Breakfast Topic: Do you enjoy leveling?
by Sandra McIlveen 
Sep 27th 2011 at 8:00AM
Do you like leveling? Do you get excited when you pick a name, go through the opening cut sequence, and your new level 1 toon is born into world of Azeroth? For most of us, leveling is just something we do to get to the endgame. But for others, the act of leveling itself is the game.
Who are these leveling lovers? To what extremes will they go just to feed their leveling addiction? Well, I am in a guild with a guy -- let's call him J -- who is the epitome of such a person. J has two accounts, and he has used all of his available slots to level characters up to level 85. Yet his craving to level continues. So what is a man to do once he runs out of room to create more characters? He deletes his level 85 toons and starts over. You heard correctly.
My guild members and I have watched J delete numerous level 85 characters just so he can create a new character of the same class and with the same name and level up all over again. It can be slightly disconcerting to say goodnight to a level 85 rogue and the next morning say hello to a rogue with the same name who is a mere level 5. But for the most part, we guild members have gotten used to J's particular form of gameplay. Although we tease him about it relentlessly, I think we secretly all admire J; he is having fun through the simple act of leveling.
Are you a leveling lover, too?
| Sure is. Leveling is the best part! | |
|---|---|
| I like to mix leveling characters with endgame-level characters. | |
| No way -- leveling is my least favorite part. |
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Tsukuri Sep 27th 2011 8:13AM
My 7 lvl 85s, 76, 64, 54 and many more chars seem to prove my point.
BoB Sep 27th 2011 8:41AM
Honestly i'm the same way. I'd like to say that i hate leveling characters, doing the same quests 10,12,15 times even, but i've got 15 characters at 61 or higher with 3 85's. That record seems to condem me to say that, "meh, leveling's not that bad." Afterall, i love the LOTR movies, but i'd never watch them 15x and that takes a tenth of the time leveling a character does.
Greg Sep 27th 2011 11:26AM
I'll say that I hate leveling.
I'd like to PVP and raid on some different toons. I don't really like the fact that it takes about five day's worth of playtime every time I want to try soemthing else. Also, why make the Wrath Heirlooms cap out at 80 at all? Why does Blizzard care if I zip through Cataclysm leveling faster? I've already seen it.
Here's a suggestion to fix it. Why not give everyone XP heirlooms for free once they hit max level? The heirlooms could have low to middling stats, but still contain the same XP boost- or could be equipped in the tabard and shirt slots. If players want the bonus stats, they can work for the JP or whatever to buy the nice ones.
Also, these heirlooms would only stay active as long as you have a max level character. So in the next xpac, The Mists of Pandaria, or The Pillars of Storge, or The Whatevers of Someplace, they'd deactivate until players dinged max level.
Antt Sep 28th 2011 1:20AM
I am the same too - I have all 10 classes at 85 (all but 3 were 80 pre-cata, and those three were 70+, so I missed the revamped Vanilla questing) and I must admit that I have a love-hate relationship with leveling. There were some quests which I just loved doing over and over again, and some quest lines that made me want to yack, again. Overall it was a great experience - especially learning all the mechanics of all the classes, which I tried every spec out.
The introduction oh heirloom gear in Wrath was one of the best things ever for an altoholic.
Now, my main contention lies with the endgame 'leveling' read: gear grind. Especially for alts with things like the Molten Front dailies. Doing them on my main (Rogue) was not so bad, got my achievements, some new gear and it was a fantastic new area!. Doing them a second time on my 'main tank' merely to get all that sweet sweet tanking gear (for a non raider) was slightly uncomfortable, doing them a 3rd and 4th time has been unbelievably painful. Being an altoholic, I am used to repetition, and in some morbid sadistic way I enjoy it, but not MF 10 times over (although it's slightly better than the Wrath jousting).
And I agree with Greg, I think there should be a BoA token or something that you get at level cap that grants you +10%xp gain, and you can carry more than 1 i.e. you main gets to level cap and you get a token for +10%xp, your second alt gets level cap and gets a token, you give both tokens to your third alt for +20%xp gain all the way to your 10th alt getting 100% xp gain (plus heirloom bonuses).
This could also extend into other forms of currency e.g. when you complete all the Molten Front Dailies you get a 'Bronze Mark of the World Tree' which grants 10% more marks when doing the dailies. When you get a 2nd Bronze mark you can forge them to become a 'Silver Mark of the World Tree) for a 20% increase etc.
Nerokyn Sep 27th 2011 8:06AM
Eh, I don't enjoy it but I don't hate it. I'm glad it is there though, it gives meaning when I level an alt at 85, rather then just creating one at that level..
Jamie Sep 27th 2011 8:06AM
I like leveling a lot. Although, I find myself going through the same content time and time again. Even since Cataclysm, it's the same old path.
This time round, I've taken only dungeons until to TBC and then from then a mix of questing & dungeons. Looking forward to 68 so I can move on to Wrath.
Although having leveled so much, I find myself leveling professions along the same time to cut up the monotony.
Joseph Smith Sep 27th 2011 3:07PM
I'm the same way. I have my main, that I get up to level cap, then I'll bounce back and forth between levelling an alt, working on professions or achievements, and doing endgame dungeons/dailies with my main. The only thing I really don't want to do now is Outland. I've already levelled 4 toons through there, and there isn't much left for me to see with it. This time I'm PvPing from 60-68. Northrend still has a few paths left I haven't taken, so this toon will probably go through there too. I've only done it twice so far.
My current toon list breaks down like this:
85 Night Elf Balance Druid
80 Human Protection Paladin
66 Dwarf Elemental Shaman(Currently levelling)
66 Dranei Beast Mastery Hunter
62 Gnome Mage (currently untalented)
59 Night Elf DK (currently untalented)
58 Blood Elf DK (currently untalented)
followed by about half a dozen
MusedMoose Sep 27th 2011 8:09AM
As a certified altaholic (yes, I have a certificate, it's at the frame shop), I do indeed love leveling. Part of the fun of playing a class is discovering what new abilities they get as they go up in level. For example, my draenei warrior just recently hit level 24, and discovered the joy of Cleave. He can now kill more things in larger groups and in less time, which seems to be what being a Fury warrior is all about. ^_^
Endgame fun for me depends entirely on what there is to do. When I got a few characters to level 85 in Cataclysm, it felt like I was done; because I wasn't raiding, there really wasn't anything for me to do. The Molten Front helped to change that, which was great. But I'm always looking forward to the next expansion, so I can start leveling those characters again. Here's hoping it comes out next summer... my mage needs new things to set on fire.
Kurtis Sep 27th 2011 10:01AM
My baby shadow priest (well, he's a level 60 Tauren, so not so babyish...) is having a blast too. Even as a clothie he's taken on some pretty lopsided fights and emerged relatively unscathed. It seems that the secret is to open with a nuke, DoT them up and burn them down before they can get in melee range. :)
Last night he was in Hellfire Peninsula doing one of the portal quests. Level 59 at the time. A level 61 elite came out of the portal and aggroed on him at about the same time as two other patrolling mobs came by. Pretty sure that his health never went below 40%.
ravyncat Sep 27th 2011 10:14AM
This is how I am too. I have leveled more alts than I ever did in Wrath because there is nothing to do at endgame. I do not raid or do dungeons so I am bored once I hit 85.
Daily quests are not my idea of fun end game content...they are boring for me.
But I love quests and I love seeing all the new-old zones redone. So my baby kids--some of which have been parked at level 14 or so for over two years--are finally getting to see the world. I am liking finding out what makes each class tick. My baby warrior is my favorite new alt. She is just fun to play.
I have also started leveling my hoard alts to see the other side of the story. I am disappointed when I hit zones where the quests are almost the same for Horde or Alliance with only different questgivers, but for the most part it is different enough to be interesting.
I can't say I am dedicated enough to leveling to delete my alts once they hit 85 though. That is a bit too extreme. O.o
wow Sep 27th 2011 11:07AM
I have 3 L.85s and several toons at 74+, and three at the 20ish levels and that's just on 1 server. hehe.
Leveling and Questing and trying to solo Raids/Instances is the funnest part of WoW for me. PvP and Raiding is okay, but give me the laid back ideal of just questing away. :)
My $.02.
Shinanji
antonyp Sep 27th 2011 8:10AM
No.
Gaurisk Sep 27th 2011 8:10AM
I've always found leveling a preferable way to explore the low level content than simply bulldozing quests that turned grey while I was somewhere else. Cataclysm has added a lot of that, so leveling and deleting is pretty much how I've spent this expansion.
It's simply less repetitive than the endgame, with more time spent having fun than preparing to have fun.
Belna Sep 27th 2011 8:11AM
I leveled 9 toons up to 85 and 1 is 83 at the moment.
Although I like the endgame, I don't like to run the same instances over and over again to get better gear. Try to do that for 9 toon and 7 times a week and you'll get an idea how boring that can be. Leveling is more fun, you can go to a different part of the map and try different quest to get there. My latest toons that I leveled I combined quest and instances more and get a chance to see the old instances again.
I needed to wipe my rogue when the DKs came (I have 2 shamans).
I would level a rogue if I had an 11th slot available
Noyou Sep 27th 2011 8:31AM
I'm with you on the running dungeons, or as I like to say, "The gear wheel". It get's tedious with one toon let alone 10. I am currently on my 8th and 9th toon to 85. One is 70 and the other just hit 61. I have managed to see a couple new areas on my way but for the most part I stick to certain areas. Always have to hit Duskwood and Zangarmarsh.
Liche Sep 27th 2011 1:14PM
Dont want to be restricted by scheduled raids so leveling is the most fun to be had without any obligations
Dellcrw10 Sep 27th 2011 1:32PM
I agree! I'm a college student and I find it easier to not dedicate my time in the major commitment of attending scheduled raids. I just don't have the time anymore. I think leveling is much more fun anyway :)
Nynaeve Sep 27th 2011 8:18AM
I just reactivated my second account so I can work on some lowbies without deleting 80s.
Tri Sep 27th 2011 8:18AM
I also delete characters to make room for new ones :O
Noyou Sep 27th 2011 8:35AM
The highest level toon I deleted was lvl 44. And that was because the worgen sniffing mainly. I rerolled my worgen as a night elf and have been happy ever since. I can see using a slot or two to get the guild achievement for having every max level race/class combo. But deleting a toon I put so much time into, I couldn't. More power to you.