Long time MMO player, tried WoW for the first time

Community General Discussion
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BE WARNED: Long post and boring. Dont read if you hate long post. /blog

I am an old gamer that plays MMO since 2005. I’ve played GW1, GW2, ESO, SW, FF XI, FF XIV. I’ve played WoW one or two times. Each time I never managed to get to level more than 15. Honestly the whole franchise is intimidating with so many expansions and huge level cap. I feel defeated before even attempting it.

Months, years passed, one day I gotten an email from Blizzard about the new expansion Shadowland along with it comes another news. The prepatch. Within the pre patch changes, squishing down of level and revamping leveling system, I knew I just had to give it one last try before I can decide if WoW is for me in this lifetime or not.

Art style

I mean the graphic is cartoony and I dislike it ever since 2004 I saw it and chosen Guild Wars instead back then in 2005. But then I turn up all the graphic setting and try to immerse myself to give it a chance of that it could be an acquired taste. Well sure enough… Now I kind of getting the art style and direction. The entire world is also cartoonish but I think now I’d use this world instead: fantasy. The theme isn’t realistic serious, but pure fantasy. With that in mind, I re do and created the most ridiculous and fantasy filled looking character, instead of aiming to be as realistically beautiful/handsome as possible. Then as a result, I can swallow the graphic issue much better now.

Questing:

The questing… I despite fetch quest and have low tolerance of it. That’s why Final Fantasy XIV core game is one of the worst experience I’ve had. I’ve counted over 70 main story quest that’s just a glorified fetch quest. Heavensward and the other expansion is total delight though but the quest is just so slow. It annoys me when I have to travel so far to talk to B, just for B to tell me to come back all the way to A again without accomplishing anything.

Now in Wow it’s fetch quest galore too… But… I don’t why what it is… I kinda don’t mind it?? How could I enjoy a fetch quest is a mystery to me. I mean I’m a guy who dislike when npc is giving multiple quests at once. But in Wow, I just did them all with no objection??! This is bizzare. Some secret recipe build into the quests that allow me to enjoy doing it or something? Only flaw I experience now that I am lvl 40 is, there’s no real main story progression here. I was left confused one time because I feel disconnect to the urgency of the world where I just met a King and now I am killing witches?

Combat system

The combat. Simplistic and no complain there. If I can tolerate playing BLM (black mage) in FF XIV with stay-rooted-in-one-place all the time while spamming the next rotation - playing method, it means I can enjoy casting-while-moving combat better. Only, I’ve tried the melee class, and to my amazement, they are much harder to play. I kept getting error mssg that I need to face in the correct direction to attack. Something I miss here because the different in difficulty shouldnt be that vast.

Travelling system

This I have to admit is very painful. I was so happy once I got my griffon and bought the license to fly, only to find out that where the world I was thrown into (Kul Tiras) doesnt allow me to fly. Found out from other player that there is a long and tedious achievements needed before I can fly in the said region. My point is, I kind of hating the world I am now (I believe its Battle for Azeroth), so no point of me wanting to fly to all of these places again.

In FFXIV, I just press teleport, and I can warp to any unlocked Aetherite, where ever I am. Not so simple in WoW.

Conclusion

Its an early impression, baby even, compared to all of you 16 y/o veterans, but I can’t believe I said it, now I am an officially a WoW subber. Such a shame because I just re subbed for 60 days to FFXIV mere days before downloading Prepatch WoW. Looking at how I cant juggle both, its a money wasted on FFXIV sub. I am looking forward to the experience. I’m going to roll a new chara and start at different expansion upon reaching lvl 50.

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No Everquest? Then you don’t know jack about suffering in a MMO.

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For me, no other mmo has captured that feeling of actually being in another world like wow does.

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Welcome to WoW! It’s always awesome to see new players try out the game.

I hope you have fun on your adventure to level 50. Also, i recommend trying out Warlords of Draenor as your next expansion to level through. It has a great leveling experience with a smooth pace. You’ll also be able to fly there.

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Don’t give any conclusions until you touch an actual content. Stuff before max lvl is largely irrelevant from gameplay standpoint

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Welcome to Azeroth

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  1. oh yea I never played everquest. I was playing RO back then during everquest era.

  2. Yes thats also part of why I feel I get taken in by WoW now. I can feel the creepiness on the villages while I was destroying all the witches, and the great atmosphere of the big city Stormwind, etc

  3. Thank you! Ok, I will do as you said. I think I will make a priest next. Thats a really good news on the flying part, I am happy to hear that.

  4. Yes but it could take more weeks to reach to that high tier end game stuff, and largely I can get the feel by now. I also want to give impression while its still fresh. Lastly, I clearly said in my closing, its an early impression.

  5. Thank you! I am glad to have joined eventhough I am late by years!

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I like WoW so much better than XIV and I came from there after 6 years or so.

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What’s with this long post, why wasn’t I warned! :stuck_out_tongue:

This is how you get trapped here!

Yep trapped, find something you dislike and start complaining about it, you’ll fit right in here :smiley:

Goes to find aoe cap thread

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The art style is meant to fit with the theme of the RTS.

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Well, as a new player. I can understand the excitement for venturing a new adventure.
Tbh, try wow, get to know the lore and characters then after a few months continue playing FFXIV. ( Wow is now third or fifth best mmorpg compare to FFXIV which is 1st / 2nd in the market)

Also, a small note. Please, do try to know the
Character, lore and personality of the NPC named “Sylvanas” before embarking the quest for Battle for Azeroth. Wow does a bad job in introducing key character, lore, etc to new players compared to FFxiv.

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Fair comparison, hello fellow FFXIV player.

Yes pathfinder is painful to farm indeed, while on FF14 I can just teleport for a fee then fly away as I wish.

Questing is very generic here, and the escort quests are PAINFUL. So slow and npcs run back to a spot after killing mobs. Also the story gets spoiled by just que’ing into a dungeon so there’s that. WoW’s story is very bad in terms of story telling and keeping the players surprised cause spoilers gallore everywhere.

All new players will go into BFA and see “oh so this undead elf chick is the big villain who tricks the horde into doing bad stuff, ok I hate her now” and WoW has made her a target for hate. They won’t know her history in WC3, and early WoW.

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Welcome. Once you become immersed in WoW you will love it! There are a lot of resources out there too that will help you learn systems, mechanics, etc.

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Did you play early 2000s EverQuest?

To me that’s the only MMO that’s ever made me feel truly immersed. The UI / quest markers / minimap of WoW always took me out of things and made it a lot more obvious I was playing a game that was pretty heavily on rails.

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Welcome again, to Azeroth! Good to have you back…
/cue Hotel California

I see your /blog, and raise you /dissertation. :rofl: get a beverage and a snack…

Yes, classes vary greatly in difficulty. Some are both easy to play mediocrely from level 1, while being very difficult to master and play well at cap: Beast Master Hunter, while some are more difficult while leveling due to not having all powers until cap + being a more fragile cloth class, then becoming more fun and powerful at level cap: Mages & Shadow Priests.

Then there are Druids, who not only have 4 specs instead of three, but combine healing, tanking, and DPS combining ranged with melee DPS, or you can chose which you’d like to play depending on your mood.

I agree with you strongly that melee is much harder than ranged. I know my weakness is very much not knowing which way I’m facing while being close enough to attack, largely because the boss in question is so large, only it’s foot fills my screen, and my character is lost in the action. :neutral_face:

You’re also right on the story being completely convoluted and impossible to follow at this point for a new player. And while the new Exile’s Reach introductory quest line is a great introduction to the play-style of WoW, it doesn’t assist in the lore.

Since there’s no firm drop date for Shadowlands, my advice would be to finish leveling the character you already have the Flying License on to 50, via any expansion except BfA, because you can still fly everywhere else.

Then go watch this video for what you need to know for Shadowlands:
~https://youtu.be/1BH6wN8x338

You can watch this one to catch up on everything else (sort of.)
~https://youtu.be/RKsNKZi5Ct8

Here’s a faster comedy version to confuse you further:
~https://youtu.be/EmhO1LldIQw

If you want to experience the lore in game, I’d suggest making a new character of a different class, like a ranged DPS (I’m very biased towards Druids as their learning curve is short, and Beast Master Hunters because they’re very easy to play, very forgiving as you learn to play them, and if you enjoy their play style, can be a fun challenge to master the class by choosing non-passive talents to give you more specific attacks at your disposal along with learning to control you pets as your second weapon. All of which takes time and is not recommended for those with any form of ADHD since it requires focusing on several things all the time.)

Whichever class and race you choose, level via a slow journey through the story that still exists in the game beginning with the Vanilla zones of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Granted, you’ll still get to 50 in short order, long before finishing any single expansion, but you’ll get the story, and overall player experience through those zones in mostly the order that tells it coherently.

You’ll get flying on that new character at level 30. If you get to level 50, and Shadowlands still hasn’t been released, start another alt of another class/race, and choose to level via Chromie Time. The story should be experienced in the following order:

  1. Kalimdor & Eastern Kingdoms (Vanilla/original WoW zones remade by Deathwing during the 3rd expansion/4th iteration of the game, although many original storylines are still intact. From leveling in many of those zones recently, nothing stood out as too horribly anachronistic in relation to the next two expansions. Of course, having never taken a break from WoW, my brain could have outright ignored it.)
  2. Outland (Burning Crusade zones.)
  3. Northrend (Wrath of the Lich King zones.)
  4. Cataclysm zones (which are scattered throughout Azeroth, but mainly the zones of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms you weren’t led to by the early questing.)
  5. Pandaria (Mists of Pandaria zones.)
  6. Draenor (travel back into an alternate timeline before the destruction that created Outland. Yes, it’s a weird retcon.)
  7. Broken Isles (Legion zones.)
  8. Kul Tiras & Zandalar (Battle for Azeroth zones.)

Again, welcome back. :nerd_face::sunglasses::blush:

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I suggest leveling in Legion if you want to just sprint to lvl cap. As anyone can fly there without the achievement, the quests are well done, the zones are great and you can fly.

Also, if you want to try a mobile dps, you could check on affliction warlock or shadow priest.

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THERE’S MOB IN THE ZONE! I MUST ATTACK IT!
Dude, It was neutral
I MUST ATTACK IT!
Looks at quest reward… You have fun with that /hearthstone

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Wow tends to be quite fun and enjoyable when it’s fresh and new. The real question is how you will feel after a month or a year, when you are actually done with questing.

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No game will ever make me feel like I felt about games when I was younger. I don’t get immersed, I persue objectives with (Rhonin voice) Cold logic
:slight_smile:

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Is this some kind of elaborate troll.