Thank you for the new information and above all for your time that you have dedicate to this project.
If you are still open to some suggestions:
1) Make the XP rate a bit lower - 3x would be ideal ( at least for vanilla ), it's not too much but it should be enough to not make the leveling experience a grind, if this project is really special as you call it than the people should take it into consideration before they play here and should treat it as such, 3x rate is an acceptable compromise, It can grow and progress along with each expansion and get to x5 on Wotlk.
2) The XP rate should be variable and set by the players themselves. As someone here wrongly said that no one wants to level on 1x ..., that's not true at all. I believe there are a lot of people that want to have 1x and naturally complete quests and achievements along the level process. Of course, it's not majority but still, it's quite a lot. At the same time I understand that people in 2023 don't have the time or patience to grind through 1x rates. The option to set own XP rates would satisfy all. After all, anyone who wants to complete 60 level will meet in the end, sooner or later, but the journey counts. I know Mercy said it will most likey be that way but some official confirmation would put this away for good.
3) There is a big difference in some race combinations in vanilla / wotlk, for example people want to have belf paladins through all expansions but won't be able to do that if you disable it according to the vanilla. I hope that it won't be the case and all will be available since the start. It's not my personal case, but speaking here for people that want to use race combo that is not "vanilla friendly". Making such change would force them to play something they don't want.
4) Please take into consideration time plan and content release schedule, in some unnamed similar PTE project, it takes quite a long time and they lost a lot of players because of the delays. Your experince with running servers should be very valuable here, but also must be planned in detail. Long delays in content release can eventually cause a server death or it's slow decline in worst cases. It's very sensitive topic and maybe it should be changed in according to / reflect the server actual dungeon progression and not be set in stone from the start.
5) PvP / PvE realm is an endless discussion, and you will never satisfy everyone, but let's speak facts. World PvP is a major part of the old experience no matter what people say. As always it should be taken into consideration and maybe a compromise as well can take place. We know that some areas are rich in PvP ( Stranglethorn, Dire Maul, Arathi, Burning Steppes etc. ). These areas can be flagged as PvP and the rest not ? This will make the world PvP alive, players that actually want to PvP will flock to these areas and the rest will be calm leaving people to farm and level in peace. In my opinion disabling the PvP alltogether is a wrong move and will have negative impact on the overall experience, cutting off large part of it.
Thank you for the time if someone from WM staff reads this and took it into consideration.
I am along with others looking forward to BETA and most importantly the actual server.
Have a pleasant summer.
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