One of the bigger shocks is the new talent system. It’s a lot more involved than the one that’s been in use since Mists of Pandaria. If you just want to jump back in, on the bottom left corner of the talent window is a drop down menu where you can save talent presets. There’s a starter build option there that will be fine for leveling and let you start playing without digging into guides. (When you level, it even highlights where the new point on the starter build goes!)
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on my hunter, but the time I’ve spent (MM and BM) doesn’t feel dramatically different from BfA.
I’ll add a few more things about Chromie Time and level scaling:
- Chromie is near the embassies in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, and is marked by an hourglass icon on the map.
- The official requirement to unlock Chromie Time on the account is a level 60 character, but it seems that people with max level characters from previous expansions have had it unlocked when they came back, even without the 60. So, if you talk to her on a level 59 or lower character and she doesn’t have the option to choose a timeline, it means it’s not unlocked. I’ve heard that making a trial character will satisfy the unlock requirements.
- Without Chromie Time, expansions will scale to their natural cap:
Vanilla, BC, Wrath: 30
Cata (the old level 80+ zones) and MoP: 35
WoD: 40
Legion: 45
BfA and Shadowlands: 60 - All non-Dragonflight expansion content can be started at level 10 except the high level Cataclysm zones, which require 30 (because you need flying.)
- Turning on Chromie Time for one expansion, turns on scaling to 60 for all of them. So, you can pick Wrath, but head over to Outland and quest to 60 if you want.
- Which expansion you pick has the following effects:
- It sets which dungeons you see in the dungeon finder. (The Vanilla dungeons are in the Cataclysm timeline.) With Chromie Time off, BfA dungeons are all that is available in the Dungeon Finder.
- It will give you a breadcrumb quest for the expansion. (You can also still pick these up from the Hero’s Call/Warchief’s Command board, but sometimes it can be a pain to dig the one you want out.)
- It will give some priority to that expansion’s breadcrumbs on the Hero’s Call/Warchief’s Command boards.
- Characters in Chromie Time are in a different phase from those that aren’t. (All the Chromie Time expansions use the same “phase” so you can quest with other Chromie Time players even if they have a different expansion set.)
- Only characters 59 and lower can access Chromie Time. Once a character in Chromie Time hits 60, they’ll get a one minute countdown and then be ported to Stormwind/Org and Chromie Time ends. (You can still go back and finish what you are working on, but it won’t scale.)
- You can talk to Chromie at any time at lveel 59 or lower to turn Chromie Time off or on, or swap expansions.