Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1vktjot/trying_to_ease_returning_players_into_the_new/

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The original was posted on /r/wow by /u/NoH871 on 2026-08-10 18:45:44+00:00.

Hi all,

It’s almost time for the new season, so I’ve been doing my usual seasonal routine of trying to convince my friends to give Retail another go.

Surprisingly, this time a couple of them actually agreed. They’ve gotten bored of TBC Classic, and their experience with modern Retail varies quite a bit: one last played in Legion, another in Midnight S1 (but quit very early to focus more on TBC - basically just leveled), another in original Cata and has only played Classic since, and the last one played in TWW.

Leveling went about as well as Retail leveling does nowadays. At least it’s fast. But then we hit 90, and they immediately ran into a brick wall.

Their maps are absolutely covered in "priority" quests. They have no idea what they’re actually supposed to do, which quests are genuinely important, which ones can be ignored, or how they should approach the endgame in general.

They all mainly want to play M+, so I tried guiding them toward getting some gear and unlocking the Omnium Folio in prep for next season. But the process is genuinely one of the most miserable returning-player experiences I’ve seen.

To unlock the Omnium Folio, they have to:

• Find the correct priority quest and complete the Omnium Folio quest chain.
• Unlock Ritual Sites through their introductory chain, then complete two rituals. This is content they will probably never touch again afterward, which is surprisingly difficult to explain to a new/returning player.
• Unlock Void Assaults and complete five of them. This takes ages, is extremely boring, and again is content they’re unlikely to ever do again afterwards (because there is no point).
• Complete one dungeon, delve, or LFR boss. This is fine.
• Kill a boss in Val or Naigtal, but only after first finding the correct introductory quest chain and completing that - which is another piece of content they will never need to interact with again after.

One of them didn't even make it through this full list before going back to TBC.

The biggest problem is that the game just throws dozens of priority and other quests at you the moment you hit 90 and open your map in Silvermoon. It is impossible for a new or returning player to figure out what is actually important. Even I - after just 3 months break - was overwhelmed when I logged in, and for me it was half the amount of quests.

On top of that, players are forced through a bunch of extremely easy filler content they have no interest in doing just to unlock Omnium Folio skill points; while not even being aware of why they're doing this.

It’s a terrible experience.

I really think Blizzard needs to rethink the returning-player experience. There should be a much clearer path for someone who hits max level and says, "I want to do M+ and raids. What do I actually need to do?". This has been plaguing every single expansion and gets worse patch after patch.

Right now, the answer is basically: sort through a map full of supposedly important quests, figure out which ones actually matter, and slog through hours of trivial content before you’re allowed to get to the part of the game you came back for.

People who are interested in actually playing parts of the game they enjoy (M+ and raiding) are just losing interest before they even get there. I try telling them that all the stuff they have to do is a one time thing and I promise it's fun after, but it's really difficult because the experience is so bad.

How do you guys handle this?

Edit: As an addendum, regarding all the people comparing the Retail mandatory grind to TBC mandatory grind - there is a major difference, which is: TBC is convoluted and the attunements are complicated to follow, but the process of doing so is enjoyable. It's not a mindless uninteresting slog, but you are actually doing lots of group quests and dungeons, it's quite the social experience and actually fun to do. I say this as someone who doesn't enjoy TBC a lot, but the attunements were much more fun to me personally than unlocking and maxing the Omnium Folio is.