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Players who like leveling alts - or alt-o-holics - may find leveling in the first few levels of the WotLK expansion difficult.
With the accessibility of epics from badges and Arenas, the average level 70 character is now a far cry from a freshly-minted 70. The gear bar has certainly been raised among level 70s, compared to pre-BC 60s. This has led some to proclaim that "epics are the new blue."
Despite the proliferation of "welfare epics", there are still level 70 characters who are in their leveling blues and greens. They typically belong to alt-o-holics or really casual players who simply do not invest enough time to gear them up in pace with the general populace.
Some alt-o-holics even put their characters, mains or otherwise, into cold storage as soon as they ding 70 and move on to leveling a new alt. No Arenas, no heroics and certainly no raids for them. There's nothing wrong with avoiding the "endgame" really, but the gear level of their toons will be unavoidably lower than someone who chooses to focus on just one or two characters. Of course, there are alt-o-holics who do a good job of gearing up multiple 70s; if you're one of them, more power to you.
If Blizzard tunes the difficulty of the inital WotLK game to the "average" 70 with epics, will undergeared 70s and alt-o-holics be left in the dust?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-17-2008 @ 1:10AM
rick gregory said...
Um... V'Ming? That's why they do gear resets. The person with quest blues/greens will get gear that's basically as good as most blues and entry level epics now. Heck, I was levelling a shadow priest with some friends so we ran a bunch of scholo, strat etc... I got several blues that, pre-TBC, were VERY nice. They were totally outclassed by level 57 outland greens.
Same thing will happen in WotLK... those of us in Kara/badge gear will probably keep most of it through 72-74, newer players will regear in the starter zone in Northrend and be fine.
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4-17-2008 @ 8:38AM
Percinho said...
"I got several blues that, pre-TBC, were VERY nice. They were totally outclassed by level 57 outland greens. "
That's at the heart of my plan. I'm going to sit and wait for the Northrend drops to start appearing in the AH and gear myself up that way before I head over. Of course I'll poke my head through the door straight away, but I'm going to sit tight for a week or two before hitting it seriously and by then I should be nicely geared-up.
4-17-2008 @ 10:19AM
Ktok said...
Don't do that... save your money. This'll be no different than BC. A 58 or 60 freshly geared with quest greens from the old world can go to Hellfire and replace almost all of his or her gear with no problems at all. Wrath will not be different.
Oh, but there are more epics now? So what? Epics from the original content didn't get replaced till near 70, or even in Tier 5 raids. A few choice items didn't get replaced till BT, and Wrath will be the same way. That Season 3 gear isn't going to be replaced at 71, but it probably will be at 78-80... there is absolutely no reason to assume that Wrath item progression over BC gear will be any different than BC over original was.
But, hey, if you want to wait for the AH to flood with over-priced drops from Wrath. Go right ahead... me and everyone else that jumps right in will be more than happy to sell them to you for 10 times what they're worth :P Then you'll feel all warm and safe, zone over, and replace them with quest rewards within a week.
4-17-2008 @ 1:12AM
Gameon said...
If Blizzard tunes the difficulty to epic geared 70s, it will be a mistake. For one thing, if you roll a new character and level it from 1-80, you will encounter a huge speed bump at lvl70 when you're supposed to enter Northrend.
So no... I think Bliz will put the difficulty somewhere nearer to the freshly minted 70s.
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4-17-2008 @ 2:27PM
CN said...
Took the words right out of my mouth. I have to wonder what VM'Ing was thinking when writing this article.
4-17-2008 @ 3:00PM
darian said...
Actually, there is a significant speed bump at 60 as it stands.
Unless you're a skilled player who's accustomed to going into difficult situations, entering Outland even at 60 is difficult. Several of my casual friends turned around and went back to Azeroth to quest out a few more levels because of the difficulty.
By the time you're through with Hellfire Peninsula you're good on gear, but until you've pushed your way through a number of the quests it's not an easy proposition at all.
While Outland wasn't scaled for players decked out in Purple, it was scaled for players who had spent some modicum of time investing in gear.
4-17-2008 @ 1:29AM
xzor said...
With the Burning Crusade, Billiard worked hard to make the first few quests the player competed reward 'equalizer' items, that is, items that would level the playing field for level 58s in low 50s greens, so that they wouldn't get 2-shotted by outland mobs. I'm sure it will be the same for WoTLK.
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4-17-2008 @ 1:30AM
xzor said...
/facepalm
*Blizzard
4-17-2008 @ 1:49AM
Dan said...
Even in the worst case imaginable (melee chars can't kill a mob before they are turned into paste, casters run out of mana and then they are turned into paste) you have multiple options.
Grouping, despite that casuals have less time if the hurdle is that big it will be par for the course to get groups in those WotLK starter zones. Or, if you insist on soloing, you can do some dailies (which should be giving xp instead of loads of cash once the cap is raised) or just going on a killing spree in outlands, once you get to 71-72 you should be able to do the L70 quests much easier and get your new WotLK greens.
And all of this is most likely never going to happen, Outlands was tough, but doable, even if you entered it at L58 (you just had to make sure you didnt get any adds or anything of the like). Casuals in general doesn't mean incapable or unwilling to face a challenge, it means not having time to play so much, in general anyways.
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4-17-2008 @ 12:54PM
Badger said...
'Even in the worst case imaginable (melee chars can't kill a mob before they are turned into paste, casters run out of mana and then they are turned into paste) you have multiple options.'
Haha. That sounds like Blizzard resurrecting their ideas of 'Nightmare' and 'Hell' difficulty from 'D2.'
4-17-2008 @ 3:29AM
Hammer said...
Blizzard rely on casual players as much (or possibly even more) then they rely on raiders and Epic hoarders. That's why they'll make Wrath as accessible as possible, just like they did with BC.
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4-17-2008 @ 12:23PM
Isherwood said...
Exactly. Casual players pay the same $15 per month as everybody else. Plus, they use less bandwidth and server resources. Blizzard won't risk having them leave.
4-17-2008 @ 6:45PM
Calybos said...
I certainly hope so. See this section?
"Some alt-o-holics even put their characters, even mains, into cold storage as soon as they ding 70 and move on to leveling a new alt. No Arenas, no heroics and certainly no raids for them."
That's me. In fact, I'll never even get a character beyond 60 (I don't have the Burning Crusade and don't plan to get it). Leveling, and trying out as many types of characters and classes and races as possible... that's what the game is all about for me. I'm a casual gamer, and I appreciate Blizzard's efforts to support both my playstyle and the hardcores'.
4-17-2008 @ 4:10AM
dafire said...
Don't forget Blizzard want to get new player after release of wotlk .. so you will be able to level from 1 to 80 without any epics at all. They probably will fasten the level 60-70 some time after release of wotlk.
Also they won't require death knights to farm karazhan or badges.
The first zones will probably start for players with level 68, not requiering any epics at all... the first quest lines will give you gear compareable to t4 equipment.
player with better gear will level faster.. like t3-player did with bc.
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4-17-2008 @ 9:22AM
imparush said...
Good point, but I find it stupid trying to get good gear when WOTLK is out you gear don't matter that must, all ready tried it with BC. And that is why I think having more 70 is better than just 1 with good gear. Still doing endgame is fun, and should be about the fun, but don't do it just for the gear u are gonna replace sometime soon when WOTLK is out.
4-17-2008 @ 8:11AM
Gunder said...
Don't forget all the DKs will be in the situation of a freshly-minted 70 so I highly doubt there will be a big jump in difficulty.
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4-17-2008 @ 8:11AM
Chriasas said...
I'm trying to get a Shaman alt to 70 before WOTLK, but I admit, it will be hard. I also plan on dabbling with the Death Knight, So I'll have 4 70s to level. It's gonna be tough deciding who to level first.
Not only will we need to decide who to leave behind, but, with 6 character slots and a heroic class coming, we're running out of alt space as it is.
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4-17-2008 @ 8:15AM
Memzer said...
I don't think the situation is that bad really. I've raised a character of every class to 70 now, sure most are only in Karazhan level and PvP gear but it's enough to do dailies on them to supply my mains :)
And for the record, anybody with multiple 70s probably doesn't fit the definition of a casual player [even if they only play the game casually at this point in time] :)
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4-17-2008 @ 8:15AM
Chriasas said...
You know, I've noticed that the only thing for a pre 70 character in this expansion is the new profession. Blizzard is taking a big chance with an endgame-only expansion.
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4-17-2008 @ 11:31AM
rick gregory said...
No they aren't. Virtually all of the players who've played a few months or more now are either 70 or will be by time WotLK is out this fall/winter. Most of us who've been playing a year or more are bored with the current stuff - yeah, we have ZA and a new 5 man... but that's it. This really isn't different than with TBC - the 60s were bored out of their collective skulls. Me? I started playing 1.5 months before TBC release so I was in my 30s or 40s when it did... I just kept levelling, knowing that I had 10 more levels to get through.