I was busily poking the keys trying to put down what I think Blizzards next generation MMO will be like, and why. Low and behold there comes a ding in my mailbox… apparently a post from a few days ago had received a comment.
Needing a bit of a break from the thinking I was doing I wandered over to check it out.
It appears the Guthammer has made a rather thoughtful comment in my post about gear I am setting aside for my Caclysm alts.
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I might grab an heirloom weapon or two, and the trinkets, for leveling, but you won’t find any of my Cataclysm alts in the XP gear.
There was enough content in Azeroth to hit 60 twice per faction without too much overlap in content…why would I want to consume less of the reworked stuff that I just paid $40 for.
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That got me thinking, which oddly enough was what I was avoiding in the first place, but I digress.
He really does have a great point there.
The new content I am so looking forward to is not going to be tuned for new alts with a ton of heirlooms, it will be tuned for new players in general.
I am really looking forward to this new content and don’t simply want to level past it at top speed. I want to see it all, even if it means seeing it slower. There are a few ways I can see that would help this out, and they all involve changes in the way I have leveled for years.
A paradigm shift as it were.
Ever since my first character, an Undead Warrior named Dechion, made it to Brill I have been logging out from places that gave me rest. Inns, cities, any place that I can set my hearth will let me rest.
Rest is good right? After all my little cartoon friends need some time off after a busy day of killing 8,467 boars looking for twenty that actually came equipped with livers. As an added bonus next time I log in I get double experience for a time, depending on how long I parked there resting.
Did I carry that too far? Possibly.
I actually got to the point with some of my characters that I would only play them one day a week, thus ensuring I could get double experience the whole time from that first town to the level cap.
For my new characters that will stop, at least until they hit Outlands.
It only takes a second to walk two paces outside the inn. I don’t want to outlevel any of the new zones as I quest my way through, and never resting should go a long way towards that.
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I suppose I could simply not use the heirlooms that grant bonus experience, and in fact that is an option that I will keep open. In the case of the new content I would happily use ones that had no XP bonus if it was an option.
Then again, if the quests and mobs start turning green in a given zone I can always go turn off XP gains until I am done. I can always turn it back on when I move to the next zone.
You might think I am mad for not dashing to 85 as fast as I possibly can.
After all, once I get there I can start running 5 mans to gear for heroics.
Then run heroics to gear for raids.
Then grind for consumables and enchants and faction rep and ……
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Screw that.
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I don’t raid anymore anyway, I got off that hamster wheel.
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Why in the hell would I hurry up and fly past the stuff I actually like to get to something that seems more like a job?
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Sometimes as I am sitting around thinking things like “hey what all can I have in place for my new alts” I can get a little carried away. I blame it on having an early start and a quiet office.
Anyhow, thanks for the kick back to the reality of why I am looking forward to this in the first place.
To the list of things I am saving up for my future alts I’ll be adding a paradigm shift.
When the time comes, I am going to need it.
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Filed under: World of Warcraft |
Dechion's Place 
Yeah, that’s a pretty good idea about taking in as much of the revamped content as possible. But as Outland and Northrend are going to be minimally changed, that seems like the perfect time (lvl 60) to impliment that Heirloom gear.
This idea doesn’t really add up for me. While agree that you shouldn’t do everything you can to skip any of the content, there is absolutely nothing that says ‘once you hit zone level cap you MUST LEAVE!’
Personally, I’d say stick with your resting habits and use XP bonus heirlooms. Simply don’t skip quests and zones because of your level. If nothing else this will help you complete MORE quests and content because you won’t be dependent on getting proper size groups for the exceptionally hard quests.
I hear that. So many players are just “bwaaaaah! Go go go! MUST POWER LEVEL FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE! LOOK AT MY GIGANTIC POWERLEVELING EPEEN!!!” like if you actually take in lower level content by going slow, you’re wasting their time as well as theirs. There is no winning the game for this exact reason. It’s all about the trip, not the destination, IMO. I’m enjoying my trip now, and am looking forward to taking in Cataclysm at my own slow clip. This is a great post that should make all players pause to ask themselves if they actually take the time to stop and smell the roses, as it were.
*your time as well as theirs…*
😛
Heh, well I fully intend to blitz to 85 on Guthammer–but in my case that means taking a couple of days of vacation time when Cataclysm comes out, reading the quest texts and catching a reasonable amount of the story.
The level 1s who follow will take things at a normal rate–the point with them is seeing the new shiny. If I wanted to blitz more levels I would use existing characters (I have 3 80s, 3 70s and a 71).
Ah, don’t get me wrong. Dechion and my other 70’s and 80’s will still zip right on up to 85.
My two new ones though, they are taking their sweet time and smelling the roses along the way.
RE: “their time as well as theirs”
Lol, I actually thought you put that in on purpose! It’s actually fitting. Anyhow, nice post.
lol. No, that was just a brainfart, but you’re right! It’s very fitting now that u mention it. 😀
I can’t say I will reroll on day one, don’t know wether I will stride in at level 80 as well.
While my 2 month delay into WoLK (due to OS travel) is a bit extreme, I don’t know that I want to be elbowing others out of the way to see the content.
I know when I hit that misty zone on reaching Northrend, and I was all alone – that was spooky as all hell, I don’t know if it would have been the same effect with 1,000 others manically running about.
excellent point oh gnomish friend of mine.
I think I might just be posting more about this tomorrow.