The Daily Quest: Zero to hero in no time flat
by Anne Stickney 
Oct 10th 2011 at 9:00AM
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
Has it become too easy to become a big damn hero? I remember the difficulty of the original 1-to-60 grind-- and man, it was a struggle at times. But getting to level 60 meant that you'd finally grown past all those random gathering errands and got to face the challenges of a true hero in Molten Core and other raid dungeons. That's changed a bit since the early days, hasn't it?
Today we've got a few posts from around the blogosphere talking about those changes and other changes that we've seen in WoW over the past several years.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Has it become too easy to become a big damn hero? I remember the difficulty of the original 1-to-60 grind-- and man, it was a struggle at times. But getting to level 60 meant that you'd finally grown past all those random gathering errands and got to face the challenges of a true hero in Molten Core and other raid dungeons. That's changed a bit since the early days, hasn't it?
Today we've got a few posts from around the blogosphere talking about those changes and other changes that we've seen in WoW over the past several years.
- Flavor Text has a particularly intriguing essay on failure, challenge, and the apparent decline of both in WoW.
- Priest With a Cause comments on the odd homogenization of the opposing factions in WoW.
- HoTs & DoTs shares some experiences with the Dungeon Finder through the eyes of someone new to most heroics.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jay Oct 10th 2011 9:28AM
I recently got back to wow and was ready to throw myself into the cataclysm. But so far I'm disappointed at the leveling experience, it took me three evenings a few hours a piece of questing and a few dungeons to do the journey from my old left behind level 80 character to 85. I almost couldn't believe it.
I was just half way through zones when I started to outlevel them and hit for the next one. They just didn't feel challenging anymore. Since then I've started leveling two alts without any heirlooms and have the exact same expeirence with them. I just can't seem to get more than halfway through a zone before it's time to leave.
And it's a pity to with the whole remade world. It's not the leveling pace itself I have a problem with, it's fine lot's of people want to get to end game quickly, it's that the zones are out of sync with the leveling and because of that I can't fully enjoy the great zone Blizz has created.
loop_not_defined Oct 10th 2011 10:28AM
Leveling difficulty is definitely an issue, I think. Accidentally aggroing an extra mob - or hell, three more mobs - just isn't an issue. At all.
I mentioned this in a comment on FlavorText's article, but my wife and I have a hard time playing together simply because it's difficult for both of us to hit a mob before it's already dead. Neither of us are using heirlooms or xp buffs. We haven't even run a single dungeon or battleground. We've leveled strictly through questing and find most quests are green/gray.
GreenerGrass Oct 10th 2011 1:14PM
"Leveling difficulty is definitely an issue, I think. Accidentally aggroing an extra mob - or hell, three more mobs - just isn't an issue. At all."
"We've leveled strictly through questing and find most quests are green/gray."
There's (somewhat) of a correlation there. Green/gray quests are green/gray because they are trivially easy at your level for one person, much less two. If you want any challenge at all, you're going to have to aggressively push from zone to zone to keep your quests orange/red (if they even still let you accept red quests anymore).
However, Blizzard has essentially admitted defeat on grouping at lower levels and dumbed it down so even the most inept of players can bumble through a Nerf-padded world all the way to 85 by themselves. There are a handful of quest mobs left in Outland (Nagrand) and Northrend (Dragonblight) that can't be easily soloed with autoattack while AFK, and apparently the nerf bat will smite those remaining few in 4.3.
So if there's two of you, even orange/red quests probably won't be that hard.
Kind of reminds me of the low plastic jungle gyms set in beds of soft fluffy woodchips I see at parks now, versus the monkey-bars-over-concrete of my youth. Playgrounds ain't what they used to be, and WoW is no different. (Mumble grumble! Uphill in the snow both ways! Grumble mumble!)
If you want a challenge, I recommend that you run some dungeons together. I don't mean use the LFG. I mean, like, actually go to the dungeon entrance and go inside, just the two of you. As long as you are level 25 or so, there is a dungeon that will be challenging but complete-able, regardless of your classes and specs. (Obviously it will be a higher level dungeon if you happen to be a tank and a healer, say, and lower if you happen to be two cloth DPS with no self-heals or pets.) The XP/rewards may not be that awesome, but you can do it together and the challenge will be there.
Bellajtok Oct 10th 2011 10:42AM
On the one hand- leveling is going way too fast, and it annoys me. If you want to not outlevel an area, you must have no heirlooms, rest, guild, or recruitment. This is terrible and bad, and we should be able to turn off the experience boost from all of those sources. Everyone hates outleveling zones.
On the other hand- the revamped zones are hugely improved, and the quests and stories are fantastic. There's every reason to go back and do Loremaster.
On the third hand- WHY, ANNE, WHY? I'll never get that song out of my head now!
Therinor Oct 10th 2011 11:03AM
I don't know if it is too much off-topic, but we are talking about the revamped zones, and Id like to point out that yes, it sure is quicker and less frustrating to lvl (I remember how tough it was sometimes to find more quests from like 50-58, but then again, it wasnt like impossible, just took more time and you knew you'd be in OL soon), but the replay value, to me, is greatly diminished by the new quest-system.
Yes, there usually are 2-3 zones we can pick from in any lvl range, and the "quest giver calling in while you're out somewhere, handing you the follow-up quest" (which I have seen used in CoH before, and liked it) thing makes it very convenient, BUT... I do miss the ability to pick what quests to do and what to leave out.
A lot of times, it now is "OK, you have to do this quest, then you get one or two more, which you need to do to get the next ones". That might be nice for story-telling, but gets VERY predictable and boring on your 3rd char (maybe even on the second one).
If you lvl a lot of chars (and I did get all 10 char slots filled with 80s back in Wrath, leveled all of them to 85 in Cataclysm), it is a nice thing to be able to skip quests you dont like, while still having bunches of quests available. Yes, even in the past, you had to unlock quests too, but I liked going to OL or NR, filling up my quest log with like 10-15 quests, then doing them all in one big run, and handing them all in. Sometimes, Id skip certain quest hubs for good, or skipped certain quests I just didnt like at all.
Story-telling there still worked, so the current "unlock almost every quest", to me, is fun the very first time, but gets old very fast. I did lvl some more chars through the revamped zones (another acct), but on the 3rd or 4th, I was like "Yawn, yeah, now I do that, then I get this one, then that one, I know I know".
Same with zones like TH... eventually, I really dreaded going there as it was so predictable, the whole quest progression. Sure, you can always stay in Uldum (but should that be the solution? After all, TH is the highest lvl zone and rewards the best q-items, which are good to have once you get to 85), or do PVP or instances, but if you are not a big fan of PvP, have done Uldum 6 times in its entirety already, it makes you miss areas like ICC and SP. I did ding 80 sometimes in Sholazar, sometimes in ZD, sometimes I went to SP for the last qs instead, or IC, and I do miss that.
Sorry for the wall of text, it just came to mind when I read about this, and I thought "It kinda fits, because even though the quest-unlocking can guide you through zones and might help to find each quest, it still gets old quick".
fctcnick Oct 10th 2011 12:27PM
It's official, Anne is one of the coolest people ever, as seen by her great taste in music.
Dragoniel Oct 10th 2011 5:28PM
Single player challenge is gone. I recently tried leveling without heirlooms on a random server, without so much as a silver to start with.
Boy, was I thrilled when I pulled 3 mobs and found myself running for my life! I had the most excitement with the game within this year when I actually died while questing at level 5 or so.
And then it was over. Couple of levels away, I am facerolling everything again. The only difference is that people with heirlooms can oneshot me, but PvE content is just semi-afk running from quest giver to where the arrow points and back. There is no need to even read quest text, its either kill or collect or both.
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I wish there were any challenges for solo players like me. I mean real challenges - not some achievement and pointless points, but something worth working for. Currently the hardest thing you could do solo to gain something is to grind your butt off for several months in argent tournament. And even that only requires patience.
At least the transmogrification will give something to do aside (imbalanced 1v1) PvP, For some time. To grind something. Again.
Merren Oct 10th 2011 5:58PM
I totally agree with everything in the Flavor Text post, especially leveling (I am not really an endgame player). I want a chance to fail, so give me some orange and red quests please! Let ME decide to try them if I want to. I am currently leveling a rogue with NO armor, just so there is some challenge to it. I shouldn't have to do stuff like that just to make the leveling more interesting.
omedon666 Oct 10th 2011 6:41PM
My comment on the flavor text entry (which was very well written):
I am a good player. I don't raid, I'm not interested in that kind of commitment, but I have over two decades of experience in RPG's big and small. I am my own measuring stick of reasonable challenge, and, being soundly validated in the value of my time and my enjoyment of an entertaining, paid activity, I refuse to extend beyond that. That is my right.
If I undergo a reasonable degree of preparation, research and stick to the straight-line progress of the game before me, I should, given the reasonable degree of challenge I *should* be experiencing on this path, almost never suffer true defeat. Within the bounds of "practice makes perfect", so long as I am paying for a reasonably balanced avenue of entertainment, I should never feel that "I'm just not good enough", because I am. I am good enough. If a game tries, within this context, to tell me otherwise, I will cease paying them, because they are asking for unreasonable and unrealistic skill cultivation for an entertaining, essentially unimportant activity.
I am not paying to be the "bottom end" of a pyramid designed to elevate those special few that will "strive" for "skills", endure drama and guild/raid-oriented logistical headaches, and essentially sell their soul to a video game. I am a skilled, knowledgeable, mature gamer, and will not pay to be the peasant in a virtual feudal system of gamers. We get that scenario in real life, and this escapist, paid activity is supposed to function as a release from it. If I cannot get that release, there are plenty of games (yes, even quality MMOs) that will provide that.
I am good enough. It is not your job or, especially, Blizzard's job to tell me otherwise.
Thank you for expressing your well-written opinion, and this has been mine.
Teresa Oct 10th 2011 9:13PM
I love this song. Just noticed something I saw in class. Those guys painting the vases with black images should actually be applying slip (a water/clay mixture) then firing it to get that black image look.
I just love Greek art, and love the angular style applied to the movie.