World of Warcraft®

(thoughts i had this morning, sharing here because reasons...)

Fellow citizens of the Cenarion Circle!

We are about to face a influx of new players the likes of which we have rarely seen before. WoD is going to bring people to this game in droves. More than that, we are about to experience a massive influx of players playing at the same numerical level as us.

There might even wind up being more of them than us. (Not such a bad thing, really…) Just imagine it…all those players, starting at 90, not knowing anything about the game, or how to play. They'll stand in fire. They'll keyboard turn. They'll ask who Mankrik's wife was. They might even… *gasp* … be in your groups being all not-elite or not-lore-perfect.

Deal with it. Despite the QQ and the worry, it needs to be accepted: this is an inevitability. It's done but for the release of the expansion. So we may as well get ready.

So, here it is, my handy little recipe for:
Coping With Change & People You Don't Know
a.k.a.
How to encourage WoD-90's to learn the game properly AND/OR go back and play the whole game:

DO's

1: be friendly
2: welcome these new 90's into your guild, your raids, and your dungeon runs
3: level WITH them from 90-100 as they learn the ropes.
4: regale them with stories about how cool the old game is, an how much lore, and story, and just allll the neat little fun bits there are. (i.e. Bust out that singing sunflower whenever you can…)
5: take them on legacy raids, through old dungeons, and show them what what Transmog is, and how to get it.
6: Show them why you love The Game, not just Your Game.

DONT'S

1: don't exclude them because they "haven't leveled"
2: don't call them "P2W Noobs", or similar names. This isn't P2w, there is no favoritism based on $$ here, everyone who buys the expansions gets the boost, even us
3: Don't force them to do things because of your own sense of entitlement
4: Do not make having leveled from 1-90 a condition for loot, guild status, or anything else. Judge them by their willingness to participate, to learn, and their abilities, not where they came from.
5: basically, in the words of one Wil Wheaton, "Don't be a d**k".

Personally? I can't wait. Let the floodgates open.
Sooooo freakin excited for this expansion.

/seconded

*Thinks back to what her mother told her long ago on Argus… ‘If you can’t play nicely with others then force them to play by your rules’ *

*shakes her head looking confused*

*Mutters to herself * “No that wasn't it”

*shrugs walking away trying to remember the exact phrase*

*She stops and a smile crests her lips* “Minions! New minions!”

*She stops and a smile crests her lips* “Minions! New minions!”

EXACTLY!

Just think of all that fresh, unspoiled, easily swayed, willing new meat.... er....
..
...I mean....
EAGER NEW COMPANIONS!
wow...that doesn't sound even one bit less awful.

sigh
you know what I mean.

Stop laughing.
Sickos.

But... but... what if they s-key!?

But... but... what if they s-key!?

.....I ... I don't even know what that is. But I'm guessing it's ... ¿bad?

Give them options? tell them about the other 25 letters of the alphabet? Suggest, in addition to s-keying, they may like s-nowboarding, or possibly s-ledding?

S-keying is when you use your s-key to move away from your target.

Az very excited new dinner... people. New people. For dinner.

Az will make feasts. Az very good cook.

*licks Plainswander's fuzzy head, wanders off*

(( Yay, new people! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! (And food for Az.) ))

((My guess is one of three things will allow this feature to happen. You must already have a character at 90. It wont even unlock till lvl 100. Underpants Gnomes. ))

I don't see how these new 90s differ from 99.9% of the people I see

Cenarion Circle could use a population infusion. I'm happy there's an expansion coming up, and it'll be easy for new players to get started on the content.

I think your assumptions for how most of these people will play, Plainswander, are a bit more pessimistic than necessary. The vast majority of people who will return to the game because of this offer are likely to be those who quit at some point during Mists or Cata. The further back you go, the more divorced from the game a player is. Someone who hasn't played since Wrath - and even more so, since BC or Classic - isn't likely to come back just for a level 90 character.

I certainly hope they do. I hope CC jumps back up in population to a high population server over the next few months. I think I'd cry - out of sheer joy - if we had a queue to log into the server again.

We've had several Ocheliad come back to the game since WoD's announcement. But none of them had been out of the game for more than a few months. Well, Cyrus came back too, but that was before WoD was announced. We have had half a dozen Ocheliad return to us in the past month or so. It's a trend I hope to see continuing as more people hear about how amazing WoD is going to be.

By definition, any "returnees" will have some knowledge of how to play the game. Maybe they'll bring with them that interest in knowing how to play your class that's tragically faded since the introduction of LFR.

Keep in mind hoot hoot, Blizzard got smart this time and is giving them a phased introduction to let them get used to it so it's not like the free 80s where they just boosted and dumped them into the general populace!

(Side note, needa catch you in game!)

11/12/2013 01:31 AMPosted by Imperon

I think your assumptions for how most of these people will play, Plainswander, are a bit more pessimistic than necessary.

My "assumptions" were actually more for sarcastic and dramatic effect. What I really think is that we'll see a BUNCH of new players who behave, well, just like anyone else. Mostly OK, some excellent, some dismal, but all in all, unless we inspect their achievements, we won't really be able to tell. Y'know?

What I was really trying to get at was playing off a lot of the common worries I see cropping up about the forums though. There are a pretty large contingent of players (it seems) who appear to be firmly wedded to the notion that everyone sucks but them.

I am not one of those players. Bring on the new players and new viewpoints. I can't wait.

(Side note, needa catch you in game!)

Alliance side or Hordeside?

Plains never flags because I don't really like being a free kill...but I might make an exception for you.

I swear to all that's holy that I'm not trolling.

S-keying is when you use your s-key to move away from your target.

How else do you move away from your target?

Back on topic. Any player is a good player, especially on CC. This realm if full of good people and I'd like to see many more of them.

Don't forget that these people still have to level from 90-100.

This in and of itself will provide a lot of opportunity for them to learn their class. Also with the huge changes to stats/items/gameplay that are coming in WoD everyone will be on a learning curve. Some will be farther along than others (mostly just the raiders) but with places like Icy-Veins, MMO-Champion and others out there to help I'm of the mind that those who are willing to learn will learn.

The ones who don't are already excluded for other reasons so it won't be because they got a free 90 by buying WoD.

11/12/2013 11:15 AMPosted by Plainswander

(Side note, needa catch you in game!)

Alliance side or Hordeside?

Plains never flags because I don't really like being a free kill...but I might make an exception for you.

Either or!

I'm not sure if an influx is an inevitability, not if we're using subscription trends and the company's financials as a guide.

I'm not sure if an influx is an inevitability, not if we're using subscription trends and the company's financials as a guide.

Except this is a better received expansion announcement than both Cataclysm and Pandaria.