Warcraft Forever

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One of the stated reasons why I have seen people interested in WoW Forever, including from people who have not played WoW before, is the opportunity to have a "fresh start." Jumping into WoW Forever means not worrying about ELEVEN! expansions worth of content, lore, subsystems, reputations, mounts and skins, and currencies to sift through. It means no flying mounts. It means Thrall is still Warchief with Vol'jin and Cairne by his side. It means pretending that there is no Jailer or Shadowlands. It means the Lich King, Kil'jaeden, and Sargeras are still off-screen threats.

I'm not sure people who haven't played WoW before are concerned about the Jailer.

And those previous expansions are all siloed off. Chromie gives a handful of choices to level through before dumping players in the current expansion, with the strong guidance to just worry about the post-Shadowlands stuff, which is a total of three expansions, most of it pretty self-contained.

If you really want to go on a deep lore dive, you can -- there's now Lorewalking quests where players can play through short themed quests where they play through Silvermoon history or the history of the trolls or whatever -- but Blizzard has done a lot of work to make sure that no one has to do any of that to play. And they add a new Lorewalking questline to the NPC any time something is going to refer to previous lore, so people who want can optionally do the "last time on" info dump, but it's by no means required.

Likewise, the only reason someone has to worry about BFA currency or something is if they want to get some housing decor from that expansion, which is an opt-in problem by definition.

 

[Aldarc]

I'm not sure people who haven't played WoW before are concerned about the Jailer.

And those previous expansions are all siloed off. Chromie gives a handful of choices to level through before dumping players in the current expansion, with the strong guidance to just worry about the post-Shadowlands stuff, which is a total of three expansions, most of it pretty self-contained.

If you really want to go on a deep lore dive, you can -- there's now Lorewalking quests where players can play through short themed quests where they play through Silvermoon history or the history of the trolls or whatever -- but Blizzard has done a lot of work to make sure that no one has to do any of that to play. And they add a new Lorewalking questline to the NPC any time something is going to refer to previous lore, so people who want can optionally do the "last time on" info dump, but it's by no means required.

Likewise, the only reason someone has to worry about BFA currency or something is if they want to get some housing decor from that expansion, which is an opt-in problem by definition.

I hear what you are saying, but I think that you are coming at this from the perspective a lifelong veteran familiar with the ins and outs of the systems.

How would a new player even know to do the new Lorewalking quests? Yes, the expansions in Retail are "all siloed off," but which would should a new player pick to learn the game and its lore? Which one is the most fun? That's not easy. And you typically out-level the expansion content in quick working order because the name of the game isn't for enjoying the expansion content. It's for getting you to max level quickly to enjoy the current content. But this often results, IME, with new players having no idea who these characters are or why they should care about them or what past events they are referring to.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How would a new player even know to do the new Lorewalking quests?

As I recall, there are pop-ups for returning players that direct them to find the Lorewalkers in their major cities and mark them on the map and give them an automatic bredcrumb quest.

Yes, the expansions in Retail are "all siloed off," but which would should a new player pick to learn the game and its lore?

New or Returning, Take Your Character to the Next Level! - WoW

Whether you’re new to Azeroth or returning to undertake the next chapter in the evolving story within Midnight, we’ve got you covered when the 11.2.7 content update arrives later this year. New players will find a smoother transition to get caught up with an updated New Player Experience...

worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com

I was incorrect. When you make a new character, you automatically go to Exile's Reach (the modern leveling campaign) and then go straight into Dragonflight (the post-Shadowlands expansion) to level and then go into the latest expansion (in this case, Midnight).

You actually can't pick other leveling processes on your first character.

So a new player sidesteps all of the big lore (much of which doesn't really matter at this point) and just plays from 1-10 on a lore-light island and then from 10 to level cap in the new era, which is 99% self-contained lore. (Xalatath predates Midnight, but no one needs to have played a shadow priest in Legion to understand that she's bad and wants to destroy the world.)

And you typically out-level the expansion content in quick working order

That hasn't been true for years. Leveling from 10 to just below the new expansion levels is stretched so that you see everything but the endgame of Dragonflight.

because the name of the game isn't for enjoying the expansion content. It's for getting you to max level quickly to enjoy the current content. But this often results, IME, with new players having no idea who these characters are or why they should care about them or what past events they are referring to.

This reads like you stopped before Dragonflight. (Which, fair, Shadowlands was pretty rough.) They have been very proactive about addressing this stuff since around 2021, when they announced a big philosophy change.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I was incorrect. When you make a new character, you automatically go to Exile's Reach (the modern leveling campaign) and then go straight into Dragonflight (the post-Shadowlands expansion) to level and then go into the latest expansion (in this case, Midnight).

You actually can't pick other leveling processes on your first character.

Yes you can. I stopped playing Wow right after the Death Knight class expansion came out. I just restarted a couple weeks ago. When creating a toon for the first time, I was given an option to start at Exile's reach if I wanted faster leveling, or if I wanted to start in the traditional starting locations.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes you can. I stopped playing Wow right after the Death Knight class expansion came out. I just restarted a couple weeks ago. When creating a toon for the first time, I was given an option to start at Exile's reach if I wanted faster leveling, or if I wanted to start in the traditional starting locations.

That's not a first-time user experience.

The article specifically says returning players have more choices.

 

[Aldarc]

That hasn't been true for years. Leveling from 10 to just below the new expansion levels is stretched so that you see everything but the endgame of Dragonflight.

I'll trust on you that. I haven't taken any new new characters through the questing experience in ages. Most of my characters were level 50 when I logged in. Again, the last time that I really played was around BfA.

This reads like you stopped before Dragonflight. (Which, fair, Shadowlands was pretty rough.) They have been very proactive about addressing this stuff since around 2021, when they announced a big philosophy change.

Maybe, but I don't think either of us are the most objective judges of this sort of thing. We're both essentially "veterans."

 

[Sacrosanct]

That's not a first-time user experience.

The article specifically says returning players have more choices.

As far as they knew I wasn't returning. I think my original user was with my Hotmail account years ago. It seemed like a new experience because I had to register all over again (since I haven't used hotmail in like, 20 years lol).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe, but I don't think either of us are the most objective judges of this sort of thing. We're both essentially "veterans."

I'm just trying to make sure the discussion reflects the current state of the game, not however many years ago when someone got frustrated and quit. Blizzard heard that frustration and has been working to address it. Still not perfect, by any means, but most of the big issues have been addressed in one fashion or another.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

I bit. I'm a returning player, started on day one of Vanilla release and quit shortly after Cataclysm (really started losing steam post WotLK but took a while to realize it wasn't fun anymore.) I created my first Alliance character, gathered two quests and then logged, I don't want to spoil the content that I really want to play. So instead I'm rolling up different combos that I'd never touched before with a focus on Horde because I prefer Alliance. I'm really enjoying it and can echo that it feels very OG to me. (granted my memory is fuzzy too so I'm taking that with a grain of salt) But bottom line, if it can support "dad gamer" level of time commitment, I'm really looking forward to it.

Edited to finish a sentence I only half-typed.

 

[Aldarc]

So instead I'm rolling up different combos that I'd never touched before with a focus on Horde because I prefer Alliance.

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