Possible returning player... where do I even begin?

[vizzle]

Maybe it's the boredom from the global lockdowns but I thought I might want to get into this game again. I didn't think it was possible but GMs helped me restore an account and characters from ~8 years ago. After 2 weeks of tickets, I'm back in! But I have no idea where to start.

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Players are in the new content now, in Kul Tiras. That said, a lot of realms are dead, and the Alliance has suffered more because all recruitment is on the Horde.

[Razion]

It is a great giant world out there. If you just want to level quickly to catch up to your friends, you can do random dungeons via default key-bind "I" for good xp. I'd recommend questing while in queue, which you can get started with by directing yourself to any Hero's Call Board in most capital cities or major questing hubs or the Adventure Guide icon. As you get higher level new areas will become available to you when you return to your major capitals at major level brackets (85, 90, 100, 110).

If you're just coming back from Wrath of the Lich King, the Hero's Call Board or Adventure Guide icon should be directing you to quest chains that ultimately land you in Mount Hyjal, Vashj'ir, Deepholm, Uldum, or the Twilight Highlands. If you've already found your way to one of these places, you're already on your way.

Icy-Veins and Wowhead have a lot of the Class Guides and upcoming Shadowlands changes, as well.

[Devilyaki]

I would say hello to a gnome ether.

[Laughingjack]

It is kind of a rough time to get into the game. I would almost recommend just starting fresh for shadowlands. There is a ton of prep you can do but a lot of the content is grindy and soft time gated. Even after hitting level cap you are going to have over a month of grinding your cloak.essences, and corruptions to even be on par with anyone else.

[Nikeyla]

Get a guild for faster HS cooldown!

[Schattenlied]

Maybe it's the boredom from the global lockdowns but I thought I might want to get into this game again. I didn't think it was possible but GMs helped me restore an account and characters from ~8 years ago. After 2 weeks of tickets, I'm back in! But I have no idea where to start.

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

Yes, that is the state of the game these days, has been for several expansions now... You can thank sharding for that, it's terrible... People are playing but the game seperates you from them, which really makes this MMO feel like it's missing that first M.

Have you considered playing Classic? It's free with the sub you already have, and quite frankly a lot more like the game you left 8 years ago than the current game, which barely resembles it's former self.


There's no real reason to prepare for shadowlands until the prepatch, gear will be replaced 1-2 levels into Shadowlands and leveling to max will be much quicker in the prepatch than it is now, so you'll have no trouble at all hitting max before the expansion launches. Your complaints about the game feeling dead won't be present in Classic, even on the servers that never see queues. I understand if you don't want to level 1-60 in vanilla again, it is a time consuming task; but if you're just looking for something to occupy your time, it's definitely got you covered.

[FelPlague]

Yes, that is the state of the game these days, has been for several expansions now... You can thank sharding for that, it's terrible... People are playing but the game seperates you from them, which really makes this MMO feel like it's missing that first M.

Have you considered playing Classic? It's free with the sub you already have.


There's no real reason to "prepare for shadowlands" until the prepatch, gear will be replaced 1-2 levels into Shadowlands and leveling to max will be much quicker in the prepatch than it is now. Your complaints about the game feeling dead won't be present in Classic, even on the servers that never see queues. I understand if you don't want to level 1-60 in vanilla again, it is a time consuming task; but if you're just looking for something to occupy your time, it's definitely got you covered.

I mean also his complaints about the game feeling dead is he's standing in the middle of an alleyway and saying "where is everyone" when everyone is out at the streets.

Stormwind hasn't been a major hub since cataclysm, and ironforge since vanilla.

[Dracullus]

Maybe it's the boredom from the global lockdowns but I thought I might want to get into this game again. I didn't think it was possible but GMs helped me restore an account and characters from ~8 years ago. After 2 weeks of tickets, I'm back in! But I have no idea where to start.

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

People hang out in city from most recent expansion, why anyone would stay in Ironforge? Leveling is pretty fast and serve rather as introduction to game. Only thing that new hub doesn't have is auction house. That's why only crowded places in Stormwind are AH and portal room.

Besides, nowadays there is much more stuff to do in outside world on max level, so people don't just AFK in city waiting for next raid.

My advice: right now just level, on 120 you can start searching for some guides, but most important find some casual guild. And don't try to do everything at once, now is great time to learn everything slowly and be prepared for Shadowlands.

[FelPlague]

Maybe it's the boredom from the global lockdowns but I thought I might want to get into this game again. I didn't think it was possible but GMs helped me restore an account and characters from ~8 years ago. After 2 weeks of tickets, I'm back in! But I have no idea where to start.

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

So first off.
1. Stormwind and itonforge arnt really populated anymore, they are old cities, but if you wanna see true pop try alliance moonguard, and go to stormwind. It's always packed. (Avoid goldshire.)

2. As others have said, woehesds returning player guide

3. Check your adventure journal, it will usually recommend you were to go next.

4. Check your map, newer content usually has a ! On your map. You quit in cata, so your likely to go mop next then work, then legion, then BFA so.

5. Mop, go to stormwind, you get a quest to go to pandaria. Wod, again stormwind. Portal to the dark portal and boom. Legion, again stormwind. You are sent to docks for a questline. And again BFA, stormwind. Stormwind is where you get mostly sent out to new expats, even though it's not used much otherwise.

[Feral Druid ist Op]

youre alliance no one half decent plays alliance swtich to horde and you will see packed towns on a high pop realm

[blankfaced]

Those are all very good questions you should be asking yourself. I personally found it to not be worth it coming back to the current game.

[Neuroticaine]

Maybe it's the boredom from the global lockdowns but I thought I might want to get into this game again. I didn't think it was possible but GMs helped me restore an account and characters from ~8 years ago. After 2 weeks of tickets, I'm back in! But I have no idea where to start.

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

To your primary concerns about the game "feeling dead" - everyone's done everything for the expansion. Most guilds are in farm mode. No one gives a shit about anything right now until the expansion comes out. There's no reason to ever be in Stormwind or Ironforge unless you're buying something off the auction house. There's tons of world content when you're in the relevant level range. Be in the relevant content's capital (Dazar'Alor for Horde, Boralus for Alliance) when you have absolutely nothing to do.

There's no reason to waste your life in trade chat in a video game anymore.

- - - Updated - - -

Those are all very good questions you should be asking yourself. I personally found it to not be worth it coming back to the current game.

Playing alts with old friends is fun, but if you don't have that luxury, yeah, wait til the expansion.

[Castia]

The old major cities aren’t used as much these days, you’ll find more people in the latest expansions cities.

The first thing to do is to start levelling up, there’s currently a double xp buff so the time it takes has been cut in half. Then end game us your own, you can pvp, find a very guild, unlock your flying and play through the war campaign etc.

[Kokolums]

[VinceVega]

OG is packed on my realm. And SW on my other too... IF is empty since... idk... since cata?

And i don't remeber people responding to a random "hello" ever.

To do is more than enough and faster than at any point in the expansion...

[Sansnom]

What do I do? The game feels dead, honestly. I'm not saying that to troll; it just isn't how I remember it. I've gone around Stormwind and Ironforge on my "full" realms and there's no one around. The very few people who -are- around don't reply to "hello". Is this the state of the game these days, or are there more populated areas? I remember in WotLK these were the two hubs.

Most people are probably in the newer city. That tends to be the trend as I remember it in each expansion. Although in my experience, the other major cities still had people running around. Silvermoon had always been quiet but I do see people gather in Stormwind and Ironforge and other popular cities.

As for the random "hello". I have never had people approach me with a random hello. I have had people asking for help though. Put yourself in their shoes, a random comes to you and whisper hello. Sounds weird? Probably. Just like real life. Not everyone replies to random hello. Was it like this when you last played? Did you whisper random hello to people or vice-versa?

Anyway, it feels sad. To someone who last played this game about 8 years ago, it feels incredibly dead. Should I even bother getting into it again? I was thinking it might be fun to prepare for Shadowlands in my spare spare time, but is it even worth it? If I do decide to return, are there any tips you guys can share for returning players? Things I should know?

Thanks!

How long have you played? Have you joined a guild? The game is also old. You yourself stopped 8 years ago. So it is not surprising that others have also stopped during this time? Also consider the game is coming to the end of the current expansion, so it is also people have left and waiting for the next expansion to arrive.

Maybe a more interesting time to return would just prior to the start of the next expansion. I myself have also stopped playing at the moment and is just waiting for the next expansion to be released.

The game will most likely be more populated at that point.