Context: Design Model for Leveling in Classic vs. Retail
- The design model for Classic WoW throws new players into the world and lets them figure out their class with minimal hand-holding. While slower and perhaps less narratively focused, the “world-narrative first” design lets players focus more on the gameplay itself.
- The design model for Retail WoW aims more to fast-track teach players how to engage with the game’s UI and extremely basic fundamentals of their class while pushing the players towards max level as quickly as possible. Although Exile’s Reach is extremely efficient and good in terms of leveling quickly, it unfortunately takes time to focus on world building with characters whom vanish into obscurity the second you complete the tutorial island. This design can be rather jarring if you are trying to get your bearings of the world/story/narrative, especially when this is followed by immediately getting thrusted into an older expansion with a cast of characters who you may not know at all despite them seemingly knowing who you are.
The Issue: The Leveling Experience for New Players Seems too Narratively Jarring
- Leveling feels like a required chore that is needed to experience the game as it is designed (at max level in instanced content). In-turn this causes issues such as poor low level balance (with respect to gear and the effectiveness of some abilities) as well as a potentially unapproachable narrative experience.
My Solution: Class Questlines, a Return to Legion Quest Design
- Instead of starting in Exile’s Reach or the Cataclysm revamped starting zones, new players immediately begin their leveling journey in the original starting zones, but with a twist: instead of following the old questlines from Cataclysm players would be lead through quests that are unique to each class.
- Players would be able to experience the old world of WoW with modern quest design that focuses on the flavor of each class (think along the lines of the questlines some runes had in Season of Discovery).
- The idea is to play into Blizzard’s desire for players (old and new) to get into the current expansion content expediently, while also having a leveling experience that works narratively regardless of expansion.
- Some quests could even be designed around using specific class or spec abilities within the new talent trees that Dragonflight gave us so that new players can learn to interact with the talent trees as well as have an environment to learn how to use every spell available to them.
- Narratively speaking, this design would feel more like the player has been recruited into their faction’s version of each of the class orders (or even just use the faction neutral Class Orders) while accomplishing quests/missions by more well known characters. This would make new players, when they experience an expansion, feel less confused and detached from the story because of lack of familiarity.
- In terms of leveling speed, this would be an accelerated experience compared to the standard leveling journey due to design being more isolated and stand-alone. However due to the existence of Chomie-Time, players will still be able to go-back and experience older expansions without issue. This means that the potential design for this leveling method can be utilized as a baseline leveling/questing experience without negatively impacting the current or future game.