Hey, guess what?

Tigole in the Beta Forums says that faster leveling (reduced XP requirement per level) from 60 to 70 is intended to go live… they’re just trying to tweak how much faster it’ll be.

Right now, people in the Beta are reporting that it seems like they need 30% less XP per level right now from 60 to 70.

And you already know Death Knights will have their own starting area special to them, in Eastern Plaguelands, starting at level 55.

I played Dark Age of Camelot before WoW came out, and got one character to max level.

How is that relevant? Well, other than the fact I found the game to be drab and boring as sin, they had one unique game mechanic I adored… and hated.

If you had one max level character… you could create alts that started out at level 40. Any class, just pick one and boom! Welcome to 40.

Still had, I believe, 20 levels to go to reach max… you had to get to max once so you knew the basic mechanics, but you had 20 levels to play your new character to learn how it works.

I liked it a LOT. I loved being able to make an alt other than my Druid (yes, my main on DAoC was a Druid… kiss my gaelic butt) and play around with him to figure out how I liked the playstyle… without having to level to 30 to get most of the core abilities first.

The drawbacks?

First, you not only didn’t do all those quests from 1 to 40 for loot, but you didn’t get any rep either. No loot or gear worth talking about (they had some guys you could go to for the ultra basic stuff, but come on), no gold, no rep, nada.

That’s okay, if you want rep, you can focus on the quests that give you what you want and blow through them, right?

 Well, at the time anyway… no. I was unable to take any quest once I leveled past it. At 40, you leveled past a lot.

Those issues don’t affect a Death Knight in WoW, of course. You CAN take quests, and unlike when I leveled a Druid, you get full reputation value for any quest you do now, regardless of it’s level.

However… I think it is a valid complaint to say that we can make a level 55 Death Knight alt and be very, very close to having a high enough level to max two Professions without much leveling effort… or make an alt of any other class and grind like hell for the same result.

It will encourage a LOT of Death Knight alts, if for no other reason than to have a Profession mule. What, want your main to have two crafting Professions to enjoy all the BoP goodies? Why, roll a Death Knight for your gathering mule, of course!

On the other hand… I love leveling through the original content, from different racial starting zones. I have a LOT of level 20 toons. And while I don’t twink the BGs, I DO enjoy knowing that if a friend picks up the game brand new and starts playing, I can make a new alt and level with them to keep them company.

My solution? Allow every person with a level 70 (or 80, or whatever) character to have the OPTION of walking their lower level alt to that character’s racial capital city, and talk to someone there that will allow them to instantly hit level 55, just like the Death Knights start.

I could see a system where you are basically saying that the character was basking in the reflected glory of their higher level spiritual parent, and getting a boost.

Let it be the player’s choice, though, and one that can be made at any time, not just at creation.

What do you think?

More particularly, do you think that all the ‘fast leveling’ changes, the less XP needed from 20+ and the more XP given per quest from 30+ and now the less XP needed from 60+ are more than enough?

Or should there be instant alt gratification?

Druid

• Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec.
• Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall.
• Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.
• Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent.
• Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent.
• Feral Charge (Feral): Can now be used in Cat form.
• Feral Instinct (Feral) no longer increases threat generated in Bear form, but now increases damage done by your Swipe ability by 5/10/15%.
• Focused Starlight (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.
• Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
• Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute).
• Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %.
• Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent.
• Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%.
• Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred.
• Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.
• Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.
• Nature’s Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish.
• Nature’s Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect.
• Nature’s Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors.
• Nature’s Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%.
• New Spell: Revive – Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)
• Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown.
• Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%.
• Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form.
• Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts.
• Soothe Animal is now instant cast.
• Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature’s Reach.
• Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.
• The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed.
• Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%.
• Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.

Other Stuff:

Okay, first… Cat form Feral Charge!!!! Holy shit!!!

Sorry, had to get that out of the way.

An Out of Combat res! Holy hannah!

Moonkin get mana regen by critting instead of whacking with a stick: Woohoo!

Hey, wait… Feral Instinct no longer boosts bear threat?

Maul gets boosted by Mangle?

Trees are no longer slowpokes?

Hmmm…. interesting. Looks like a lot of tings may buff our damage output, and buff threat generation taht way, rather than the percentage we got from FI.

With the removal of Blessing of Salvation, though, this might scare the hell out of me. I’m sure I’m not reading what Banana Shoulders wrote on Blessing of Salvation being turned into Hand of Salvation cast on the bad guy correctly.

If they are consolidating Spell Damage and Spell Healing into Spellpower… can someone PLEASE create a guide to what +Healing high/+Damage low would translate into as the equivalent +Spellpower so I can see if old gear becomes new Shadow Priest upgrades? Please? And yes, I know we will get new gear as we level in the expansion… but if I can aim for some sweet stuff now….