World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Reviews
I normally don't write reviews for products, but in this case I feel the need to write one with honest opinions from someone who has played the game since the beginning and is currently max level (90). Before I begin let me start by saying this: I understand everyone will have their own opinions about what this game "should" be, but how can you possibly give a good review of an expansion without having even played enough of it to know? I'd wager most of the reviews posted are not even close to max level (at a decent solo pace questing it takes 25 hours) so I know you all haven't gotten there yet. At any rate, here are my early impressions: Good: - Area flow during leveling is amazing. This has really been lacking in a lot of expansions, the quests seem to line up well and you can very naturally go through the whole zone without missing obscure quests along the way. You also won't be running back and forth 20 times in the same zone for quests, each hub is clearly marked when you are of appropriate level and the mini-achievements pop up at the end of each hub so you know you're done. Probably the best questing I've ever seen. The quests themselves have some neat variety but there is only so much you can do, it's questing. I really like that you can't fly until 90, this is obviously the reason they spent so much time designing the flow of each area. People would have been pissed at not being able to fly AND having shitty questing like the old game (Vanilla) when most people grinded mobs to level instead. - System design (talents, professions, reputations). I know some people hate the new talents, I personally love it. No longer do I have to read up on theorycrafting sites to find the optimal raiding builds, I don't have to look at top pvpers for arena builds, I don't have to port back to town between fights to respec a billion points several times a night. I also get to do some things (like have shadowstep with mutilate as a rogue) that have always been needed, now I won't just have to be subtlety for PVP like in Wrath/Cata because assassination and combat have a chance like they did in Vanilla/BC. No more rep tabards! The cooking changes with multiple branches are cool and leveling professions seems a bit easier which is nice. - Things to do (Dungeons, Raids, Scenarios, Challenge mode, Pet battles) There are a TON of things to do. Once you hit max level you can get Valor a bunch of different ways, it is easier than ever to get gear (more on this later) and you aren't forced to do a bunch of stuff every week just for the sake of capping valor points. I don't understand the complaints about pet battles being "childish", you aren't forced to do it. I will probably never take part myself, but I have some guildmates who collect pets who are super excited about it. Why hate on someone elses fun just because you think its silly? I like the farming stuff too, plant some seeds and come back the next day to harvest. It makes raiding a little easier since you can make your own consumables pretty easily instead of farming a bunch of stuff or spending gold on consumables. - Game difficulty. I can't comment on raiding yet since our first one is next week, but thus far I think they have nailed the progession from quest gear, to dungeons to heroics. Burning Crusade heroics were too hard, Wrath were too easy, Cataclysm were too hard (for average players) but I think that it is easy enough to start off that people won't be struggling for months to gear up for raids. I like that you can get gear a bunch of different ways and professions have easy access to upgrades early on, combined with the new gear rewards for questing people should be more prepared. For those of you who haven't hit max level you may not have noticed, quest rewards are now ALL useable by your class. You no longer get a choice between 4 pieces where none are useful and your bags get full of stuff you won't ever use. I replaced nearly all my 397+ gear by the time I hit 90. Most pieces being replaced at 88/89 like they should be. Again, the design team nailed this expansion. Bad: - CRZ (Cross Realm Zone). I haven't really taken part in this myself since I leveled solo, but I've had a bunch of guildmates who leveled with RealID friends and ended up getting stuck on massively overpopulated/unbalanced realms because their friend was on one of those servers (try leveling alliance side Blackrock for instance). I know what their intent was, but I don't think it was executed very well at all. - Zone appearance. I know a lot of people are hyped on the look of the new zones, and in some cases I am too (Jade Forest was awesome) but most of the zones were VERY uninspired. They look great, so don't take this as a complaint about the art itself. But running through Steppes and Dread Waste I felt like I could have been anywhere (Azeroth, Outland, Northrend) they just weren't very original. A wasteland filled with bugs? How many times can we see this theme? It was like they took Netherstorm and Silithus and had a baby. I get that there isn't a lot more than can be done in a game this large, but I would have preferred more Asian themed areas if that's the theme and beyond a few of the mountain cities I didn't really feel like I was there. - Travel. I don't like the portal location and it seems like it takes forever to fly anywhere right now. I will be honest in saying that I haven't completely covered Vale of Eternal Blossoms because I dinged 90 in the evening yesterday so my opinion might change. But right now I don't see a central city and there is no AH anywhere so people will still be camped in SW and ORG just like last expansion. The fact the portal only goes to the starting area instead of a central city is a little annoying, hopefully it changes. Indifferent: - Pandas. I don't love them or hate them. I thought the story was fine, some of the characters were cool but largely I was very MEH about the addition. I do think it is neat to have a race that both factions can be, I think each "race" picking a side and never having any conflict is a little ridiculous. Let's face it, humans would be both Alliance and Horde and we all know it. Just like some Taurens are good guys and some undead just want to be left alone. I have yet to try out the race myself, but from seeing them I like their animations so far. Also, the females don't look awful like the worgens. Overall: I have been pleasantly surprised. I quit shortly after reaching max level in both Wrath and Cataclysm because I thought the expansions were pretty boring and only came back in the middle-late expansions to complete raid content. I don't anticipate quitting this time, there is enough to do and leveling was designed well enough to get me to level several of my characters now instead of later on when gear is super easy to get. I am excited to try scenarios and challenge dungeons and hopefully the raiding is a good balance of easy, normal and hard (raid finder, normal modes and heroic modes). I think a lot of people have forgotten (or never known) what the original game was like and have unrealistic expectations of what this game should be. It is easier now that it has ever been in its history and gear is easier to obtain than ever before as well. You can make your character look like virtually anything you want with transmog, you can get your weekly points in any number of different ways and you don't have to spend endless hours playing to have fun. I sincerely hope they keep heroic modes extremely difficult as that is what keeps me going (Firelands was a pleasant surprise even if Ryolith was awful). It's not perfect, but nothing is. I have yet to find an Online RPG besides WoW that has ever been as fun over this long a period of time since the days of Text Based MUDs and has continued to adapt. I've liked some changes over the years and hated others, but the developers clearly try really hard to please as many people as possible. I may edit this later with my impressions on raids, scenarios and challenge mode dungeons.... this is my World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria reviews
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Specs
- Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
- ASIN: B0050SZBP6
- Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 5.3 x 7.5 inches ; 1 pounds
- Media: Video Game
- Release Date: September 25, 2012
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (285 customer reviews)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
- #6 in Video Games > PC Games > Games > Role-Playing
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