Can newcomers enjoy World of Warcraft? No, say many from the community: The story is too confusing.
World of Warcraft has continuously evolved over more than 15 years. There have always been new quest lines, new narratives, and fresh characters that have developed over time and contributed to the story. For long-time community members who have been there since the beginning, everything is logical and coherently connected. But newcomers have no chance to get oriented in the world.
What’s going on? A thread with nearly 2,500 upvotes has appeared on the World of Warcraft subreddit describing the problem of a newcomer in WoW. He simply doesn’t understand the story, as it jumps back and forth wildly while leaving out many important details. In his post, user PaulCampbell7 writes:
Imagine this. You start WoW for the first time. You level a bit and everything makes sense so far.
Then you reach level 15 and use the bulletin board to find out where you should go next. Suddenly you are a hero. Everyone talks about you as if they have known you all your life. You are a champion who has achieved so many things!
But in reality, you were created just 45 minutes ago and have absolutely no idea what they are actually talking about.
Jumping ahead a bit. The story makes no sense. Characters you might be expected to know are complete strangers to you. You have no idea what is actually happening.
Halfway through leveling, I decided I wanted to get a new toy. To do that, I need to complete a few things in Dalaran. I go to Dalaran and the guy I need to talk to isn’t even there.
“Not this Dalaran, the other Dalaran!”
What. Why are there different versions of the same city … just what?
At this point, I just accepted that I would never learn the story of WoW by playing the game. I decided to watch a few videos. I still have no idea who half of these people are or if I’m even talking to the right version of them.
Oh, hey, it’s Jaina. No, that’s the MOP Jaina. You have to time travel and talk to the WOD Jaina. Then travel to Dalaran. No, not this Dalaran. The new Dalaran. There you will be praised for defeating some ancient evils that you’ve never heard of. Well, doesn’t that sound like an interesting story?
It’s exhausting. I have never played an MMO where I have to hire a mentor to explain to me what the hell is actually going on. (…)
How does this problem arise? This is due to several issues and changes that World of Warcraft has gone through over the years. On the one hand, the leveling time has been drastically reduced with each new expansion, allowing new characters to quickly catch up to max level. However, this made it unnecessary to complete all quests, and large parts of the story could be skipped.
To combat this, there is the “Chromie Time,” where characters can choose a single expansion and level only within it. While this provides a coherent story within that expansion, it still feels inappropriate when the freshly created dwarf suddenly becomes the great savior of Azeroth. Often, context is lacking, as well as in the introduction of major characters like Jaina, Anduin, Sylvanas, and others.
How do others react? The post receives a lot of support, and others add their stories. Arcturus_148 writes:
Exactly that happened to me with a friend. We played on the Isle of Exile and then went straight to Zandalar. I asked him: So, how is it going so far? And he said: “Good, but I’m a bit confused because we were leveling and now we are suddenly with the king and the princess.”
The way they tell their story for newcomers is trash. Nobody understands anything. And what makes it worse is when they cut out important quests like the burning of Teldrassil, then nobody understands why the Alliance is actually going to war against the Horde.
How have you experienced this? Do you know any new WoW newcomers who have problems with the story in World of Warcraft? Or did everything go smoothly for you?
