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[Review] World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria: Great Fun, But Flawed
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
World of Warcraft has been top dog in the MMO space for a good long while. Each expansion brings renewed hope that it will continue to sit atop the heap. How does Mists of Pandaria fare? Find out in our official review then leave us your thoughts in the comments.
I began playing World of Warcraft the day it launched in 2004. I anticipate that on the ten year reunion of the game we will get the next expansion. In the meantime, we have Mists of Pandaria. Mists was a tough journey in the beginning but became a much more fun experience as I went through the content and worked my way up. For me, Mists is an excellent Worl d of Warcraft expansion. However, in terms of MMOs in general it does not bring the thunder that a WoW expansion used too. If you are a veteran WoW player than Mists has a lot to offer in terms of game play and especially content. If you are a hardened MMO vet looking for something new this is not the game for you any more. Let’s go through the stages and get this final score underway.
Read more of Garrett Fuller's World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - Great Fun, But Flawed.
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Comments
Kinda a strange score. 7 for social seems low when GW2 got an 8.
Innovation a 6? Yet games that copy WoW get higher scores for innovation.
i still have 2 days left from my MoP 10 day trial (lost 6 days due to hurricane sandy), but im having a lot of fun with my lvl 35 Draenei Monk, and my lvl 20+ Undead Monk too.
Bought MoP yesterday and will buy one month(yes, one month only) of subscription after i finish all the free days ive got.
For me the 'fun factor' of WoW has reduced in the last two expansions. I hated the phasing in Cata and the way they changed some of the class mechanics expcially the hunter. Then the butchering of the talent system in MoP for me made Talent Specs worthless. I tried it for about a week, only logging in to try toi claw back some enjoyment for my $55 expense ($40 for the exp and $15 for the months sub) but in the end cancelled mys sub as I knew I was wasting my time seeking something I would never find.
Well, I think the innovation score is deserved. While Blizzard has done some interesting things, such as Tillers Farm and Pet Battles, the core of the gameplay experience is still the same tried and true questing. The new Scenario system is something I've had quite a bit of fun with, but ultimately is just a 3 man dungeon. Blizzard could push the envelope a bit more in terms of content delivery, but WoW will not be where it's done. They are looking to the future now.
The overall score of 8.1 is well deserved. The expansion is a lot of fun, but it's also 1 expansion too late for many. If Pandaria had released instead of Cataclysm, I don't think the population drop would have been so dramatic.
First off in all the years of playing Warcraft and Wow, I never ever saw a panda, so it might have been in the lore, just not in the games. Panda's was all about the chinese preferences and of course the popularity of kung-fu panda. It was a real stretch if you ask me.
The changes in the talent system killed the game far as I am concerned. Everyone is a cookie cutter build now. Worst decision Blizzard ever made IMO. It adds nothing to the game and takes away alot. Anyone trying to argue there are more choices is wearing blinders.
They did a nice job on the expansion, but I would not rate it over 7.5, just really nothing new except for the monk class.
Rift is adding a lot of new exciting stuff to the game indeed. The only reason i dont play it is that Trion dont care for people who spend more time on alts. I dont care about end game in mmos that offer limited endgame like WoW, Rift, Swtor, etc. I spend most of my time leveling different characters at once, learning their different lores and stuff. In Rift i had 1 character per faction and got bored and left....
What i like about WoW is that it gives me the choice where and how to progress all my characters since there are different low level zones to choose without doing the same quests over and over.
If Trion makes that happen in Rift i would go back to it.
I held off on buying MoP because I was afraid that it was simply going to give my 5 levels of the same type of content and then put me back on the same gear grind for PvE and PvP that I've always been caught in.
My brother purchased MoP and kept telling me how much fun he was having and that it felt like WoW used to be. I caved in a bought it.
I leveled a Monk and I'm at level 45 and just can't seem to force myself to drudge through those levels. I logged onto my level 85, took the trip to Pandaria and stalled out at about level 85 and 1/2.
I should have never spent the 40 bucks. Anyone hoping for the game to be anything but WoW is entertaining a false hope. If you like WoW, it's going to give you exactly what you've loved. If you're tired of WoW or have moved on - this expac will disappoint.
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
Everyone was a cookie cutter build before too, if you weren't then you were probably playing a gimped spec.
I don't think the pandaren are that bad, they have provided a really nice (art wise) continent to explore. I wouldn't play as that race because it doesn't appeal, much like worgen or tauren, but having them in the world around me is fine.
[The new dungeons, scenarios, challenge modes, and the Pet Battles definitely save Mists from getting a low score]
This is where you lost me. Pet Battles is one of your features that kept it from a low score? (Does Michael Vick play) sigh... This is a all time low for me.
I think the score is pretty fair all things considered.
I bought MoP partly because I played WoW from the beginning until a year or so ago and ALL my friends still play. I have 9x 85's and 2x 90's (one a monk) and think it's an ok expansion but it's not enough to keep me playing as there’s really nothing new, so have cancelled my sub.
I can see why the casual audience will like this expac but it’s this very thing that’s made me lose interest in WoW and the talent changes pretty much made the decision for me.
I've played RiFT from the start also and it has far better direction than WoW has these days, dungeons and raids feel epic and the talent system allows for an insane amount of customization unlike its counterpart.Not at all, WoW isn't better at forcing those who simply refuse to whisper or refuse to seek out other players to make friends. That's who I keep seeing complain about GW2 that and people who've only played to level 11 and stopped.
As far as innovation goes, it should really be a 5 imo since the majority of their ui enhancements have been from other games only added to prevent more people from leaving or added only after a couple of mil have dropped off the subscriber list. That's not innovation that's desparation. "Please don't leave here, we'll give you what you've been asking for for oh only about 3-4 years now that you are threatening to go!" Is what that says to me when they do that.
**** All other games on the face of the planet pay attention, especially Rift because Rift you could jump out onto the scene ahead here if only you had the fluidity and responsiveness that wow has and has had and is what makes doing even the dumb things like pet battles fun, so when I score polish its always a 10 because they just do it better than everyone and its just sad that others haven't met up to or beat them ***
My overall score is a 3 which is why I don't have a sub, don't get me wrong I love wow, but without illidan/lich king bad ass factor .... I just have no motivation to play and thus my score drops way out.
As far as the writer goes, yeah he's spot on.
Can't for the life of me see how re-enforcing the elitest jerks by putting in a challenge mode for dungeons makes the game any better. There was already this sense of crazed urgency just to finish a dungeon for gear. Not impressed at all.
one of the big problems with WoW is separating the code for pvp and pve, i will never return to the nightmare that GC caused after WoTLK and CATA when after launch they had to 'rebalance' pvp and I spent weeks trying to respec, relearn my rotation for my pve hunter over and over again just after launch. Yea that's fun.
I know a guy who's sole fun in the game is leveling doing the questing the old fashioned way. He stopped raiding because it was the same old story. people not showing up on time or dropping, not knowing how to do a fixed rotation on their character's three buttons they simply must use on every boss fight, not getting the gear they need because frankly getting gear is like pulling teeth in this game, and that's the other thing, it's been how long now how many expansions and one still can't craft the gearsets needed instead of running 10 thousand times the same two dungeons to get something they need to drop?
At the end of this expansions life, we'll see the shift again, allowing players who don't spend their entire existance raiding right after launch actually get to see the content by releasing better rewards more easily obtained (even tho the drop rate algrithm from 1992 will be the same). Strange how they have to "help" players see content that should have never been cutoff, I mean surely your payment is enough to include the content without having to do something special and surely by now someone at Blizzard has learned that lore should never be so cutoff from the players, one would not have to adjust such things if the game was balanced properly.
I disagree with the writer's notion that Mist gives players a reason to explore the world all over again. There is no exploration in this game notably not rewarded exploration. Secondly. all they did was revamp some of the earlier questing like in Cata. That's not incentive that's just giving a cosmetic lift to something you've already seen countless times before while leveling in their old fashioned method. Quest hubs should have been replaced by now.
"While I find the community on WoW really has become Eliteist Jerks" Typical. So glad that's not the community I have to deal with any longer.
All in all I think this guy was a tad too generous with his score including value...
Did you really just compare a Pokemon style side activity to rearing and fighting real life dogs?
Oh dear.
I wil take a page out of your own GW2 fan book.
Exploration is about fun and not rewards or incentives.
So yeah there is exploration to do even if it doesnt give you a chest full of goodies every time you complete a zone. Remember it is not about rewards but fun. Right? or that is what i have been reading for almsot two months now. i don't know why sudden change of philosophy when it comes to WOW.
8.1 is fair. Its a very strong expansion. The new talent system drops it from an 8.5 to an 8.1.
Storm Legion should get about an 8.5 (however it better not get anything above a 6 in innovation either, getting kill 20 quests from mobs instead of NPCS isnt innovation)
There is rewarded exploration, the lorewalkers faction encourages you to explore the new continent, uncover the map, find lore objects, read them and listen to the backstory behind the continent. There is even a standard/flying mount as a reward for reaching exalted.