[Slow and Steady] feature suggestions

[Elmirill]

Dear Turtle WoW Team,

The Slow and Steady feature's objective to slow down the leveling process is a thoughtful concept. It encourages players to immerse themselves more deeply in the game world, explore various locations, and engage more extensively with quests. However, for players like myself who can only log in occasionally (e.g., once a week), the rested bonus and unchanged quest XP seem to counterbalance the slow progression, making leveling close to standard speed.

The rested bonus, in particular, is a mechanic in WoW that grants double XP from mob kills to players who have been logged out for a significant amount of time. While this feature is typically a boon for casual players, it appears to be counterproductive in the context of "Slow and Steady" gameplay, as it inadvertently accelerates leveling for infrequent players.

Taking this into account, I would like to propose the following modifications that might better support the "Slow and Steady" experience:

1. Adjust Rested Bonus: Consider modifying the rested bonus to align with the slow progression concept. Instead of doubling the XP, you could reduce it to, say, a 25% or 50% increase. This would still provide an incentive for rest periods but would not significantly speed up the leveling process.

2. Scale Quest XP: Consider reducing the XP gained from quests, the same way it's reduced from killing mobs, perhaps by 50%. This approach could maintain the importance of questing in the game, while also ensuring it doesn't offset the intended slow progression.

3. Implement XP Penalties on Death: The current 5% XP pushback for dying to monsters could be enhanced. For instance, introducing a temporary XP gain debuff after death could deter reckless play and make survival more crucial.

4. Progression Through Mastery: Instead of leveling up solely through XP, consider unlocking certain abilities only when players have demonstrated mastery of certain skills or completed specific quests. This would ensure that players truly experience and understand the game as they progress.

I believe these modifications could help maintain the "Slow and Steady" gameplay experience without penalizing infrequent players. By ensuring a slower progression, players can more fully engage with and appreciate the game's depth and breadth.

Thank you for considering these suggestions.

[Zynim]

I'm against these proposed changes as a [Slow and Steady] player.

If the player doesn't want rested xp they can choose not to use tents, or accept the other challenge that completely nullifies gaining rested experience.

Reduced quest experience would be horrific, at higher levels I can explore an entire zone and complete all the quests without gaining a level. The current experience gain does not distract from exploring zones.

The 5% experience loss on death is pretty significant at higher levels. 1 death can nullify all the experience gained from quest rewards from a dungeon at higher levels. Multiple deaths makes the dungeon run worthless from an experience gain point of view and instantly deletes hours upon hours of playtime. An increase of experience lost on death would only be more of a discouragement for Slow and Steady players from participating in dungeons, as in multiple wipes would result in days of playtime gone down the drain for infrequent players. An experience gain debuff upon death would only add to that discouragement, as in continuing running the dungeon with a group of inexperienced players after a wipe would be pointless.

If you don't like rested experience you can opt not to use it. If you feel like you're leveling too fast from quest rewards you can toggle on/off your experience gain while turning in quests. Your suggestions are easily self mitigated and would affect infrequent players the most. Your proposed changes would only fracture the TWoW community even more, splitting the community into three sects: Hardcore, Slow and Steady, and normal.

[Elmirill]

Reduced quest experience would be horrific, at higher levels I can explore an entire zone and complete all the quests without gaining a level.

An experience gain debuff upon death would only add to that discouragement, as in continuing running the dungeon with a group of inexperienced players after a wipe would be pointless.

Makes sense.

Still, tweaking rested bonus for Slow and Steady also makes sense, logically and gameplay-wise. And won't affect you on higher levels that much as a quest experience and a debuff suggestions.

[Syrathegreat]

Tbh as someone who runs S&S as standard on almost every character, I don't think much should be added to the challenge - it's supposed to incentivise more engagement with quests but any more penalties will turn that into a requirement and we already have Lorekeeper as a challenge if you want to focus solely on quests. S&S strikes a nice middle ground in promoting that quest and exploration based gameplay without forcing you to only commit to that playstyle.

I'm currently doing Hardcore, Slow & Steady, and Lorekeeper on a Warrior and I love it, but I like that these are separate challenges that I can stack as I wish.

[Syrathegreat]

Additionally, if you're keen on that slower pase, and unhappy with the way tents have affected rested xp, just turn on the Glyph of Exhaustion. I only personally don't use it because there's no reward so I'd no extra reward other than slef-satisfaction

[Subarashi4]

I think it would be interesting to have some form of reward for leveling with Glyph of Exhaustion.
This way the combination of S&S and Exhaustion would feel truly rewarding for those who want to combine both challenges.

Also, a small tidbit of interesting information. Originally, Blizzard didn't have a rested exp bonus, but instead it was a penalty to avoid having people run through the entire content too fast. If you played too much, your exp would get cut by half.
Obviously everyone hated that a lot. And then someone thought of flipping things around. Instead of losing exp as a penalty if you play too much, they just give a rested exp "bonus" that doubles your gains until you finish it, then halved the entire game's exp gains by half.
And the playtesters loved it.

[Elmirill]

I think it would be interesting to have some form of reward for leveling with Glyph of Exhaustion.

That's an interesting idea. Didn't know they stack. But yes, some reward for doing that challenge asks for itself.

Also, for me rested bonus from taverns and tents is not valuable as is... It's just some reward for doing RP stuff. If you gather with your mates in a tavern with a mug, or near the tent in a wilderness... that feels so natural and cozy and it makes sense, that you get some reward, some gameplay benefit from it. If there would be some other unique benefit, I'd gladly accept it. And now for me, accepting the exhaustion challenge means to cut off this RP component.

[Desprit]

As an occasional player myself, I've noticed that the rested bonus and unchanged quest XP seem to counterbalance the intended slow progression, making leveling closer to standard speed.

[Wrathweaver]

As an occasional player myself, I've noticed that the rested bonus and unchanged quest XP seem to counterbalance the intended slow progression, making leveling closer to standard speed.

Ja, a type of reward from Glyph of Exhaustion or tents will have to be removed:P

Perhaps a challenge that removes rested xp gains from tents, but keeps the effects of inn?
Meaning that the player remove tents from their own character?