Shadowlands: Adventure Awaits in the New Starting Experience

[Queen of Hamsters]

I understand why they're doing it perfectly, to try to increase player retention with a stupid easy generic zone that dumbs the game down even further. The problem is, Blizzard is forgetting they are in the MMO business, so even if they manage to retain players a little longer because the new starting zones makes the game seem easy, as soon as said players run into anything even remotely more complicated than that starting zone, they're going to leave anyway. Only players who are interested in playing an MMO will ever stick along over the long haul, anyway.

Lol'd.

If the current leveling experience taught players how to be good at the game, we wouldn't have about 90% people unable to handle anything above LFR in the game. The leveling experience was piss easy when I first started. My interest in getting better = what made me a good player. The same goes for everyone else. You even have people fail at the most basic-ass rotations in Classic ffs.

You're making a hen out of a feather, a feather that doesn't even exist to begin with.

[Jetstream]

I understand why they're doing it perfectly, to try to increase player retention with a stupid easy generic zone that dumbs the game down even further. The problem is, Blizzard is forgetting they are in the MMO business, so even if they manage to retain players a little longer because the new starting zones makes the game seem easy, as soon as said players run into anything even remotely more complicated than that starting zone, they're going to leave anyway. Only players who are interested in playing an MMO will ever stick along over the long haul, anyway.

Calling this starting experience stupid easy suggests that you think there’s even the slightest challenge in the current ones. You kidding?

[Queen of Hamsters]

Calling this starting experience stupid easy suggests that you think there’s even the slightest challenge in the current ones. You kidding?

Yeah I don't know what he's smoking. The leveling experience (Cata or pre-Cata) didn't do shit in teaching players how to be good at the game.

[Kyphael]

Lol'd.

If the current leveling experience taught players how to be good at the game, we wouldn't have about 90% people unable to handle anything above LFR in the game. The leveling experience was piss easy when I first started. My interest in getting better = what made me a good player. The same goes for everyone else. You even have people fail at the most basic-ass rotations in Classic ffs.

You're making a hen out of a feather, a feather that doesn't even exist to begin with.

So your argument is that your own ability and interest in gaming made you a better WoW player, not any in-game tools or features from WOW itself, including these so-called flawed racial starting zones, and yet this new generic starting zone is the problem solver to making great WoW players who will perform exponentially well because of this new generic starting zone? Even though apparently they can't even learn the game themselves by navigating a stupid easy racial starting zone?

Can we just admit that a player becomes good or bad at this game whether they have the interest and passion for the game (in this case, an MMO which in today's market is considering a dying brand because of how time consuming and challenging and might be?) and not because we're lacking some kind of even more dumbed down starting zone that will automatically churn out better new players?

- - - Updated - - -

Calling this starting experience stupid easy suggests that you think there’s even the slightest challenge in the current ones. You kidding?

I meant the current ones are already stupid easy. This one dumbs it down to dunce level.

[Queen of Hamsters]

So your argument is that your own ability and interest in gaming made you a better WoW player, not any in-game tools or features from WOW itself, including these so-called flawed racial starting zones, and yet this new generic starting zone is the problem solver to making great WoW players who will perform exponentially well because of this new generic starting zone? Even though apparently they can't even learn the game themselves by navigating a stupid easy racial starting zone?

Can we just admit that a player becomes good or bad at this game whether they have the interest and passion for the game (in this case, an MMO which in today's market is considering a dying brand because of how time consuming and challenging and might be?) and not because we're lacking some kind of even more dumbed down starting zone that will automatically churn out better new players?

- - - Updated - - -

l.

Lol, no that's not at all my argument.

My argument is that no leveling experience ever in the history of this game created good players, thus your outrage is inane at best.
The new experience won't be any more or less difficult than the current experience, since it will first and foremost be tailored for new players. Same as always. Yes, even in Vanilla, the casual MMORPG of its time. As such, it won't have anymore or less of an impact on whether or not a player becomes good at the game than any leveling experience before it.

Which brings us right back to how inane the outrage is.

[melzas]

Forcing people to level thru BfA is garbage.

BFA has the best leveling zones and quests in the game. Hating on bfa blindly is garbage.

[TigTone]

BFA has the best leveling zones and quests in the game. Hating on bfa blindly is garbage.

Not to mention it makes sense lore wise to level through it. A first in WoW history.

[Kyphael]

Lol, no that's not at all my argument.

My argument is that no leveling experience ever in the history of this game created good players, thus your outrage is inane at best.
The new experience won't be any more or less difficult than the current experience, since it will first and foremost be tailored for new players. Same as always. Yes, even in Vanilla, the casual MMORPG of its time. As such, it won't have anymore or less of an impact on whether or not a player becomes good at the game than any leveling experience before it.

Which brings us right back to how inane the outrage is.

I'm not really outraged, I'm just pointing out as you just solidified that it's a new starting zone tailored for brand new players that doesn't focus on race, but rather the WoW questing experience and really hammers home what they feel are fundamentals in what is essentially a grade school level tutorial that ultimately likely won't increase player retention outside the norm anyway because the nature of the game will remain a semi-challenging MMO. Now if 2 years from now, there is substantial data indicating that Shadowlands players perform much better in LFR and end game content versus any previous expansion's, I'd eat that crow, but what are the odds that'll happen?

[Frontenac]

Curious how mount training will work. If I decide to go to Northrend at LVL 10, probably gunna need to be able to fly at some point. Also you're supposed to level from 10-50 in one expansion?? Jesus that would be like leveling every 10 quests

So? It's about 5 levels by area. Not much different from Vanilla.

And another thing. I was real goddamn confused last night when I went to get some medium leather for a friend and was like uhh, everything is scaled up to 60, what drops medium... Now you'll have every mob in the game minus Shadowlands scaled up to 50 with them dropping dozens of different mats. That's confusing.

Hmm... I was dismissing that point at first, but it is a problem. If you want to help a friend (or an alt), that is. Since the professions revamp, we level up our profs by expansion: Outland Skinning, Northrend Skinning, Shadowland Skinning, etc. So you personnaly won't need any medium leather to level up Leatherworking if you're playing in Outland or Draenor. Or they could just simplify the profession leveling system in Vanilla zones. Instead of having light, medium, heavy leather, let's only have leather and hides. Same with other professions, although it's not that much of a problem when the mats are coming from farming nodes, like Mining or Herbalism.

[Sorshen]

BFA has the best leveling zones and quests in the game. Hating on bfa blindly is garbage.

Good leveling zones that have nothing to do with the Shadowlands intro.

Not to mention it makes sense lore wise to level through it. A first in WoW history.

Actually it makes no sense for it to be the introduction, jumping from battle of Undercity to proxy troll-kultiran war to Azshara to Old God to Chronicle retconned afterlife. Nazjatar and N'Zoth probably won't even be part of the leveling process since they're power creep content patches.

[TigTone]

Actually it makes no sense for it to be the introduction, jumping from battle of Undercity to proxy troll-kultiran war to Azshara to Old God to Chronicle retconned afterlife. Nazjatar and N'Zoth probably won't even be part of the leveling process since they're power creep content patches.

I should rephrase it makes the most sense compared to the alternatives and since it’s for new players it’s a new adventurer!

Who probably didn’t make the cut for the raid on N’zoth.

[Brocksley]

All other classes-Learn how to use real abilities for combat!
Hunters-Learn how to tame more pokemon

Wish hunters were more than just pet collectors in the devs eyes.

[Queen of Hamsters]

All other classes-Learn how to use real abilities for combat!
Hunters-Learn how to tame more pokemon

Wish hunters were more than just pet collectors in the devs eyes.

I sincerely doubt that's all that Hunters will learn.

And I'd reckon that the "considering hunters pet collectors" comes chiefly from the playerbase. The casual majority of Hunters.

[anubisdark]

So they can make a dungeon for 1-5 players. I am hopeful they can apply this design to all current expansion dungeons.

[Dervrak]

It's good to see that Blizz is finally reworking the early leveling process (about 10 years overdue in my opinion). They appear to be taking the path of Elder Scrolls Online and making leveling more integrating into a larger story arc as opposed to the utterly disconnected way the older zones feel now. I mean seriously about the only connection most of the old vanilla leveling zones have now is at some point some some NPC in Zone A will say "take this letter to some other NPC in Zone B" and that's about it.

[taishar68]

Forcing people to level thru BfA is garbage.

Why? New players don’t have a reference point, so what’s the difference?

[Naitsade]

I dont like the "larger the life" storytelling (big bad bosses whit powerful magics and evil master plans), especially right from the start. Early levels should be about exploring and learning about your class.

[Cæli]

uhm, this looks so bad ahah
hopefully new players gets interested in wow through better zones screenshots, having someone not knowing wow appearing right here will certainly make him leave after less than an hour, to never come back
starting zones like teldrassil, tirisfal glades, elwynn, are a reason why the game started off as a major success, zones with clear identification and soul. maybe they're just making a wow 2.

[Darkeon]

In the words of a fresh player, that is currently leveling up in my guild: "What is Garrosh doing here?".

Any attempt to straighten up the levelling experience, especially from a storytelling point, is a good change in my book. Was looking forward to it even before this information dump.

[Villager720]

Why? New players don’t have a reference point, so what’s the difference?

Because some people hate BfA endgame so much that they can't see anything else.
BFA leveling has great zone stories that are somewhat interconnected (rare for WoW), fantastic art, and is the most relevant storywise/characterwise to Shadowlands.
It also helps them start working on allied race unlocks. 5 of 6 of the allied races you can unlock from BFA come from leveling reps.