I know all the reveals are still new, but there are still many things that don’t make sense to me. From what i understand, when we reach level 10 we are given options by Chromie on which expansion to play. And new players “have to” level in BFA? Whaaaat? But… does it mean the whole world is now fragmented? Ca you not travel everywhere? Or will the quests simply not spawn if you didn’t “choose” a specific expansion? Because this would just feel… wrong.
Also, I think it’d be a REALLY bad idea if players who are new to the entirety of WoW couldn’t see all the iconic classic zones until they maxed a character. The classic world is very appealing to explore with all its variety, while BFA, well, it’s all humans and trolls. It absolutely doesn’t do justice as an introduction. Not to mention severely limiting the options of making an alt together with a friend who is a new player.
I really hope it’s A) a misunderstanding or B) Blizzard reconsiders.
Plain simple, They’re unmodern and the timeline is all over the place. That’s why they went with Exile’s Path > BFA > Shadowlands. You can still go to which ever continent you want on your alt’s, it’s just an improvement for new players so they don’t have to go through that.
I started in wod, probably when the leveling was it’s worst and I can only agree with that change. As a brand new player you leveled through zones while in queue for dungeons, being cut in the middle of quests by the pop up, out leveling the zone and Moving on without experiencing any stories. You also made a tour of all expensions first zone, the fun.
And it lasted for ages because brand new players mean no gold and so no heirlooms.
It makes the most sense. It’s very confusing to new players. This expansion and the next connect up completely. New players will get to take a logical journey.
On alts they cant take through any route they want.
But new players who are generally interested in Warcraft will likeky want to see orcs, elves, dwarves, etc. BFA is not a good introduction to the world at all, and even the story needs a lot of context. What does the burning of Teldrassil even mean to players without having seen it?
Also, BFA isn’t one bit more modern than Cata. It’s the exact same questing style since than, and even the interface for stuff like vehickes is the same. Only MAYBE TBC and Wrath are unmodern.
Couldnt they still ‘stray from the path’ so to speak?
I dont think it’s a big deal but I personally think people should have the freedom to accidentally screw themselves over in their experience or just have a bad time in general. A brand new player to Classic has the chance to hate the game from everything going wrong and nothing going right.
Not ideal but I think that freedom just makes sense.
The changes are based on feedback from new players.
You may feel it’s a bad choice but a new player will get a consistent story, first levelling in the new zone to level 10, then through BfA from 10-50 and then on to Shadowlands. The story through BfA follows on directly in to Shadowlands. It will make the most sense.
In what way is BFA nore modern than Cata or MoP? There are bonus objectives on the map, yes, and treasures and rares show up on the minimap too, but that’s about it.
If theyre new players, then those zones are not iconic to them. Besides; they can always visit them on alts. Look at it this way; new players will have several playthroughs they can do on alts before they have to repeat the 10-50 content. Imo that’s a good thing.
For you maybe not, but again; new players don’t have a history with the game.
For them it’s an introduction to the most recent story. I think they intend to shift the ‘mandatory’ expansion to the previous one every time they release a new one; for ‘recent’ story development purposes.
What about the story before BfA? But maybe they will put some cinematics to explain everything about Lich Kings, Jaina, Sylvanas, orcs, etc. to the new levelers.
But why can’t it be a “recommened” path instead of a mandatory one?
And gamers in general have a vague idea about what WoW is, and the world itself is the #1 draw for newcomers (aside from having friends who already play ofc). Imagine making your first character a race you find cool like a dwarf only to realize you won’t even be able to explore dwarven lands with this character.
For me as a player with 12 120, the change is in better quest chain coherence, zone compactness and interconnected leveling paths, pleasing visuals and enjoyable zones, modern mechanics & intro for some dungeon mechanics even, simplicity to follow and tie to the storyline.
You seem to imagine a current new player has any idea of what is going on in the very disjointed world we level in now. People can get to max and have absolutely no idea what is going on.
They can play through the other expansions on alts. At least this way it will make the most sense.
Old content is old and often shattered by changes in subsequent expansions. Storyline is still way inferior than nobels video. Majority of new players sees an ad showing current or future expansion and it’s kind of odd to end up in some old zone where barely anyone plays and has zero meaning to the endgame you saw in the ad and want to play.
But as I said, this only applies to TBC and Wrath, not Cata-Kalomdor/EK. It was Cata when they started to follow the new, more linear and planned formula.
Cata is very disjointed, the zones are scattered all over the place. Not exactly good or a new player.
Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms are too vast and there is no proper levelling route you can easily take newcomers through.
BfA is set on one Island of three zones with minimal setting up bases on the other island. Travel between the two is done easily and cleanly via the Ships in our respective harbours.