Why did they ruin the game for new subscribers?

[Trumpcat]

WoW could use a "the story so far" as an optional cutscene where the main events are being shown and explained. It could just be a moving camera over and around places like the Illidan boss area, Icecrown, Dalaran, some scenery, some boss models and a narration.

It could be separated in chapters for each expansion. So a player is introduced to a loremaster npc/lexicon, could be someone of the Bronze Dragonflight and they got the option to learn about each chapter. About two minutes summary for each expansion leading to the current one will be plenty. Similar to how you can watch cutscenes by talking to npc's at the moment.

[kranur]

They allow people who literally have no clue about the game at all and its history and know nothing about the zones from vanilla (even if they are revamped in cata) to enter immediately into zones from recent expansions that make absolutely no sense from a narrative standpoint.

The only logical explanation is "well: some of those are actually old players who were banned or lost their accounts etc." because I can't fathom why someone who has literally 0 experience in the game shouldn't go through the vanilla zones first and only there.

Because if they made new players go through all the old parts of the game to understand the lore, they will quit long before finishing everything ... like, can you imagine going through 8 expansions worth of quests before the end game?
And if they did the old revamped zones, instead of starting at BfA, the story would make even less sense ... you fight against Deathwing and suddenly Sylvanas teams up with the Jailer and commits genocides that you don't know about.

[XDurionX]

They allow people who literally have no clue about the game at all and its history and know nothing about the zones from vanilla (even if they are revamped in cata) to enter immediately into zones from recent expansions that make absolutely no sense from a narrative standpoint.

The only logical explanation is "well: some of those are actually old players who were banned or lost their accounts etc." because I can't fathom why someone who has literally 0 experience in the game shouldn't go through the vanilla zones first and only there.

Because having to write a thesis first would absolutely kill any motiviation to try the game in the first place. The game has to be MORE accessible, not less.

[rrayy]

It's even worse, they have to go through BfA where the main storyline literally is the worst we ever had. You would think they are trying to make us forget about that whole failure of an expansion, but no, they are doubling down on it

That is for new players. YOu are not a new player. So, what you think of the expansion is irrelevant. New players aren't you and don't think like you.

[Zulggun]

Actually, NOT going through vanilla zones is beneficial. They are mostly ugly, outdated in terms of graphics and quests and simply inferior to new zones in terms of being interesting to new players. Keep them in game, but don't put them in front. Especially with horrible time and story issues they have.

[deenman]

You try playing some other game from around 2004 that you have no nostalgic experiences in and tell me it'll keep your attention long enough to give it a fair shot.

FF has an MSQ that you have to do,they seem to be doing just fine

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It's even worse, they have to go through BfA where the main storyline literally is the worst we ever had. You would think they are trying to make us forget about that whole failure of an expansion, but no, they are doubling down on it

bfa is by far the best place to start a new player off in,im not saying its amazing,but compared to all other scenarios

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Because if they made new players go through all the old parts of the game to understand the lore, they will quit long before finishing everything ... like, can you imagine going through 8 expansions worth of quests before the end game?
And if they did the old revamped zones, instead of starting at BfA, the story would make even less sense ... you fight against Deathwing and suddenly Sylvanas teams up with the Jailer and commits genocides that you don't know about.

doesnt FF do that?

[Zardas]

Because enough New Players are overwhelmed by the most Basic things. Some cant manage to Wave to an NPC. And the Tutorial Island is an Tutorial. Many Games require you to play it.

I'm not advocating for forcing new players into the starting zones instead of Exile's Reach, I'm advocating for letting new players start in the original zones instead if they really want to. Of course Exile's Reach should be the base option, but it should still be an option.
Like, if I had started WoW after 9.0, I would have needed to start at Exile's Reach after Warcraft 3 so I simply wouldn't have started it.

[Iain]

Let's not pretend WoW's story started at Vanilla either. The players were thrown into the aftermath of The Frozen Throne. So to put a player into Cataclysm shouldn't be jarring either. It does mean they never got to taste what a normal Azeroth is like. But that's a nostalgia problem (which should be fixed by the way. Cataclysm still needs to be wiped away, preferably not by another disaster).

Starting halfway along the unfolding events is good storytelling, and in this case a convenient reason not to wipe the slate completely clean just for the sake of the new players.

WoW could use a "the story so far" as an optional cutscene where the main events are being shown and explained. It could just be a moving camera over and around places like the Illidan boss area, Icecrown, Dalaran, some scenery, some boss models and a narration.

It could be separated in chapters for each expansion. So a player is introduced to a loremaster npc/lexicon, could be someone of the Bronze Dragonflight and they got the option to learn about each chapter. About two minutes summary for each expansion leading to the current one will be plenty. Similar to how you can watch cutscenes by talking to npc's at the moment.

Yes. Preferably through questing in refurbished zones. The world is returned to normal but the events that took place still reverberate through it. The Defias Brotherhood story already did a decent job at it. At least if it wasn't for that permanent lightning tornado next to Moonbrook that still never received a proper explanation.

[Athorha]

If I picked up any 'hardy boys' book of the series, I'd have to be ignorant towards the author to not expect to miss a few chuckles over someone who read those books growing up would 'ah ha' towards

[Osmeric]

FF has an MSQ that you have to do,they seem to be doing just fine

I found, from my perspective, that the MSQ was pretty much all FF had. After exhausting that I pretty much didn't play and eventually cancelled.

[Vindris]

If you had interest in jumping in at this point I assume you’d end up watching a series of lore videos on YouTube or something if you cared at all about the story. Otherwise, there are many who only care about gameplay.

[kenn9530]

They allow people who literally have no clue about the game at all and its history and know nothing about the zones from vanilla (even if they are revamped in cata) to enter immediately into zones from recent expansions that make absolutely no sense from a narrative standpoint.

The only logical explanation is "well: some of those are actually old players who were banned or lost their accounts etc." because I can't fathom why someone who has literally 0 experience in the game shouldn't go through the vanilla zones first and only there.

Most dont play WoW for any narrative stand point, the story in all honesty is average at best and barely anyone pays attention, WoWs main attraction was its gameplay, and now its mainly a good choice out of the few MMOs available.

[Mic_128]

What narrative relevance does Westfall or Azshara have?

[Tarba]

They allow people who literally have no clue about the game at all and its history and know nothing about the zones from vanilla (even if they are revamped in cata) to enter immediately into zones from recent expansions that make absolutely no sense from a narrative standpoint.

The only logical explanation is "well: some of those are actually old players who were banned or lost their accounts etc." because I can't fathom why someone who has literally 0 experience in the game shouldn't go through the vanilla zones first and only there.

I hope you played warcraft1,2 and 3 before starting wow.

[kranur]

doesnt FF do that?

Don't know what FF does, don't care, and just because some other game does it, doesn't mean it's good.

[Konteil]

i recently came back to retail from classic servers. i played shadowlands when it came out for a week and wasnt thrilled with it. went back to classic and thats where i been playing. rolled a mage on retail last week and leveled to shadowlands content. doing threads of fate. at level 53 currently. i have no idea what to do. the story makes no sense to me. i dont know what torghast is or why or if i should do it. i dont know any of the dungeons or what they represent. no one is helpful at all with how the systems work. i just get told im trolling when i ask as i should know it by now. i dont think i should have to do homework to play a game. what is the great vault? where do legendaries come from? what is torcash or whatever it is. there are new zones added. when do i go to them and how do i even get there? its easy as hell to be lost in this game. why i mainly play classic now. i know what do do. all my spells work different. there is no talent tree. the whole class is different mechanics wise. and im not a new sub. it has to be worse for people just coming in. i know i cant be the only one.

[Lolites]

doing threads of fate. at level 53 currently. i have no idea what to do.

so you choose purposefuly the mode that ignores the main story and all its explanations and handholding, and then are surprised that you dont get the explanations and handholding... seems the solution would be not to do it? just go throught the campaign, which new people have to anyway...
like no offense, but this seems to be completely issue caused by yourself...

also, this have very little to do with the topic bcs:
1. new players wont go through SL, but through BFA
2. whatever skip or similar mechanic is in place new player wont have it
3. how would be having all the previous content, or even "only" vanila content LESS overwhelming/confusing than being funneled into single expansion? seems like for new players no options is much better than having to pick if you have no clue what you are picking from...

[RobertMugabe]

BfA is by far the best option for new players until they revamp the old world IMO.

All of the BfA leveling zones are very representative of WoW as a whole and their aesthetics and lore are simple and modern. Making everyone go through Shadowlands would just make things too complicated and the "vanilla" (actually revamped in cata) zones are just far too old and completely irrelevant to anything. None of the revamped vanilla zones tell any relevant lore, all the "important" stuff is directly related to Deathwing, a character that has been irrelevant for the last 5 expansions.

I think the experience for new players is actually rock solid and "almost" perfect. The problem with leveling is actually with Chromie Time, because as of right now if you actually want to experience an old expansion, you will never get explained anything, because Chromie Time doesn't intergrate the old endgame lore into the leveling and thus you miss out on so much.

[Konteil]

so you choose purposefuly the mode that ignores the main story and all its explanations and handholding, and then are surprised that you dont get the explanations and handholding... seems the solution would be not to do it? just go throught the campaign, which new people have to anyway...
like no offense, but this seems to be completely issue caused by yourself...

also, this have very little to do with the topic bcs:
1. new players wont go through SL, but through BFA
2. whatever skip or similar mechanic is in place new player wont have it
3. how would be having all the previous content, or even "only" vanila content LESS overwhelming/confusing than being funneled into single expansion? seems like for new players no options is much better than having to pick if you have no clue what you are picking from...

i had no idea that choosing threads of fate would eliminate explnanations untill it was too late. IE got to shadowlands and started playing it. it isnt a decision that you can revert id have to crate an entirely new toon and start over again. and saying well its your fault is super helpful and explains everything . i understand all of thegames mechanics better than i did 30 seconds ago just by accepting im a moron. thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Pann]

You mean since wrath right? Going back in time at level 58 to enter outlands and level there just to get teleported back to the present to do wrath leveling was always jarring

Uhm no, at least, I don't think so... it's been a long time and I might be misremembering but if my memory has not failed me in Wrath there was some consistency in the timeline and therefore story. I don't remember Wrath making many changes to the content in the original Azeroth so for someone starting a fresh character the timeline would be consistent, even if Classic and TBC were set before Wrath.

This all went to pot with Cata when the Classic zones were updated to the current time which did mean players went back in time when they entered Outland and then Northrend before being returned to the present when they progressed past Wrath.