While I love the new 1-60 content for my alts and think many of the quests are simply amazing (the quest giver one, for example, at the entry to Hillsbrad is GREAT, as is the simple mini-game of turning the statues in Badlands), the design makes it very hard to do one of the great things which initially got me hooked in WoW... You can't play with others. Not as a newbie, at least, unless all you do is run dungeons and battlegrounds in a group.

The way progression and phasing is now set-up, the game is basically a solo game until you reach higher levels, and I think that really kills part of what makes the game so magic for a new player. Being able to run around with a friend and discover a new world with a friend and become a hero with a friend is one of the defining features of a multiplayer game...and with the new design, this is very hard to do.

Yes, those cross-continent quests sucked sometimes, but they also hold the best memories for me - venturing into foreign lands and enemy territory with three other mid-20s on a long quest chain so I could unlock x "powerful" ability (I think it was portals; it's been years and I can't even recall) truly felt like an epic experience. Even being able to work together with someone to kill those 50 billion boars or ruthlessly take candles from kobolds made the experience more fun.

Nowadays, you really cannot quest with someone unless you only quest with them and shelf the toon until you are both playing at the same time, as the streamlining and changed experience removes sidequests or makes it so you aren't even REALLY in the same zone unless you are on the same stage of quests.

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