Breakfast Topic: Leveling then and now
Last night my new gnome monk hit level 60 and I can't help but think about how different the leveling experience is since I last played a new character up through the levels. The last time I played a lowbie, you couldn't get mounts until higher levels (and they were darned expensive), flight paths had to be collected, and you had to visit major cities every couple of levels to train class skills. But the most notable change is definitely how fast it is to reach what used to be WoW's end game. Even without a collection of heirlooms, I've hit level 60 in a scant two weeks (or three and a half days /played). All I can think is: didn't this used to be harder? A level 60 character used to mean a significant expenditure of both time and effort, but these days the biggest difficulty seems to be outleveling zones before you've finished quest chains.
And though I remember the days of original WoW with fond nostalgia -- there was certainly an epic feel to 40-man raiding and the massive world event to open the gates of Ahn'Qiraj -- I can say with certainty that I'm not interested in turning back the clock. The game may be easier, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun, and with level 90 to reach, the grind to level 60 that we had in old Azeroth would be tedious at best.
But since this is a Breakfast Topic, the point is to discuss -- how many of you remember the good (or not so good) old days of WoW? And, if you could, would you go back to relive them?
