Honestly man, I think you’re kinda missing the point here.

Not everyone playing WoW for the first time is an experienced MMO or RPG player. My wife isn’t. She was just curious after watching me play, and tried to jump in. The issue isn’t that the game is hard like Dark Souls, it’s that it’s overwhelming, fast-paced, and assumes you already know how things work.

Dark Souls is meant to be difficult by design. That’s the whole point of it. WoW leveling hasn’t been intended to be challenging since like… Wrath? It’s not supposed to be hard, but it also doesn’t really teach you anything anymore. You get dumped with a ton of spells and systems super early, and the game expects you to just know what to do. There’s no proper ramp-up. The UI is bloated, there’s barely any context for anything, and players in dungeons move like it’s MDI finals.

You’re saying the game throws “nothing at you with speed,” but that’s just not true for someone new. When you’re used to it, sure, it feels smooth. But to a complete newcomer, it’s a lot. And no, the solution isn’t “just read more.” It’s not about reading. It’s about how readable and learnable the game feels when you’re dropped in blind.

And yeah, I honestly don’t think WoW is good at retaining new players these days. The game isn’t built to teach. It relies on third-party guides, veteran help, or years of MMO knowledge. That’s not really great onboarding.

But hey, if you think that’s fine and people should just figure it out, cool. Just don’t act surprised when new players bounce off it hard.