Returning Player Feedback

I am a returning player who quit in WoD and recently came back when I found myself with some extra downtime due to 'rona. I decided to go ahead pre-purchase Shadowlands and use my boost which opened up and unlocked a lot of content for me right away. However, as the lore and storyline have always been a huge part of the game for me, I wanted to go back and try to catch up on what I had missed before jumping into endgame. I made it though Legion ok, at least catching up on the major events well enough that I was comfortable to move into BFA without feeling like I skipped too much. Some of that I completed in game and some was just catching up on cinematics or lore stories to fill in the gaps. But I have had a much harder time navigating the “order” of things in BFA. I have made it through all the zones now, and working on the war campaign. However, because all the quests are open, it has been really hard to determine what I needed to focus on first and what should wait so that I didn’t do later patch content with reveals before the earlier stuff. Things get really strange with Jaina if the quests are done out of order, for example. I am still not sure how the Arathi and Darkshore stuff fits in although I have not done the Tyrande quest yet and maybe I should have. I did finish the priest dagger questline and realized too late that story wise I jumped ahead of myself. I think I have finished all the initial content and working on patch 8.1 & 8.15 stuff now, so trying to avoid the 8.3 stuff until that is completed. But I have really struggled to progress in the correct timeline. I think it is fine that everything is unlocked and I am not suggesting that any of the catch up mechanics be changed. But, I would love to have a way to know what the “pre-requisites” are so I can avoid completing quests out of order and can experience the story as close as possible to what was intended. I have scoured websites looking for guides but most of the patch articles reference more game mechanics than story or quests. A few in-game hints or nudges would be ideal although possibly not feasible. What I would really prefer is some reference to proper lore and story progression (with spoiler alerts) in the returning player guides. Questing in BFA has felt like I have been skipping back and forth in different chapters of a book and it has taken a while to comprehend everything. That all said I am really enjoying the game so far and glad to be back. My main goals right now are catching up on all the story and lore I missed while I was gone, unlocking flying (ty rep bonus!) and getting my new main ready for shadowlands.

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Blizzard seems to have taken the stance that if you use a boost, you must not really care that much about the story.

It’s a bit annoying. I personally would love the option to use a boost and not have any story parts auto-completed. (Just dump me in Org/Stormwind.)

That doesn’t solve all of the “everything is available” problems, but it would help. (Especially as turning in the quest to open up world quests in both Legion and BfA is what opens up the floodgates. If you avoid that until you’ve done the early content, it helps a lot.)

Of course, it also doesn’t help that Blizzard has actually moved stuff around with patches. Horde side, they actually moved the chronological position of the Saurfang quest part way through the expansion, which given that story has forking quests based on a player choice, has a significant impact.

Here’s how I’d place the basic order of things Alliance-side:

  1. The 3 leveling zones, followed by the Jaina story:
    https://www.wowhead.com/news=285248/jaina-proudmoores-questline-in-kul-tiras-story-spoilers

    (On your first character, the Jaina story won’t be available until you’ve done the main story for the 3 leveling zones.)

    Simultaneous with that will be the first part of the War Campaign. (This part ends when you get the “Ready for War” achievement.)

    The Arathi Warfront fits in here as well.

  2. The Uldir Raid. (Honestly, Alliance side, there’s not much story leading to this raid. Horde-side, pretty much everything in the 3 questing zones ultimately leads to Uldir.)

  3. The Second Part of the War Campaign (up through the “Tides of Vengeance” achivement.

    Darkshore Warfront — like the Arathi one, it’s really more independent. It’s a follow-up from the pre-expansion events.

  4. Battle of Dazar’alor raid. (The War Campaign will lead you to the raid right after you get the “Tides of Vengeance” achievement.)

  5. The Priest Dagger questline, which leads to the Crucible of Storms mini-raid. There’s also a bit more War Campaign here. (The War Campaign story will end here until you start Naz’jatar.)

  6. The Naz’jatar questline. From a chronological point of view, you’d want to progress far enough to unlock the flight path near the main raid entrance before doing the raid. You’ll also do some more of the War Campaign. Stop if you get the quest “The Eve of Battle.” (I can’t remember if the raid quest is requirement for this quest to pop, but it starts the final part of the war campaign that happens after Eternal Palace…)

  7. The Eternal Palace raid.

  8. The final part of the war campaign, starting with “The Eve of Battle.” (And the achievement “Veteran of the 4th War.”)

  9. N’zoth 8.3 content. You’ll get the starter quest after you’ve unlocked essences as part of the Naz’jatar questline. You’ll want to hold off on doing this quest until after you’ve done the Naz’jatar stuff from a story perspective. (Although, from a gearing-up perspective, you want to jump into this content ASAP, so decide what you priorities are.) The questline is fairly long, but takes you on a tour of the 8.3 content.

  10. The Nyolotha raid.

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You’ll need to either post this in the General Forum or use the ingame feedback option under the help menu if you want the Devs to see this.

This is a player to player forum and is not visited by Blues looking for feedback as is the General forum. You will almost never see a blue posting here.

“(Especially as turning in the quest to open up world quests in both Legion and BfA is what opens up the floodgates. If you avoid that until you’ve done the early content, it helps a lot.)”
Yes, this tripped me up too.

Udiza, This is a really excellent guide and I thank you so much for taking the time to write it!

Nok, good suggestion. Thank you as well.