PTR 3.3: Leveling To Be Even Easier
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iTZKooPA on Friday, October 2, 2009 - 23 Comments Tags: easy leveling, holy trinity, icecrown citadel, making leveling easier, old world, patch 3.3, patch notes, ptr 3.3, ptr 3.3 patch nows
iTZKooPA on Friday, October 2, 2009 - 23 Comments Tags: easy leveling, holy trinity, icecrown citadel, making leveling easier, old world, patch 3.3, patch notes, ptr 3.3, ptr 3.3 patch nows 
All Dinged Up...Don't Know What To Do.It's common knowledge that many, many, users return to MMOG when a large content patch comes out. The phenomenon is no different in the lands of Azeroth. Whenever Blizzard releases major content it is almost always joined by an influx of returning characters, thus a spike in subscription rates and server population. After a few weeks, or possibly a month or two, things begin to settle back to "normal" and life continues. Patch v3.3 and the upcoming changes to Azeroth, by way of Cataclysm, may throw a curveball in those assumptions. We may very well see more of the old world being re-populated by the nostalgic, or late-to-the-party players, eager to taste the untainted lands of old. Even if it is at a relatively Sonic pace.
Modifying leveling times began with the launch of The Burning Crusade, and continues to be tweaked with each of Wrath of the Lich King content patches. The largest being changes to mount level requirements and prices, and the invention of the wonderful Heirloom Items that can grant up to a 20% bonus to XP gains. Like the patches before it, Patch 3.3 is shaping up to offer new ways to make getting to the end game a far faster process.
Heartbourne posted the full PTR patch notes as soon as they went live. Below is the subset of changes that directly impact the leveling aspect of WoW:
- Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.
- Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player’s level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.
- Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.
- Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.
- Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
- Stealth (rogues): This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.
- Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.
- Victory Rush (warriors): This ability is now trainable at level 6.
I don't forsee these changes drastically cutting down leveling time as much as previous patches, but they will speed things up. Health & Mana Regeneration, default equipment and spell mana costs will impact the time it takes to hit level 80 the most. Has anyone leveled a character to max level recently? If so, how long does it take these days?
I've striven to have a collection of max level characters that could perform the holy trinity (DPS, healing, tanking) myself. When Cataclysm was initially announced I planned on leveling a tanking class (gave up on my death knight after the starting zone) as a worgen. Now that we have more early level changes I may join the crowds that are attempting to play through the old world before it disappears forever. There's also my sneaking suspicion that hitting level 80 now will be faster than after Blackwing Deathwing (edit: dunno how I botched that one) destroys the planet.
Anyone else going to take a dip in the old world before it's flushed?
Reader Comments (23)
The point of all this is to make them lvl up faster so they basically have to keep moving forward and eventually buy the expansions. I don't know the numbers of how many people have bought both of the expansions. But I would think they want to get as many people up to lvl 80 as they can to entice them to buy the new cataclysm expansion.
If you think about it its a good biz. Help people move along faster so they can get to the end game. Thats ware the fun is at any how.
Now how about passing me one of those heirloom items.
I don't really know about regular leveling but with Recruit-a-Friend it goes unbelieably fast. My friend and I both hit 60 in less then 20 hours of game time. Past level 60 is easy leveling too so it didn't take us much longer to get to 80.
i just leveled a pally for the first time and when i hit 80 i did /played and my game time was 16 days or so, and around level 19-20 i sat around for a few days doing battlegrounds and helping my wife level so yea dono how much faster i could level
I haven't hit 80 with my main yet, but my friends want to cap our levels every so often to run 5-mans, so I'm going to start leveling a rogue while I wait for the others.
I leveled a warlock from 1-80 with out recruite a friend in 9 days /played. I remember it took around 10-13 days played to get to 70 back in the day so much faster.
Currently you can get to level 15 in under a day of play time... definitely less then 15 hours and that's for a total noob. A repeat player who knows the quests and how to play would probably be 15 in under 7 hours. Using recruit a friend and double boxing? Id guess 3 hours.
I have not done from 1 to 80 of late, but have have done several 1-72's in relitivley no time... yes I know its odd to stop at 72 but I have been manic where if it takes more then 2 weeks I get easily distracted, even when I was not playing on my days off and only playing before and after work there where a few characters that I was quad leveling a day average...so 2 1/2 weeks to get to 72 then switch...
Of course I was not in my most stable of moods so I was probably playing longer then I thought, but still comparing that the game time was around work and not days off it is ridiculously easy and relativity quick as is.
Bludstorm
I dont see these changes as an attempt to "fix" leveling, per se'
Moreso, I think they are there so it is less punishing, trying to level at low lvls. Especially for new players, where the first 10 lvls can make or break their game
Don't the 10%s stack? Making a 21% boost? :-)
Anyway, 20th level can be hit in under 8 hours. Me and a mate rolled a pair of druids and burnt through the NE starting zones one evening before he bought the game, while he was bored on the nightshift at work.
just like to point out a mistake as it is Deathwing not 'Blackwing' who is going to screw over azeroth :)
i was originally horde but then i switched to ally and finally im back to leveling horde. it did take so long back in vanilla wow to get from 1-60 but now with hierlooms and recruit a friend i can get from 1-60 in about 10hrs play time and then to 80 in about another 10-15hrs so the time has been significantly made easier
Don’t the 10%s stack? Making a 21% boost?
10+10=21?
My shaman just dinged 80 a couple days ago.
Now i want to go back and level a rogue...
Don’t the 10%s stack? Making a 21% boost?
10+10=21?
100%+10%=110%+10% of that would be 121% and no it doesnt
Lol, "Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn." That is one of the first quests you get when you start an UD Warlock and it takes like 2 minutes to do. Ohh Blizzard... =P
I actually came back after the announcement of Cataclysm (sp?)
I had given away my old account, so I had to start all over again.
I did the recruitment with a friend, and we leveled by having an 80 run us through instances from 15-60.
I am now a level 75. and I currently have 4 days playing time. The first toon I leveled was a Paladin and it took me 10 days to get to level 70 playing time.
I guess the fact that I know what I am doing now substitutes a bit, but it is definatly easier to level not than it was when I first started.
Leveled my pally to 80 with full heirlooms in 5 days played. I got my first level 80 in about 11 or 12 days played 1-80. About the racial attribute changes, are they screwing it up so that gnomes will no longer have 5% more int and tauren will no longer get 5% more stam, because that would suck pretty bad.
And thefuxup with standard weapon changes? I mean come on..... getting a rogue to 10 is easy enough, we don't need dual wield from the start. And victory rush at level 6? Level 6? are you serious? Now you learn it at level 62. Come on.
This game gets more and more boring the softer and softer they make it on new players.
if they make it easier then that means that more players will be 80 meanin more ppl will buy cata= more money for blizz :D
I got a pally to 20 in 8 hours with heirloom chest and shoulders. I leveled my main (a lock) to 80 in 9 days /played and he was 70 and raiding 3 months before wrath came out. Leveled my DK to 80 in 5 days /played no heirlooms (mainly time spent ore farming).
@Blahbahblah: but it really doesn't change the end-game, so, why the game's getting boring? o.O...leveling an alt is quite boring, specially priests and so on...this changes are welcome!
lvl 1 twink rogues are sure gonna enjoy the new changes for them.
would be better if they let hunters get their tame beast ability at level 1, then a hunter wouldn't be useless in the beginning.
this is a GOOD THING people. Less time spent levelling.
Also, for those of us who twink level 1's (yes there IS a point, and that point is doin level 1 raids or pwning bitches who are higher level than you). Lvl 1 rogues now get dw, which means higher dodge, more dps, etc.
Hopefully they will also add pets and dw at lvl 1 for hunters, that would make lvl 1 twinking so much more epic. If they are giving locks their imp at lvl 1, and rogues their dw at lvl 1, then hunters should get both as well. No, this doesn't hunters more OP, as this is a lowbie change. It wont affect twinking or non-twinking for 19's BGs. PLAY A LEVEL 1 TWINK PEOPLE!!! Roll on US Eonar Horde. pst Beefnosedk. :D