World of Warcraft veteran says MMO power leveling is a 'mistake': 'Getting to level cap should be an accomplishment, not a blip'

Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street, veteran MMO developer of World of Warcraft and League of Legends, believes that streamlining leveling experiences and allowing players to quickly reach the endgame is a mistake, as it diminishes the sense of accomplishment and investment in the game.

World of Warcraft and League of Legends MMO veteran Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street says that it's a "mistake" to let players power level their way to the level cap.

In a recent tweet, Street, who spent nearly six years at Blizzard as lead systems designer on WoW before leaving for Riot where he'd spend two years heading up the LoL MMO, revealed his thoughts on letting players speed to the endgame.

"Someone asked me if it's a mistake to streamline the leveling experience and let players get to the endgame," Street said. "My answer is yes." That leveling experience, Street suggests, is something "we all fell in love with" and is what gets players "invested" in their favorite MMOS. "I think getting to level cap should be an accomplishment, not a blip," he continues.

"The endgame is very very important and a lot of MMOS fail because they have a good leveling experience and a lame endgame," Street says, promising that his new MMO project, known as Ghost, "won't forsake" the endgame. "But I also think the leveling should be challenging and a but of effort and not something you cruise through." That opinion is one that Street says he's held since his World of Warcraft days, but it does seem to be something that Blizzard isn't too worried about - it took one War Within player just one hour to hit the new level cap, and while that level curve has since been slowed down, it does seem that for most WoW players, that cap is a blip, rather than a milestone, in their expansion experience.

Street now has his own MMO to worry about, of course, and he's recently been outlining some of what that game will look like, hinting at an almost MOBA-style class system. With nearly a decade of professional experience in the genre across a wide array of titles, he's certainly an interesting voice in the space, although we're still some way from finding out what either of his most recent projects will look like.

The League of Legends MMO got "reset" early this year, so I guess I'm probably waiting another five years now.