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There’s been some interesting discussion lately about the issue of leveling multiple characters to the level cap. Tobold noted that the Death Knight class (coming in WotLK) will start at a high level, around 55 to 60, and wondered if the other classes should be allowed something similar.

He offered three suggestions for how Blizzard could implement a change to allow for easier/better/more fun 1 to 60 experience:

The Fast Forward Solution - Shorten the amount of time needed to level to 60 in some way, whether it be lowering the amount of XP needed to level, or letting people start out at a higher level.

The Gathering Solution - There is currently little incentive to encourage people to group up as they level. The loot from dungeons is great, but there is little (if any) increase in the amount of XP you get. Add to that the difficulty of getting a group, and the fact that the loot will all be replaced eventually, many people are choosing to level solo almost exclusively, at least until they make it to the Outlands. Tobold suggests that increasing the amount of XP obtained from grouping would make more people see that as a viable option while they level. He also raises the idea of cross-server instance groups, just as there are already cross-server battlegrounds, to give people more options in grouping.

The Flexible Solution - Give high level players the ability to temporarily lower their level to a certain point, so that they could run dungeons with lowbies and not destroy the challenge. For instance, instead of one 70 running two 20s through SFK, the 70 could drop down to 20 (for the purposes of that dungeon), they find two more people to fill out the group, and they can run the dungeon as it was meant to be.

I definitely agree that there is a problem with grouping in the 1 to 60 range. Matoskah, my Druid, has grouped a total of 2 times in all of his 46 levels. Part of that is because leveling is super fast now since the 2.3 changes, but it’s mostly due to the fact that it’s a pain to get a group together. The majority of people are focused on getting to the Outlands (as I am), and it just takes too much time and effort to get a group together, get to the dungeon, and run it, when compared to what I could get done solo in that time.

I really like the Gathering Solution that Tobold suggested. A lot of the old world dungeons were an absolute blast to run, and it’s a shame that no one wants to do them anymore. Increasing the XP gained from groups would let people experience more of the content in the game and increase the social aspect of it as well. That sounds like a win-win to me.

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Cameron had an interesting article on the Hype Problem surrounding the MMO genre. As he writes, the gaming media is apprehensive about criticizing an MMO too strongly before it’s released, as many of the problems that they see in a beta version may be fixed by the release date. Therefore, most of the coverage of upcoming games is largely positive.

Problems arise, however, when the game is released and people find that the release version of the game still has many of the issues and problems that the beta version had. The game has been hyped and talked about for months leading up to the release, but only now do the media feel safe in giving their honest opinion about the game. The end result of this is that gamers end up buying MMOs that sounded great in beta but turned out to be mediocre once released.

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Daniel Primed had a great article on video game sequels. He gives us three categories that sequels fit into: Bigger and Better, More of the Same, and A New Beginning.

Reading that article got me thinking about WoW and its sequels (the expansion packs). The Burning Crusade was definitely a Bigger and Better sequel. The level cap was raised, the gear is significantly better, the dungeons are more difficult, etc. There were some new elements introduced, but on the whole, things were similar to before BC, just much bigger and much better.

Looking ahead to WotLK, which we obviously don’t know a whole lot about yet, I would love to see more of A New Beginning approach to it. Bigger and better will only work for so long before things start to get stale, especially in an MMO. Something tells me Blizzard is aware of this though. From what we have heard about WotLK, it sounds like there will be many fundamentally new elements introduced - an entire zone dedicated to PvP (even on PvE servers), siege weapons, multiple starting zones to ease the 60 to 70 climb, and the Death Knight class (!), just to name a few. I definitely very excited to hear more about WotLK.

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