Hi there!
Today i introduced a new player to retail, who had never played video games before. We have played Classic and BC for the last couple months, which have been her first real video games experiences, and she loves them deeply.
Unfortunately, her experience with Exile’s Reach has been extremely negative, as she has felt overwhelmed by so many new interface things and visuals, and being constantly bombarded with voice acting that could not be muted, while also getting pressured by surrounding veteran players rushing past us and pulling every mob around.
Following her experience, i would like to make a couple suggestions that i believe could enhance the experience of first time players with Exile’s Reach:
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The ability to turn off voice acting.
They aren’t on the Dialog channel, so the only way for her to turn them off was to completely turn off the game’s audio.
They can be great for many players looking for a fleshed out and high-production experience, but for players trying to methodically read through tutorials, get used to new abilities and systems and interface elements, the NPCs constantly talking around can make players (especially players with handicaps, disabilities or on the autism spectrum, for example) feel very lost very quickly, not knowing what info is important or not, and what they should focus their attention on. -
A more visible and easily accessible option to turn off the interface tutorials.
They do not clear out entirely without a reload, and being hidden in the Interface settings makes it non obvious that they can be turned off. Those intrusive tutorials can be confusing for a player coming from classic, and ironically overwhelm the screen for a player already trying to get their mark in a familiar but evolved territory. -
Turn off other invasive interface options by default, such as the in game navigation.
Or propose different default setups upon getting in the game for the first time. -
The ability to play on a private instanced version of the island.
This is obviously much more complex, but the bustling of many players, often veterans with little regards to new players, is very easily overwhelming.
In addition, literally the very first person we encountered, in the 5 first seconds of her experience in the game, was a gnome who came and followed her to get under her dress, using emotes like /fart and saying “mommy”, for the entirety of her very first minute in the game. Obviously this is just “bad luck”, but seems like a pretty likely thing to happen often (we also had a similar experience of harassment within her first 10 levels of playing a draenei together in BC classic), therefore reinforce my conviction about the benefits of having a private instanced version of the island, to be able to be introduced to the new game and systems and interface without that sort of risks, and without being pressured by veteran players rushing through everything. -
The ability to queue up for the Darkmaul Citadel as a private closed group.
This for the same reasons as stated above, mainly that a new player who is genuinely still getting used to the controls and their abilities can be VERY easily overwhelmed by a veteran storming through the dungeon, pulling everything at once and leaving newcomers behind.
Trying to introduce her to the game myself, following her slow pace and trying to help her out patiently was completely undermined by being forced to play with players just trying to finish the dungeon as fast as they can (which describes the overwhelming majority of players playing through Exile’s Reach). -
Increase the difficulty of Exile’s Reach.
Or at least the health of enemies, if nothing else. They are VERY squishy, and most can easily get one shot by even a single critical hit. Factoring in the amount of other players around (or even just playing with one single friend), it is rare that spell casters can even cast two spells on any given mob, which does very little in helping them get used to their abilities. -
Unlocking Chromie Time by default, without having to level up to 50 first.
The intent behind “making players get up to date on the story” is interesting, but a new player (especially ones coming from Classic) might be much more interested in familiar territory, rediscovering the zones they already know, or even simply playing one specific part of the game that interested them on youtube or something like that.
I do not have many compelling arguments for this point, but this just feels like a big inconvenience for her experience of the game, and knowing that the option is there but just not available to her, feels unfortunate and i wanted to raise that point.
Thank you very much for reading; i hope these can be interesting in some way and spark conversations on those matters.
Have a wonderful day!
