Blizzard clarified how the experience values are pulled for that specific version of WoW and the values match WoW Forever.
This isn't something we take lightly, nor is it the fault of any individual at Wowhead - there are processes in place to move from finding a data point to actually writing the news, and while there are review processes in place, the data we had in front of us was, well, "correct" based on the files we were looking at. Clearly, it wasn't correct.
The rate at which people level in Forever is a widely discussed topic, with changes to dungeon experience, new quests making zones "last longer", etc. - I'll be the first to admit that we thought we had found something that was big news for the community. We should have verified again that what we were seeing was in fact true - we didn't and that's my fault, as the head of the team that contributed to this minformation going out.
We made a pretty massive mistake with this post and will most certainly be checking things a lot more rigorously before posting in the future. We can't take back that this post went out, nor that it will cause discussions in the future of "Wowhead said" - we also know it will take time to regain trust in the accuracy of the articles we put out.
I can't fix that it went out. I will be leaving the post up simply as an example of our failings, with this disclaimer - I will not delete it to "hide" it.
I can only apologise that it happened and can assure you it will not happen again.
P.S. I've already seen some of the posts coming in to the writer of this article, as well as others on the team. I understand that many of you are angry - if you are, and you want to talk about this post, or Wowhead, the state of it, or the problems you've identified in this procedure, my DMs are open. You can reach me on Discord at "blainiewow" or via the Wowhead Discord. Please don't continue witch-hunting members of the Wowhead team.
Forever changes many things about Classic, including the EXP curve required to level up! EXP requirements are a hot-button topic for a lot of Classic players, and while Blizzard has tuned experience gains from Dungeon Quests, the actual amount of experience needed to level has also changed significantly according to our datamining.
Smooth and Gradual
Era and SoD servers had a very specific leveling path that players were very familiar with. Now, though, it looks like Forever is making changes to adjust that curve. The main takeaway from the data is that the new experience curve is a gradual climb up to 60, rather than a series of spikes.
In Classic, there were two spikes in experience required: going from level 39 to 40, and from 59 to 60. These levels match up with learning mounts and hitting max level, and traditionally had much higher experience requirements than similar levels. We've previously noted that the profile of dungeon experience was changing (from mob-heavy to quest-heavy), and these experience changes dovetail with an overall reduction in the amount of experience needed to reach level 60.
Level
Before
After
% Difference
638003600-5.26%
750004500-10.00%
864005400-15.62%
981006500-19.75%
1092407600-17.75%
11107808800-18.37%
121322510100-23.63%
131680011400-32.14%
142037512900-36.69%
152444014400-41.08%
162808016000-43.02%
173150017700-43.81%
183480019400-44.25%
193855021300-44.75%
204231523200-45.17%
214656025200-45.88%
224944027300-44.78%
235200029400-43.46%
245504031700-42.41%
255840034000-41.78%
266112036400-40.45%
276416038900-39.37%
286688041400-38.10%
297168044300-38.20%
307616047400-37.76%
318144050800-37.62%
328560054500-36.33%
339024058600-35.06%
349456062800-33.59%
359920067100-32.36%
3610416071600-31.26%
3710848076100-29.85%
3811328080800-28.67%
3911792085700-27.32%
4013398090700-32.30%
4113930095800-31.23%
42144620101000-30.16%
43149800106300-29.04%
44155120111800-27.93%
45160580117500-26.83%
46165900123200-25.74%
47171360129100-24.66%
48176820135100-23.59%
49182280141200-22.54%
50188020147500-21.55%
51193620153900-20.51%
52199360160400-19.54%
53205100167100-18.53%
54210700173900-17.47%
55216580180800-16.52%
56222460187900-15.54%
57228480195000-14.65%
58234220202300-13.63%
59240380209800-12.72%
60254000217400-14.41%
In Forever, the spikes in required experience no longer exist; instead, it follows a gradual quadratic climb per level. Overall experience has also dropped significantly, with the biggest reductions between levels 15 and 30, where the total reduction averages over 40%. This reduction eases in higher levels, but the 30 to 45 level bracket still sees a reduction of over 30%. Overall, experience required from 1 to 60 has dropped by a staggering 26%. Levels 1 through 5 are unchanged.
The Future of Leveling
Leveling in Forever and other versions of Classic is a big part of the game, and these changes significantly speed up many areas that have been both iconic and painful. Players might remember quests around level 35 not being very centralized anymore and requiring a lot of running around, or levels 50-60 being a long stretch to the end of their journey. These changes ease those pain points significantly and directly incentivize replayability.
By leveling faster, players simply won't have the time to explore and quest through as many zones as one might expect. Those zones, however, could be played through on a second or third character. For players looking to speed through the leveling process, the combined change to experience requirements and dungeon quests should also make leveling significantly smoother.
That said, given that players will be capped at level 60 forever in Forever, some players may be concerned that the leveling process is too fast. Many players have noticed that leaving a starting zone now gets them close to level 12 in many situations, whereas before, in SoD or Era realms, a character would be slightly underleveled heading into the next zone. While the beta only allows players to level to 20, it's also a possibility that experience is tuned higher to allow greater accessibility during testing in a limited timeframe.
