For World of Warcraft, the new expansion The War Within has been released, and you may be wondering if now is a good time to start playing WoW for the first time. MeinMMO tells all newcomers what to expect and where potential pitfalls lie.
Most online role-playing games that have been on the market for many years face a comparable challenge: with ever-new content, mechanics, and systems, the mountain that newcomers must climb to catch up with the long-established veterans increases.
Partially, so many features, currencies, items, and names bombard newly created characters that they hit “Log out” after only a short time due to complete overwhelm and remain logged out.
With the launch of The War Within, the mountain of WoW content has grown a bit larger again. At the same time, however, a freshly started expansion always presents an opportunity for a fresh start. In the following, we will reveal to all interested parties whether it is worth it and enjoyable to start playing World of Warcraft in 2024.
With WoW – The War Within, a new adventure awaits you in Azeroth:
Where should I start?
If you install the Blizzard launcher today and want to download a WoW version, you may encounter the first questions very early on: Which version of the MMORPG should I actually install: World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft Classic, or Cataclysm Classic? For which variant do I need to have purchased the expansion The War Within? Do all three versions require a subscription?
- World of Warcraft is the modern version of the MMORPG, which has now been expanded with The War Within. You need to purchase the expansion, and you will also need an active subscription.
- For modern WoW, there is a free trial version up to level 20. After that, you can play all content before The War Within by acquiring an active subscription.
- For WoW Classic, there is currently the “Cataclysm Classic” version, which is a reissue of the Cataclysm expansion, as well as the Classic Era servers (at the state of the last content patch of WoW Classic, with an optional hardcore version) and the season of discoveries (with new Classic content). Access can be obtained via subscription.
All of these are questions that newcomers did not have to deal with a few years ago. What’s quite clear, however, is what happens when you start World of Warcraft, create a character, and then need to choose a starting location.
The old starting areas of the various races are not initially available to owners of a completely new account (starting from the second character, many thanks to Crofly for the hint!). Instead, they must begin on the now added Island of the Exiled. But what does that mean exactly? There is a lack of an explanation in the selection menu.
- On the Island of the Exiled, you can expect a more modern starter experience, where you learn the most important basics within the first level-ups.
- Note: The hero classes Death Knight, Evoker, and Demon Hunter start with a level advantage and therefore each have their own starter experiences.
What comes next? Upon completing the island, your character should have reached level 10. After that, you literally have the whole world of Warcraft open to you for the further leveling phase. The crux: In principle, you only need to play through the content of one of the numerous WoW expansions to reach level 70 and thus be ready for the adventure in The War Within.
As standard, the Dragonflight campaign from the last expansion is selected. However, you can also visit Chromie in the Alliance capital Stormwind or in the Horde capital Orgrimmar to activate one of the following timewalking campaigns:
- Shadowlands
- Battle for Azeroth
- The Legion Invasion (Legion)
- Draenor (Warlords of Draenor)
- Mists of Pandaria
- Cataclysm
- Wrath of the Lich King
- The Burning Crusade
For every newcomer, it is likely impossible to make the best possible decision for oneself here. And no matter how you decide: there is likely to be a feeling that you are missing out on a lot with your character.
WoW has often been declared dead:
The patchwork of a story campaign
The feeling just described is indeed justified. As soon as a newcomer shows even a little interest in the story of World of Warcraft, the first leveling experience is likely to be quite sobering. After all, each of the timewalking campaigns somehow starts in the middle and ends in the middle.
If you want to see the red thread, it is best to level nine characters, and in the correct order of the expansions – and even then, many question marks are likely to remain unanswered. First, thanks to the overhaul of the old world by Cataclysm, second, because the Blizzard authors have not exactly shone in some expansions, and third, because some parts of the story have been outsourced to books, comics, and videos.
If you start in WoW now and place a strong focus on the story, you will probably have no choice but to watch comprehensive lore videos or check here:
Beginner-friendly and comfortable
While the mass of options at the start can be slightly overwhelming, the gameplay introduction in WoW is friendly: the first tasks are quickly mastered, the tutorial pop-ups understandable, and all displays are easily readable. Additionally, with the quick level ups, you regularly experience successes and fresh abilities for your own playstyle.
The gameplay introduction also feels good because WoW is among the MMORPGs with the highest comfort factor. If you need to apply a quest item to, for example, pigs, you do not have to select the item and activate it by clicking first. Just right-click on the targeted boar, and you use the item instead of reaching for your weapon. More examples:
- at vendors, you can sell all gray items that are of no use to you with the press of a button
- new bags automatically expand your inventory space until all slots are filled
- when several defeated opponents lie nearby, you loot them all at once
- you can easily save various equipment and talent sets and select them outside of battles at the press of a button
Due to the old-school tab-target combat system and the quests that, while varied, are simply structured, you should not expect an action-fest or exciting challenges at the beginning. In Azeroth, things are comparatively relaxed at first.
Will it remain this beginner-friendly? In terms of quest and combat difficulty, yes, at least when the level scaling in the open world works correctly. However, it can potentially become overwhelming again once you leave the Island of the Exiled and land in your respective capital.
Because then Blizzard’s MMORPG opens up noticeably. Through the already mentioned timewalking campaigns, but also through many new features like pet battles, PvP, professions, transmogification, specializations plus talent trees, collections, and so on. You will need to get through this culture shock first.
What helps: Participate in the tour offered in the capital. As soon as you receive the quest for the Dragon Isles, ignore everything else for now and choose the expansion you want to level in. The connected red thread that comes with each campaign helps to dive deeper into the world of Warcraft.
On the next page, we continue with the contents offered by WoW, the partially toxic community, and the concluding conclusion.
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