Grinding: Mandatory?

ZsasZ

I have a rather simple question; do the levels scale to the game? In other words, if all I do are quests, and BGs when they are 'quested' to me, will I typically end the game at the level cap?

Or will I hit a point where the quests themselves are beyond me, and I'll have to grind XP to crank out more levels to keep on track?

Teganx

you can quest all the way to 70.

Death1942

you will (at some point) in every MMO u play, end up grinding.  even if you do the questlines and instances u end up grinding to get that little bit of XP til the next level. 

it all comes down to your opinion on grinding.  do you feel that little grind (20+ mobs) to get the new level for those quests u got is grinding?

or doing the same instance more than 5 times to level or get gear?

 

i think WoW is very much a grinding game especially in the higher levels.  a good way to counteract this is to find an instance you enjoy or a little secluded spot (secluded for several reasons) and find a mob you enjoy killing (i found the owlbeasts in Winterspring south were my all time fav..got me to 60).

Pheace

Originally posted by Death1942


you will (at some point) in every MMO u play, end up grinding.  even if you do the questlines and instances u end up grinding to get that little bit of XP til the next level. 
it all comes down to your opinion on grinding.  do you feel that little grind (20+ mobs) to get the new level for those quests u got is grinding?
or doing the same instance more than 5 times to level or get gear?
 
i think WoW is very much a grinding game especially in the higher levels.  a good way to counteract this is to find an instance you enjoy or a little secluded spot (secluded for several reasons) and find a mob you enjoy killing (i found the owlbeasts in Winterspring south were my all time fav..got me to 60).

 

This is really not true anymore for the lower levels at least, With Joana's guide even before the boost and wnow with the boost at least the trip up till 60 I'm finding very few spots where i run out of quests and even less so now most likely.

From what I remember I mostly quested in TBC either and I doubt Wotlk will be any different.

 

Endgame I'm not touching upon here but at least for levelling it's perfectly possible these days to do it 90%+ on questing.

ZsasZ

Originally posted by Death1942


you will (at some point) in every MMO u play, end up grinding.  even if you do the questlines and instances u end up grinding to get that little bit of XP til the next level. 
it all comes down to your opinion on grinding.  do you feel that little grind (20+ mobs) to get the new level for those quests u got is grinding?
or doing the same instance more than 5 times to level or get gear?
 
i think WoW is very much a grinding game especially in the higher levels.  a good way to counteract this is to find an instance you enjoy or a little secluded spot (secluded for several reasons) and find a mob you enjoy killing (i found the owlbeasts in Winterspring south were my all time fav..got me to 60).

I guess my question is more 'game design theory' than WoW specific. I know that in Guild Wars, you typically hit max level before leaving the noob areas; the logic behind this from what I understand is that maxxing out early is supposed to let you relax and just play. I haven't even begun to get high level in WoW yet (I have a 29 Rogue and a 22 Warlock), and the training wheels are most definitely off. In my obsessive-compulsive opinion, if you're not taking the GW approach, the game should scale so that you'll be at the appropriate level to undertake a quest by the time you get the quest 'naturally'; that is, just by playing. If you see the credits rolling and you still have 12 levels left to go, or if you have to repeat quests just to be able to take on the next quest, then something is wrong.

I understand that there's 'elite' dungeons, that you not only need max level, but also max (read: expensive) gear to even think about going into, but they're generally outside the 'plot' of the game, and are thus immune to my perceptions. I guess I'll find out myself someday...

Antipathy

You don't have to grind at any stage. There are plenty of quests to do all the way up to 70, and you can at times choose to skip entire areas you don't like and still have plenty to do.

vmoped

Yes you can 'quest' up to 70, but unfortunately a good portion of the quests are 'grind' quests requireing you to kill the same mobs over and over to get some drops.  Grinding with text is WoW's version of quests in many instances.

Czzarre

you casn quest all the way in WoW yes, however, it would take a lot less time if you grouped and went into instances starting at lev 30ish. You'll also end up with a lot better eq.

Good luck

Torrential

Pheace

Originally posted by vmoped


Yes you can 'quest' up to 70, but unfortunately a good portion of the quests are 'grind' quests requireing you to kill the same mobs over and over to get some drops.  Grinding with text is WoW's version of quests in many instances.

 

It's the same in most MMO's to be honest ^^ If this is *grinding* to you might as well quit MMO's entirely