Shadowlands Leveling Changes & Level Squish

By RenataKane Updated: 2021/09/02

Upcoming Changes to Shadowlands Leveling in Patch 9.1.5

Players who have done the Maw introduction quest at level 50 will have the option to skip it by talking to Highlord Darion Mograine in their capitol city.

Completing the Shadowlands or Korthia Covenant Campaign on any character allows alternate characters joining that same Covenant to be eligible to receive the Renown associated with that Campaign from all available catch-up sources.

Completing the Shadowlands Campaign on any character allows alternate characters joining that same Covenant to immediately unlock their third Soulbind. (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)

A new rank of heirloom gear has been added and all heirloom gear is now usable in Shadowlands and outside of Threads of Fate. (These features will be available in a later PTR build)

Heirloom Scouting Map toys that instantly explore all areas and grant all viable flight paths to your alt are now available for all expansions (was only Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms). These are: Scouting Map: Surviving Kalimdor and Scouting Map: Modern Provisioning of the Eastern Kingdoms for Alliance and Scouting Map: Walking Kalimdor with the Earthmother and Scouting Map: The Eastern Kingdoms Campaign for Horde. Each costs .

Improvements to Threads of Fate, including:

Tal-Inara now offers a Torghast, Tower of the Damned daily quest for experience and Soul Ash.

Tal-Inara now offers a PvP Battlegrounds daily quest for experience and gear.

Threads of Fate Bonus Objectives are now significantly shorter and award Renown.

Threads of Fate Zone Objectives now reward higher item level gear and anima.

Shadowlands Class Leveling Guides

Death Knight 8-60 Leveling Guide

Hunter 1-60 Leveling Guide

Paladin 1-60 Leveling Guide

Shaman 1-60 Leveling Guide

Demon Hunter 8-60 Leveling Guide

Mage 1-60 Leveling Guide

Priest 1-60 Leveling Guide

Warlock 1-60 Leveling Guide

Druid 1-60 Leveling Guide

Monk 1-60 Leveling Guide

Rogue 1-60 Leveling Guide

Warrior 1-60 Leveling Guide

Why Change Leveling?

Time: leveling takes too long

Satisfaction: too many levels = not every level is rewarding

Consistency: too many storylines and not enough time to explore them all before leveling out of an area or expansion

Leveling up in ShadowlandsLevel Squish - 50 Is The New 120

Current

New

Current

New

Current

New

Current

New

32-34

68-71

100-101

2-4

35-36

72-75

102-103

5-7

37-38

76-79

104-105

8-9

39-40

80-81

106-107

10-11

41-42

82-83

108-109

12-13

43-44

84-85

110-111

14-15

45-47

86-87

112-113

16-17

48-49

88-89

114-115

18-19

51-53

90-91

116-117

20-22

54-56

92-93

118-119

23-25

57-59

94-95

120

26-28

60-63

96-97

29-31

64-67

98-99

Level translations are more uneven through the midlevels, varying between 2-3 levels/level, then move to a straight 2:1 translation starting at level 80 (level 30 Shadowlands).

So far, a Demon Hunter or Death Knight who character copies onto the PTR while still in their newbie zone is translating levels according to the chart above instead of starting at level 8. This may change for live.

Flying becomes available at level 30 in Shadowlands, which translates to current levels 80-81. Pre-Shadowlands, flying was learned at level 60, which translates to level 25 in Shadowlands. Characters who learned to fly in a previous expansion between levels 60 and 80 (25-29) will retain the ability to fly in Shadowlands.

Leveling Speed in ShadowlandsHeirlooms in ShadowlandsHeirlooms' experience bonus will be removed when Shadowlands pre-patch goes live.

(2) Set: Rested experience consumed is reduced by 30%.

(3) Set: Increases your out-of-combat regeneration in the outdoors, normal dungeons and battlegrounds.

(4) Set: Gaining a level triggers Burst of Knowledge, dealing Holy damage to nearby enemies and granting you 40% primary stat for 2 minutes. Defeating additional enemies extends this effect, up to 2 additional minutes.

(6) Set: Rested experience consumed is reduced by an additional 30%.

except weapons and trinkets

Heirloom pieces will continue to scale to your level and will probably still be better than anything you will find in the world, so those are some armor and weapon slots you don't have to worry about replacing as you level.

As far as we know, you will still be able to enchant heirloom pieces with powerful abilities (I like Enchant Neck - Mark of the Hidden Satyr on my heirloom necklace, as one example) and not lose that until you replace the item at max level.

You can apply transmogs to heirlooms to maintain a particular "look", or change it as often as you change your socks.

Other Experience Buff Changes in Shadowlands

Enlightenment - Monks' Peak of Serenity daily buff will change to granting rested experience

Draught of Ten Lands - will still retain the 10% experience bonus, but this bonus will be capped at level 50

Insightful Rubellite is being renamed Nascent Rubellite; the 5% experience buff is being changed to a 5% swim speed buff.

The following items will become Poor quality and no longer usable when Shadowlands goes live: Elixir of Ancient Knowledge. Elixir of the Rapid Mind, and Excess Potion of Accelerated Learning

Level Boosts in ShadowlandsNew Players and Alts in ShadowlandsNew Players:

1-10: Exile's Reach (new newbie zone for all players)

10-50: Battle for Azeroth

50-60: Shadowlands

Experienced Players:

10-50: Any choice of the 8 expansions

50-60: Shadowlands

Changes to Death Knight, Demon Hunters, and Allied Races in ShadowlandsDeath's Power GrowsDefender of AzerothDefender of Azeroth*Allied Races cannot be Demon Hunters.The Leveling Experience in the Shadowlands Expansion

A new player is one who has never created or leveled a character on an account. It may also include one who doesn't have a max-level character on their account.

An experienced player has more than one character on their account. There is no information at present what the minimum level of an existing character must be to be considered an experienced player.

1-10 Leveling - Exile's Reach
Exile's Reachtwo-boss mini-dungeon

Exile's Reach Walkthrough and Analysis

1-10: Leveling - Traditional Racial/Class Newbie Zones Elwynn ForestTirisfal GladesThis shows an experienced player's choice -- either Exile's Reach or a starting zone based on race (or class for DK/DH).10-50: Leveling - Choosing Expansions with Chromie TimeBoralusDazar'alorChromieChromie Warchief's Command BoardHero's Call Boardany Expansion Overview

The original Azeroth continents of Kalimdor and East Kingdoms offer great variety and nostalgia, with many of the base lore stories that serve as the base of the entire series.

Burning Crusade has some of the best dungeons of the expansions, with interesting variety and not a lot of complicated mechanics.

Wrath of the Lich King offers a linear story that provides much of the basis of events that are coming up in Shadowlands.

Cataclysm is more like a series of vignettes, with each of the five zones offering a different but contained story line.

Pandaria's beauty and humor appeal to those who like a good story, but also enjoy the more lighthearted side of things.

Draenor introduces the Garrison, a player-built development with your own choices of buildings. Its tone is overall much more grim and dark.

Legion offers the artifact weapons and Class Halls, which give interesting developments to your character as a class member.

Battle for Azeroth, as the expansion just prior to Shadowlands, gives the immediate story just prior to Shadowlands, so is a good choice for players who may be returning after a long hiatus and need to get caught up on the lore.

Chromie Time Expansion

Approximate Pace

Warlords of Draenor

12 hours

Legion

14 hours

Battle for Azeroth

16 hours

Mists of Pandaria

16 hours

Cataclysm

20 hours

Wrath of the Lich King

24 hours

The Burning Crusade

24 hours

Warlords of Draenor - How to Skip Opening Questline

Select the WoD Timewalking Campaign from Chromie.

Accept the ride to Blasted Lands from the Archmage.

Once you are in the Blasted Lands, abandon the Warlords of Draenor: The Dark Portal quest. This method will not work if you leave the quest in your log.

When you reach the Dark Portal, instead of talking to Khadgar, run through the portal. You'll come out at the crash site, at the beginning of the part where you actually open your garrison.

Legion - How to Skip Opening Questline

Select the Legion Timewalking Campaign from Chromie.

Accept "The Legion Returns" quest. Do "To Be Prepared" and "The Battle for the Broken Shore", until you are transported to the ship.

Right-click your character portrait and select "Leave instance group." You will be teleported off the ship.

Speak to the NPC right in front of you. You will get an option of "I've seen this story before". Select it, and you appear right in Dalaran.

Legion artifact weapons do not automatically scale with you the way that heirloom weapons do.Battle for Azeroth - How to Skip Opening Questline

Pick up the quest The Stormwind Extraction. Meet your team but do NOT drink the potion. Drop the quest.

Get a mage to port you to Dazar'alor.

Go to the end of the docks. Nathanos will be there offering you The Stormwind Extraction again with no skip. Do not pick it up.

Board the Golden Skipper ship at the end of the dock. Ride it to the Echo Islands and back.

Pick up The Stormwind Extraction from Nathanos, take the ports to Silvermoon and Orgrimmar as directed, and go to the inn.

Talk to Nathanos here and he offers the skip.

50-60: Leveling - Shadowlands

Find out more about Shadowlands' zones!

Bastion (Kyrian) > Maldraxxus (Necrolords) > Ardenweald (Night Fae)> Revendeth (Venthyr)Choosing Your PurposeThreads of Fate - Covenant Choice for Level 50 AltsMaw Introductory Quest LIneFatescribe Roh-TahlThe Threads of Fate

The Threads of Fate

You choose a Covenant immediately

Level up doing world quests, side quests, bonus objectives, and dungeons.

Main story line will not be available

This choice is final and you can't go back to Replay Storyline.

Replay Storyline

Replay the original main storyline, just as you did on your first character.

You will move through the covenant campaigns and select a Covenant at level 60.

You can change your mind - at any time, you can go to the Fatesinger and request Threads of Fate instead.

You get your Covenant abilities right away.

Playing the optional storylines for credit gives you a quicker route to build zone factions, such as Undying Army for Maldraxxus or The Undying Hunt for Ardenweald. You can do these while you are leveling up the normal way, but it slows down progress toward completing the campaign.

You have access to World Quests, which also gives you some advance ability to build local reputations.

Getting new gear is less smooth than it is in the normal zone campaign. Players in Threads of Fate may need to rely more on crafting, doing dungeons, or shopping the Auction House to stay current.

You don't actually make progress on your Covenant-specific objectives until you're 60.

Some people find Threads of Fate less smooth overall, with less direction on where you need to go to complete your objectives.

or War Mode and LevelingEnlistedEnlisted20 Shadowlands Talent CalculatorClass Changes and LevelingFrostboltFire BlastGround Mounts and Flying in Shadowlands

Rank

Speed

Type

Training cost

Required level

Apprentice Riding

60%

Ground

Journeyman Riding

100%

Ground

Expert Riding

150%

Flight

Master Riding

310%

Flight

You will not need Draenor or Broken Isles Pathfinder to fly in those expansion zones in Shadowlands. Flying becomes available at level 30 in Shadowlands, which translates to level 80 in the current expansion.Expert RidingHow to Prepare for Shadowlands Leveling ChangesTo have the most options under the new leveling system, you need to get one character on your account to level 50 before Shadowlands goes live. Focus on getting BfA Pathfinder if you have not done so already. Battle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part OneBattle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part Two

Comments

Comment by killersmile

Does anyone know how this changes will affect farming old raids for mounts and mog?

Comment by marybc

Good leveling information. Thanks. Looking forward to more information about Flying.

Comment by Unowhat

So for the first run of Shadowlands, we follow a linear path to get an idea of the story and where it goes...and all subsequent characters aka Alts will just do whatever they want afterward.

I like this idea because it gets kinda monotonous having to redo the whole story again, and again, and again for each alt.

Comment by Fenix636

Do we know yet how this is going to affect earning allied race transmogs?

Comment by MeAjur

Will players playing free be able to make Death Knight and Demon Hunter characters?

Comment by toomanykades

Hi I'm an altaholic.

I have numerous alts at various levels (i.e. I use a spreadsheet to track them all) varying from 120 to 110 to 70 to 60 etc.

What I'm interested to know is, have Blizzard said anything about how various low level alts will be treated in the new xpac?

For example what level will my 111 characters be, or my level 75 or 60?

Really looking forward to the changes in levelling but just wondering how it will effect my alt-fam.

Comment by Moncalieri

"Time: leveling takes too long

Satisfaction: too many levels = not every level is rewarding

Consistency: too many storylines and not enough time to explore them all before leveling out of an area or expansion"

So because people are too effing lazy to level to 120 & experience various expcs the rest of us need suffer? smh

Comment by Seresin

It seems like Allied races are going to start at level 10 in order to start an expansion at the same point as new characters. So, I don't think it will be an exact division by 2.4.

My guess is that if a toon is 20 or below it's ÷2. If over 20 then it would be something like ((Level-20)÷2.5)+10.

Comment by doxito

is there any information about how pandaren will work? Because they start neutral and on their own starting area.

Comment by Blinkyn

Are there any theories as to what constitutes the "end of an expansion" for those who choose to level up via the "pick an expansion and finish it" method? Starting with Mists of Pandaria, every expansion has added new zones for max level players: Isle of Giants, Tanaan Jungle, Argus, Mechagon, etc. Do those zones count for leveling? Where's the end point for Legion? Is it the base 4 zones? Suramar? Broken Shore? Argus?

If it truly is "Loremaster your way through every quest in every zone," that would automatically make Cataclysm the default leveling expansion for people who want to get through the leveling fast, since it has 5 zones and the least amount of content, vs. having to Loremaster your way through all of Eastern Kingdoms AND all of Kalimdor to get out of Vanilla. Warlords of Draenor and its 6 zones, including Tanaan Jungle, would be a close second.

Just something I'm curious about. ^_^

Comment by Solivarnik

Everything in your chosen expansion will scale dynamically to match your level and power. Think of this as "outdoor timewalking". - this thing destroyed the levelling. Why level, if you are basically the same, since world levels with you? This took the joy of levelling entirelly.

Comment by koda

Why Change Leveling?
When team is wining trainers dont change actor
I love to level up character i enjoy it when start from elvel 1 and level up slow
But that is my opinion

Comment by billy1959

I like the sound of this

Comment by fixfireleo

I am against this. I like leveling better than end game content. Leveling gives me a sense of accomplishment and progression. I think I have 15 toons and only one level 120. I play solo and dont raid or do dungeons. Blizzard sells level boosts for people who dont like leveling. There is absolutely no reason to squish the levels. The changes to where you can quest at what levels are fine, just do that and maybe even make the level boost a few dollars cheaper but dont take away leveling from people who like to do it.

Comment by tool2727

So now they are full on copying the Guild Wars leveling system which has always been superior to WoW from day one.

Comment by WHTJunior

There are some questions that have been resting in the back of my brain, and I need to get them out. I know it's still early, and there might not be answers for these yet. I'll reuse the article format to pose my questions:

Level Squish - 50 Is The New 120

How does this impact the different game systems that rely on character level, such as quest hubs and quest progression; collections like Toys, Heirlooms, and Transmog; and even the War Boards and Adventurer’s Journal?
How will PVP brackets work, to ensure the top end of each bracket isn't massively more powerful than the low end?
How will mounts be treated? Chauffeur until 10, flying at a later level, or with Pathfinder? For the sake of Summon Random Mount, please include the flying mounts in the Ground Mounts table, or allow players to check a box that all mounts are included in Grounded areas.
Will wild Battle Pets be rescaled, or use the new pet battle sync, so that new players aren't running into level 25 battle pets the entire selected expansion?
The same can be asked of Hunter Pets. Will they all scale within their respective zone, now?

Leveling Speed in Shadowlands

In Shadowlands, leveling will progress about 60-70% faster for 1-50, compared to the time it now takes to get from 1-120.

Does this mean the removal of Heirloom gear, or is this the number associated to a full Heirloom set?
If Heirlooms are still useful, how will they scale to the new content?
Will the base-level Heirlooms scale to the 1-50 zones?

New Players and Alts in Shadowlands

New players and alts will have different choices and leveling experiences. New players will be directed through a specific, limited set of zones for leveling purposes; experienced players will have more choices.

Experienced Players:
10-50: Any choice of the 8 expansions
50-60: Shadowlands

For mid-level squished characters, will there still be a quest popup to go see Chromie? I would think so, but some of my 90s and 100s will be in Shadowlands soon enough.
For low-level characters that are squished under 10 (levels 1-23 could possibly end up below 10), will they be invited to do Exile’s Reach, sent to Chromie, left to their own devices?

Changes to Death Knight, Demon Hunters, and Allied Races in Shadowlands

In Shadowlands, Death Knights and Demon Hunters will start at level 1 with everyone else.

Allied Races will begin at level 10 instead of level 20 and will have their choice to go to any of the 8 existing expansions.

*There is a slight conflict, unless you assume that Allied Race level trumps Class level. This means that Allied Death Knights will only be invited into the new DK starting zone in 8.3, and then be kicked out in Shadowlands. Also, is the old DK starting area going to be removed completely, or will that still be selectable as one of the possible Legacy DK starting zones? (*this is addressed by the new DK starting zone for Allied Race characters. There is very little to do, and they can start here at 10. The other DK starting zone will likely be converted to a 1-10 starting zone.)
Any plans to expand race/class options? Lightforged and Highmountain only have 6 each. LF could train as Monk/Shaman, and HM could train Paladin/Priest.
Any word if the Nightborne or Void Elves will be eligible for Demon Hunters?

1-10 Leveling - Exile's Reach

Could this be the beginning of adding a new starting zone in each future expansion, allowing the player to select from multiple expansion starting areas?

10-50: Leveling - Hitting the Expansions

I’d like to see a pre-Cataclysm option for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, even though I know we have that in WoW Classic… sort of.
What happens to Shadowlands once it is no longer current? Does it get rolled into the “Outdoor Timewalking” content? How does this apply to future expansions?
How will the add-on bonus content (previously max-level) be treated in "outdoor timewalking"? For many expansions, nearly half of the content, if not more, was only available after hitting max level. For example, a large portion of the Draenor Garrison was locked until 100, and since Legion, there wasn't much benefit for sticking around to do it all. Many newer characters won't max out their buildings, build the docks, or travel to Tanaan. In other expansions, they will not see the Timeless Isle, Isle of Giants, Suramar, Broken Shore, Argus, Nazjatar, or Mechagon.

Comment by MarkKehn

I just recently returned to World of Warcraft a couple of nights ago after leaving in 2012 - this was the Mists of Pandoria expansion I think. Last night I bought the Battle for Azeroth expansion. Does this new level squish apply to everyone when the time comes or only those who bought the Shadowlands expansion?

Thanks.

Comment by fixfireleo

For all who havent unlocked Flying in Draenor, Legion and BfA, you might want to consider knocking it out now with your 120 because, after the changes, You will be facing elites your same level in ALL zones. It's easier to bang them out when you are 120 and they are 102 or 103 than to wait. Up to you of course, but wanted to mention it. (No more farming gear for alts either.)

Comment by EnigmaXkills

so allied races who start at 20 in retail are going to start at 10. What about starter accounts? I still have mine from cata and I would like to know if they are also being squished to 10 or are they being removed completely.

If they do keep them, how are they going to control how much content they are allowed to do or are they now going to be restricted to where they can go? Are they only allowed to take the new island leveling experience which therefore restricts them from doing any of the other content? I also noticed they might lose their ability to use a mount if journeyman riding is at level 17

Comment by RealZKun

I personally don't like the change because there was nothing wrong with the old leveling system

Comment by hulio23

I'm over levelling my alts through BfA at the moment due to no flying due to the (imo) horrible grind through nasj and mecha. So my alts are running around levelling.

Now, silly question but can I take my alts back through the old content to make use of flying and level up that way or I will continue levelling in BfA after the level squish?

Comment by DarkZaraelys

I've not played seriously since Mists, though played for a couple months in both legion and BfA and just resubbed and bought shadowlands.
I love the sounds of the leveling changes and have 2 big questions I'm hoping someone can help me answer.

1) If say I choose to level a character through Mists again, am I locked to those dungeons or will I get queued into a dungeon from any expansion? (I'm hoping its any expansion for population)

2) The heritage armor is locked behind leveling to 120, currently, does that mean it will unlock at 50 come shadowbringers? (I boosted an allied race, and race changed into one, so now looking at if I should try to get something to 120 for it or if I should wait for the apparently much faster leveling experience)

Thanks and hope to see some of you in game!

Comment by h3xkore

Sounds awesome! been wanting to fully experience a story arc of certain xpacs while still progressing. glad i have a bunch of alt slots i can use up!

Comment by sprimm1

What it sounds like to me.... new players will be only able to level up in BfA and since they wouldn't have PF already done, they won't be able to fly AT ALL until level 60 after getting PF in SL. Why would they not be able to choose one of the earlier expansions to level up in?

Comment by sivla

I am not happy about any of this to be fair. They should have left flying the way it was, you need to get the pathfinders to be able to fly. For the extremely few new players they remove the need to meet the requirements they can just fly. Why didn't they take this approach from the beginning and neve have the ridiculous pathfinders? because blizz love time gating because of lack of content and it already sounds to me that shadowlands is going to have very little content because of the fact we are being forced into a linear path and then the alts can work on end game the moment they arrive in shadowlands, surely you'd only do that if there was a content shortage, and make alts live on a stable of copy and paste prior content from prior expansions.

It makes me laugh they suddenly needed to change the starting experience after nearly 16 years...when wow seriously struggles to pull in a handful of new players as it is, its mostly resubbing or multi accounts etc...this all stinks badly of a desperate company trying to recapture something they never will..no matter what they do..the current devs are just awful and they need to go, its as simple as that, devoid of ideas, stale and boring content..wow needs much better!

Comment by Tackomeil

A friend of mine wants to start out in pre-patch to level his first character through Legion, so he can make a Nightborne (He insists on it, lol) Now, that isn't really the problem, as he does get funneled into BfA, but going other places seems fine.
He does want to start out with a Death Knight, but i'm not really sure that's possible, since they can't go to exiles reach. I know that a new Character can make a DK now(done that myself a few years back), but will he be able to create one from the start?

Comment by lowpull

Blizzard cant make up thier mind that's why they keep losing players. They think taking Retail back to level 60 will make it feel like classic. IT WONT. with dungeon/group finder and all the other items. you wont have to interact in it... seems like they are making the same mistake they made when they starting adding levels at 60. the negate all the time put into your toon every xpac. You spent 15 years, if your still playing, on a toon that someone that join last week will be able to hang with........ that great for the week old player... but discouraging for the people that have been here forever. IE why i stopped playing......why waster my time when i can just wait for the xpac cause it wont matter how high my heart is or my gear level it will be replace the first week.

Comment by Onomatopoeia

Wait a minute... so new players will be forced to level 10-50 in BfA zones? Does that mean new Horde players will be subjected to the disaster that is Dazar'alor for 40 levels sans flying?

Comment by thecrius

Are there any news about the events progression inside the 10-50 levels?

I mean, currently the 100-110 is an horrible drag because the entire expansion relied on the Artefact Weapons being the wow factor but with BFA, even if you have still to reach the current events, you start the 100 lvl quest for the artefact with a legendary that spell out "this item is not working anymore, you used its power to yadayada" which, apart from the absolute immersion breaking for Legion storyline, leaves you doing 10 levels with zero "new things" happening, getting rewarded some grey items that are just some extra gold.

In this new levelling experience, things like this will be reverted? Will I choose Legion and get to experience the full expansion for real? Artefact working provided I don't leave the zones of the expansion?

Comment by Ithenell

"Experienced players are not limited to a single expansion. You can move from one expansion to another through normal means of travel. This is helpful if you start in one area and find out your friends are all in another, or you change your mind about where you want to level."

Thank Loki for that, because I was hearing we were locked into the chosen content until 50 and Im pretty sure that might annoy the hell out of some players, like me for instance, lol

Comment by Ashildr

As a (very) casual player who's been around since the launch of Vanilla, WoW has developed way too fast for me (not playing all the time, not being there from the start of any expansion + no experience in any end-game content), so the launch of classic was great as I got to experience the story and the world before everything changed, both due to cataclysmic events (ingame) and other developments (class changes, mechanics, it all got faster paced), again.

The leveling squish + gaming/leveling experience in Shadowlands is great news to me, as I really like the new skins, mechanics, and I really want to be up to date with retail at the same time.
While it's true leveling takes long 0-120 (yes, -Vanilla 0-60 was longer), and I don't have time as an adult with irl-responsibilities, I still feel leveling happens way too fast (I'm now a lvl 30 orc who just got to The Barrens).

So I'm wondering, what will leveling feel like when they say it will be a lot faster, but looms get their exp bonus removed, AND we'll be able to experience any expansion we desire?
So what do they mean when "leveling will be A LOT faster"? How can they make it faster, and still give us the time/chance to experience the story without missing too much of what's happened over the course of 8 expansions?

I get what the theory behind it all... but what is it supposed to feel like?

The way leveling happens in BfA, we'd be able to choose to level from 1-50 in Outlands, and get to 50 before we leave Hellfire.

Just curious :)

Thanks for any response/input.

Comment by Keuric

I'd like to know when Blizzard plans to refund heirlooms for those who have spent hundreds of thousands of gold on gear that no longer serve the intention they bought it for. I've probably spent 500+k on heirlooms. Yes, I'm that guy who bought the separate Paladin and Warrior plate sets. I bought the Hunter and Shaman mail sets. I own every weapon, ring, trinket. Hundreds of thousands of gold, and I got them to speed up leveling, directly - not in the abstract. Heirlooms today DIRECTLY amplify the time you spend into time saved. There's no issue with rested experience running out, no holy damage done if you level up around mobs you're killing - time, the most finite resource for everyone on the planet, is directly saved.

I don't care about having 3.3 rested XP bars, when I'm power-leveling (I single-session leveled two toons in a row during Cataclysm pre-nerf), those bars are going to be on fire - the rested bonus isn't going to keep up. It won't come close, it's borderline laughable.

So if this is being taken from us, we need the option to refund our heirlooms. Why? They don't do what we bought them for. They sort of, kind of do what we bought them for, for a relatively brief period of time, and there's some aggressive set bonuses. Does that seem entitled? Maybe to you, but think of it like this.

Imagine you spent 500k on a flying mount that still flies - briefly. You will be automatically dismounted at the edge of every zone, every time. Portals don't work anymore, mages can just teleport. You are automatically dismounted every zone - it doesn't kill you, but you also have a cooldown. You have to run across the same distance that you flew for, to fly again. But don't worry! Your 500k mount also comes with a running speed boost. For a little while. That'd be some real crap, right? You'd say "I bought this mount for flying across long distances, until I want to dismount, this is not what I bought at all. I should have the option of a refund, for a 500,000 gold mount. Also, it applies to all of your mounts you've spent years collecting, not just the one. But if you want the refund, you're the problem.

Comment by DreamMkr

So what about us who dont want the new exp are we still getting dropped down to 50 or do we stay where we are at.

Comment by arrameas

Just wanted to clarify something because it's a granular thing that I've had differing answers on: in order to access Chromie Time for leveling alts, do I just need a 120 character on my account or a 120 character who has also completed the BFA war campaign in its entirety? Because I have the former, but I've slacked on the latter, so if the story completion is a requirement to level my other characters in an expansion of my choosing I need to get on that!

Comment by XalonMG

I wonder what will happen with cataclysm. After leaving your starting area, you are in cataclysm content (old 1-60). So if starting areas are done at new level 10 and all expansions cover 10-50 (Shadowlands 50-60), what will become of azeroths main two continents?

I'm hoping its not ignored

starting zones 1-10. Kalimdor & Eastern Kingdoms zones would be level 10-30. And then expansions can be level 30-50 with Shadowlands 50-60.

I hope current 1-60 is not squished too much. What I see on chart is different from what I heard that "all players can level up to 50 in any xpac they choose". So is level adjusted based on xpac you select with Chromie? Or does everything just go by the normal level like on the chart above?

If anyone can explain, I would appreciated the clarification.

Comment by Jakeofb1adez44

Having played around on both the Beta and PTR, not extensively I will admit, I have noticed that many zones still have set starting levels and level caps associated with them. An example being Pandaria, which you can start at level 10 but maxes out at level 35. I'm a little concerned here, and I'd love if anyone has any source for Blizzard saying that they aren't totally done yet with the leveling revamp, because I have absolutely no desire to ever level through BfA again, and the ability to completely skip it is one of the things that has made me excited to finishing up my new classes for the Heritage Armors. If MoP caps out at 35, Legion at 45, and I'm still stuck finishing BfA for my final 5 levels... I am going to be a little irked at the bait and switch that Blizzard pulled in regard to leveling.

Comment by cfmcghee

I tried to do the daily monk training in Pandaria and got destroyed at level 12. Anyone else have this problem? I did submit a bug report.

Comment by Fang86

What exactly defines "Experienced Player" in this context?

Comment by NierielNora

as an update... Pandaria now somewhat works. They added a gryphon transport outside the castle to the ship. Unfortunately, that is all you get. The first quest in MoD then is right away broken. You have to perform tasks on a vehicle, but the UI doesn't start. You can't complete the quest, until that is fixed. Other than that, you can roam the world. The portal inside the portal room also unlocks.

Another fine example that Blizzard absolutely tests nothing.

Comment by Starlynk

@RenataKane - here is an updated image of the Chromie campaign selection window.
https://gyazo.com/3344ad435e61bd9864095ed64e30d9a0

Comment by wildtiger

What does old level 50 equate to after the level squish? It seems 50 was missed from the table in this guide; it just jumps straight from 49 to 51.

Comment by Pierlala

How will quest rewards such as gear and weapons be affected? There are certain quest items with a unique color/look. Especially in the Eastern Kingdoms. What item level will that gear be? And will there still be random rare/epic upgrades upon receiving quest rewards? Or will they just be standard greens and for the tougher quest blue? Like how it was before. I personally don't like the random upgrade. I'm an item collector and I like the items to just remain what they are. I'm obsessed with this. Can someone please clarify?

Comment by phaiz

Forcing new players to spend 40 levels in BFA. Has to be the most evil thing blizz has ever done.

Comment by MoreMaati

Draught of Ten Lands - will still retain the 10% experience bonus, but this bonus will be capped at level 20

This is a typo, it will be capped at level 50 not 20.

Comment by DrakeTrevlig

Does anyone know the source of the chart showing how the old and new levels will translate? I haven't been able to find this anywhere else and am wondering whether this is speculation or something implied, or actually directly from Blizzard

Comment by Soletastic

So if we choose Cataclysm as the xpac to level through, we will get to go to Hyjal/Vash'jir? Just asking because currently that is not the case, it just has you go to the Eastern Kingdoms to check on folks post Cataclysm : /

Comment by crmarr

What will doing old raid/dg content for xmog look like in SL? Will we still be able to breeze through these or will it auto-scale to our level?

Comment by shoutingboy

Is there any word on what they're going to do for the next expansion? I see two main options. They could just say "Shadowlands is 50-60, 2022's Brightlands is 60-70, 2023's KindaDimButYouCanReadLands is 70-75"... and a few years down the road, they could say "whoops, time for a squish again." And that might be fine, lets folks feel like they're progressing!

But now that they're setting up all the old expansions to dynamically adjust to your level, they could just say the squish is a regular thing. That is, in 2022 when the Brightlands pre-patch comes out, everyone gets squished from 60 to 50. When Brightlands ships, Shadowlands becomes Chromie-enabled for levels 10-50. And going forward, Level 60 is always "endgame", levels 50-60 are always "latest expansion", 10-50 are always "earlier expansions" (and original continents).

I don't expect they've made any announcements, but has anyone heard anything?

Comment by ruckin

I have a couple of lvl 110 boosts available. What happens to them in the event that I neglect to use them before Shadowlands is released?

I'd like to retain some of that benefit to use later as I choose, rather than be forced to use it now ...

Comment by Hekazi

Are the estimated levelling times in this guide for 10-50 zones modified to reflect what they might look like now ever since the slight levelling nerf to things like WoD?

Comment by Wyr3d

I hope they listened to the requests and postpone the pre-patch. it's good that they delayed launch coz they weren't ready - but I hope they stick to that sentiment and delay the pre-patch too. Coz that ^&*! will break stuff if it's not ready (guess what, it isn't)

Comment by Cobra102

There are a ~~lot of~~ some aspects that still need working on.
I started a new character and after the Exile island chose WoD.
Everything is scaled and the fights are exactly as they would have been at 90 (just with fewer abilities on my char)
However the other aspects are still very WoD. Learning a profession cost me 100 gold - not normal for a level 10 on a new account
Mine wasn't a new account ~~but I can't see prices changing.if it had been~~.

Griffon flights are 1g+
Loot values have been scaled down so I get silvers from mobs making a short griffon hop roughly equivalent to half a dozen mobs..Quest rewards however, are 6g+ so it sort of compensates. I will have to run a char through a different expansion to see if the rewards differ. I know I didn't used to get 6g for L20 quests in Westfall/Redridge/Ashenvale. Perhaps it has all changed. It would be best if it has, otherwise there will be a tendency to go for the best cash return on a first character.

Since you bypass the "Profession Trainer" in the old style newbie zones (didn't see one on Exiles island) I had to make a special trip to Goldshire to pick up herbalism then got Draenor Herbalism when I picked my first flower on Draenor.

Also not sure how the Darkmoon Faire tradeskill quests will play out since they didn't used to be offered if you had less that 75 in the vanilla skill. In this new levelling paradigm you are never going to get that unless you choose it as your levelling expansion.

The levelling is working fairly well. Just the game is a lot more than just levelling (for some people)

Update:
I did start a new character on a new account and had no easy option except choosing to level in BfA. There the prices are all level relevant. Tradeskills cost me 10c, griffon rides are coppers too. So I was dead wrong there. I could have used the Hero's call board to choose Legion or WoD but that seemed devious. Chromie had nothing to offer me which I think shows that the new player status was in play.

While I could buy the tradeskills for BfA affordably there was nothing useful to do with them except level the skill. Perhaps I am terribly old-fashioned in liking to wear stuff I have made.
Combat in BfA so far (Ashvane Foundry) has been much easier than it was at 110. I am one-shotting most mobs. I'm not criticising. They have erred on the right side. A new player getting dogpiled would not aid the game. And the quest rewards are back to being silvers!

Comment by mufossa

anybody else noticing that quests get stuck at level 45? I am level 49 right now in Legion and all the quests are green. I mean, xp is xp, but is this supposed to happen? am i doing something wrong?

Comment by zlloyd1

I have a lower level alt, I have been working on, and curious if i can just take the portal to Pandaria, and start questing there or not?
I ask because there do not appear to be questlines anymore that take you there, so can you just start randomly choosing quests, if you go there now? Now that the breadcrumbs all seem to be picked up....

Comment by teamhex

I just came back and all my 120s are now 45-47. I just started over on another server since it's much faster leveling. Still, it's not 50 like they're saying.

Comment by EXPERIMENTONGOD

This guide is absolutely amazing and very detailed. Just wanted to note that the Enlisted buff was massively nerfed, now it's 10% for dominant faction (usually horde) and 15% for underrepresented faction (previously it was 30%!).

Comment by JohnPWest

I created a new account just to play around with the "New Player" experience. It appears that you are going to be doing 10-40 (or 50?) in BfA WITHOUT a Heart of Azeroth and any of the associated content. Is this correct. If so, it really stinks.

I'm also noticing that at level 13 I don't have options at the table to do the other zone storylines.

FlameHoof of Gnomeregan

Comment by GrimTimA

So, I wonder about squish in relation to BOA's. Back in the day ,if you ench or gem'd with items that were above vanilla, those wouldn't be in effect after you past level 60 (outside of vanilla).

Does this mean, that you can used end of game enchants/gems now, and they will squish down to toons that are not maxed level?

Comment by Igorath

" You can make the Legion artifacts better than the heirlooms if you get the right relics, but it's not an automatic process." can whoever made this guide go into detail because i have gotten tons of relics up to ilevel 149 and the artifact weapons never got above ilevel 80 and are sub par compared to max heirloom weapons. Fury warrior artifact swords top out at 10-14 dps and the 2h heirloom axe are 40+ dps at max upgrades. BIG difference.

Comment by Boskov01

We need an updated guide or PSA or something for the current game level squish (Midnight) updates. Just something so we can track the current state of leveling, especially with the introduction of Warbands making a lot of content account wide and further lowering level thresholds for certain content.

Shadowlands Leveling Changes & Level Squish

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