Classic World of Warcraft got another dose of nostalgia this past February, as Burning Crusade was re-introduced into the experience. First released almost 20 years ago, players have been jumping right back into the old school slab of MMORPG, though with the caveat they can't powerlevel like they used to any more thanks to a post-release patch.
Back in the day, dungeon-boosting, whereby you'd benefit from a more experienced player doing all the hard work in a raid, allowed people to level up alt characters much more efficiently. Sadly, on the back of Burning Crusade Classic: Anniversary, Blizzard's picked up on these tricks being trotted out, and the devs have put a stop to them.
"We've observed a significant number of Burning Crusade players entering dungeons and then participating in no meaningful gameplay," Kaivax, a community manager, states on the official WoW forums, "often while only one party member plays through the instance. When this is prominent, it can lead to detrimental economic effects, among other concerns, so we're implementing a series of hotfixes to address it."
These changes come in two salient forms. "Players must participate in combat to receive experience from dungeons," says the first, and second: "The amount of loot dropped by non-boss enemies in high-level dungeons is now determined by how many players participate in the kill."
Combined, they put an end to dungeon-boosting and powerleveling, forcing people to grind out their numbers as they're meant to. Of course, beyond simply wanting players to play as intended, there are the simple facts that these resources and exploits are more widespread than ever, putting a real strain on World of Warcraft's infrastructure.
Conversely, it's also much less tedious to do things by the rulebook to begin with. As Kaivax points out, "The vast majority of players who participate in dungeon groups as usual should see no difference after these updates." Chances are, you won't notice anything, so long as you were being honest to start with.
