Grouping slows quests, so players level alone
Players on the beta of World of Warcraft: Forever often level alone, writes Icy Veins. Crowded zones turn questing into a race for objectives, and a group needs more drops. Dungeons also pay out less since the latest nerfs.
The article by Zweihander appeared on 4 October at 15.19 Belgian time. It gathers complaints from Reddit and the Blizzard forums, and adds a few suggestions of its own.
Back to the open world
In Classic, elite dungeon mobs gave 2.5 times the experience, according to Icy Veins. Players therefore ran the same dungeons over and over. Forever takes almost all experience away from dungeon mobs and moves it to dungeon quests, as Blizzard announced in September. Killing monsters in a dungeon now gives less than questing alone outside.
Crowded zones
With more players outside, the race for quest objectives grows. Layers are now tied to a zone, so every layer is full of players, writes Icy Veins. Before, a quiet layer let you quest without interruption. On the classicwow subreddit, a player hopes the crowded layers are only for the beta.
Quest items on the ground have too few spawn points and respawn slowly. Several players wait at every spawn of a quest mob. Escort quests are the worst: they often return only every 5 to 15 minutes, and the timer starts after the previous escort ends. Blizzard has raised respawn rates in several zones, but according to Icy Veins that barely helps.
Why a group does not help
Quest drops and objects are not shared in a group. Every extra member means more drops to collect before the group can move on, so players turn down invites, writes Icy Veins.
Blizzard already spreads quest drops more evenly over a group, with bad luck protection. That evens out luck, but does not raise the drop rate. Shared tagging, where players outside a group get credit for the same kill, stays out: Aggrend ruled that out in September.
Less from dungeons
Since the beta patch of 1 October, dungeon quests give 50% less bonus experience. Only the bonus that Forever added is affected; the base experience stays. Without experience from mobs, the same run now pays even less, according to Icy Veins.
Icy Veins takes Wailing Caverns as an example. Deviate Hides can take several runs, the dungeon is long and its trash cannot be skipped. Whoever leaves after an hour with two or three quests done has little reason for a second run. Once your quests are done, a dungeon offers next to nothing, so helping others costs time too.
Quest rewards and dungeon drops also lost stats with the patch of 1 October, Senior Game Designer Aidan Moon, known as Zirene, confirmed on the forums. Players saw rare rewards turn into weaker green versions, like the necklaces for 10 books.
Skips and new players
Because dungeon mobs give almost no experience, groups skip everything that drops no gear and has no quest. That is fast for veterans but daunting for new players, writes Icy Veins. Levelling dungeons that should teach group play start to look like endgame runs, with jumps and routes that newcomers do not know.
On the classicwow subreddit, redlow0992 writes that new players feel bad in groups of veterans who skip half the dungeon. Veterans in turn get frustrated by newcomers who do not know the jumps.
Tanks and healers
Tank and healing specs level more slowly alone than damage specs, so the nerfs hit them hardest. Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40 and costs 50 gold, too much for many new players, according to Icy Veins. It suggests lowering both the price and the level. On the wowforever subreddit, healers ask Blizzard not to forget them.
Icy Veins asks whether shared quest drops in a group would really harm the Classic experience. Whether Blizzard changes anything before the launch on 4 November is not known.
Source: Icy Veins