Woot! Mounts at level 20 for 5 gold, epic land at lvl 40, 150% speed normal flyers at level 60 in 3.2!!!

[unseen]

Not only that, but with so many of the "group" quests being converted to non-elite quests because people were having a hard time finding groups (with is a load of BS), the only real challenges were removed.

On my server (Illidan), which is pretty well populated, the 1-60 zones have been veritable ghostlands. I leveled up a few characters during BC (specifically a mage, paladin and rogue) and none of them did any instances except SM until BC content. I remember specifically being in Desolace completely alone, no horde at all. There have been plenty of times when I've been in a lowbie zone and there's 5 or less people in it during primetime. I don't think it's BS that people can't find groups for quests, let alone instances.

I can agree to disagree on the rest of your post.

My friend thinks that because everyone gets normal flying at level 60 with this change (whereas before druids would get it at 68 and everyone else would get it at 70) that this is a nerf to druids. My response to him was "way to look on the bright side".

[Tonuss]

Shame on Blizzard for listening to the whiners.

I don't feel that this is a case of Blizzard listening to whiners. You are correct in that there are people who will demand that the game become so easy as to be unplayable, but I think Blizzard ignores them and uses a more practical approach to game changes. I really think it's just a case of too little use of the lower level content because people want to get to the end game, so the practical approach is to make it easier to zoom through it.

I remember when they announced that once WotLK shipped, the timed ZA run would no longer yield the bear mount as a reward (I think that was it, anyway). Players howled in protest, because they weren't good enough to get it done at 70 and envisioned getting it cheap and easy at 80. I don't think Blizzard wants to cheapen the sense of accomplishment as much as they feel that the game starts at the end level and they want to keep the overall 1-to-max curve about the same.

Currently I'm leveling my team via quests and not in a particular rush, as I have no concrete plans for them aside from eventually getting to 80. I typically see one or two people in any of the zones I am in. And the few times that I've seen a "group" it is either a level 80 power-questing some low level guildies, or another multi-boxer using his high level to drag his auto-follow lowbie around. I honestly think that the faster a new player gets past that stage, the better the odds that he will continue to play. Otherwise he flames out in his early 30s because all of his quests are orange or red or "X players required" because there's no one to run instances with for filler exp. Solo exp grinding isn't as bad in WoW as in other games, but I figure it would kill the fun for a new player.

[Smoooth]

I just read this. Anyone with a level 80 will be able to get cold weather flying at level 68 using an heirloon item bought for 1000g. If you have the gold you will be able to level through northrend with epic flyers.

Just to confirm, Tome of Cold Weather Flight is actually a new heirloom item planned to go into patch 3.2. At level 80 players can buy this heirloom item from the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran for 1,000 gold and send it to an alt of the same realm, faction and account. The tome can be used to learn Cold Weather Flying at level 68, consuming the tome in the process.

Please note this feature is not yet in the newest version of the public test realm patch notes updated today. The item and its functionality are subject to change during the testing process.

[Multibocks]

Wow Duese you come across as a real a**hole. I know you are trying to sound like you are "not a jerk", but with every paragraph that's all I am getting out of it.

Let there be no illusions: You. are. a. jerk. You want people to walk both ways uphill in snow, JUST BECAUSE YOU DID IT. Sounds like my parents who were put out that I had computers for my schooling which made things easier (and harder.) I see, so lets stop the advancement of society because people "dont deserve it." (I know I know, real world comparisons suck.) Did I work for those computers? Nope. Did they make my schooling easier? Yep.

You need to either A. Find a more hardcore mmo or B. Roll with the punches. There will always be some way to set yourself apart from the crowd in WoW. Crying about old content is not one of those ways.

edit: P.S. Say Johnny is your friend and you introduce him to WoW. The new expansion pack: WoW; The Maelstrom is out and he wants to raid with you and your guild. After grinding out 1-80(by himself, God knows you are too selfish to help him) and then starting the new content. By this time it has taken him 3 mos of solid "alone time" leveling. He's bored. He quits. See this is what EQ was like. I introduced my brother to it late in Planes of Power. I showed him how to play and helped him level. Problem is he had to join a shit guild that was raiding Luclin to get the stuff necessary to raid PoP to join my guild. Ya, he quit. I like that WoW is casual enough that I can get someone up and raiding within a month(or whatever the goal is.) That's a LOT of time for a game. Blizzard realizes this and is making efforts to make the previous content faster and too bad, but honestly I don't really care that it steams you.

[Coltimar]

The game is not 1-60. Nor is it 60-70. It's 68-80. If you want to run MC, BWL and AQ go ahead. I do. I really like the 40 man content. I am going to have full lawbringer and sulfuras, one day.

[Multibocks]

I just read this. Anyone with a level 80 will be able to get cold weather flying at level 68 using an heirloon item bought for 1000g. If you have the gold you will be able to level through northrend with epic flyers.

Just to confirm, Tome of Cold Weather Flight is actually a new heirloom item planned to go into patch 3.2. At level 80 players can buy this heirloom item from the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran for 1,000 gold and send it to an alt of the same realm, faction and account. The tome can be used to learn Cold Weather Flying at level 68, consuming the tome in the process.

Please note this feature is not yet in the newest version of the public test realm patch notes updated today. The item and its functionality are subject to change during the testing process.

And this is f*(&ing awesome. The northrend zones are gigantic and take forever to cross on even an epic land mount. :thumbsup: for this change

[Multibocks]

One last comment:

I strongly feel that the way they are speeding up leveling and making the game "easier" is detrimental to the game. Some of the biggest complaints from people is that their isn't enough content out and they have done all the current content. If you level up an alt right now, you experience maybe HALF the content than you originally did due to xp gains and gear rewards, even less with RAF. Not only that, but with so many of the "group" quests being converted to non-elite quests because people were having a hard time finding groups (with is a load of BS), the only real challenges were removed. So, basically, people are experiencing half the content and the content they are seeing, they are blowing through so quickly and easily that it's pointless to even really call it questing. This is how the changes that have been made to leveling are detrimental to the game. Throw in the BoA items that increase xp gains (which they are adding in another one that does stack) and it's getting even more ludicrous.

So you are telling me that its easy to find a group in the old world to take down an elite mob for one quest? Let's get real. What you mean is there is some 80 passing through the zone for whatever reason that might be willing to help you. I also find it hilarious that you of all people, a multiboxer, say it's easy to find a group at the low levels. When is the last time you had to LFG? Another thing: the challenges of the lower levels STILL EXIST. Hello dungeons? Ya those are still elite mobs and SM: Cath will still rape your group if that runner pulls the next set of guys. (Again this is if you find a group.)

My point still stands. You are upset for the sake of being upset. You would rather spite any newcomers to the game to feed your ego than let them have 1-70 easier than you did.

[Stealthy]

Old content is old.

If I've been through it 3, 4, 5, ... times before levelling toons, then I welcome any changes that speed up the process, becuase I sure aint learing anything new or experiencing anything new doing it over and over again.

And I dont think you learn how to play your class effectively by doing quests...instances are where that happens.

Mount changes get the :thumbsup: from me.

Cheers,
S.

[TheBigBB]

I never thought WoW was an easy game. There's always some raid which is very difficult that only top players can do. The only exception to this is maybe when WOTLK first came out. 60 raiding and 70 raiding was actually quite difficult for the most part. How many saw the end of Sunwell?

[Tonuss]

I consider it "easy" in that it's accessible to the solo player. There is content there for guilds that want a challenge and to be at the cutting edge. But in "pre-WOW" Everquest, for example, just getting to the maximum level required a group of players. I'm not talking about farming gear or killing boss mobs or raiding. I mean just to get experience for your levels. Questing was horribly implemented and there were no instanced dungeons, so most of the time you had to grind mobs. And even mobs that were a few levels below you could pound you into the ground, save for a few classes that could solo with varying degrees of effectiveness. Experience gain was horribly slow, and if you died you lost a large chunk of experience (and you could lose a level, as well). When you died you rezzed automatically and were at your bind spot with none of your gear, which was on your corpse, which you had to locate and loot. And so on and so on.

When WOW came out, you could solo to 60. You can solo to 80 now as well. Gear progression via quests is decent (in "old" EQ you could go 40 levels or more before getting your hands on an item with stats). Instances and raid zones require groups, and the harder content requires a minimum level of competence, but getting to 80 can be done alone, and gearing up for heroics and raids allows you to progress in manageable steps. Don't get me started on raiding in EQ. *shiver*

That's what I mean whenever I say that I feel that WoW is easy. It's simply more accessible to the casual and solo player, and more accessible to the small guild that groups or raids semi-regularly.