Exile's Reach->Battle For Azeroth->Dragonflight?

[Encaitar29]

The entire idea to start with BFA lacks any logic, so let's not look for any in that move either. It's really a mistake from narrative perspective, but Blizzard simply doesn't wish new players to see old assets and areas as they look dated. Cataclysm questing is way more fun for new players than BFA, as each zone had all those little, neat stories, a lot of fun quests with minigames etc.

[Thestrawman]

Are the campaign questlines not available anymore? I'd assume if you level straight through BfA you won't hit 60 if you just do the main stories for your three zones right? Could be you do 50-60 by doing the patch campaign content (including I guess some Naz'jatar and possibly even some 8.3). That should at least get you to the point where Sylvanas yeets off and at least on Horde side you get most of what you need. On Alliance side things are a bit more interesting since you suddenly lose Anduin and never get a resolution for Night Warrior without SL.

The Night Warrior stuff happens in the warfront iirc so good luck catching it. That is if you even get to patch content before hitting lvl 60.

[Cosmic Janitor]

The entire idea to start with BFA lacks any logic, so let's not look for any in that move either. It's really a mistake from narrative perspective, but Blizzard simply doesn't wish new players to see old assets and areas as they look dated. Cataclysm questing is way more fun for new players than BFA, as each zone had all those little, neat stories, a lot of fun quests with minigames etc.

I mean their logic is clearly that they don't want people to get a dated questing experience, both in structure and visuals. Story was never really a serious concenern with Blizzard. Arguably, the world state of Cata is also way too outdated to make sense with current storylines, since most of that has changed constantly since MoP, so the earlier you let people start the more disconnect they'd experience compared to today. The horde alone literally went through 3 warchiefs in that time alone, not to mention all the supporting cast changes in the meantime.

[Kiria]

I feel its a good idea, BFA in terms of questing was quite fun and you dont have to deal with the HoA or the Armour anymore it's just normal gearing all the way through, It gives new players a more up to date experience and goes to show Blizz do care about story now more than ever partially thanks to FFXIV and its narrative structure.

[Nymrohd]

The Night Warrior stuff happens in the warfront iirc so good luck catching it. That is if you even get to patch content before hitting lvl 60.

Not really, it is a separate questline that introduces the Warfront. I think you'd have Dor'ithur trying to get your attention in the ship in Boralus leading to SW Keep war room and then Darkshore.

[DarkTZeratul]

Apparently still necessary reminder that this was deliberately crafted propaganda by the Jailer, I haven't had the opportunity to read the novel myself, but from what others quoted, there is no indication that the "fire eel" misses her mate, and without the Anima Drought, travel between the realms was easy, and unless you were judged to go to Revendreth, souls presumably could visit other realms, Kyrian aspirants who were failing their tests could go back to Oribos to get to another afterlife etc.

And despite the val'kyr claiming to Sylvanas that they knew of no loved ones who wound up together in the afterlife, there are multiple examples of just that. Thiernax and Qadarin in Ardenwealed, for instance.

[Nymrohd]

Of course, but who doesnt do the side shizz? it's fun and essentially free gold xD

I'd rather check the entire storyline tbh. I love doing max level content for leveling, things like Isle of Thunder scenarios

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Apparently still necessary reminder that this was deliberately crafted propaganda by the Jailer, I haven't had the opportunity to read the novel myself, but from what others quoted, there is no indication that the "fire eel" misses her mate, and without the Anima Drought, travel between the realms was easy, and unless you were judged to go to Revendreth, souls presumably could visit other realms, Kyrian aspirants who were failing their tests could go back to Oribos to get to another afterlife etc.

Even if you end up in Revendreth once you've done sufficient penance you get the opportunity to get back to Oribos to be sorted again (or can be offered a spot among the Venthyr).

[Kiria]

I'd rather check the entire storyline tbh. I love doing max level content for leveling, things like Isle of Thunder scenarios

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Even if you end up in Revendreth once you've done sufficient penance you get the opportunity to get back to Oribos to be sorted again (or can be offered a spot among the Venthyr).

sadly you cant just level through dungeons anymore, we tried last night with our new friend and we only had access to the first dungeon in bfa which was abit disappointing because that removes one levelling option people used to use alot.

[cparle87]

Will new Horde players learn that Sylvanas is no longer warchief during the BFA levelling? They are going to do Exiles Reach > BFA questing > Dragonflight with a horde war council.

There's going to be some missing context there. Although I am not going to suggest they go to Shadowlands. I like that this is a subtle way to just pretend that SL doesn't exist

No, they won't. Zones and expansions are considered to have taken place in the order they were released, barring new quests or npcs added. For instance events in Korthia assume the covenants have been restored, Denathrius has been defeated, etc. Going back to older content requires a bit of suspension of disbelief as you are literally going back in time to when those events took place. Ergo like you asked Sylvanas is warchief in BFA.

[Th3Scourge]

No, they won't. Zones and expansions are considered to have taken place in the order they were released, barring new quests or npcs added. For instance events in Korthia assume the covenants have been restored, Denathrius has been defeated, etc. Going back to older content requires a bit of suspension of disbelief as you are literally going back in time to when those events took place. Ergo like you asked Sylvanas is warchief in BFA.

No what I mean is that a new player is going to go from Sylvanas being there in BfA as warchief to all of a sudden having a war council. by skipping SL they will miss the context.

[Hobbidaggy]

There is, as I recall, nothing in Shadowlands (yet) that connects meaning to Dragonflight except for the whereabouts of Anduin.

Only thing I can think of will be the Ysera storyline we will have. That’s about it

[Lady Atia]

Eh, recent events, your goal isn't to kill him? Your goal is to celebrate the news brought out that Sylvanas isn't going to return, as she is to stay in the Maw even after she finds all the souls she needs to retrieve (Though, knowing Blizzard dev's right, they are going to feed the raging Banshee fans with something in the future, a little like we have Illidan on hold as well).

Why should she stay in the Maw once her quest is completed? That just makes no sense. You people are so full of hate for Sylvanas, I can't comprehend it.

[Kiria]

Why should she stay in the Maw once her quest is completed? That just makes no sense. You people are so full of hate for Sylvanas, I can't comprehend it.

I hope she comes back, she is still one of my most favourite characters.

[Lochton]

Why should she stay in the Maw once her quest is completed? That just makes no sense. You people are so full of hate for Sylvanas, I can't comprehend it.

Because her sentence is to remain in the Maw? They literally sent her there to retrieve the souls she sent there, and to stay behind.

Tyrande Whisperwind says: Below lies the Maw. An unjust fate to which you doomed so many. And it will be there... that your penance begins. Every soul lost in its depths, betrayed or condemned... You shall find and send forth to the Arbiter to be judged with the compassion all souls deserve. You will toil there, under Dori'thur's watchful eye, scouring every darkened reach, until the final soul is free, and you are all that remains. This... is how you shall bring renewal to your victims, and my people.

And even at that, if just temporary, she'll be there for a long time, as we're talking all souls she sent there without being judged. And we know she's given this punishment so they have a joker for future content, just like Illidan.

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Only thing I can think of will be the Ysera storyline we will have. That’s about it

Won't be for a while, though. She's going to be reborn... at a later time, her place for rebirth was sacrificed so that Ardenweald could remain. She isn't the leader anymore anyways. There might be a 'vision' quest line for her daughter.

[RobertMugabe]

"For the new player experience, new players specifically will be sent from Exile’s Reach to BFA, then onto Dragon Isles. More veteran players, people who have already leveled a character to max can choose like Chromie Time to go level in Draenor or Pandaria or Shadowlands. But for new players, it’s going to go: Exile’s Reach, BFA, Dragon Isles."

Wait, this doesn't make sense, they are completely skipping Shadowlands. Shouldn't BFA be a Timewalking option instead of Shadowlands? I'm confused.

Source For Interview: https://warcraft.blizzplanet.com/blo...-and-tina-wang To get quickly to the quote, CTRL+F and type "level 70".

It makes a lot more sense to have BfA as the default leveling experience than SL. Going to the afterlife and being then confronted by a very complicated story which requires you to understand a very complicated past just isn't going to work well with new players. The SL leveling experience also heavily ties into the later SL lore, while the BfA zones are more simple and focus on the "local" issues of these zones. Each zone has its own problems which are easy to follow and beside that you have the general faction war/conflict stuff. You don't get told anything really about the heart of azeroth, the big sword in silithus, sylvanas besides minor stuff etc.

This is only logical IMO (until they decide to revamp the old world again) and has nothing to do with Blizzard wanting you to "forget" about SL or whatever BS people say.

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Are the campaign questlines not available anymore? I'd assume if you level straight through BfA you won't hit 60 if you just do the main stories for your three zones right? Could be you do 50-60 by doing the patch campaign content (including I guess some Naz'jatar and possibly even some 8.3). That should at least get you to the point where Sylvanas yeets off and at least on Horde side you get most of what you need. On Alliance side things are a bit more interesting since you suddenly lose Anduin and never get a resolution for Night Warrior without SL.

That's a non-issue tbh. They already said that the leveling to 60 will take as much time as it would to get to 50, so I guess they will simply buff the xp gains (or reduce the xp required to level up) and call it a day (I do wish though that they would do more).

I don't expect them to make new players get the Heart of Azeroth and learn about all the post-leveling BfA story.

[Nathanyel]

But in Dragonflight, you're going to go from level 10-59 in Battle For Azeroth, then ding 60, watch all of the mobs suddenly turn into gray level 50s, and you'll jump straight forward into a time where Anduin and Sylvanas are just gone without explanation.

1. BfA content will obviously scale up to level 60 instead of 50 even without Chromie Time (which new players don't have access to) and without DF gear or levelling beyond 60, the mobs will still be about as powerful as at 59.
2. There could be a questline or cinematic explaining the changes to the world & leadership since BfA, in case that is even relevant for Dragonflight, and if something like that isn't revealed during the first few Beta builds, it would make sense to suggest this. But for now, it would be foolish to assume new players would be thrust from BfA levelling into Dragonflight content without any context.

[RobertMugabe]

The entire idea to start with BFA lacks any logic, so let's not look for any in that move either. It's really a mistake from narrative perspective, but Blizzard simply doesn't wish new players to see old assets and areas as they look dated. Cataclysm questing is way more fun for new players than BFA, as each zone had all those little, neat stories, a lot of fun quests with minigames etc.

I disagree. In its current state, the revamped old world is already way too outdated in terms of everything (and extremely linear too even in cases when it doesn't need to be) and pretty much every zone has a very strong focus on Deathwing and the Twilight Hammer, who "we" have dealt with now over 10 years ago.

On the contrary, all the BfA zones deal far more with local issues and the general faction war stuff.

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Considering the way Timewalking Campaigns work right now, I'm gonna disagree.

Right now, Timewalking is abruptly shut off at level 50. Playing Battle For Azeroth, everything naturally scales to 50 anyway, so it doesnt really matter; you can finish the story.

But in Dragonflight, you're going to go from level 10-59 in Battle For Azeroth, then ding 60, watch all of the mobs suddenly turn into gray level 50s, and you'll jump straight forward into a time where Anduin and Sylvanas are just gone without explanation.

The BfA's mobs could just stay at level 60 since it's the default experience.

I am not quite sure about the Horde, but I have recently leveled with my cousin (new player) through the full "new player experience" as Alliance and I think besides that one quest at level 10 in SW where Anduin sends you off to Kul Tiras (they could rework it so that Turalyon does it and it would be the same) and on one small occasion in Tiragarde Sound with Taelia, you never really get to meet him, so at least for the KT zones lore (and most/all? of the war campaign stuff during the leveling) it doesn't matter who the king of the Alliance is.

I do however agree that Chromie Time in general is just a bit of a mess as how it abruptly ends and how especially in the other expansions you never experience the interesting stuff or get anything explained.

[Goat7]

Do we really believe WoW at this point, in this state, even with dragonflight, is going to get new players?

I just cannot see anything that would attract new players to this game, even with the dragonflight reveal. I'm sure new players will stumble upon the game but the number will be hundreds at most imo.

[Lochton]

Do we really believe WoW at this point, in this state, even with dragonflight, is going to get new players?

I just cannot see anything that would attract new players to this game, even with the dragonflight reveal. I'm sure new players will stumble upon the game but the number will be hundreds at most imo.

Even Shadowlands had a gain though loss as well?

[Teriz]

Do we really believe WoW at this point, in this state, even with dragonflight, is going to get new players?

I just cannot see anything that would attract new players to this game, even with the dragonflight reveal. I'm sure new players will stumble upon the game but the number will be hundreds at most imo.

I personally know a few people who are getting WoW simply because of the Dracthyr.