For what it's worth, currently if you open the "add topic" link in a new tab, you'll get the old way.

David, perfect, thanks for the info. If I'm not mistaken, there will be a tutorial before the first use of the New discussion tool. It would be great to mention that you can use the old way by opening the "add topic" link in a new tab (using CTRL and click on the "add topic" link).

Right now, the New discussion tool when enabled suppresses standard "old way" to add a topic and I think it can be a big disadvantage for advanced users.

@Patriccck: we appreciate you filing this task. Can you share more about the unique disadvantages advanced users may encounter when using the New Discussion Tool? Are there certain workflows you think the existing new topic experience supports better than the New Discussion Tool? Something else?

If there are two tabs (I have no opinion on whether it’s needed), I think VisualEditor’s approach is more consistent (and probably easier to implement):

In T274783#6831758, @ppelberg wrote:

@Patriccck: we appreciate you filing this task. Can you share more about the unique disadvantages advanced users may encounter when using the New Discussion Tool?

@ppelberg One and the biggest disadvantage for advanced users is I think missing buttons — see T273228 (I personally think it is difficult to implement for a technical reasons, so I don't give it much of a chance to do, but I am not a developer).

In T274783#6831758, @ppelberg wrote:

Are there certain workflows you think the existing new topic experience supports better than the New Discussion Tool?

Yes, I support the New Discussion Tool and I think it is good (mainly Visual Editor is perfect).