New Player Experience thus far

Community General Discussion
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Getting into any MMO/game is a learning experience and World of Warcraft is no exception. I had recently stepped away from Final Fantasy 14 and wanted to give World of Warcraft (or “WoW”) a try. Blizzard created a wonderful world to adventure in. First thing I noticed right away was that there were no boundaries (loading screens when moving a certain distance). Unlike FF14, the world was vast. I spent my first hour running to one part of my area to the next, combating various monsters along the way!

I began to level, gain abilities and items of use. I grew eager to hear the sound of the game letting me know I had leveled. Now, Exiles Reach was an amazing introduction into the game of WoW. I was able to understand my UI (for the most part) what and how to understand what the game was trying to convey. Having already played a MMO for a number of years I was able to pick up many of the core mechanics. Ah for those curious… I started as a hunter, Worgan.

The first few hours of WoW were wonderful, until I left the starting area…

Upon reaching Stormwind, I was absolutely taken aback by the number of players and sights! After all, coming for another MMO you read/hear stories about WoW. I spent a number of minutes (probably an hour or two) running all over Stormwind to see everything I could! Trade Chat was busy and it felt like City chat in FF14. It was at this time I decided to NOT move on to BFA, rather explore, to see just how much there was to find in Azeroth. I explored (again so amazed that I had only one load screen so far - from Exile Reach to Stormwind) and started playing around with my menus.

Something felt off, normally I would find options to queue into dungeons, for community events, dailies, something! But there was nothing… I had 2 dungeons that were under the BFA expansion. I thought to myself - but WoW has been out for over 10 years… these CAN’T be the only dungeons! So, after trying to get someone to help me in chat (no one replied and most of the ones who did weren’t very nice about it) I went to google to find out where the content was.

Now I still don’t get this whole “Chromie Time” thing, I don’t understand it and I think it is silly. But apparently, Blizzard took all the dungeons away from Dungeon finder and locked them into some system for higher level players to enjoy(?). Meanwhile I am to go to BFA and just level… I think I got that right?

This was a HUGE disappointment, because my mind went to "What if I want to be a healer or a tank? How am I supposed to learn how my job (role, class -whatever you all call it) works!? As I see it, right now the only time you can “get your feet wet” is in shadowlands. Yes, I know, you can still queue while in BFA. I did this twice. The first time I waited nearly an hour and I got the feeling that due to the content being older, maybe no one really runs those dungeons. Okay, no worries. Later, I decided to queue and quest while I waited! It worked; I have no clue as to how long I waited, but I was matched and put in a random dungeon from BFA.

The dungeons in WoW aren’t too much different from FF14, though in FF14 there are only 2 DPS, not 3. The players were quiet, we wiped once and nearly twice. No one chatted and no one seemed to mind that the healer wasn’t really putting much effort in heals, nor the tank really making sure they had “aggro”. But I just went with the flow and afterwards decided to never NEVER queue into a world of warcraft dungeon again.

I went back to leveling and the feeling of “is this all there is to this game?” began to creep into my mind. The quests are fun, the lands (I think they’re called “zones”?) are huge and amazing to see… but no one interacted - save for the few in Stormwind RPing or chatting about other games. Sure, there are guild call outs, but I haven’t felt very welcomed, so why would I ever consider joining one of those?

In conclusion, World of Warcraft has a vast setting that is laid barren due to expansions pushing players away, sitting the new players at the “kid’s table”. New players are placed on an island away from others and then thrown into an expansion that is widely disliked. Meanwhile, there is a vast world with quests and dungeons already in the core setting.

I like WoW, but it isn’t very welcoming, and I don’t think I could become a long-time sub. I think WoW is for veterans. Most of the content is locked behind achievements and being a new player, I had no clue how this system worked and trying to get ANYONE from the “community” to help me understand it was a bit of a struggle. I am sure there will be many replies with negative remarks, but in my defense, this isn’t about you, it’s about MY first experience, so get over it.

I love exploring, I like the cartoon-like look of the characters, the cut scenes are good, and I like how my character looks in gear! BUT I hate the dungeon system (or lack thereof) I do not like the separation of old and new players (very anti-community), and I don’t like finding out that some of the things I read/heard about Wow are true. Anyways, sitting in the Wetlands, minding my own… happy gaming! :slight_smile:

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Oh no not again, :rofl:

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Not bad, only 3 minutes. Not surprised one bit.

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1710 achievement points on a level 14 “Dark Iron Dwarf”.

Hmmm…

Something is fishy and it ain’t me.

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Nice…

Play for free up to 20 …

But if you want to prepare …

Go to 50 and get the Cromie Time it takes less than 30 days paid.
Make some test toons.
Read and then …
Play any time line you want.

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Fishy? Why? Because I had NOTHING else to do but to figure out how to unlock allied races? So I did… unlocked both the Iron Dwarves AND Kul Tiran… nothing fishy about that.

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the new yet DI dwarf posting char has me go…did they open up some AR’s? if bait…nom nom nom.

when you say wetlands its sounds like you opted for classic level?

Not gonna lie…even in tbcc wetlands is kind of slow. even for OG dwarves. Not a hopping zone that one. either game.

Retail lfd will by default open up the zone you are in for chromie time. Not in chromie time you are seeing BFA lfd.

to see older expac dungeons, if available, select the expac is the best way.

now if no one is doing bfa dungeons enough, lfd will open up to all dungeons. this is how I saw older classic dungeons while leveling in legion as chosen expac.

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I started the free trial but wanted to do more and I learned in order to do more I needed to be subbed. SO I went ahead and subbed. But I really don’t understand most of what you wrote, so I will look up more on “Cromie Time” and “test toons”. Thanks?

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Except you need a level 50 to do the race unlock for allied races. Nice bait though.

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Your AR start at 10 would have a quest to see the bulletin board.

chromie is one of them. the gnome one.

you see her in the pumpkin patch area. Pick an old zone and level in it.

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That and you have Mythic+ achievements. I honestly came here thinking I could help a new player but the story isn’t adding up.

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Open “AR’s”? Sorry not up to speed with WoW speak yet. When I unlocked the Dark Iron, I wanted to see more and I had remembered I discovered a Gnome subway with my first character, so I wanted to see what that was about. Long story short, it lead me to the Dwarf area and so I started questing there. So, yeah, I am a Dark Iron Dwarf in the wetlands… not sure why that is a huge surprise? The content is there, so I don’t think I am breaking any rules?

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allied race. your dark iron is an allied race.

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Want help? try the creepy thread .6 hours was enough for me.

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I looked in. Think I need to shower or sanitize. :shower:

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Ah, no worries. I had pre-ordered Dragonflight and used the boost which later regretted. Started over with my hunter to better understand the game and story.

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New player wouldn’t have ANY achievements nor have unlocked an allied race. Also nobody cares about FF14 for that matter of fact. Also, new players don’t have access to chromie time nor old zones and dungeons. They only have access to BFA zones and it’s dungeons and move on to Shadowlands.

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There’s nothing to “get.” You talk to an NPC and choose the timeline in which you want to quest. Setting it to Cataclysm is probably your best bet as it gives you access to the original (and best) dungeons.

Honestly, the difference between playing a character during the leveling process and even at max level is dramatically different than playing a character at max level with legendaries, covenants, and tier sets.

It’s easy enough to get into, but it’s an entirely different game once you get your character completely up and running.

Doing a single dungeon and swearing them off forever is laughable. You’re the one playing however, so make the most (or don’t) out of your time.

No. There are a ridiculous amount of layers of content in WoW. It is vastly superior to FF14 in every way regarding gameplay.

Leveling in MMOs is boring. FF14 is no different. In fact, FF14 is far more boring. In WoW at least, you can skip questing entirely until you reach end game and have a few campaigns to do, none of which will take more than a few hours to complete.

In FF14, you have to do the linear boring 400 hour long quest line. It’s unavoidable.

There’s a strange notion at play that it’s the long time player’s responsibility to bring new players into the fold. It’s not. That is entirely on the new player and Blizzard themselves.

What you’re doing now is not a reflection of what you’ll likely be doing at endgame. Rush. Get to 60 as fast as you can. You will miss absolutely nothing of import by just getting through the leveling process. Look up guides on wowhead to get an idea of how to build your chose spec.

You are conflating “pushing players away” with “not having my handheld for my entire experience.”

The leveling process is typically a solo situation, just like in FF14.

However unlike FF14, you can very easily level with a friend.

No it’s not. Most of the current end game content is at endgame. It takes a dramatically short amount of time to get to it compared to FF14.

Pick a spec. Get to 60. Look up what recommended legendary/covenant for your spec. Grind M+. Raid. Do PVP. Get your tier set.

As far as “MY first” experience is concerned, you’re a new player to an MMO. Thinking you’re going to get the hang of it without investing months of time into is silly. That’s how it works with any MMO.

Also, I contend that given your complete lack of effort and this insane idea you have that other players should stop what they’re doing in order to help you along is the dumbest sort of entitlement I’ve come across in some time.

I recently started playing Path of Exile. I understand that the game is massively complex, and that I’m not going to understand everything, and it’ll be a season or two from now before I’m really comfy with the game.

It’s not the responsibility of other POE players to ensure that I know what Im doing when I can simply stop what Im doing and read for a bit and watch a few videos to get me on my feet.

Ff14 players are the worst tbh. It seems as if you came to WoW with ridiculous expectations of people helping you. The game does a very good job of ushering players along through their leveling process. Leveling in WoW is just busy work now. There is absolutely no point in spending any more time on than necessary. Just level. You did a dungeon and a couple leveling zones and called it quits.

Sounds exactly like the majority of people who come from one MMO and try another one.

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So much of this post just absolutely screamed old player trying to sound like a new player with genuine concerns. Sad.

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I’ll take him at his word that he’s new. Achievements bugging is not a new thing. I can’t tell you how many alts I’ve made that got the 100 quests completed achievement after doing the first four quests.

I don’t have an issue with someone not liking WoW. I go through phases where I also don’t like it. However, to judge an MMO (not just WoW) based solely on the leveling process when that player is new and does not undestand anything whatsoever about that particular MMO is intellectually dishonest.

MMO’s take months of time invested to become proficient in them. First impressions do matter to a point, but not really in this particular genre.

I do take issue with the entire idea that the community is somehow responsible for facilitating the play of a new player, then holding everyone to some stupid standard that people pretend is set by FF14.

I played FF14 up to stormblood. It was boring as hell. There is no leveling with friends. The community there is exactly the same as WoW’s, only quieter. That’s because anything that gets reported in FF14 has an excellent chance of seeing the person reported banned.

Any niceties found within the FF14 community come through gritted teeth smile with a ban hammer sitting just above everyone’s heads.

Oh and the dungeons in FF14 suck for new players too. A tank runs in and rounds everything up and runs forever before finally stopping. Everything will be dead before you make it through your 38 button rotation featuring endless ability bloat as well.

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