Comment Re:DPS (Score 1) 164
That's not really accurate. The low-level game in WoW is certainly not what it once was, but it's not entirely as you describe, either. A lot of it has to do with server age. I haven't seen Blizzard open many new servers lately, but when they do, it's like the launch of the game all over again as far as low level material is concerned.
I play on one of the older servers, however, where it is entirely different. When I leveled at release, I had to scrimp and save and play the auction house and make money any way I could in order to get the 80 gold for my mount at level 40. I recently rolled a new character on that old server, and with no genuine effort on my part, had about 400 gold by the time I hit level 40. I wasn't doing anything particularly different; I had one crafting skill and one gathering skill, just like before.
The difference was that since it's an old server, there are plenty of people with level 70 characters - sometimes a half dozen level 70 characters - and money to burn. They're either newly picking up crafting skills and want to plow through the low level materials without putting in much time, or they're giving hordes of gold to their low level characters in order to speed them through the game. At release, if I could sell a decent level 20 green weapon for one gold, I was happy. Now, you're looking more at ten to twenty gold, and some of the twink weapons go for hundreds. Crafted materials (the good ones, anyway) are much the same.
I actually find instance runs easier to get together now than back in the day, though that's due almost entirely to the new tools they put in place, like meeting stones.
I tend to agree with you that the optimal experience is after the bugs but before everyone passes you by. What I enjoy most about MMORPGs, though, and what's sadly hardest to get, is that feeling of exploration and discovery. And while you can create that for yourself by not talking to anyone and not reading websites about the game, that's almost impossible (for me at least). It's best achieved by getting in at release, or better yet, beta.
I play on one of the older servers, however, where it is entirely different. When I leveled at release, I had to scrimp and save and play the auction house and make money any way I could in order to get the 80 gold for my mount at level 40. I recently rolled a new character on that old server, and with no genuine effort on my part, had about 400 gold by the time I hit level 40. I wasn't doing anything particularly different; I had one crafting skill and one gathering skill, just like before.
The difference was that since it's an old server, there are plenty of people with level 70 characters - sometimes a half dozen level 70 characters - and money to burn. They're either newly picking up crafting skills and want to plow through the low level materials without putting in much time, or they're giving hordes of gold to their low level characters in order to speed them through the game. At release, if I could sell a decent level 20 green weapon for one gold, I was happy. Now, you're looking more at ten to twenty gold, and some of the twink weapons go for hundreds. Crafted materials (the good ones, anyway) are much the same.
I actually find instance runs easier to get together now than back in the day, though that's due almost entirely to the new tools they put in place, like meeting stones.
I tend to agree with you that the optimal experience is after the bugs but before everyone passes you by. What I enjoy most about MMORPGs, though, and what's sadly hardest to get, is that feeling of exploration and discovery. And while you can create that for yourself by not talking to anyone and not reading websites about the game, that's almost impossible (for me at least). It's best achieved by getting in at release, or better yet, beta.
