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August 28th, 2008 @ 15:57
WoW: Wrath of the Lich King lead designer Tom Chilton has defended Blizzard’s decision to reduce the time it takes players to reach level 70 once the expansion is launched, saying that the game mustn’t become intimidating for new users.
Wrath of the Lich King will see the game’s level cap increased to 80.
“I think what really matters to us is that the game doesn’t become more and more intimidating for new players to take on,” said Chilton.
“We feel like that if we were to constantly increase the level cap and never go back and address the total time it takes to get from the beginning to the end, then we would see the game become a bigger obstacle for new players to start up and play with their friends.”
He added: “I think a lot of our player base actively creates new characters so these kinds of changes benefit those players also.”
Chilton was speaking at Games Convention last week. There’s no date fixed for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King as yet.
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August 28th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
faster leveling is good but they should also look at updating older content and giving people reasons not to power level to 80 or no matter how fast someone can get to 80 they’ll still be doing it in largely empty areas
August 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I’m going to 70 for the first time at the moment, and I have to say, the game itself is pretty much amazing. What do you mean by empty areas? Can’t say I’ve ever been stuck for things to do yet. I’m only at 29, but I’ve been constantly busy for the whole time I’ve been playing.
August 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Empty as in no-one else around. Oh, and enjoy the levelling… it’s the only worthwhile part of the game.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I wish I could have got to level 70. When I was playing, the game started to become a bit of a slog after level 40. I always found it entertaining to play if I was with friends.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
PT: Ah, I see. I’m in a good guild, I think, but you’re right. People d just speed through it.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I’m still tempted to give it another go..
August 28th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Yeah, I had two chars at endgame (top level guild etc etc) and I realised that I was only playing because I didn’t want to let my guild down. I’d stopped having anything resembling fun a long time ago. With the rep grinding etc it felt more like a job than a game. Made more sense for me to put the 100s of hours I was spending in WoW into playing a bunch of other games rather than burning out and quitting gaming altogether.
Fun, but because of the people you play with as much as anything else. I particularly enjoyed levelling because you were seeing the game as originally intended, rather than the content created to keep people paying their subscription.
/grinds
/farms
/raids
/repairs
August 28th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
when i played launch stranglethorn vale was awash with questers from both sides and battle was constant, now you could run around stranglethorn vale for a whole day and see no one, it’s not the end of the world but it sucks a lot of enjoyment out of it