In the upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion, Blizzard intends to take a step in the opposite direction in their goal of improving leveling. While each expansion has typically increased the maximum level cap, Shadowlands will instead half it.
Returning to the days of Vanilla, the max level will once again be 60 rather than the current 120 or higher. Additionally, the process of leveling as a whole will be changed to an extreme extent, allowing players to choose what content they want to level through from the start.
These changes are set to attempt to make it so that leveling is a quicker and easier experience, both for new players that might have struggled and for veterans that have leveled characters more than enough times.
In an interview with MrGM, Lead Game Designer Morgan Day discussed Heirloom gear and their role in the new leveling system. If you’re unfamiliar, Heirloom gear is a set of powerful gear that levels with a character, obtainable by having a character already max level that has unlocked or purchased the Heirlooms.
One of the core features of Heirloom gear, and the primary reason anyone uses it, is that the majority of pieces grant a stacking experience gain buff. This buff significantly increases the amount of experience gained, especially when a full set is used.
However, that buff will soon be a thing of the past. While Heirlooms will be kept and continue to be powerful gear that levels with a character as they increase in strength, the experience bonus will be removed come Shadowlands.
“That big experience bonus made a lot of sense in a world where you’re talking potentially 100 hours to level up, or a large chunk of time to level”, Day stated. “But in a world where our goal for leveling from 1-50 is much, much smaller, closer to 10-20 hours for people who are experienced with the game, or will find ways to do it even faster!”
Leveling is already an extremely easy task in the Shadowlands alpha, with speed levelers able to hit the current cap of 50 in a matter of a few hours. Heirlooms with an experience buff would essentially have made leveling a barely-necessary formality.
While the removal is being met with some disdain, many are calling it sensible, as the leveling is already going to be significantly quicker than it ever has been before. Given that players will also be able to pick what expansion’s content they wish to level in, the system is practically as easy as it can get already.
There also could be some sort of other bonus added in to replace the experience buff, such as increasing currency gained, buffing movement speed, or any other myriad of possibilities. While there’s no official word on what buff would replace the experience buff, Day seemed confident that they team would be adding something in as a replacement for certain.
