The introduction to World of Warcraft should be easier than ever before. Blizzard promises this with Shadowlands – but does it really work?
World of Warcraft Shadowlands will be the 8th expansion of the MMORPG, but it is not only aimed at completely experienced players. It is also supposed to become more accessible for newcomers due to several factors:
- New starting area
- Fewer levels, but with clear rewards
- Focused questing in an area of choice
However, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas also stated in an interview with IGN that there has never been a better time to start with WoW than the launch of the Shadowlands.
What was the problem? Hazzikostas explained what the current issues of World of Warcraft are, especially regarding newcomers:
This game has been around for 15 years, and that is impressive. I have played it all these 15 years. At the same time, however, this rich offering of content, the depth, and the entire story have become a hindrance. It is intimidating for new players. And part of what we have found over the years is that while we have countless hours of stories to tell, we didn’t want it to take hundreds of hours to catch up to your friends to experience the latest content.
This is not a new thought. In the past, this led to the developers speeding up World of Warcraft and accelerating the leveling phase.
This led us to accelerate the game. That brought us to a state where [things happened too quickly]. It was particularly overwhelming for new players who wanted to play the game at that time.
Shadowlands aims to be better: With the Shadowlands, it is now supposed to be the best time to start in World of Warcraft. Even a better time than back in Classic. Because Hazzikostas further explained:
Shadowlands is probably the best time to start as a brand new player with World of Warcraft since 2004. That is something we have focused on for this expansion.
Standard adventure should be the starting point: Newcomers will receive a completely new starting area that corresponds to the current state of WoW technology. On the island “Exile’s Reach”, newcomers will experience their first adventures in a story that is typical for World of Warcraft and focuses on the core of the conflicts between the two factions: the war. After that, it continues to Battle for Azeroth:
Battle for Azeroth is an accessible standard story of Horde against Alliance, which tells the players about this world. This will take a few dozen hours for new players, then you are ready to go into the Shadowlands together with everyone else, equipped with all the knowledge – regarding gameplay and story – to succeed in this environment.
Is this all true? For WoW veterans, these statements might imply a slight eye roll. For many years, the developers have claimed to improve the entry for newcomers with each expansion. Therefore, many doubt whether this time it will really succeed.
One fact is definitely that the first impression of the “experience for new players” seems quite good. The new starting island “Exile’s Reach” teaches the most important mechanics sensibly, and the new leveling system up to level 60 drastically shortens the entire leveling process, even though heirlooms lose their XP bonus.
However, whether the island is really that great for newcomers will only become clear with the launch of Shadowlands. Because then new players will likely flood into Blizzard’s MMORPG. After all, the current testers in the beta – as is often the case – are largely veterans of World of Warcraft.
Do you know people who want to start completely new in WoW with Shadowlands? Perhaps you’re even one of them?
