Leveling in World of Warcraft is such a massive part of the game, and with so much content to explore through the vastness of Azeroth, it’s downright impossible to fit every zone into an individual character’s leveling journey. It’s best to try and focus on one former expansions’ content throughout the course of your journey from level one to 60 before jumping into all that Dragonflight has to offer.
In 2020, Blizzard introduced a system known as “Chromie Time,” which is a new take on leveling that allows players to use the powers of the bronze dragon Chromie to alter the timeways and play through the entirety of a past expansion, simplifying the journey between old content and current content. But in a thread posted to the game’s official subreddit earlier today, a WoW player created a mock-up of what leveling would look like if Chromie Time never came to be, and instead, the leveling system was modeled its former self.
In the thread, the original poster, a user by the name of “ChromedDragon” broke WoW’s leveling content into six different chunks based on their relative threat levels. For instance, introductory zones like Elwynn Forest and the Tiragarde Sound were in the first chunk, slightly more intense areas like Westfall and the Jade Forest were in the second section, and zones such as the Burning Steppes and the Dread Wastes were all the way at the pinnacle.
Furthermore, each section of the leveling experience would yield itself to 10 levels, all the way up to level 60, when you can start journeying on the Dragon Isles. Zones would have strict leveling brackets that they’d abide by, similar to how Classic WoW handles its leveling. In old WoW, you wouldn’t want to be caught alone in a high-end zone like the Burning Steppes if you weren’t at least level 50, and this hypothetical system would embrace that mentality once more.
For reference, the current version of retail WoW scales almost every enemy in the game down to your current level.
Related: Fastest classes to level with in World of Warcraft
A system like this one, though, would encourage players to travel from continent to continent (and between expansions) on a sliding difficulty scale, with the adventure getting progressively more threatening as their journey to max level continued. After starting off in the friendly confines of zones like the Wandering Isle, you would feel a far way from home by the time you faced off against threats like the Lich King.
For new players, a system like this one would promote all WoW has to offer, and it would give them a certain level of familiarity with the world by the time they got to max level.
Related: Which Chromie timeline is the fastest for leveling in World of Warcraft?
While it’s arguable that a system like this one would have some merit to it, though, it’s still probably best that we ended up with the system that we did. Oftentimes, expansions’ storylines are worth playing through in full, and the version of Chromie Time that’s on live servers still allows you to bounce between zones at any time without the fear of being under- or overleveled.
Still, it’s fun to imagine how different WoW’s landscape would look like. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get some more changes like this one just in case there’s another Cataclysm.
