Level tweaking on instances 1-60 in patch 2.3
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 9th 2007 at 11:00AM
Hopefully you were just as excited as I was yesterday to see that specifics about leveling improvements have been announced, as well as about 60 brand new midlevel quests (!) in Dustwallow Marsh. And as we heard, low level dungeons are getting tweaked, too, though not in any way I would have imagined. Blizzard, it sounds like, is going to be streamlining them, changing them from (for example with Shadowfang Keep) a 18-25 level dungeon, to an 18-21.But waitaminute-- we've already got dungeons from 18-21. Wailing Caverns and Deadmines, specifically, and moving SFK up to 21 leaves a hole before Stockades and Blackfathom Deeps. What gives?
What gives, says Bornakk, is that Blizzard is streamlining the whole experience, which means all the instances are going to be given this same tweaking. BFD, Stockades, RFK, Gnomer (ooh, interesting) are all going to be streamlined to be finished before 30, where, Bornakk says, Scarlet Monastery, RFD, and Uldaman will await characters. In essence it sounds like the clumps of leveling 1-60 are getting evened out, and that big hole around the mid 30s (where STV is your only choice) is getting filled in.
Sounds great to me. I'm especially excited about Dustwallow Marsh-- I have three or four characters languishing in their mid 30s, so new quests there will be much appreciated. And Blizzard is always watching how we play-- if new content in the 30s is as popular as I suspect it will be, maybe they can consider adding in even more midlevel content for alts and newbies.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil Butcher Oct 9th 2007 11:12AM
What I would LOVE to see, is the same level tweaking of the lvl 50s instances, in specific Dire Maul, Stratholme, and Scholomance. Thes should be changed to 55-58 instances and their gear slightly buffed. People might start going there again instead of bypassing the, compared to level 58 outland gear, loot and grinding their way to 58.
Just a thought.
Andrew Oct 9th 2007 11:15AM
I agree! Blizzard is finally doing something they should have done a LONG LONG time ago, giving players more of a (as you put it) stream-lined play through 1-60. Now players will hopefully feel like they don't have to grind anymore, because if you don't grind, sooner or later it will catch up to you and you'll have to grind even more than you would have. It's a sad tale and I've seen it happen many times where people try to rush through everything, end up completing all the quests for their level and then some, but are too low level to continue so they're stuck with grinding the same instance for 5+ runs or grinding out in the world, and it's already hard enough to find runs through anything at mid levels really (at least on the 2 servers I play).
Hopefully these changes will re-kindle the alt fever and people of ALL levels will be able to find groups much easier, and since instances are being toned down and gear toned up a bit, hopefully they will be able to complete instances even easier!
Matthew Rossi Oct 9th 2007 11:18AM
One thing that occurs to me is that Strat and Dire Maul are winged dungeons (well, Dire Maul definitely is, and Strat is effectively run as a winged dungeon, few people do both Live and Baron in one run) - why not run with this idea? Give Strat, DM and even Scholo new wings with level 70 or 80 content. With Naxx heading to Northrend, have a wing of Strat dedicated to things that Kel'Thuzad left behind and maybe there's a Gronn trying to force his way into Azeroth and using the Gordunni ogres as pawns that you need to go stomp on.
p3ngu11 Oct 9th 2007 11:22AM
Excited about the changes for my 25 priest, not so excited for my 56 druid (that will be in outland by the end of the week)
Dayglow Oct 9th 2007 11:23AM
758aa9a3
Dotixi Oct 9th 2007 11:24AM
This all gives me the craving for deviled eggs.
Green Armadillo Oct 9th 2007 11:48AM
The instance changes are most likely going to be a moot point - it's still going to be nigh impossible to get groups (not counting your level 70 friend soloing the place for you) for them regardless of the level spread and loot quality. On the plus side, Blizzard just obseleted a bunch of BG twinks, most of whom don't have the exp to spare to run dungeons for upgraded loot.
As to midlevel content, I'm definitely going to level an alt high enough to do it once, but I'm not convinced that it's going to be as big a hit as Mike thinks. I have so much time sunk into reps, tradeskills, and gear on my main that I don't have much interest in repeating all those grinds again. Maybe I'll just park the alt the moment it hits level 70 so I can experience Wrath the easy way (on my main, with tricked out gear that's going to last me well into the grind to 80) and the hard way (on a just dinged 70 in quested greens).
Tornik Oct 9th 2007 12:12PM
I would imagine it'll be while, if at all, before we see the late 50's-60 dungeons being tweaked. Certainly not in 2.3, given the amount of content that's going to be shoe-horned into it.
I suppose there's a chance that they'll do something with Strat/Scholo prior to Wrath coming out, so you may find that Blizzard will be keen to avoid tweaking it now, just to have to tweak it again next year in the patch previous to the expansion.
Also, it's typical that I've managed to resist rolling up a Blood Elf alt while I grind for my Epic mount money, and Blizzard wait until just before I get enough saved to drop this in my lap.
God damn you Blizzard, God damn you all to hell!
Apocpwns (Skullcrusher-US) Oct 9th 2007 12:32PM
Why oh why couldn't they do this BEFORE I passed level 60... so much time that could have been saved. How about tweaking the leveling from 60-70 a tiny bit. Not that there's anything terribly wrong with it, the quests are plentiful, but there is a very significant jump in experience between 59-60 and 60-61... a HUGE increase that my BetterEXP bar noticed. When I started level 59 it said roughly 450 kills of something of equal level to me until the next level. When I hit 60 it was over 1400.
wtf???
Not that anyone would be stupid enough to try and grind all that out when the level can be acquired through a few hours of questing.
FireStar Oct 9th 2007 12:41PM
Yay for altaholics everywhere!
Brian Oct 9th 2007 12:45PM
I think the 'old' level 60 5 mans (Strat, Scholo, BRD UBRS, LBRS should be tweaked to 50-53 to give some nice XP before hitting 60 and going to Outlands. If these old instances got tweaked too close to 60 they'd still be dead because people are hitting Outlands at 60 at the latest.
I am really interested to see what happens to Gnomer as Blizzard have previously said they think there is just too much trash in there.