Shadowlands Alpha - Exile's Reach New Player Starting Experience

[Javra]

This isn't meant for you, This isn't meant for veteran players. This isn't about your alts. They even LET YOU pick older starting zones if you want the more nostalgic experience.
This is to increase new player retention which is ultimately a good and healthy thing for the game.
The n*1 goal here is to make the game less intimidating for new players.

Just to illustrate, before :
'yeah so you gotta quest through the classic experience first, actually it's not the classic zones cause those got redone about 10 years ago but don't worry about it, then you have to go through the first expension that came in 2007 you'll see it's great it reminds me of when i first started, oh and also don't worry about the lore because. it technically happens 2 expansion before the quests you were doing at the start, and there's only 1 color per zone. Then you have to level thru another 6 expansions but don't worry they buffed the XP gain so it will be fast and you don't really need to know what's going on but it's important that you experience all the starter zones'

after :
'ok you have to do the new player zoner, then the last xpac, ok now you can play the game, if you want to experience older content without everything being a one shot you'll be able to do so on your following characters'

[TickTickTick]

..$15 a month. One patch every 6ish months. Neglection in every corner of the game.

Just saying.

Don't like it, don't pay? Or are you also complaining about meals costing 15$? Like, you know, you'll eat it (and you might not even like it!) and that's it, you'll forget about it the next day. And for that you pay... 15$. Oh my god, the world is ending.

You must be either very young or just broke. There's no other reason to complain about the sub cost which isn't even high considering how much an average person spends on dumb things each month, things that in the long run won't matter at all, same as WoW.

Grow up, find a job, or quit the game.

[Laqweeta]

As long as it shows players how to use an interrupt it’ll be fine.

[Acelius]

So this experience will introduce AI in dungeons, perhaps a test-bed for a bigger AI-in-instances system down the road?

[Alterno]

This is a great mistake from blizzard, Sony EQ did this and believe me, this kind of stuff doesn't work in mid/long term. I would have recommended to update the old content according to the current lore, a little like they did with CATA, just done right.

[lagiacrux]

So this experience will introduce AI in dungeons, perhaps a test-bed for a bigger AI system down the road?

you already have this kind of AI in the proving grounds.

[Acelius]

you already have this kind of AI in the proving grounds.

Not used in dungeons and raids.

[Wangming]

So this experience will introduce AI in dungeons, perhaps a test-bed for a bigger AI-in-instances system down the road?

Probably. I mean most other MMOs out there have some form of solo option to do dungeons that are tied to the main story to make sure people aren't stuck at leveling just cause DPS ques are long or some shit. Like it or not, that's the new trend.

[Morae]

Will old starting stuff be gone with this?

I havent made a new DK in a while. Is the old DK start still there? Or has it changed over time?
Will the DH start be there?

As in... does blizz have history of deleting stuff like this?

[Nzx]

I'm surprised that you're surprised.

This has been a common complaint since about MoP, when our character specifically is called upon to be part of the tiny expeditionary force to Pandaria. WoW wasn't all about our character before. It's one of the main reasons a lot of people liked the game, we were there to experience a story, not drive it forward.

That's all but thrown entirely out the window at this point.

Nevermind the fact that this starting experience is so separated from the world as a whole. Where do these ogres fit into the story? Why is it that this undead dragon is such a big deal? (Spoiler: It isn't. It exists in a bubble, and almost definitely will never come up again. All this fanfare is JUST to hype you up at the start of the game so it doesn't feel awkward that you're immediately THE owner of the Heart of Azeroth as you start the BfA quests.)

This is a video game. The gameplay should always come first. I don't care where the dragon came from, or where it goes. It exists exclusively to teach new players how to play this video game. Otherwise you just get BS ass-rip retcons like Bolvar becoming the Lich King and then still commanding the Scourge to attack everything in Wrath.

[lagiacrux]

Will old starting stuff be gone with this?

I havent made a new DK in a while. Is the old DK start still there? Or has it changed over time?
Will the DH start be there?

As in... does blizz have history of deleting stuff like this?

correct me if im wrong, but you cant make a demonhunter or deathknight as your first character on the account, right? so my guess is that for dh and dk this "island" is not an option.
and tbf, both classes have fine introductions as is.

[Jasper Kazai]

I guess this is one way to cut down on the tonal whiplash you'd get if you jump right into WotLK, Cataclysm, WoD, etc right at level 1 or whatever the new lowest level you can go do those things are in the new system.

[Cæli]

ok but can veterans come here to play with a new player or to complete whatever there is to do over there ?

[Arakakao]

Sounds like a pretty interesting tutorial. Teaches a lot of things to new players while having somewhat epic feeling.

[Onikaroshi]

Will old starting stuff be gone with this?

I havent made a new DK in a while. Is the old DK start still there? Or has it changed over time?
Will the DH start be there?

As in... does blizz have history of deleting stuff like this?

No, nothing is gone. IIRC DH/DKs start at 8 in their normal zones (unless you roll an allied race DK) and old players can opt to do the original starting zones for all the normal races.

[Soeroah]

ok but can veterans come here to play with a new player or to complete whatever there is to do over there ?

Veterans can choose which zone they want to start a new character in, either the normal zone that character would start in or this one.

[Tarx]

Looks beautiful but it's similar with other areas

[chiddie]

This is a great mistake from blizzard, Sony EQ did this and believe me, this kind of stuff doesn't work in mid/long term. I would have recommended to update the old content according to the current lore, a little like they did with CATA, just done right.

Updating old content is a “little” more expensive.

[Newname1234567890]

Seems a little lazy for a company with hundreds of workers that makes $15 a month from millions of users.

$15 a month.

Who the fuck cares about the starting zones? Your in them for an hour tops. Id rather they used resources on important things.

[Nzx]

No, that's what you get when you don't pay attention to story.

He's not commanding anything in Wrath - Because Arthas is still alive in Northrend. Hence why, even without the Helm of Dominion, the Scourge is STILL attacking everything in Wrath content.

Lmao what? Bolvar became the Lich King, in canon, during Wrath. The fact that you can rationalise this away as "oh well obviously everything that is happening in questing zones happens before the Arthas fight", but not rationalise Exile's Reach as just being a one-off story beat, means that you're just looking for a reason to be angry. This game has always had incongruity in storylines because they absolutely have to take a backseat to the gameplay. That's the real reason you still fight the Scourge in Northrend - because if they didn't exist, like they logically wouldn't, then 80%+ of the questing and world content in that expansion would also cease to exist.