high leveling vs. WoW

[Boris The Invincible]

we all know how much dedication leveling to 99 takes (and if you don't, read this story (http://www.gamershell.com/static/faqs/319.txt))
out of sheer idle curiosity, anyone know how leveling to 70 in WoW compares to 99 in D2X?

[Rawness]

Nope. LvL 99 in diablo2 is more borish, and alot longer.
Not that the WoW lvling is fun either, but everybody's lvl 70 there... so... lala.. think for yourself.

[KlenZade]

When expansion hit in wow it took me i think 11 days so 260ish hours for 1-70 on a solo paladin (slow leveling class) and this was considered taking it slow.

[Rash]

I never played WoW out of time reasons but that makes me wonder. Hard work for a high level char would be much better imo. Haven't they learned from D2?

There are a few things such a game needs: Very rare items (good trading section), hard leveling and good solo and team play to make such a game a long time burner.
But well, seeing the success with wow, i wonder if easy = the new way to go, cause everyone can get everything :bleh: (may be a bit far stretched, but if i see how every new D2 player can't really play or do ancients on their own/only with high end equip)...

[helvete]

How accurate are the facts in that linkie in the Original Post? (yes, I read it all)

I imagine that both D, N and B could be done in the same game, still fast enough to "risk" realm down with the tactics mentioned, now that so much godly gear is available at relatively cheap costs (compared to ladder start)?

[Addict]

It does seem that WoW makes it easier to get to the level cap. However, there is a rather large sense of the game 'opening up' once you reach or get close to the lvl cap. The highest tier of the battlegrounds, the most challenging instances (with all the shiniest gear), crafting recipes as well as ingredients only accessible by characters at the lvl cap, and content (i.e. quests). So there are more options available at the lvl cap than just the two things I can think of with DII (pvp & item hunting). Or more ways of doing the same 2 things, though I always wondered why they didn't put any mfing into WoW.

[Forbiddian]

The comparison is not entirely valid. Like addict said, WoW only starts at 70. It takes only a few days /played (like 8 or 9 fast levelling) to get to max, but it takes dozens (hundreds) to clear through the end game and get the good gear.

Especially from the perspective of a hardcore raider (comparable to people going for level 99 in D2... they're pretty hardcore), the 1-70 game is like a tutorial, and 70+ is the real game.

With Diablo II, you can pretty much wear any gear by level 80-85 and pretty much kill anything. The 85 plus game is just hp candy (and a bit of extra damage), or about finding rare gear.

1-70 is easier than 1-99, but 1-85 is easier than 1-70.



EDIT: Also, there is powerlevelling in Diablo II. With friends, it takes like one day to get to 75 and Hell Baal. But the first character is much harder.

[FierceDeity]

I have never achieved levle 99 on any character in D2, but it can take me a week or so to get to 70 in WoW if I play right. It is easier to get to level 70, but there is so much more on the way there; in Diablo it is like Act1-5 rush can be done in a few minutes. There you beat the game, now go do some Baal runs. WoW has many more possibilities in characters as well, so it will take forever to get to try each class and each spec. I'm not bashing D2 either, it is an older game and Blizzard doesn't really pay attention to it anymore.

[Midnightshift]

Here is my experience. I had 4-5 toons in the low 90's and a handful in the high 80's, then I quit to play WoW. I have 3 level 70 toons in WoW and it takes about 9 to 11 days playing time to hit 70. In terms of a level grind, it's easier in WoW to hit the max level, but it's not really an apples to apples comparison since you only really need to hit 80ish to experience D2 at it's fullest, imo.

World of warcraft really starts at 70, and there's so much more to do. Pre-TBC I was in a raiding guild and got to experience everything but Naxx, and now I'm big into PvP (which ironically I can't stand in D2).

To add more perspective, I'm largely broke in D2 now that I started over, but having only been at it for about a week and a half at a leisurely pace, I already have a couple of mid-80 toons and a few basic runewords---enough to run anything but uber trist, so I'm at a point where in a week or two I'll have double or triple the wealth--whereas in WoW the time investment to reach the next level of gear is substantial.

You can join a raiding guild and contribute your efforts night in and night out in the hopes of bidding on a nice item, or you can assemble an arena team and grind it out in battlegrounds to hopefully get a nice epic or two every few weeks to add to your arsenal.

In some ways it's similar to D2 in that many parts of the game are just one big grind, but it's a much, much longer grind with rewards that are far more time consuming to obtain. There's also a much greater team concept (obviously), and more in-depth tactics.

Woah, I seem to have written a damn tome. Sorry.

But, just like any game, it can get old--it just takes much longer. That's why I'm back here in D2, starting from scratch and really enjoying it =)