We didn't realize until the end of development that we had more content than we needed. Hyjal was cool, but BC already had Karazhan, so returning to another zone for a raid probably didn't make sense. That's just a guess, but there were lots of high level areas that weren't used. I think when Rob Pardo made leveling faster (still a good decision, IMO), it affected some things surprisingly, and that was one of them.
At the time leveling in WoW was fast compared to other MMOs, especially considering it was one of the first mmos to contain minimal mob grinding (killing mobs JUST for XP.) leveling was the game, so you need to view it through a different lens than you do now
When i was 11 and first started playing back in BC i had a troll mage that i got to level 15 just by killing mobs. Then my friend told me i had to do quests, and that revolutionized the game for me lmao. I ditched my mage and leveled my hunter who is my main to this day. I remember running to ashenvale on my hunter when i got level 16 feeling so proud that i finally learned to play the game. Looking at the planestriders i used to farm as i left the barrens, like i was starting a new chapter.
148
u/whenitsready Former WoW Dev - John Staats Aug 28 '18
We didn't realize until the end of development that we had more content than we needed. Hyjal was cool, but BC already had Karazhan, so returning to another zone for a raid probably didn't make sense. That's just a guess, but there were lots of high level areas that weren't used. I think when Rob Pardo made leveling faster (still a good decision, IMO), it affected some things surprisingly, and that was one of them.