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by Dan O'Halloran 
Oct 19th 2008 at 12:30PM
That's when my guild brother (heya Taiglin!) made what I thought was a brilliant suggestion: since level 70 players will be able to roll a brand new level 55 Death Knight when Wrath launches, why not roll any class at level 55? I was going to explain to him why that wasn't a good idea, but honestly, I thought he had a point. I already know how to play a Druid (well, I'm relearning with the new talents from Patch 3.0.2 and my new found love of Balance specs), why can't I roll a level 55 Druid on a new server to have an alternative place to play? Or even just to join friends who rolled toons on other servers.
You may argue against players rolling a class they don't know how to play then bungling through pick up groups, but isn't that exactly what's going to happen with the flood of DKs about to hit every server? Blizzard is poised to open the door to this option with their new Hero class, why not every class?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Classes, Alts
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
Vengron Oct 20th 2008 5:31AM
I haven't read all the posts on this thread, so i have no idea if this has been said, but i will say it again anyway.
This is a great idea but it isn't going to happen, why you ask?
The Death Knight class has it's starting area geared up and tuned so that you learn ALL of the essential knoledge and skills you needs to successfully "start learning the balance of the Class and it's mechanics.
This is not a venture that Blizzard would undertake lightly for the rest of the classes simply because in the short term it would be a bad business decision; having to devote a large portion of your Dev team in reworking and adding new parts of the game, just because you don't want to level the hard way through content that is now, quiet frankly, Boring!
It may happen in the very long distant future, but my expectation for the DK's is that there is going to be a lot of noob's making DK's just so they can be like Arthus; But in short there will be a lot of horrible Death Knights.
That said there will be a lot of good one's too. However that will be one of the biggest questions Blizzard would ask themselves; do we want players that are jack of being pawned in PvP going to go and make preists or Tanks so they can get into a raid, and by that i mean not having the appropriate class knowledge to successfully contribute to raids.
Gothia Oct 24th 2008 9:09AM
WoW,
Why don't we just make level 80's then and skip everything. It's old content and useless right. I mean really our high level raids now will be just wasted games space like aq40 and those other forgotten raid areas.
Let just jump to whatever area we want to be and start there, it will be a kind of player development barber shop. Who wants to start from the beginning through all of that OLD and unimproved content. We can do it like John Madden Football and have slider bars from 0-100 for each stat. We could have a 7 foot 6 Gnome that still has the stupid little laugh.
Can anyone say WoW your life cycle is coming to an end. Thank you for the good times, but it is time to move on.
Don Oct 20th 2008 7:34AM
I think they should instead update some of the older content just as they did with Dust Wallow Marsh, I like that zone alot more now compared to alot of other zones you can try to level in.
With the bonus XP I feel leveling is a heck of alot faster than before. I leveled a warrior and warlock before there were any sped up Xp gains, that took forever.
Now I have a Paladin@60, Mage@47, Shaman@43. Leveling all those alts post 2.3 has been a breeze.
And with 3.0 the Paladin will probably be at 70 before wrath hits.
nufemasta Oct 20th 2008 10:36AM
Yeah, just what I want to do; skip to 55 and be even closer to 70 so I can grind all those amazing faction over again and play for days/weeks to gear him up to the point where my main is.
Nah, I enjoy the leveling process. Not only because it can offer an alternative to some of the more boring aspects of 70/80 play, and it also allows me the opportunity to learn how to play a new class before I need to be of use to others.
Thx...
nufemasta Oct 20th 2008 10:38AM
errr... but it also *
Simon Oct 20th 2008 11:11AM
WoW is 4 years old now, isn't it? That's getting very old as far as a game goes (even if game has evolved over the years) and I don't think that it's a valid argument now to say that people should have to go through the old content to L2P.
WoW must now be at saturation point re. new players so most people who want to play the game are probably already playing it and know how it works - so allowing them to start at level 55 if they have a 70 or 80 when Wrath hits I think is a very sensible idea.
Wolfshead Oct 20th 2008 1:51PM
In an article I wrote entitled "More Pressure to Remove Leveling for MMO's" back in August, I predicted this trend that once players get a taste of 55 free levels with the new Deathknight hero class they will demand this for other classes as well.
http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/?p=316#more-316
Personally I think it's terrible to erode the important of leveling in a level based game but Blizzard needs your continued financial support. So Blizzard will give in, it's just a matter of time.
-Wolfshead
CKaz Oct 20th 2008 2:19PM
This it total win. I'd even go further but this isn't bad at all.
I have a 70 warlock on a PvE realm and I've grown tired of the character. I have a 62 Pally on another PvP realm and a different faction and my Main there.
* I'd even argue you shouldn't need a 70, a 55/60 should be a reasonable enough especially if you're starting lower, but regardless I'd sooo get my Pally to 70 to help my PvE gang and I'd love to have a 70 Warlock to add to my pack on the PvP server.
** Why is the only class boosted the DK?? We're going to have way too many of these, and last time I looked people still need healers the most =b **
* Friends and Family is too limited. Only helps brand new accounts work with brand new characters on the referring account. Even if you're quickly going thru old content once again, there's still another repeat trip you don't need or want, and frankly it's off-putting.
* Even if you don't have the target class some kind of boost would be nice e.g. they made BM Hunters soooo much more interesting than demonology Warlocks I'd love to trade mine in =b Do I have the stomach to level one on either/both of my servers?
As far as some comments 'Blizz doesn't want this, people will blow through stuff' - this is SO wrong. I've frozen my account a couple times now... I'd rather have my Warlock on the PvP server for fun, I'd rather have my Paladin on the PvE server for raid fun with my friends, and transfering isn't an option [even if I was ready to pick-up, pay, and leave] as I'm Alliance on one and Horde on the other.
I think this will be the biggest most important move Blizzard makes... I've put out so many alts that have stalled - I just don't have the time - but meanwhile I'm sure I'd find them that much more engaging up the ranks, and in newer/different content. Even if you don't allow early boosts in all classes, certainly classes already hitting 55/60/70+ should free up other server early starts. Transferring doesn't cut it -
- You don't always want to cut out and leave
- You may be on the other faction side
- I'd even say same server should be OK (pvp obviously same side tho) e.g. different racials, a decision made long ago *and* blizzard tweaking them, give players a jump if they want to change that too
JSG Oct 20th 2008 2:55PM
It's a decent idea, but Blizz kind of addresses this (partially) with the concept of "Heirloom" Items, which will be bind-to-account (rather than soulbound to that character).
It will scale in power, from level 1 to 80. The only caveat is that, for enchantment purposes, it counts as a level 1 item.
The thing I like is that you won't have to farm equipment endlessly for your alts, you just farm the badges to get the Heirloom items. The bad thing, IMO, is that it kind of kills the market for lower level items in the AH.
Novead Oct 20th 2008 3:50PM
I'd hate to see that happen. Everything would be desert before lvl 55. Even if they gave the option to still start from scratch, no one would. Never again would there be people doing Deadmines, crying after Mankirks wife, loosing their way in Maraudon etc... Never, ever again. And what about all the new players? They would be alone, not able to do any quests. The old content is somewhat alive because of all alts. Without them, there would be nothing.
Zali Oct 20th 2008 4:16PM
You have to have a game at lvl 70 to start a Death Knight. If the same rules apply, anyone starting a new toon of any class would understand how to play WOW, and would be able to pick up class specific play styles fairly quick. They aren't missing content, because they already did the content.
Heck, I would have leveled another Druid just so I didn't have to do respeccs all the time. Instead I got to lvl 22 and said, "Oh god I can't do this again." If I could have started at 55, I would have done it a long time ago.
As long as new players have to start from scratch, I'm all for that change.
Mux Oct 22nd 2008 12:21PM
All the comments about learning to play your class are laughable. I am currently leveling an alt shaman as elemental but is going to be resto at 80 because it takes much longer to level as a healing spec, your classes play different at high levels then at low. Many people respec which in effect for some classes is a new character, i.e any healer class or tank. I leveled my tank as arms until halfway through Outlands and then changed specs (although now u could probably level easy as protection). I am currently leveling up several alts and I hardly ever see anyone in LFG for low level instances, most of those runs are by fellow guildies with someone to run them thru for loot. I for one would love to be able to start at a higher level since I am focused on endgame content.
LeROux Nov 12th 2008 6:41PM
Because if it takes about a little more than a month and a half to get a lv 55 (not-harcore that is) and for blizzard a month and half is equal to ~21$. Multiply that with the number of ppl that wants to start new class equals BIG money.