The latest World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion had a level revamp to give players more free roam on how they want to level. Level 120 players from Battle for Azeroth were squished to level 50 during the prepatch for the Shadowlands expansion, preparing them for trials to level up to 60 in the newly added zones.
There were thoughts of a level squish over the years, but Blizzard kept pulling back and shelving the idea. One of the main issues was that players felt that they needed to leave a zone to level up in other expansions, missing important parts of storylines. During the 2019 BlizzCon, Blizzard addressed these problems and said that it was working on a fix to make the leveling experience more enjoyable and understandable for all players.
As a result of Blizzard’s changes, players are now able to choose whatever zone they want to level in various expansions via Chromie, the Bronze Dragon sitting in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar. Instead of having to miss out on plot points, players can level up fully in a certain expansion like The Burning Crusade. The mob’s damage and experience is adjusted automatically to player’s level. Thus, you don’t have to constantly navigate through areas and can easily complete quests without the fear of missing out on more experience in other zones.
This leveling change was welcomed by all, especially considering that there’s no more restrictions or limitations to level to 50. After 50, players wanting more have to move to Shadowlands for the remaining 10 levels to hit the max level 60. While the current system is a vast improvement from before, it’s unclear what Blizzard’s plans for the future are once the next expansion arrives.
