No "New Toon Incentive" in Warlords of Draenor

Every expansion in the past has given us an incentive to roll up a new character to level up. Burning Crusade gave us two new races, and perhaps more compellingly, opened up the Paladin and Shaman to the Horde and Alliance respectively. Wrath of the Lich King gave us the Death Knight (which admittedly got to skip all of the old world and go straight to Outland after finishing the starting experience.) Cataclysm gave us two more races as well as a bunch of new race/class combinations, and while you could easily just race-change one of your old characters, there was also a whole new leveling experience to be seen. Mists of Pandaria brought us a new race (which again, is less compelling in the era of paid race changes) as well as a new class (which is perfectly compelling.)

The only thing close to a "new toon incentive" I can detect in Warlords of Draenor is the apparently one-time boost to level 90. You will be able to take one of your characters, or just create a new one, and make them level 90 immediately.

Now, on one hand, I could use this as an opportunity to make a Worgen Death Knight, combining my favorite race with my favorite class and just stick with him as a main, but I like my Draenei DK (Draenei being my second-favorite race, and a very appropriate choice to take in to old Draenor.)

The thing is, the level 90 boost is almost an anti-new-toon-incentive. Part of the appeal of rolling up a new level 1 character was that you would see all the old low-level zones. You would get to play through that stuff again. By going directly to 90, you're effectively creating an new old toon.

And as someone who has every class except Priest and Druid at 90 (and those two are both in the Jade Forest,) there's really no reason for me to use this feature.

This was helpful in keeping the lower-level zones populated, allowing those who were leveling up to see the world and have people to group with.

This level 90 boost will achieve the direct opposite, instead serving to ensure that the old world remains a ghost town.

Now, granted, maybe I should just come to terms with the fact that WoW is, by its nature, a top-heavy RPG, and that the MMO is kind of a different beast.

I think that in Vanilla, and BC and kind of Wrath (though this is where it started to change,) there was less of a sense that "the endgame is the real game." Leveling was a serious thing, and people would find challenges in the old dungeons. There was a little more emphasis on just exploring the world. Now some of that was due to poor design: you had to explore because after killing ten Wastewander Bandits in Tanaris, you wouldn't have any more quests to do in Tanaris for about five levels.

Really, in many ways the boost to 90 is not any different from the Death Knights starting at 55 (though there was a flavor justification there in addition to the convenience.)

It will be interesting to see how it works. I imagine you'll only be able to boost one character to 90, so people will still have to level up in the old world (and Northrend, Outland and Pandaria) if they have a new alt.

But it also kind of suggests a new philosophy on Blizzard's part. Warlords of Draenor is really a sequel, rather than an expansion. You can jump in without having to catch up.