Beginners don’t have a chance to understand the history of WoW

Can beginners even enjoy World of Warcraft? No, many in the community say: The story is too confusing.

World of Warcraft has grown steadily for over 15 years. There were always new quest lines, new narratives and fresh characters that have developed over time and contributed to the story. For long-term members of the community who have been with us since the very beginning, all of this is logically and coherently linked. But newbies have no chance to find their way into the world.

What’s wrong? In the World of Warcraft subreddit, a thread with almost 2,500 upvotes appeared that describes the problem of a newcomer to WoW. He just doesn’t look through the story, because it jumps back and forth wildly and at the same time leaves out many important details. In his post, the user PaulCampbell7 writes:

“Imagine that. You are starting WoW for the first time. You level up a little and until then it all makes sense.

Then you’ll be level 15 and use the notice board to find out where to go next. Suddenly you’re a hero. Everyone speaks of you as if you’ve known them all your life. You are a champion who has achieved so many things!

But in reality you were only created 45 minutes ago and you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.

Jump a little bit forward. The story doesn’t make sense. Characters you might want to know are complete strangers to you. You have no idea what is actually happening.

Halfway through leveling, I decided I wanted to get a new toy. To get that, I have to do a few things in Dalaran. I’m going to Dalaran and the guy I need to talk to isn’t there.

“Not this Dalaran, the other Dalaran!”

What. Why are there different versions of the same city … just what?

At that point, I just accepted that I would never learn the WoW story by playing the game. I decide to watch a couple of videos. I still have no idea who half these people are or if I’m even talking to the correct version of them.

Oh, hey, it’s Jaina. No, that’s the MOP Jaina. You have to travel through time and talk to the WOD-Jaina. Then travel to Dalaran. No, not this Dalaran. The new Dalaran. There you will then be commended for conquering some age-old evils that you have never heard of. Well, doesn’t that feel like an interesting story?

It is exhausting. I’ve never played an MMO where I have to hire a mentor to explain what the hell is going on.”

How does this problem come about? This is due to several problems and changes that World of Warcraft has gone through over the years. On the one hand, the level time was drastically reduced with each new expansion, so that new characters could quickly catch up to the maximum level. As a result, it was no longer necessary to complete all quests and large parts of the story could be skipped.

This should be countered by the “Chromie time”, with which characters can choose a single expansion and only in this level. While this makes for a cohesive story within this expansion, it still seems inappropriate for the newly created dwarf to suddenly become the great savior of Azeroth. Often there is no context here, just like in the imagination of great characters like Jaina, Anduin, Sylvanas and Co.

Others also contribute their stories. So Arcturus_148 writes:

“This is exactly what happened to me with a friend. We played on the island of the exiles and then went straight to Zandalar. So I asked him: How’s it going so far? “And then he said:” Good, but I’m a bit confused because we were leveling and now we’re suddenly with the king and the princess. “

The way they tell their story for beginners is rubbish. Nobody understands anything. And what makes it worse is, when they cut out important quests like the Fire of Teldrassil, no one really understands why the Alliance is actually going to war against the Horde.”