While there are definitely some posts on the forums that show some people expect SoD to cater towards Retail, I’d be curious where this expectation is coming from.
When asked,
“What is Season of Discovery?”
Nora Valletta, lead software engineer on WoW Classic says,
“Season of Discovery is a [sic] interesting new twist on WoW Classic that sort of revisits and recaptures the exploration aspect of World of Warcraft. And really encourages players to get in tune with Azeroth and really pay attention to their surroundings and pick up on things that might be different, things that might be new to them. And, experience that with other players.”
Josh says, “Yeah, to add to that too, Season of Discovery, due to the seasonal nature of it; it’s a really great opportunity for us to take kind of a lot of risks and wild chances on things, and so… Also, to kind of ask what if questions, like ‘What if you could heal as a mage?’ or ‘What if you could tank as a rogue or warlock?’ And these are all super interesting twists on the class fantasy that we sort of know and love about original World of Warcraft. And it gives you a new way to approach… a new lens through which to view the original Warcraft world.”
“How does a new player experience Season of Discovery? Is it different than WoW Classic?”
Josh:
"It’ll be much the same as original World of Warcraft, when you first create your character. You know, you’ll kind of load into the game world in say Northshire Abbey, if you’re a human. You’ll go kill wolves, kill a few kobolds. When you hit level 2, pretty much right away, you’re going to get your first quest to discover your first rune ability. And that’s the first taste of discovery in Season of Discovery.
So, you complete that quest, you get that ability, and these are usually really impactful rune abilities. But, after that, the game doesn’t really tell you what to do. It just kind of says, ‘Go find more.’
And that’s really what Season of Discovery’s all about; is going out and rediscovering the original World of Warcraft world."