I can’t believe it. After what, a year of planning, and a PTR – Public Test Realm – and all the hype about a better leveling experience and the second “Big Squish” and more challenge, they messed it up.
Over the years, Blizzard has made the game easier to level at least at lower levels with Heirlooms, and easier dungeons and Wow Tokens and lots of other things. I came back to WOW in May 2017 and played through December 2017 when all the hype was going strong about the new expansion and how they were going to change the leveling experience. As some of the changes began going up on the PTR, I got over there and tried them out. Turns out I still had a PTR account, which I had signed up for years ago – they keep you signed up if you ever do. Well I found the PTR experience a real drag for reasons that I’ve talked about before. As a quick example, as a level 110, in a level 80-90 area – Pandaria – the mobs were leveled up to my level. So what does level 80-90 mean if the mobs are going to jack up to 110 to follow you? Who knows what changes and tweaks they have been making in the last seven months, but it doesn’t sound good based on these launch results.
Well, maybe now that the population in general is seeing the new leveling / progression design, they are not as psyched as all those folks that Blizzard was listening to a year and a half ago when they started talking about it.
It will be interesting to “Watch from Afar” as this plays out. I have a “Trial” account that I can use to see what things look like from 1-20, but that’s not all that interesting when the cap is 110.
Anyway, I’m having a great time since December 2017 with Final Fantasy XIV.
May you walk in the light of the Crystal,
:ww
