Kaplan announces Outlands leveling to be shortened
by Adam Holisky 
Jul 22nd 2008 at 4:00PM
Jeff Kaplan, the lead game designer, posted in the forums under his username Tigole that Blizzard will be speeding up leveling in the 60 to 70 bracket just as they sped up the 20 to 60 bracket. This has long been rumored and it's great to see this get implemented.Initial reports tell us the amount of experience points necessary to progress to each level has been decreased by 30% (for the 60 to 70 range only). Additional posters are reporting that mobs which give 500xp on the live server are now giving 600xp on the beta server. There doesn't seem to be any increase in the XP rewarded by quests yet, but this might be a future change.
Kaplan asks everyone to provide feedback on the change (if you're in the beta), and it looks like they've got his ear for the time being. So if you're in the beta and want to weigh in on the subject, now's the time.
Many thanks to the various users who submitted this news tip.
Filed under: News items, Leveling, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Mark Jul 22nd 2008 4:08PM
Can't say I am surprised to see this, currently leveling a third toon from 60-70 is going to take a loooong time at the rate I am going, given other time demands.
I will be interested to see how much of Azeroth and Outlands become ghostlands, given getting a group together for Hellfire quests and Ramparts/Furnace runs is already proving more difficult than I remember.
jrb Jul 23rd 2008 4:13AM
i thought this was already common knowledge? the 1up legendry thread podcast confirmed this as happening sometime before the release of wotlk. They got the information from the press day that they went to a month or two before WWI.
still, good news, i have three chars stuck in the early 60s. i look forward to finally getting one to 70. :)
Gnorme Jul 22nd 2008 4:09PM
It's a good move imo, needs a small amount of attention in the DK start area. Finishing the starting quests should end you up at 58 not 57.
Would be nice if they had even larger experience gains specifically for DK's so as not to be passed up in all the 70-80 content before they eve reach Northrend...
Even better and solves the problem of not being able to do group quests in Outlands as a DK (or at least limited) would be to release DKs before WotLK... Something like if you fully pre-order you get a code, or even they are allowed in the game but when expansion rolls out you need upgrade your wow or it gets locked.
Jamez Jul 23rd 2008 5:11PM
I dont think death knights will have a problem finding groups, seeing as how everyone and their mom will be making a DK, I think we can expect to see droves of DKs leveling up in the beginning just like we saw droves of Horde Pallies and Ally Shammies at the beginning of BC. And they weren't passed up in endgame because they were late to the party.
JDM Jul 22nd 2008 5:11PM
"(snip) DK start area. Finishing the starting quests should end you up at 58 not 57."
I've not done the DK start zone myself, but I do believe that what level you end up as all depends on the player doing the quests.
Many of my friends finish and leave the start zones at level 5. I'm always close to level 8. I know people who don't hit 60 until EPL or Silithus... still. I can ding 60 before going to even Felwood.
Again, I've never done the DK start zone as of yet, but I really do think that some people will be 56/57, and others will be 58-60, all dependent on what they are doing while there.
jbodar Jul 22nd 2008 10:50PM
@JDM
His point is that you shouldn't have to grind out a level if you've done all the DK starting quests. It's silly. Obviously there will be some variation in the number of mobs you have to kill to get the job done, but if you kill the average amount and complete all quests, it makes sense that it take you directly to Outland. It's not like DKs have stealth to skip mobs like Rogues/Druids are able to do.
Ryan Jul 23rd 2008 10:12AM
DK 5-mans should be quite viable. Just do a lichbourne tank rotation and the other 4 DK's can heal with death coil.
DirtyPriest Jul 23rd 2008 11:16AM
If lichbourne healing sworks, I take it paladin exorcism works as well? =)
Gnorme Jul 22nd 2008 4:16PM
It's a good move imo, needs a small amount of attention in the DK
start area. Finishing the starting quests should end you up at 58
not 57.
Would be nice if they had even larger experience gains specifically
for DK's so as not to be passed up in all the 70-80 content before
they eve reach Northrend...
Even better and solves the problem of not being able to do group
quests in Outlands as a DK (or at least limited) would be to release
DKs before WotLK... Something like if you fully pre-order you get a
code, or even they are allowed in the game but when expansion rolls
out you need upgrade your wow or it gets locked.
vlad Jul 22nd 2008 4:24PM
i need to stop reading mmo-champion. everytime i come to wowinsider its like dejavu.
Lab Monkey Jul 22nd 2008 6:46PM
But then where would you leave douchebag replies like this one?
vlad Jul 22nd 2008 8:40PM
why funny you should ask. right on my awesome new blog vladsucks.wordpress.com!!
thanks for the plug!
STereo Jul 22nd 2008 4:23PM
I hate this idea. Levelling is too easy already.
The game is glutted with 70's and the process of leveling is one of the most enjoyable features of the game. Better than the end game.
I think they should make the maximum level require maintenance like the old pvp ranking system.
There are so many 70s that it means nothing.
Nick S Jul 22nd 2008 4:31PM
I don't really see how this is true. It takes a pretty serious investment of time to level a toon to 70, and for a lot of us, 70 is the only game in town.
If you like leveling, this isn't going to ruin it for you - more XP per mob just means less grinding. You're still completely free to run story quests, group for instances, etc. In fact, you're arguably MORE free to do those things, since they contribute even more to the overall goal of gaining levels.
I'm not trying to attack you here - I know a lot of people who love leveling, and I respect that affection, but the glut of 70s reflects a different attitude among the general population. Most of the content is at 70, and I expect that Wrath will show us a game with most of its content at 80. It's no crime to give people the ability to get to that content a bit faster.
Braundo Jul 22nd 2008 4:31PM
The common conception that "the game begins at 70" is becoming more true than ever, though. There are so many aspects of the game that you can only enjoy at level 70 right now -- dailies, heroics, badge loot in its entirety, raids (not counting nostalgia raids), essentially the entire IQD, and so on. Blizzard is adding more and more content to these areas (as well as more max-level crafting patterns) and you simply miss out on all of that if you're not max level.
Being level 70 isn't an accomplishment now, you're right. But should it be? WoW has been out for coming up on 4 years now -- many of us have done Ashenvale and Arathi until our eyes have bled. If we have to level up an alt for guild benefit or the like, we would prefer not to have to spend three weeks in Stranglethorn again :)
Haderic Jul 22nd 2008 4:24PM
This is a smart business plan for Blizzard, if they want to keep gaining new users and grab back those that shut their accounts down, they (blizzard) must make end game more accessble. By decreasing the time to level to 70 that lets more people like my gf for example who quit at 62, rejoin WoW and get to the new stuff before they get bored.
ninjasuperspy Jul 22nd 2008 4:28PM
So instead of just bypassing Shadowmoon and Netherstorm, we are going to skip Blade's Edge and half of Nagrand as well? I appreciate what they are trying to do, but why not just make mobs easier to kill? We could complete the quests faster and actually see the progression of the storyline instead of just grinding on fewer mobs.
The stationary part of levelling is my main beef when bringing up this new character. I don't mind killing a ton of mobs, I hate sitting still. Already the changes to mana regeneration for Paladins specifically (My main is a Paladin) seem to eliminate most of the sitting and drinking part of the levelling process.
I have to say that I like the endgame zones. I love the Plaguelands. I love Shadowmoon and Netherstorm. It annoys me when they turn well designed areas with great stories and compelling quests into ghost towns.
lazarel Jul 22nd 2008 5:02PM
I totally agree, instead of giving more EXp per mob kill, reduce the health of mobs to allow quicker kills (faster kill count completions) and increase the drop rates on mob specific question components. I barely touched Blades Edge on my 70 main, and I'm sure there is a ton of content I want to see but am missing.
jbodar Jul 22nd 2008 11:10PM
What's stopping you from going there, once you reach the appropriate level? Do you really need to finish up Terrokar, BEM, and Nagrand? No. You are free to level in whatever zone you want. This gives you freedom to get to 70 in a less linear path and that's a good thing.
ParadeRainer Jul 22nd 2008 4:46PM
Hahahaha. Welcome to the World of Casualcraft. I'm so glad I quit this game before the kowtowing of Blizzard towards making more money. 60-70 took at most 3 days played; by my 4th 70, it only took 1.5 days. But hey, there are just way too many bads playing this game, so let's just make everything retardedly easy on top of the welfare epics.
Go ahead and vote me down, you know I speak the truth.