Level 80+ to gain only 10% experience from Wrath mobs
by Brian Wood 
Dec 7th 2010 at 12:30AM
This means that level 80 and higher characters will only get 10 percent of normal XP from Wrath of the Lich King mobs. Likewise, level 70 characters will get 10% XP from The Burning Crusade mobs, and level 60 characters will need to go to the Outland to get full XP for kills.
This change likely happened in the recent hotfix, since at that time, level-capped hunters noticed the XP gains of their pets plummet. Blizzard has acknowledged the problem with pet leveling and promised a fix for that soon. Full blue post with details after the cut.
NethaeraWe recently made a change to the way experience is calculated and wanted to take some time to explain this change in order to clear up some confusion some may be having in regard to their rate of progress. If you are currently at the maximum level that you can be for an expansion (or higher), killing creatures from that expansion will now grant 10% of normal experience.
Examples:
Level 60 or higher players get 10% normal experience for killing creatures in Azeroth ("Old world" content)
Level 70 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Burning Crusade creatures.
Level 80 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Lich King creatures.
Level 85 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Cataclysm creatures.
What does this mean for those that have Cataclysm and are leveling up new characters? This means that you will gain normal experience through to level 60 and will then need to move on to The Burning Crusade zones until you reach level 70 and Wrath of the Lich King zones until you reach level 80. Once you reach 80, it is expected that you will be continuing your leveling adventures in the new Cataclysm zones and dungeons. We have made this change so that players will continue to progress through the appropriate content for their level versus grinding on quick re spawns in a less ideal location.
This change will also affect hunter pets and their leveling rate if the player is at max level, however, this is an unintended change that we will be addressing in the future.
Examples:
Level 60 or higher players get 10% normal experience for killing creatures in Azeroth ("Old world" content)
Level 70 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Burning Crusade creatures.
Level 80 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Lich King creatures.
Level 85 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Cataclysm creatures.
What does this mean for those that have Cataclysm and are leveling up new characters? This means that you will gain normal experience through to level 60 and will then need to move on to The Burning Crusade zones until you reach level 70 and Wrath of the Lich King zones until you reach level 80. Once you reach 80, it is expected that you will be continuing your leveling adventures in the new Cataclysm zones and dungeons. We have made this change so that players will continue to progress through the appropriate content for their level versus grinding on quick re spawns in a less ideal location.
This change will also affect hunter pets and their leveling rate if the player is at max level, however, this is an unintended change that we will be addressing in the future.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Benjaroku Dec 7th 2010 12:42AM
It's not a perfect fix by any means, but hunter pets also get xp from hunters' herbing and mining. A couple of herb farming circuits around Storm Peaks, which I was doing anyway, and one of my new pets went from 77 to 80 pretty quickly.
alpha5099 Dec 7th 2010 12:42AM
I have no problem with this. If your plan was to grind Wrath-level mobs to get to 85, then, well, that sounds super boring. Go quest, silly person. It's fun!
Saeadame Dec 7th 2010 12:54AM
Eh, I'm fine with this. I know there were some people, maybe they just didn't like HF or BT, but they would stay in OL until level 71 or so and skip the first zones. But that's not me, so I don't really care =P.
Snuzzle Dec 7th 2010 2:01AM
I was just thinking of people like me who stayed around for about twenty minutes after I hit 60 to finish up the zone I was in out of interest for the lore and quest lines. We're now encouraged to drop whatever quest we're doing, clear our log and high-tail it straight to Outland the minute we hit 60, instead of sticking around and playing the much more fun new vanilla quests we might still have in our log.
I understand why they did it, but it still kind of is an unfortunate situation to have put us in :( If we want to do anything in new old world past the moment we ding 80, we're basically turning XP off while we do.
Saeadame Dec 7th 2010 2:22AM
Since you can go to outland at 58 and northrend at 68, technically you can still do that just fine, You'll hit 58, finish whatever quests are in your log, and then head of to outland - no penalty. The only place that'll be an issue is the northrend - cata zone transition, where you have to be 80 to go there.
brian Dec 7th 2010 4:03AM
Keep in mind the quest experience is untouched by this change, it's just the mob xp.
So if you like the quests enough, you could probably finish the few you're on with little downside. You are losing that xp you'd get on kill quests, but doing quests you like is much better than quests you've done tons of times before.
Architect Dec 8th 2010 10:14AM
Permanently guaranteeing that zones like Netherstorm and Shadowmoon valley remain perpetual ghost towns.
Since you can hit 68 halfway through Nagrand, this just further dooms Outland to irrelevance. This is a shame, because I find the quest lines in Shadowmoon valley to be extremely interesting, both mechanically and in terms of lore.
scarvis Dec 7th 2010 1:05AM
The only thing that bums me out about this is that I was planning on staying in the old world for as long as possible to avoid the hell that is Outland. I guess that means I'll be stuck doing HFP anyway. So it goes.
zweitblom Dec 7th 2010 3:51AM
Why don't you go directly to Zangarmarsh then? A good deal of the quests there are open at 60 already.
Kroof Dec 7th 2010 1:01AM
As far as using this method to level to 85 really quick, I don't care. Any weird quirky way people use is silly to me.
I do NOT like this change though. Only because I was hopping to finish up quests in the new azeroth on my alts so that I could completely skip the horrible hellfire peninsula without being quest starved. I guess that will be less likely.
Cetha Dec 7th 2010 1:09AM
ugh. same for me. I was hoping Winterspring and Silithus would keep me in Azeroth till 61 or maybe even 62 :(
Ghrit Dec 7th 2010 1:10AM
Come on, don't hate on Hellfire, I love that zone. The quests give at least double the xp of old world quests. I get there at 58 and I'm level 64 by the time I get out. From there, I just cherry pick Wanted-esque quests in Zangar and then revel in Nagrand until level 68. Outlands are great! It's Northrend that brings on the fatigue. >
Nyold Dec 7th 2010 1:34AM
This is also the issue I have wiht this change.
For example on my main, I hit level 60 in WPL, then hit 61 after finishing old world quests, hit 70 in Nagrand, and 73 when moving to Northrend. Then I hit 80 in Dragonblight. Guess what, I finished everything else anyway (Zuldrak, Grizzly, Sholazar, SP, Icecrown) just because I like questing. I made a ton of gold from those. This is my main money-making scheme, since I don't really like AH ing or don't put that much energy into profession.
But now that the experience is nerfed, it'll be much harder to pull this kinda thing with future alts.
Helston Dec 7th 2010 3:17AM
@Nyold (and a the others too, but a little less)
It sounds like you just plain enjoy the quests. If that's the case, just keep doing what you've always been doing. The only difference is how fast that little purple bar down the bottom of your screen fills.
zweitblom Dec 7th 2010 4:02AM
Compare:
"Only because I was hopping to finish up quests in the new azeroth on my alts"
to
"If you are currently at the maximum level that you can be for an expansion (or higher), KILLING CREATURES from that expansion will now grant 10% of normal experience."
Thank you, have a nice day.
Fletcher Dec 7th 2010 1:10AM
Ack! Now it's going to be harder to skip Hellfire Peninsula, or as much of Northrend as I possibly can. :(
Moridin Dec 7th 2010 1:29AM
If you get quest starved in outland you are doing something wrong.
brammage Dec 7th 2010 1:42AM
They should do this for lower level zones as well, so we don't have to pay to turn off experience to prevent out-levelling the new content.
Frank Dec 13th 2010 6:07AM
This, I hate out leveling content, it stops being fun when there is no challenge but I still want to experience he quest.
Scott Heritage Dec 7th 2010 2:06AM
Kinda screwed up my pet leveling yesterday :/