>>1764519
It became "a thing" in TBC.
>first problem
Go to quest hub > pick up 5+ quests > go out and quest for 30 minutes > turn in everything and get follow ups.
>second problem
Expansion content is completely removed from the main game area. You only see expansion players (aka high level players) in capital cities.
>little to no reason to for high level players to return to low level zones
Ease of access to taxis/teleports, theme park zone design where every zone is a narrow level gap.
It's a huge design issue that FFXI solved over 20 years ago. They had the brilliant idea to remove the need for alts by making one character be able to select every class, and by implementing the sub-class system where you were required to level a second class. For those who haven't played FFXI, once you hit level 18, you unlock a subclass system where you can get another class at half level of your main class. But you have to level that class up too. That meant lower level zones were always populated, it meant lower level gear was always in demand, it meant lower level crafting mats were always in demand, it meant new players could farm good money by selling low level crafting mats. Plus, some subclasses kinda required you to level its on subclass in order to be effective. Say you want to be a Bard, you'll usually want to have either White Mage or Ninja as your sub. But Bard is a worthless sub for White Mage and Ninja, so you'll want to level Red Mage for your White Mage, and Warrior for Ninja. And since FFXI is camp based instead of elite based, that means players can technically go everywhere to grind or group. Then WoW comes along and goes "yeah fuck that, just quest and never come back here". It sucks. Thankfully there's a resurgence of old school MMOs. Retail FFXI is actually having population growth, Old School Runescape is hitting record numbers, WoW classic and private servers are in high demand, Pantheon shoot itself in the foot but is still hobbling about, Monsters and Memories is coming out Q1 2026, and Adrullan Online (previously known as Evercraft) is years away from being done but captures that MMO magic so god damn well that it may explode in popularity if it keeps up with its development.
On the flip side, Tarisland is dead, New World is dead, Throne and Liberty is dead, Lost Ark is dead (don't believe the steamcarts number, it's 80% bots), Ashes of Creation is a scam and it's never coming out, FFXIV are revolting and quitting in droves because the formula got stale and the new expansion was dogshit, Guild Wars 2 just cruising along, and WoW can't get new players.
Chrono Odyssey is DOA (the open beta weekend was horrible, devs were openly caught lying and stealing assets), Archeage Chronicles is DOA (published by Kakao, not a real MMO), Aion 2 is DOA (mobile crossplay, spell effect vomit, P2W garbage), Project Ghost is going to be a joke (made by the guy that directed WotLK and spent however many years making the Riot MMO), Bellatores is DOA (korean slop P2W slop), Lord of the Rings is DOA (made by Amazon Game Studio, the same team as New World), Guild Wars 3 is pozzed on arrival, Corepunk is doomed (incompetent devs), and finally Pax Dei is a scam and not a real MMO.
That leaves Stars Reach (by the UO/SWG people), Ragnarok Online 3 (maybe good if they don't go P2W), Drakantos (fun for a month?) in the "may be decent" category. Long story short: WoW clones are dead as fuck.