World of Warcraft's leveling has changed so much throughout it's lifespan. It's honestly incredible how much it has gone back and forth, what affects it, and it's ability to shape how we feel about the game. Many players discount it or see it as an obstacle, which, it is. But what kind of obstacle it is changes how we play the game and even enjoy it. So today I'm going to share the history of it and some of my thoughts about its progress as a whole. Vanilla What can I say? It was the beginning. I've only played through this one on various private servers growing up and through the official Classic BC server but not much changed from the initial 1-60 leveling path until the later Cataclysm expansion. It was well paced for the gameplay and the design decisions along the way were critical to the game's success. Also the advent of the internet itself lent itself to an otherwise simple experience of the game. World of Warcraft's zones were perfectly spaced in a way that wasn't immediately inuitive nor logical. These aren't rose tinted goggles, it's the truth. The jump from different zones felt heavy as far as progression goes to the point where players often stayed in zones past their level bracket. Quests were not plentiful, mob grinding and dungeon runs were the norm. But this was part of the idea of how the game should run. Some quests to introduce players to the lore of the zone while also incentivising exploration. Because players often stayed beyond their level bracket, often players would find themselves exploring both sides of the world, every cave, as well as every nook and cranny. They became part of the world just as much as the NPCs that existed there. The actual leveling brackets of zones were well planned for both exploration and faction conflicts. 1-30 was this safety net of leveling, most players didn't even see the opposing faction until around 25-35 due to how the zones were broken up. If they did see them, they were either gankers on PVP servers or players setting up for zone wide brawls. Most of which, took place in contested territories that intersected boundaries between the Alliance and Horde. These main conflict centers were Hillsbrad, Ashenvale, and Stranglethorn, with the later being an absolute madhouse comparable to Runescape's Wilderness. This saftey net, however, Vanilla simple notes Design Concept: One character, one big journey BC Literally just an addition to the current leveling system 58-70 was actually smoother due to greater accessibility to dungeons and much larger quest density. Flying was introduced though most players still didn't have it Quest density would be a problem later Wrath Questing became king but there were simply too many quests. Loremasters know what I'm talking about Dungeons were still great for leveling Also was just kind of an addition to leveling, a simple slot in One of the most enjoyable questing experiences until later changes Death Knight leveling was odd and made no sense Introduced the beginnings of the LFG system Usually where players say Classic WoW ended Cataclysm Fucky foundation for future expansion leveling Cata>BC>Wrath>Cata Puddle jumping expansions Streamlined classes Faster leveling 80-85 was weird Design Philosophu: "Alt friendly" Pandaria The first cracks from Cata's foundation Incredible leveling experience Jade Forest was a great way to introduce us to the expansion Not too many quests, more linear Quality went way up Warlords of Draenor Where I genuinely believe Classic died Leveling became worse from here due to the same puddle jump issue from Cata 90-100 Linear questing, great! Great endgame raids Alt friendly to the point of making the main form of progression meaningless at times Alts actually made you money here Golden standard of quest design Quality was much higher Legion THE MIXED BAG OF LEVELING Made progression from 100-110 meaningful But on the flip side, made it harder to progress a new character Return of class quests Legion's zones were the first "choose your order of story" Some of the best zone storytelling Cataclysm's issues were at an all time high Cata>BC>Wrath>Cata>Mists>Warlords>Legion Battle for Azeroth Finally addressing the elephant in the room Each expansion was put into level scaling "bands" Because expansions scaled, questing was no longer rushed The actual expansion itself was mixed received Folks enjoyed the Alliance story typically but hated the Horde Azerite and Heart of Azeroth were problematic in their own way Shadowlands Terrible expansion for lore, incredible for leveling Chromie Time has forever changed the way we level Instead of expansion "puddle jumping", we're encouraged to play through all of the questlines and really get our feet into the expansion proper New starting area that is both fast to level through and introduces players to their class/faction Shadowlands' actual leveling zones are pretty fun on their own Fucked up BFA's intro (could be its own rant) Dragonflight forward Focus on enjoying a pre-World Soul Saga expansion Returning player variation of tutorial Return of the class trees