Is levelling still 'fun'

So, in my trek around the web, I read this post old-time-raiding from Dacheng. In it he talks about his experiences in a lvl70-group going for Outland-raids. He tells about an easy Karazhan, and actually taking out Maghteridon...with 7/8 people...at level 70.

I recently levelled a warlock through Outlands, and as always I went for the dungeons.  But before I logged in, the tank already pulled boss two, with all the adds...or something like that, I may be over exaggerating, but that is how it felt like.

Also, the recent resurge of Innovations Class-act, also shows that lower level dungeons, are a pushover. You can easily brute-force them, and they don't take that long.

For myself, there is also another factor, especially pre-Cata dungeons, I tanked all of those, and I remember them that way. Which means I actually expect dungeons to go a certain way, but they don't anymore...just pull everything and AoE them down...

After the first try on a dungeon with Lorinthe, I just left them, and actually levelled through quests through Outlands... and although I opted to not take heirlooms on her journey, I grew tired, and heirloomed her out.

She is now 69...and I am actually not looking forward to another 20 levels....

The problem is, which Dacheng also points to, is the amount of differences between back then and now, considering talents, dps and what more. And for me personal, it just seems all very..well..like a choir (is that a correct english expression?).

There is hardly any danger levelling up, so why actually level up I say, it's mostly turning in 20 quests per zone, before outlevelling it.

I actually cannot think about a solution, a possible solution would be to toughen up the mobs, make them all harder to kill (do keep in mind that I levelled Lorinthe w/o heirlooms till 61, so heirlooms are not the sole problem) or maybe give the option for for free levels if you have maxed out alts already.

Fact is, at this moment, I do not like levelling as I used to. There are multiple reasons for that, but the most important for me is the lack of danger, the most dangerous mob while levelling is yourself, do not run of Aldor's Tier.....

Cathedral

You would think that after 6 years of Scarlet Monastery, people would know how to do the last part there...

Right.

Right?

So why was I tanking 2 bosses and a shitload of adds there today...thrice.

Replaying 80-85, or why I already start to hate deepholm.

I did mention this in a previous post of mine, what is the replayability of Cataclysm. I made a post where I compared the different expansions to books/comics.

I recently levelled a shaman to 84, and my warrior (now named stoneheart) to 85. I didn't really planned anything, just played a little around, mostly in dungeons, and with herbing for the warrior.

When I did do quests, I didn't read them, and just went to the place I needed to go. And because i already did almost all the quests (sans Vashj'ir), it was reasonable quick. But it did got me thinking about the different zones... and the fact that most people with altism want their alt to be good geared.

You see, I want my alts to have nice gear, to actually do heroics without to much to worry. And the quickest way is to get gear through reputations. Now, as a fresh 80, you have got two choices. Goto vashj'ir, or to hyjal. Let me put it clear,
DO NOT GO TO VASHJ'IR

If you go Hyjal, you will get rep, and you will probably be almost 82 if you finish there, and a long way to revered, opening a lot of goodies. The only thing you want in Vashj'ir are the opening quests. They give you a mount, and the portal to Vashj'ir. You should also get the flight....rrr...swimming-path to where the Earthen Ring-vendor is, and (till the patch) swim down the vortex to find the entrance to the Throne of the Tides, that's all.

Now the moment you hit 82, drop all you are doing...well..hypothetically...and go to Deepholm. This is absolutely necessary, you need to do almost all the quests there to get access to the therazane-vendor, which not only provides you with a nice ring, but also the must-have shoulder-enchant.

This is the biggest problem I have with deepholm... if you want to gear your alts good, you NEED that therazane-reputation... so..get ready to do deepholm to often.

After you are done with deepholm, you probably are into your 83's... hey..you have a choice... either continue with hyjal-rep (if you didn't finish that already), or go to uldum. Well... do at least some quests in uldum, to get the portal and the tabard. The moment you hit 84, I would suggest going Twillight Highlands.

Again... do all the quests until you can get the tabard, and the portal...see the pattern. Oh, and because every zone has better gear, you probably want to do the highest zone available. And one thing about gear... most of the times, a GREEN Ilvl 2 higher then a BLUE one is better...so, you don't have to hold onto your blues from lower dungeons...

So, conclusion: There are some alternative ways to levelling, but if you, like most altists want to gear your alt... get ready to hate deepholm.

..and yes...the same applied to the sons of hodirs..but those enchants where at least Bind on Account. And talking about BoA...if the Head Enchants are BoA...why do I need to be revered with that faction to actually use them....wouldn't that actually made the BoA-function..well..kinda useless??

4.0.fek-patch

Oh... look who is glaring trough the trees... no there... what do you mean you need time to turn? Surely it doesn't last that long? Does it???

Patch 4.0.something shitty happened. All my addons need re-applying. I can handle that. I have around 12 specs to figure out on all my alts. I can handle that.

But the FPS of 1, yes ONE, in Dalaran, and sometimes in the middle of no-where (lvl25 hunter just outside X-roads), really is shitty. Turning down a lot of graph-thingies, and then dying because the graph of a hellfire-or-something didn't really show up on your screen. Those are things I don't like.

Also the multitude of little graphical errors (little green bars just above the red x on bags for example) are very annoying.

The fact that I have a guild-tag, can see who is in the guild, but get the message 'You are not in a guild' when I try to type in /g is even more annoying. Means I have to /gquit and be reinvited.

But the worst part is, I don't like Tankadinning at the moment. How the hell did those Holy Combo Powerpoint Crap got past the Beta. Do I look like a Rogue/Kitty??? And it is just boring. CS-J-CS-some aoe-CS-SHoR until it hits, rince and repeat. With all the changes we just got another sequence, from 696 to 393.... /rejoice. And with our build-up threat through that getting-hit-for-more-AP-mechanic, one miss-click will hurt. Hope that the DPS don't target the wrong mob, because all your spell will be screwed through different CD's.

And I hate it that I don't have Pursuit of Justice now.

Look, as tank I now have to be completely awake/sober/clear/not-distracted to work. Keeping rotation up, keeping track of threat on different targets, keeping track of what the mobs are doing, current and future, keeping track of healers mana.... and the rest of the freaking stuff that is happening, what mob does what? How to walk... but wait, give us something new... combo points... really, I don't like the point, and I don't like the cast-sequence.

happy now all you OH-NOES-if CS is on 4 sec CD we have empty GCD's...... at least those GCD could be used to throw a Hand or look around...

On the other hand, Smiting Healers are fun :)

The downfall of chickens?

At this moment I am running around 4 characters between level 63 and 73. On disc/shadowpriest, and 3 tanks, a warrior, a paladin and a dw-frost dk. And I have noticed something that will not be good for the future...

I am, by all means, A TBC-child. I started around 2 months after TBC came out. One thing that was hammered down my throat was, let tank pull, unless he asks other wise (sheep-pulls anyone). A lot of people seem to be forgetting that these days, they just expect tanks to taunt of them, and get angry when you don't... /facepalm.

And then there's the constant AoE-spam that makes my screen light up. Most often casted before the tank has made any AoE-threat, or just a little... and then all the mobs start running to you... geesh, how can that happen?

Now the worst example of this are lazor-chickens. Not all of course, but a lot of them. They have three spells to use in dungeons it seems. Hurricane, Starfall and that knockback thingie, typhoon. A common scenario follows...

I run in, target secondary mob, fire of a spell, target primary target... ooh, falling stars... %$#@, use way to many spells with to few resources at my disposal, while the hurricane-spam is started. Chicken gets aggro (no barkskin whatsoever), and after 10 long seconds I finally have all the mobs back where I want them..... knockback... AAAAAARGH.

Now of course, chickens are a prime example, but I have some very bad feelings about the cata-dungeons. It is said that people actually have to think... O_o. Time for another example... Blood Furnace, the SECOND dungeon you encounter in Outlands.. just before the end, there are some packs with large demons. Do you know what they do?

Well, let's see what happens, tank pulls, 2 demons are hitting tank. All of a sudden one of the demons runs to a party-member 25 or so yards back, and stays there.... tank turns around, hits/taunts the demon back, and then the other one does the same. Healer is healing everywhere, but, no problems the group gets them down. Next pack is two of the same demon, and a warlock. Where do you think the ranged is going to stand?

Most of the time I even say, hug tank/demon, but no.... why listen to the healer/tank who gives a tip... oh, and remember the spell starfall... have fun with 2 warlocks summoning all kind of beasties, and 6 mobs charging every way, and not bothering to check who their angry at....

So, if cataclysm actually demands 3/3 in Common Sense, how will 60% of the players, the ones standing in the green, not learning from mob-abilities, etc., handle those dungeons. And how will the 40% sane-people handle it?

How will I handle it? I think guild-dungeons are back, and the LFD will die...
well, until we all overgear the places again, and AoE everything down.