Addicted to Heals

I was just catching up on the blogroll and read a few posts that got me thinking. Blizzard has spent a lot of time making old content easier so that people can get to the level-cap more quickly and start playing the game.

I wrote once before about the removal of class-specific quest requirements for certain abilities. As I wrote then, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. Some people are just not into it. But some of us are, and many of the class-specific quests cannot be completed solo; achievements would at least give people a pool of others going for the same thing, and introduce the quests to people who’ve never done them, some of whom might never know they were there. (I found a quest I’d never seen before in Durotar the other day. Durotar, where I’ve leveled about nine toons.)

Another thing I was thinking about lately is how druid travel form is pretty much useless now that you get riding at level 30. Why go at 40 percent speed when you can do 60?

And while I do think people are seeing a lot more of old Azeroth with the Loremaster achievement, I’m sure there are plenty of quests and maybe even some zones being missed (I’ve done 400 of the Kalimdor quests on Ahami; she never set foot in Ashenvale and Aszhara, and has done maybe 10 each in Desolace, Tanaris and Felwood).

And honestly, the loss of these things has ruined a lot of the old content for people new to the game. Instead of being a process where you learn about your class and develop your character, levels 1-70 are a chore to get through as quickly as possible. There are people who don’t even know the name of their racial leaders, because the first city they spend any time in is Shattrath!

So here’s what I would do, if I were a Blizz creative developer, maybe a little each in future patches:

1. Introduce achievements for completing class quests. The shaman element quests, the paladin weapon quests, that rogue quest where you sneak into a tower and steal shit, the priest quest where you buff the deathstalker, the druid shapeshifting quests … those really help you feel like a priest or a rogue or whatever. They add an incredible depth to the game. Plus it would make finding Sunken Temple groups way freakin’ easier.

2. Add more. I was horribly disappointed that I did not have the option of doing quests to learn cat form on my druid. Make them optional — some people are never going to care — but please add them in for major new abilities!

3. Add in some race-exclusive quests. With the balancing of racial abilities, in most cases there’s really no reason to choose a certain race/class combo (except human/anything). While this is awesome for variety and individuality, and there is, of course, the vast differences in lore, playing a blood elf priest doesn’t really feel all that different from playing a troll, undead, draenei, night elf or dwarf priest. (Yes, I left humans off; humans are OP.)

I’m not saying bring back different abilities for each race/class combo. I’m surprised that went on as long as it did; it must have been hell to balance. But by adding in extra race-exclusive quests that have no bearing on class (like the well-cleansing quests in Mulgore or the arcane torrent quests in Eversong Woods), Blizz could (again) add more depth to the game.

4. Expand some zones. You know Seradane, in the Hinterlands? Or the parts of Ashenvale and Feralas and the Wetlands with high-level, elite dragons? Why not add in a handful of level 70-ish quests, buff the levels, make them a little larger, and offer a minimal amount of Wyrmrest Accord rep for doing those zones? Same with areas like Purgation Isle.

And some of the zones, like the Arathi Highlands, have areas that could have new lowbie quests. Like the orc farm — why not add some quests there?

The Badlands, the Searing Gorge, Un’Goro Crater, Tanaris … these are all vast zones that could easily gain a quest hub or two to spice up the leveling process and give people more to do.

I was talking to someone (forget who) about the need for “side” expansions and patches — that is, patches that focus on expanding existing same level and lower-level content instead of more high-end things to do. Instead of always focusing on dumbing down progression raids so casual players can do them, add some more quests and fun for casual players so they don’t feel left out because they don’t raid. If you offer decent (but not amazing, Ulduar-level) gear and fun new toys, they’ll dive right in. Look at how popular the Argent Tournament is!

5. Make old reputations useful. Sure, we get achievements for doing Timbermaw rep … but what if they had some useful leatherworking patterns, like 20-slot bags? What if exalted Gelkis rep gave you access to a carrion eater minipet? What if you could get an Argent Charger from the Argent Dawn upon hitting exalted? How cool would that be?

At the moment, the only people who are going to get exalted with the Steamwheedle Cartel are those going for rep achievements, but if there were some fun toys like exploding sheep, special engineering schematics, and so on that would not unbalance the game (i.e., nothing truly useful in raids or PVP) but that were a lot of fun, so many more people would be hanging out in Felwood.

6. The City Defender achievement? Have a Town Defender achievement, that requires defending at least 15 towns against at least 10 people each. Have a similar one that requires killing the flight master in each town. You’d have world PVP all over the place — epic Tarren Mill vs. Southshore battles, people charging across the Hinterlands from Aerie Peak to Revantusk Village. It would be awesome, and very easy to implement, I think.

7. Holiday quests. I saw more people in Tanaris during Winter Veil and Noblegarden than I did the entire time I was leveling there on Onashne or working on quests there on Ideale. Blizz is already doing this. I just brought it up because I think it’s one thing they’ve done really well and I hope they keep it up.

8. Stop nerfing old content. I remember even when I first started, certain areas like Jintha’Alor and that village in Silverpine Forest had low-level elites that forced you to group. I don’t think that was a bad thing; so many people get to 80 and have never been in a group, either in old world instances or outdoor group PVE areas. And a lot of them are terrible. They get better, sure, but why not give them more opportunities to do so at a low level? Throw in a couple of achievements for certain quest chains (much like the Nesingwary achievements), and people will do them. Some will even do them at the proper level.

I know that Blizzard developers have said in the past that they will no longer be focusing much on old Azeroth and its content — and I think that’s a mistake. When I started playing, there was already a major focus on end-game. The only reason I had people to play with in the low levels was because people were leveling “new mains” before WotLK; right now, the lower level areas of Azeroth are deserted.

While World of Warcraft is addictive, after many years some people will get bored and drift away. For a new person picking up their first version of the game today, the vast emptiness of the low-level zones can be incredibly daunting. How many of them will stick with it if they don’t happen to like solo play or stumble across an awesome leveling guild?

If Blizzard keeps crafting achievements and quests to entice level-capped players back into old zones, then new folks will at least see friendly faces around (well, you know what I mean), and maybe when that warrior/priest combo questing in the Badlands wants DPS to run Uldaman, you’ll hear them while questing in the level 75 section and switch to your little mage alt to help.

Inspiration:
- What to do? at That Damn Roleplayer
- Rites of Passage at Snake in the Grass
- 3.1 First Impressions at Altaholics Anonymous
- Many, many “back in MY day” posts from the VeCo realm forums