By now, you probably know the drill: a new World of Warcraft expansion comes out, and the level cap soars to new heights. In the past couple expansions, though, focus has shifted from traditional leveling to alternative forms of advancement like Keeps, Order Halls, and Artifact Weapons. Zones have also become non-linear. Blizzard told me theyâve considered getting rid of regular leveling entirely.
âThere are times where weâve considered, âWhat if we get rid of leveling altogether?ââ replied WoW game director Ion Hazzikostas during an interview at BlizzCon. âAnd weâve always found ourselves coming up with a new construct that sounded a whole lot like levels, but with a different name. So at that point, itâs like, âOK, letâs keep doing levels.ââ
What has changed, though, is the role of leveling in World of Warcraft. Once upon a time, it derived its importance from abilities. But WoWâs been running for more than a decade, and itâs not stopping any time soon. The result? Ability bars that spanned nations and oceans. Ability bars that could be seen from space.
âWhen you leveled from 60-70, at 61 you were getting rank seven Shadow Bolt or whatever,â said Hazzikostas. âThere was something that made every level feel meaningful. Weâve realized over the years that thatâs not sustainable. It was fine in the short term, but we canât just keep piling abilities onto your bar. We got to a point where youâd have 40-45 separate abilities, and thatâs insanity.â
So Blizzard put the focus more on progression through zones, with leveling as a tape measure slowly unspooling behind you. But now that Legionâs gone non-linear with its zones, thatâs not really what leveling is about either. Still, it continues to have a purpose, even as it drifts further and further from the spotlight.
âThere used to be these five or six foundations that made leveling essential,âsaid Hazzikostas. âWeâve peeled away three or four of those over the years. Are the others still important enough? The answer has generally come down in the âyesâ column.â
âTraditional leveling is still a useful benchmark to measure your progress as youâre getting towards the endgame,â he explained. âEven though we didnât have a rigid order to our zones and you could choose your path through Legion, at 102 you could seek out your second and third Artifacts. At 104 or 105, there are extra class order things. It gives a very clear, readable, familiar sort of pacing.â
That said, while alternate advancement methods will probably never replace traditional leveling, but you should expect more of them. Blizzard has learned a lot from Artifact Weapons, and theyâre eyeing other systems for similar treatments.
âThat feeling of alternate advancement that Artifact Weapons have givenâespecially at max levelâis something that even if itâs not expressed in that exact form, itâs something we want to recapture and carry forward. Itâs great to always have a goal to work towards at max level,â said Hazzikostas.
As for whatâll be the equivalent of Artifact Weapons in the next expansion, well, thatâs still up in the air. But maybe, if we cross our fingers and hope hard enough, weâll finally get those dance studios everybodyâs been waiting for
