In tbc and wrath I leveled from scratch, wasn’t interested in classic era, and didn’t use any of these methods that you described. I would routinely not bother with food/water and just ignore group quests/elites. Still managed to hit end game. The biggest draw for me in cata is the logistics. I hated playing walking/running simulator to get to a quest. Now a lot of it is denser and provides transport to the next area. While I agree that a good punishing mob is one that requires you to use your abilities, in classic-wrath it was just too easy to just come back later with more levels/gear and still not learn. There really wasn’t any mob/quest that actually required you to pay attention/correctly play your class.

Cata leveling is so mind numbingly boring that I have to respec every few levels to not tire out, as you get core abilities at level 10 so it's spam all the way to 80+. Dual spec is only 10G, mount training is cheap, so there was absolutely no semblance of a challenge anywhere. I never even bought or ate food while leveling because there was no need to. Only death was falling down from Tanaris to Uno'goro as the noggenfogger buff fell off, and even with rez sickness I could still kill mobs! That was the only time I used bandages... You have a nice sounding voice

My experience with Era & SOD tells me that, no, people do not learn what their classes are able to do during vanilla/tbc any better than they will in Cata. People are just bad, especially your average player.

I locked my experience gain at 19, 29, 40 and might do so at 60 soon. This allows me to finish the zone I am in and go through the next zone not getting any lvls at all. This means that by the end of the next zone I am facing red mobs. Also allows me to do the dungs without the fear of getting to much exp. In the end, the red mobs are not much of a problem too, but I challenge myself with pulling big packs and aoeing them down on my own. Or killing red elites on my own. That's pretty fun and makes me learn the class as well, i.e. I actually have to use my full toolkit including defensive abilities and health potions. I know it might be a wierd way to play, but I am really enjoying it, and it allows me to actually experience the zones with some challenge to them. It is slower, though, so definetely not recommended for someone who wants to reach 85 asap.

I think it divides into two groups, those that have played vanilla countless times and are just tired of quests that run you all over the world for a 14 slot bag. And those that haven't for a long time or ever done vanilla content. The second group might miss the 'flavor' of old vanilla, but the rest will be happy to zoom their worgen or goblins through to max level after the new starting zones. I sort of miss the usefulness of all the knowledge about vanilla I gained over the years but I sure do enjoy the cruise control on beta which is the only reason I'd ever revisit old vanilla now. Outlands feels faster on the beta for 2 reasons, player power seems substantially greater than OG TBC and to the greatest extent you don't have to worry about rep grinds.

What a great video, thanks mate

It is a fair critique that they didn't adjust mobs properly in relation to the increase in player power at lower levels. When you put FIVE players together in a dungeon that are OP, it becomes the most efficient method to level. Making it more difficult would solve for both.

This is a great video, a lot of videos I’ve been seeing only care about people who have already been at the endgame, leveling is like half of this game. I’ve never gotten to endgame because I keep refilling characters to see what the leveling experience is like. Really excited for Cata!!

Ive been leveling a Disc Priest on the beta and you're absolutely right about outleveling a zone as well as Elites not feeling elite anymore. Even at lower levels I solod the Ghostlands elite quest Knucklerot and Luzran and have solod every elite since. But honestly that's okay because I believe a majority of players just want to get to the 80-85 content anyway.

One q. If you have a lvl 30 toon , and you did all the quests in the old Barrens for exemple....can u still do the new Barrens? Ty

do u think its worth waiting for prepatch to level ? or start leveling now ?

northrend and outland do get some adjustments, mainly the elite quest mobs are made non-elite so it'll be easier to do them. other main adj. is 70-80 xp is cut in half so you'll be able to lvl in northrend a bit faster.

Mining/herbalism speed compared to vanilla/tbc/wrath to cata?

I fully expect we should be able to hit lvl 80 in 48 hours easy in cata classic. I remember being able to do it back in cata with most of the xp boost stuff. Probably even faster if you dungeon spam.

So you would recommend waiting leveling before the prepatch hits so that its faster to level?

This makes me want to re roll alliance, if I can only talk my pals into returning

Feel like this was more of a harpin on Cata leveling than "the good and the bad" lol BUT I agree with the general sentiment that leveling is to easy in retail and I've made suggestions via the in-game "suggestion" but who knows if they will actually listen lol. Generally agree with the "better flow and quest direction" in cata but the difficulty is VERY MUCH "on rails" in cataclysm which is why everyone says that Cata was the start of "retail"

First video of yours I have seen. Really love your sense of humor. But you really don't need to roll your R's so much. Superb video tho!

I agree with your opinion but I have to point out tbc and wotlk zones will teach what needs to be taught my defence for the leveling is it so much funner in my opinion to levelfast get the foot notes version of how to play your class but we play games to have fun that's just my two cents thanks for the video

Good for alts though -- just like the "turbo levelling" in retail where players are likely to have a lot of alts :-)

Will leveling in cata without xp boost be faster than in wotlk with xp boost? Or are we keeping the xp boost?

Absolutely ecstatic for Cata Classic. Cannot wait to level through the revamped zones. Hated the old world and had no desire to play anything pre-Cata.

maybe my hot take but they should do scaled zones like retail for cata. Being able to play a zone all the way through versus getting cut off half way through sucks.

Yeah cata feels like retail in a way

Imagine playing with out health bars above enemy heads. What a life

many of these points are already a problem in wrath (no real elites or group quests)

9:42 -and beyond , i dont agree with this opinion anymore. i pug everything on alliance side benediction and play with my guild on horde on whitemane. the players that will be playing cataclysm and leveling new characters/classes know what their spells do. even in wrath, with new players going through lgf, it was never as bad as people make it out to be and it wont be as bad as people say it will be in cataclysm. dont forget, we have heroic dungeons buffed in difficulty 3 times in wrath because people just steam rolled them. even tier 7 was buffed. tier 8 was prenerf and still nearly 50% of guilds got a yogg0/algalon kill. icc 25hc has had more guilds kill heroic LK than all of retail wrath guilds kill normal 25m LK back in the day. The heroics will be wierd for maybe a week or two but when people get into some gear and players start figuring out dungeon tactics, they will once again become a slaughterhouse for pve players that want to just log in and push buttons for 30-60 minutes. and those people that everyone claims will be dog water at the game, will just be carried through like we do in wrath, and no one will say a word, just like we do in wrath.

idk what you`re talking about m8... i wotlk and tbc i was rarely having any downtime, and that "game over" aka "release spirit" you talk about didn't happened more than 10x in the entire leveling experience / char...

Im sorry but a lot of your points in 'the bad' section already applied to wotlk, and for others I kinda disagree. If you're levelling a shadow priest or other casters than a warlock, you will find yourself going oom. Pulling too many mobs in cata (while somewhat easier for certain classes) will very much still get you killed. There are plenty of mobs that you will learn have spells that need interrupting, particularly in high level zones like twilight highlands. Is levelling faster and easier? Sure, 100%. But the idea that its something you can stop paying any attention to just isnt the case, particularly at level 80., especially if you try to take the dungeon route fresh 80. All in all I think I prefer cata levelling, my main gripe with the old world was that I spent most of my time watching stuff on my 2nd monitor walking from place to place, swapping back and forth between zones. I like how In cata I can do one zone finish it and then move on, and the quests themselves are infinitely better.

1:03, "getting people to end game as quickly as possible" ... So Blizzard STILL has no clue as to what ruined the Retail version of the game for so many people?

I feel we need retails levelling system where the mobs and zones scale in level and power to the player, you can then either power level or just enjoy the zones

Funny how dumbed down all of it is and there's still more than a decade to go...

you better get why people prefer the new version of things because retail is faaaar superior to classic.

Over expensive boost gonna destroy cata classic calling it now. It totally desteoys big part od the game theorycrafting

Another hater making a video. I thought maybe with you video title I would get some tips how to level but instead got 10 mins of you hating on the game.

I'll never understand these videos. You pawn this info off like it's a new expansion. This shit is mega old. We know how it went because it already happened rofl