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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsMore calls for midlevel content, the return
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 2nd 2008 at 3:00PM
Back before patch 2.3, one of the most repeated calls from players was not for new raiding instances or a particular class balance change, but for new midlevel content. As we've said on the WoW Insider Show, a large percentage of the population of Azeroth is perfectly content hanging around the 30s and 40s and not bothering with endgame PvP or raiding, and previous to patch 2.3, they wanted new content to roll through.Then patch 2.3 came, and with it, a whole new series of quests, and even a new hub in Dustwallow Marsh. Midlevel players finally got what they wanted, and for a while, the requests for new things for midlevel players to do were quelled.
Until now.
Yes, there are new rumblings that Blizzard should aim to renovate old content rather than adding more new stuff onto the end of the game (which, as Neth confirms, is what they're planning on doing right now).
But the question I have for you all is: do we need more new midlevel content? I was definitely on the side of those asking for new midlevel content before the new Dustwallow Marsh, and yet I've only found myself questing there a few times -- I've been doing exactly what I didn't plan on doing, and pushing onwards towards 70 rather than sticking around the midlevels. There's no question that patch 2.3 was a popular patch (it also included those leveling changes, and those were such a huge hit that Blizzard's working on other ways to make the leveling grind easier), but was the new Dustwallow Marsh really all that popular? Did it compare, for "instance," to all the people who played Magisters' Terrace when it first arrived, or all the people who worked on the Sunwell Dailies?
To me, that provides pretty clear evidence that no matter how much we wanted new midlevel content before patch 2.3, Blizzard has more incentive to provide new late game content (casual as it may be). Even if there's lots of calls for new midlevel content and revamping of old areas (I'm still convinced that we need Heroic versions of classic instances like Deadmines and Wailing Caverns), Dustwallow Marsh's revamp seems to show that players are much more interested in having new things to do at the end of the game.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Instances, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
juicyjuice Jun 3rd 2008 11:38AM
I for one would like to echo the idea of a few epic questlines that you can follow through from beginning-midlevel-end. And by a few, i think that each race should have a questline that is only available to that race to allow a different path that every race can follow to the end. Sort of like the Draenei starting zones. Follow those quests through to the end, and make the end result something truly unique, only available to that race (sort of like, err, the tabard of the hand, but more epic). Maybe a title only available to each race like "of the Darkspear" or "Hand of Magni".
These quests would give a different experience every time you felt like starting a new toon, and more importantly, give you something to work for. It would keep you interested in your toons, and really give every player more knowledge and lore about the toon their creating which is a great thing in itself.
Hugh "Nomad" Hancock Jun 3rd 2008 7:33PM
I'm not going into the "we want midlevel content" "shut up u noob" argument, but I do want to say this: the Dustwallow Marsh revamp was amongst the finest work Blizzard have ever done. The quests were interesting, varied and really, really involving, the revamp of the area made a hell of a lot of sense and really added character to the area, and the time I spent levelling my alt through it was amongst the most fun I've ever, ever had in WoW.
Some of the quest chains were just genius. In particular, the one that ends up with you taunting Onyxia - brilliant. Wonderful.
I'm actually looking forward to levelling more alts just so that I can do Dustwallow again.
More please. Hey, how about Ashzara this time?
thebitterfig Jun 6th 2008 4:38PM
this just gave me an idea, but not quite for mid-level content:
heroic versions of instances like wailing caverns. imagine, going back there at lvl 80 and so on. epic versions of the loot, too. imagine a lvl 80 version of the viper set...
it could be a fun way to revisit some of the highlights of the early game, but to do it later in the progression. lfg heroic scarlet monastery
MENNONH Jun 7th 2008 7:13PM
I just want old-world Heroics.