After I got done with the character creator last night, I spent an hour or so exploring the Goblin starting zone. I’m playing my Ben Stiller mage and got up to level 5 before logging off. Bear this in mind as we go on.
I titled this post “Goblin Starting Zone” instead of “Goblin Starting Experience” because, compared to what the Worgen get, it’s much more passive. In the worgen zone, you could conceivably skip the quest text and still know what was going on. The environment, phasing, and NPC scripting put you into the story instead of telling it. The Goblin zone does not follow the old adage of “show don’t tell.” There’s a story there, I think, but the first few quests have you preparing for a party by touring the town. Overall, the goblin experience is much less exciting but still fun to play through.
What the narrative lacks is made up for in the sheer character of the place. It’s full of colors and moving things and roads. Honestly, as I was going through, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Disney World: you know everything is fake and made up for your pleasure, but it’s done so damn well. That probably sounds weird but you’ll see what I mean if you watch the videos below. It’s like a big, industrial playground and I loved running around exploring it. It’s honestly the first time I’ve felt compelled to explore in WoW in years.
Phasing is also much smoother than what the Worgen get. I think I only noticed characters appearing out of nowhere once.
Oh, and there’s a capper here too. You should see the mount you get while on the isle. It’s actually a vehicle used for a quest but you get to keep it afterwords. No word on if you can use it off the Isle, but I’m so hoping.
Since there’s no huge, surprising narrative to spoil, I decided to take some videos to show you all myself. Enjoy!
