User:Minionman/Changed Levelling System

These are a group of changes mainly designed around reducing the level grind in world of Warcraft. A lot of problems with the current leveling system, aside from the time it takes, seem to be appearing with changes being made for future expansions. Among these are the limited amount of talent trees and playing styles useful for leveling, playing styles learned for leveling that do not work well in groups, boring repetition of earlier areas when multiple characters are started, difficulty finding instance groups at lower levels. It is also a personal wish of mine, as I like to start out lots of characters to try out the different skills and talents, but this is hard to do due to the large amount of time it takes to level.

The main change would be to start characters at a higher level, and increase the zone levels to compensate. This would allow characters to reduce the amount of time spent leveling, and increase the amount of zones that would be useful to go to at a particular level. Instances and quests would be adjusted to make them more competetive with each other for leveling and gear, to allow people who prefer groups, or just want to instance at some point, to be able to do so, and to get a good leveling speed from talent trees and playing styles that would otherwise slow them down. Increasing the zone levels instead of simply starting characters at a higher level would also allow those who enjoy the earlier areas to still get some good use out of them, rather than speeding through if they want to level quickly.

The first section gives the level changes, the sections afterward give changes that would be useful/needed to help the level adjustments go smoothly. I also realize that it is extraordinarily unlikely for this to occur (A 0.000....001% chance or so), I do tend to come up with lots of these types of ideas, though, and can always hope for changes similar ot these.

Level Adjustments of Areas
This describes the numbers behind the level changes for game areas. I would expect that monsters would be able to be just have statistics scaled by however they normally scale anyway today in terms of damage, hit points, etc. to reach the appropriate level. They would likely be slightly weaker in earlier areas due to starting characters lacking all the talents, skills, and experience playing that high level characters have currently. (so that in beginner areas characters would be fighting level 57 or so equivalents, if the starting level was 60). Trade skills and resources will be talked about later.

Starting Areas These ares I would have as being level 60-63.

Level 10-20 areas These would be changed to level 62-65.

level 15-27 areas Stonetalon mountains and Redridge Mountains. These would be changed to level 63-66.

Level 20-30 areas These would be changed to level 64-66.

Level 25-35 areas (Thousand needles) Changed to level 65-67.

Level 30-40 areas Changed to level 66-68. Stranglethorn would go to level 69 about.

Level 35-45 areas Changed to level 67-69.

Level 40-50 areas Changed to level 68-70.

Level 45-55 areas Changed to level 69-71. Felwood would probably be included here.

Level 50-60 areas Changed to level 70-72. Winterspring would probably be included here.

Outland Outland zones would overall go from 70-76, most likely keekping each zone in increments of 3, as is currently the case.

Northrend Would go from level 75-80.

Instances
These would just be grouped into certain "level sections".

Level 60-63 Deadmines, Ragefire Chasm, Shadowfang Keep, Wailing Caverns.

Level 62-65 Stockades, Razorfen Kraul, Gnomeregan, SM Graveyard.

Level 64-67 Sm Library, SM Armory, SM Cathedral, Razorfen Downs.

Level 66-69 Mauradon, Zul'Farak, Uldaman, Sunken Temple.

Level 68-71 Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, Stratholme, Scholomance.

Level 70-72 Ramparts, Blood furnace, Slave Pens.

Level 71-73 Underbog, Auchenai Crypts, Sethekk Halls.

Level 72-74 Steamvault, Mechanar, Botanica.

Level 73-75 Shadow Labyrinth, Shattered Halls, Arcatraz.

Level 75-80 Northrend Instances.

Level 80 All raids.

Character Progress
Overall, gaining a level would take approximatwely 1.25-1.5 (depending on how the time rations work out) times as long as it does currently, adjusted so that the total time to level would be something like 1/4-1/2 the time it is planned to take in Wrath of the Lich King.

Instance leveling would be sped up also to be competetive with solo leveling. Instances would have the usual experience from quests, give a bit more experience from monsters, and bosses would give experience equivalent to completing quests. (End bosses would give the most, early bosses would give experience equivalent to errand quests). Solo leveling quests would likely have gear rewards, improved, as well as some giving talent respec reductions, though would still overall have smaller rewards than instances to make up for the fact that finding and doing an instance would still take a large chunk of time to organize and complete.

Starting areas would be change to provide characters with skills faster than would normally wait several levels, as described below. This change would be made to allow characters to use the wider variety of skills available immediately.

Starting Area (Level 1-5 normally)
Characters would start with the appropriate rank of whichever skills they start with the way the game currently works. Characters would be allowed to purchase downranked versions of these spells, as well as buy a few extra spells that would demonstrate the different types of abilities characters would have:


 * Druids: Start with Wrath and Healing touch, would be able to buy Mark of the Wild, thorns, Rejuvenation, moonfire, entangling roots, Faerie Fire, and abolish poison.  Once they get bear and cat form from an early quest, they would get Maul, Growl, prowl, and Claw, and would be able to get demoralizing roar, swipe, and bash for bear form.  Cat form would get Cower, Ravage, and Rip.


 * Shamans: Start with Lightning Bolt, Healing Wave.  Would be able to buy Rockbiter weapon, Flame shock, Earth shock, Flametongue weapon, and Cure poison.  After a quest that would give all four totems, Shamans would get the skills Searing totem, Stoneskin totem, Healing stream totem, and Windwall totem.  thgey would be able to buy windfury totem and Strength of Earth totem.


 * Paladins: Start with Seal of Righteousness, judgement, and holy Light.  They would be able to buy Flash of Light, Seal of the Crusader, blessing of Might, blessing of Wisdom, Devotion Aura, Retribution Aura.  Resurrection would be a starting zone quest.


 * Priests: Would start with smite and Heal.  They would be able to buy shadow word: Pain, Renew, Flash Heal, Power word: fortitude, and Power word: Shield.


 * Mages; Would start with Fireball, Frost armor and Conjure food.  They would be able to buy Frostbolt, Aracne missiles, Polymorph, Conjure water, and Fireblast.


 * Warlocks: Would start with Shadow bolt, Demon skin.  they would be able to buy Immolate, Curse of Weakness, Corruption, Curse of Agony, Drain Life, Life tap, Drain Mana, Create healthstone, Drain soul.  Once getting the Imp after a quest they would be able to buy the imp skills.


 * Hunters: Would start with Raptor strike and Serpent sting.  Would be able to buy concussion shot, Frost trap, Arcane Shot, Aspect of the monkey, Aspect of the Hawk.  Once a pet was captured after a quest, Pet skills would be buyable and trainable.


 * Rogues: Rogues would start with Stealth, Sinister Strike, and Eviscerate.  they would be able to buy Ambush, Pickpocket, sprint, Sap, and Evasion.  Poisons would be gotten quickly from a starting area quest.


 * Warriors; Would start with heroic Strike, Charge, and Battle Stance.  They would be able to buy Rend, Overpower, Thunderclap, Shield Bash, and Execute.

Starting area quests would give enough gold to buy the all of these skills, plus some extra. They would also provide four small bags to start the characters out quickly. characters would be approximately halfway between 61 and 62 when exiting this zone.

Starting Area Skill Quests
These would be similar types of skills quests as the totem ones, or druid form ones in the original game.

Druid Form Quest This would be a quest that gives druids Bear form and Cat form. It would involve druids finding three types of animals and testing skills to earn the ability to use these forms. The first animal would be fought with the usual druid skills, the second would use the "powers of the bear" to use brute power and toughness to beat an animal, the third animal would allow the druid to gain "powers of the feline" to quickly kill an animal with stealth.

Hunter Pet quest This would be similar to current hunter quests, except using creatures in the starting area rather than creatures in the main 1-10 zone. (I think there are two creatures in all hunter starting areas, if there is only one animal in an area, that would be the most needed for this quest.)

Paladin Resurrection Quest This would involve finding a body and bringing it back to life.

Shaman totem quest This would involve finding 4 elemental sites in the starting area, and fighting elementals there. It would give all four totems at the end.

Warlock Pet quests the imp quest would be the same as it is now. A voidwalker quest would also be given out in the starting zone, that would involve doing something that could be completed right before or right after getting to the next starting town.

Talent Quests
Talent quests would be added to give people some sense of how the talent trees work before putting large amounts of points into them, as well as providing some skills and abilities that all members of the class will use. It seems likely that if characters were to start at a higher level with lots of talent points available, people inexperienced with the talents would put points in without really having a good sense as to whether the talent tree's style is really what they would want to do, or have other issues coming from missing information on talents.

These quests would be made available at level 62 from skill trainers, and would involve a series of 3 quests, to demonstrate abilities and playing styles of each of the 3 talent trees in a class, and a fourth quest that would simply involve talking to the skill trainer to unlock the talents. Each of the quests would give a description of the type of statistics and abilities that wold be important for that playing style, such as the importance of "increased threat" for the tanking trees, the Five Second Rule for healing and spell damage, slowing and freezing abilities for frost skills, etc.

Warrior Quests
Arms: This quest would involve giving players an item that imitates mortal strike, and going out to fight some stuff. Since players will have been playing in battle stance with generic warrior abilities, this would not be too different from what they were doing already.

Protection: The warrior would get defensive stance, shield block, taunt, and sunder armor, and would be tasked with protecting some friendly mages plus a delivery from whichever bandit types inhabited the starting zone. (Scarlet crusade for Undead, Defias for humans, Centaurs for the horde, etc.).

Fury: The warrior would get Berserker stance, intercept, and Berserker rage, and would be tasked wioth fighting some challengers and killing them as quickly as possible. (The challengers would be beatable, and would be fought one at a time, but the quest would need to be completed within a certain time, with an extra reward given if it was done faster.)

Rogue quests
Subtlety: this quest would involve sneaking into some area, stealing an item, pickpocketing and item, and sneaking out. At the beginning of the quest, the rogue would get the distraction skill and lockpicking.

Assasination: This would involve, no surprise, assasinating a few people, who would have low hit points but high damage, making the quest easier to complete for someone who could stealth up to someone and attack right away for high damage. An item would be given to increase combo points.

Combat: This would involve the rogue taking a potion giving it extra stats for the quest, and having it go out and fight stuff.

Hunter Quests
Beast mastery; This would involve having the hunter go out, tame 2 creatures with different creature skills, and than having a pet fight another animal, where the hunter would have its bow and attack skills disabled for the fight. This quest would be designed ot teach the hunters how stables worked, how to get pet skills, and more taming.

Marksmanship: This would involve the hunter battling a ranged enemy, who would not be pulled into traps, and who would kite the hunter if the hunter got too close.

Survival: This would involve the hunter attempting to trap, kite, and otherwise delay a group of raiders of that particular area for some time until some assistance arrived. The hunter would get some items that gave equivalents to deterrence and enhanced traps for the duration.

Warlock
Demonology: This quest would involve fighting a series of demons with items to allow an instant demon summon, a fellhunter summon, and a succubus summon. The different enemies would have different enough skills that the warlock would be able to use some different demons against them. (One fight would have, for example, 2 humanoids to give the succubus a use, one would be a regular fight, one would be a magical enemy for felhunter use.) At the end the quest, Warlocks would get the  Felhunter and succubus summoning skills.

Affliction: This quest would involve a series of not too difficult fights one right after the other, with items giving the equivalent of siphon life and Dark Pact, as well as enhanced life tap and drain life.

Destruction; this would be a fight aainst a creature that is immune to all debuffs.

Mage
Fire: This would be a standard fight against a slightly more difficult enemy, with an item that gives Pyroblast.

Arcane: this would involve fighting some creatures that could be polymorphed. an item would be given that provides slow and Presence of Mind.

Frost; This would be a kiting quest, involving fighting a medium-low hit point creature that deals very high damage. A buff would be given for the quest that increases the slow and freeze abilities of frost skills.

Shaman
Elemental: This would involve a spell battle with an enemy that kites and deals a lot of melee damage, but will fight at range if attacked that way.

Enhancement: The shaman would be given an item to simulate stormstrike and windfury weapon, and would be tasked with killing an enemy that steals mana a lot, and can be fought close up.

Restoration: The shaman would need to protect a person while they fought the raiding group of the starting area. An item would be given that simulates Earth Shield and Natures Swiftness.

Druid
Feral: This would involve fighting some enemies immune to balance spells.

Balance: The druid would be turned into a moonkin, and would have to fight some assorted enemies.

Restoration: Another "Protect some guy" quest, this time with Swiftmend and Nature's Swiftness.

Priest
Shadow: This would involve killing some creatures while in shadowform for the whole quest. Vampiric ambrace and Mind flay would be provided by items.

Holy: This would involve a "protect the VIP while they fight" quest.

Discipline: this would involve fighting an enemy with an NPC ally. the enemy would use a lot of magic debuffs, and would heal themselves, but would otherwise only be slightly more powerful than normal. The NPC would not heal Themselves, and would be about as powerful stat wise as the priest.

Paladin
Retribution: Find some Undead and kill them as quickly as possible. Crusader strike would be given by an item.

Protection: At the beginning of this quest, the paladin would get Spiritual attunement, Righteous Defense, and Righteous fury. Someone in the starting area is about to be attacked, but doesn't realize it, so the paladin trainer is sending an NPC healer and you as a meat shield until real help arrives.

Holy: Once the attack finishes, the person hears of a larger group of attackers, so you are sent to assist the NPC healer in keeping everyone alive. You get holy Shock and Divine illumination, as well as a "mana return on critical heal" buff to help in healing.

Quest Changes
Quest experience for older areas would be scaled upwards, to be on par with leveling at the higher levels as opposed to the lower ones. Quests would also likely have ¼ to ½ their experience given as gold instead. Reputation gains would be kept the same.

Some quests would also give an extra reward of reduced talent respec costs. Quests that give gear rewards would also have the gear updated to current

Trade Skill Changes
Trade skills for characters would start at 5 times the starting level at the moment on getting them, and would otherwise level up using the current system. This includes rogue poisons and lockpicking. Skinning would likely be changed to have the “skinnable animal level” be above the skill level/5 for higher skinning levels.

I have a couple ideas in mind for how resources could be updated for the higher level trade skills. One method would be to change trade recipes to have higher level ones require linen, copper, light leather, etc., to keep these resources valuable. The other method would be to change current low level resource drops to higher level ones in some ratio.

PvP
Battlegrounds and arenas would likely have their level ranges changed to fit in 5 levels instead of ten. (for the 60-80 setup, the ranges would be 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-80). Warsong gulch would probably start at level 60, Alterac valley and Arathi basin at 65, Eye of the Storm at 70

Changing Between The Current System and Future Expansions
Assuming a tiny, tiny chance came through and this system were adopted for Wrath of the Lich King, characters would be transitioned to the new level system first by being leveled to the higher level, than having gear updated according to some scaling formulas, adding +spell damage, +crit rating, etc. as currently occurs with leveling up. If the character was above level 10, they would not need to do talent quests 9though would still likely have them available) below level 10 they would need to do the talent quests.

Another gear possibility is to have the characters automatically leveled up, than get gear points that they would use to improve pieces of armor when the character was “recreated”.

If future expansions were released along with 10 extra talent points in the tree, trade skills, etc., characters would be leveled up in the same way. I imagine that each expansion would add 5 levels to the “level gap” between starting level and level cap, so characters would be scaled by having their level increased by 5 and having all the usual changes.