeroth, that it is a shame to finish leveling in that zone and have to move on to the old painful reminders again.
Bunkai Jan 25th 2007 3:36PM
I have a 60 NE Druid on a PvE server. I play ONLY on a PvP server now, and I'd absolutely love to be able to "convert" my druid to level 60 Tauren Druid on my PvP server. Same name, stats, talents, gear items, gold, etc... just a move to a new server and change the race.
As far as leveling a new character, I've only made hybrid class toons to level 60, so I'm looking forward to re-learning the content with a the different playstyle of a Hunter.
Deathrend Jan 25th 2007 4:56PM
Bliz didint make a new game. they made an addon basicly to what is already here. Nothing changes for us that didint ever make it to 60. I dont have a 60 So all of you with 7 or 8 alts at 60+ that have nothing better then to complane about End game Content and "the leveling experience" go outside.. get laid.. and stop waisting ur time on wow
Jamus Jan 25th 2007 3:42PM
Like millions of others I supposed, I had to roll a Dranny Shammy and try out Jewelcrafting. And that led to a bit of the blues too.
I only hit level 10, but it felt extremely out of place. I had played Alliance for a bit when I first started out, and liked it ok, but moved into some Horde toons and really enjoyed it better. Now after Horde-ing it up for some long, playing the Dranny just felt weird and uncomfortable.
I don't know if it was playing
1. The Draenei
2. Alliance
3. Different server
but something just felt weird about the whole thing and I am really tempted to ditch that character and try out a more familiar Blood Elf in the Horde, but I want to force myself to stick with it a bit longer and see how it goes. I don't want to become only comfortable with one faction, plus I want to see the Alliance side of things. Other than at the bottom of my big Tauren boots of course!
Sylythn Jan 29th 2007 9:10AM
I suppose for those of you with multiple 60's you've already gone the route I'm going...but I just got one character to 60, and i'm starting a new blood elf. My one caveat with the new character - I'm NOT leveling in the undead regions. My 60 is an undead, and I stuck to all undead regions as I leveled him (as much as I could - Goblin towns became my friend in later levels). But basically, there's a lot of Azeroth I haven't seen yet, and I plan on seeing it as I level my blood elf.
Rodion79 Jan 25th 2007 4:31PM
i actually have to disagree with what everyone is saying. yes it is rather tedious to be doing the same quests over again on a new race, and part of me would like new mid level quests/areas to keep my interest, but at the same time all i really want to do is explore the outlands. and since my druid no longer gives me the entertainment as it used to i want to get my draenei up as fast as possible to get him in the new 60+ areas. so the fact that i have done all these lower level quests before makes it slightly easier because i know where to go and what to do for them all.
again, i'll agree with you that 20-60 is gonna be a bit boring, but i plan to stick with it an explore the oulands when i hit 60. by then most people will be 70 already or they will be leveling their own draenei/blood elves and i will have less competition in the oulands for mobs and quests. ;)
just my opnion. and gl to all of you leveling ur new toons. ^_^
n00bian Jan 25th 2007 5:11PM
@10 - Telling people to "get laid" because they are critical of the lack of new game content is absurd. One day "Deathrend" you too will grow tired of the same quests over and over mid-game if you decide to do an alt. We all KNOW they made an expansion; the issue is, SHOULD they make new content for the game over time. I doubt seriously you plan on deleting your characters and cancelling your account after you get some 60+s going and get bored a little.
killall Jan 25th 2007 5:16PM
I am in the middle of leveling my alt to 60 and have discovered so much more that I missed on the way the first time. So my advice take your time enjoy the ride as you go dont do the same quest, there are lots of quests in different areas explore that is the fun of the game.
Pseudo99 Jan 25th 2007 5:23PM
COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE.
I've been harping about this for so long. Give us more mid level content. Make it fun for people of all races/builds/shapes/sizes.
You get the idea, I could go on for hours, but you get the idea.
Big Dan Jan 25th 2007 6:26PM
I must just be wierd. I have 6 characters in the 20 - 40 range and I am leveling my little fleet of characters at the same time. I notice different stuff with each and have actually been playing each character in different regions anyway. I am seeing different content with each character and I don't get bored with WoW. I can't wait till I get to Outland because I want to see the new stuff and do some small raids. I mostly play on my own and so I miss a lot of the instanced stuff but I still don't see much in the way of repeat stuff. There is lots of content out there if you look for it. But like I said I'm probably just weird.
Floyd Jan 26th 2007 6:46PM
The mid level content being EXACTLY the same is really just a shame. Blizzard basicly made an expansion for only high levels and left the rest of the people having to rush their leveling, skipping over once neccessary content into the new stuff.
Brim Jan 26th 2007 3:37AM
Meh ye think it's bad now?
Just wait till you have to try and find a group to BRS....
Moosli Jan 26th 2007 4:54AM
I can see where alot of people are coming from with the lvlin problems but i would just like to point a few things out -
1 - Blizzard has just released the Burning Crusade and developed a whole new MAP which is full of new QUESTS.
2 - If you are rollin a new char, then you should be able to switch to your main if you get bored just to release the frustration a little bit.
Give the guys at Blizzard a break please. They have spent alot of time tryin to please alot of people bringing out a new expansion that has content above 60 and new races to roll should you wish to do that. Yet its been released what? 10 days and people are bitching and slagging blizzard off in this thread.
'I believe that Blizz is no different from other MMORPG vendors in that they figure you will get bored and quit after they have gotten their $150+ game cost out of you and they see nothing in it for them to put in new content.'
^^ What a load of shit that is!!! If anybody believes that statement, you need to find a quiet corner and have a quick word with yourself. They HAVE put in new content - your just bitchin because YOU havent got new quests in azeroth after lvl 20 to complete.
Lets face it - if they were to please everybody - e.g new content past 60 - new content and quests under lvl 60, they might aswell scrap the game as we know it (apart from the maps) and start again!
Give em a break, if you ask me they have done an exeptional job with the Burning Crusade and im sure that eventually there will be new content to explore for under 60's, until then stop QQ and appreciate what Blizzard has done.
Pete Jan 26th 2007 6:18AM
@17. Moosli
Come on, people are making a valid point here. I'm a relative newcomer to WoW (only 5 months ago), but even I'm getting a bit tired of the same old 20-58 quests. Just add/updating 10-20% of the existing quests would make a huge difference and add a much-needed element of variety.
For example, it would be fairly easy to vary quest rewards without unbalancing things. As people have said above, how hard is a "kill 10 of X" quest to produce?