Blood elf, goblin and forsaken starting areas were really well fleshed-out lore and gear wise. You hit level 10 with something resembling a good idea what was going on with your race and half a shot at surviving w/o heirlooms.
Exile’s reach could benefit from some extensive story tweaks and all would be well.
On my dorf I used to afk inside Thunderbrew Distillery sitting in one of the chairs and /cheer at the lowbie dorfs and gnomes making their way through the starting area. Its a little thing, but I miss that.
I enjoyed running alts through Exile’s Reach for the quick gear but I always took them through their home zones afterward because it helps me get into the head of the new character. Dwarves feel better when they’ve at least travelled through Anvilmar, Dun Morogh, Loch Modan. Night Elves feel more authentic after they’ve been through Darnassus and Darkshore and made the jump into the giant whirlpool before all that was destroyed. It put the characters into perspective and how they might fit into the expansions. It also made RP easier from the start because the characters in those zones had an obvious common thread as they began their respective journeys.
Cheers.
yeah eversong holds a special place in my heart. the unique starter zones have an impact on whatever race you are, bringing you up to speed on their special struggles and place in the world. it gives you a place in the story of warcraft, your humble beginings. it feels like a place that exists and needs my help
exiles reach feels like a tutorial in a video game. every character goes through the same scenario. its sad and part of the problem where the “RP” was lost from “RPG”.
I miss going into the starting zones and handing out care packages of bags and gold to the newbies.
Same except I extorted them.
Do I miss the starter zones? Yes and no. Yes, because I felt the starter zones told a better story pertaining to your character’s race, along with their particular plight. No because it would just feel outdated compared with the progression of Azeroth in general.
I share Reze’s sentiment and agree with their statement. My opinion on starter zones would be to allow for optional ways to begin your character’s journey.
The first choice would be as a solo character beginning in your race’s homeland with an all new and updated beginning. The player would learn about the different professions while also getting new player tips on their chosen class, as well as the different specs.
The second choice would be for a more collective beginning, which would see the player going through a faction-based start where they go through this sort of “boot camp” so to speak and get to learn about the different races within their faction. character professions, and their class specs. There, they would meet some of the characters from Exiles Reach, which would play into the third option.
The third option would be for the player who didn’t want to go through the first two options repeatedly, or maybe someone whose playstyle isn’t to soak up the lore and story. This would be Exile’s Reach and for anyone who selected the second option, they would re-unite with the NPCs they met from boot camp.
Anyway, just my two coppers.
As World of Warcraft progressed the Factions - and the races within them - became more and more flanderized. A lot of the original spirit was lost when the Vanilla starter zones were updated in Cataclysm, and now with Exile’s Reach the races have become the Faction.
Part of what made me love playing a tauren back in the day was learning about their culture through their starting zone and seeing how they lived in their homeland. New players who do Exile’s Reach then immediately plunge into Dragonflight miss out on making that connection to culture and philosophy.
I don’t think there’s anything to fix per se, it’s just a different game these days.
Yes. They gave you a good introduction to each race’s lore and culture, and most had charm to them. Now, you get through them so fast it doesn’t even matter and most of the rewards are trash even for a newbie starting out. I still like them better than Exile’s Reach though.