Mists of Pandaria Review
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
I have to admit that when I first heard of Mists I kinda facedesked and asked what Blizzard was smoking. Now that it's actually out.. well. It really is the best expansion to date. It rekindled my love for WoW and now I find myself enjoying almost everything, hell, even the dailies are fun and they change every day, with the exception of the Golden Lotus which has more or less dailies in the same area, even if some of them change. The only horrid thing for me was levelling 1-85 on my monk and getting his proffessions up to 600. (Which included Leatherworking, the horror, the horror.) Looking forward to trying the raids, because the dungeons and heroics certainly don't disappoint.
All in all, it deserves it's max rating. Woooh.
All in all, it deserves it's max rating. Woooh.
Let's just be honest here you all bought it because it's the next Pokemon game.
And I love the fact each and every WoW expansion is accompanied by two groups claiming "best/worst expansion to date", but they all still buy and grind it till the next one comes.
And I love the fact each and every WoW expansion is accompanied by two groups claiming "best/worst expansion to date", but they all still buy and grind it till the next one comes.
I have two problems with MoP. First, there are no massive epic "wow" moments or zones during leveling. It's all pretty and well presented, but no places that just leave you with your mouth open (like the first time entering Dragonblight in Wrath). It all feels a little too familiar. Second, holy shit, it is unexpectedly hardcore. Now, that's not all bad. The "good" kind of hardcore, is that all the 25 man bosses I've done so far in the first raid, are very well thought out and have a surprising amount of tactics for an entry level raid of a new expansion, and will no doubt be even harder on heroic mode. The "bad" part, the multitude of daily quests that you pretty much need to do every single day if you want your professions to mean anything or to get any valor loot. So, if you want to raid in this game semi-seriously, you need to play daily, and several hours. I'd say 3 or 4 minimum. Add to those the raid times, and you've got a pretty heavy schedule. Of course, you can always just do LFR and talk to noone, but you're better off not playing if you're gonna do that. So... it's silly, it's pretty, it's challenging, it's at times exhausting.
Because it didn't actually make anyone feel unique or special.Nocturnus said:
Okay, let's take a look at the previous arcane mage talent tree as an example. Now, you would spend 31 talent points here, and it sounds on the surface that you're making 31 decisions.
The reality was you are not.
Okay, let's see, this is a haste buff, gotta grab that... this is the talent that makes arcane missiles fire off two extra missiles, that's mandatory... and that talent gives flat damage boost for doing what I always do...
...what ended up happening is after buying the talents you needed to do your job of pewpewing things, you ended up with 4 points left, to be divided amongst three talents with two points each.
In other words, your '31 decisions' is actually only one: Which of the three talents do you not take.
That's not choice, that's the illusion of choice.
Now look at what happens instead.
That missiles talent? You get it automaticly. Who cares, you were gonna take it instead. That damage buff? Already in your abilities.
INSTEAD:
You can choose 6 talents out of 6 tiers, and each talent is different to each other. So let's look at one of those 'small choices', this time from the monk class's level 15 tier.
You can either:
Roll an extra time and have it come up faster
Get a sprint after rolling
Have a buff that increases someone's run speed
That's not actually a small choice. What if you're a tank who likes to chain pull, do you like having that speed boost after you roll so you can get into Keg Smash range faster? Are you more of a support character, and like to give speed boosts to someone so they can escape Atramedes' fire breath from above? Do you just really like rolling around and find doing so more often to be fun?
These are not small choices by any stretch. The mage bomb talent tier and the level 90 evocation tier define your playstyle.
Glyphs offer further customization and really allow you to define who and how you want to play---and all because they got rid of the idea of having 31 meaningless choices, and replacing it with 9 meaningful ones (and 3 minor glyphs for the lulz)
I feel the new lorewalkers faction deserves a mention here, as I quite enjoyed flying around finding and reading the different scrolls, and Lorewalker Chos storytelling after completing a story was pretty entertaining.
I don't have time to go into detail regarding all the things I like and dislike and why, I will however say that with the daily quest cap removed and the difficulty on normal content what it is, the game is now more casual friendly than ever before. Then I'd quickly like to add.
New talent system is good, raid content looks good, scenarios are useless for gearing and will therefore be skipped by most serious players, hc's are mind-numbingly easy, reputation constraints on justice point gear makes the points useless for a lot of players, I hate farming while farming, whoever came up with the name for the Mantid race should be fired for making the pronunciation exactly the same as "man tit".
ahh I feel better now.
I don't have time to go into detail regarding all the things I like and dislike and why, I will however say that with the daily quest cap removed and the difficulty on normal content what it is, the game is now more casual friendly than ever before. Then I'd quickly like to add.
New talent system is good, raid content looks good, scenarios are useless for gearing and will therefore be skipped by most serious players, hc's are mind-numbingly easy, reputation constraints on justice point gear makes the points useless for a lot of players, I hate farming while farming, whoever came up with the name for the Mantid race should be fired for making the pronunciation exactly the same as "man tit".
ahh I feel better now.
I am absolutely loving the new expansion, glad that there are some critics who don't automatically write this expansion off before they even begin the review. The questing is easily the best Blizzard has ever done, the biggest improvement for me from Cataclysm is the quests are more broken up with choices on which quest hubs to do and the focus on lore throughout makes leveling in Pandaria way more interesting and immersive then past expansions.
I think Blizzard screwed up the marketing for this one a bit. Too much focus on the Padaren's, they should have done more about setting and the beauty etc. They had a chance to create the idea that sometimes things don't have to get more epic and more serious, but there's a chance to sit back and create something more subtle and gentle, with appropriate touches of epic.
I think people could have bitten into that idea, instead we've got the idea of 'lol Kung-Fu Panda' which doesn't do the expansion justice.
I think people could have bitten into that idea, instead we've got the idea of 'lol Kung-Fu Panda' which doesn't do the expansion justice.
Dammit this review isn't helping me stay away from this game. I ended Cata and said that's it, NO MORE! But now.... dammit this game is crack I tell ya! Maybe I'll get it this weekend >_>
Hey guys,
If you're looking for more information on the Pandaren starting area and how the monk plays, you can check out my preview. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/reviews/6282-Mists-of-Pandaria-Starting-Area-Preview] Admittedly, it's based on the beta but nothing has changed from a few weeks ago.
And I'm glad the rest of you feel the same way I do about MoP.
Greg
If you're looking for more information on the Pandaren starting area and how the monk plays, you can check out my preview. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/reviews/6282-Mists-of-Pandaria-Starting-Area-Preview] Admittedly, it's based on the beta but nothing has changed from a few weeks ago.
And I'm glad the rest of you feel the same way I do about MoP.
Greg
Every single valor reward requires you to have reputation with factions, which you raise by doing dailies. If you don't do that, your valor points won't buy you anything. Also, every single high-end recipe for all professions requires reputation if you want to acquire it. I'd start doing them asap if I were you. Unless your guild tolerates you showing up for raids with blue gear for months until you gear yourself up from raid drops alone, in which case hurray!Capitano Segnaposto said:
"That's why it's important to heed the Pandaren's advice and slow down. Take it in. There's no need to rush through everything to do in Mists of Pandaria. It will still be there whenever you want to play it."
Uh, yeah, right. Pardon me while I collapse in a fit of hysterical laughter at the notion of the majority of WoW players actually slowing down to take in the plot and setting. Everybody and their grandmother knows WoW is played at a breakneck pace, completely disregarding the plot and context so you can kill-kill-kill, level-level-level, blast up to top tier like you're getting paid for it and not the other way 'round. After all, that's why Blizzard keeps releasing plot-changing patches and expansions as fast as possible, 'cause only the players that have been playing since Day One deserve to feel like they're a part of the overarching story and not just eternally playing catch-up to everyone else, going through content that everyone else is already bored with and has been done a billion times over. Those day-one diehards are the only players that matter, after all, which is why Blizzard caters to them and expects new players to get the damn lead out and get caught up already you slackers, 'cause they've got a schedule to keep and your enjoyment and satisfaction doesn't factor into that. Really, who cares if you've got the core game and three expansion packs worth of content to get through if you've just started, you knew that when you bought this game, now get crackin' before they announce the fifth one!
So yeah, this is kind of a cynical point of view, but it's how I feel; it's the point of view of a player who played WoW frequently for several years, leaving and coming back, giving it multiple chances to both the game and to Blizzard. But no matter how much they improved (or if not improved, just shook up) the gameplay, they never did anything to address this issue I've just described; their client treatment.
In short, to hell with WoW and to hell with Blizzard. I've joined Guild Wars 2, I'm enjoying it immensely, and so far ArenaNet has treated me far better as a customer than Blizzard did. It's still pretty young and GW2 does have room for improvement, but so far they've done better right out of the gate than a lot of MMOs, WoW included, and I've got a lot of hope for 'em as time goes on.
Uh, yeah, right. Pardon me while I collapse in a fit of hysterical laughter at the notion of the majority of WoW players actually slowing down to take in the plot and setting. Everybody and their grandmother knows WoW is played at a breakneck pace, completely disregarding the plot and context so you can kill-kill-kill, level-level-level, blast up to top tier like you're getting paid for it and not the other way 'round. After all, that's why Blizzard keeps releasing plot-changing patches and expansions as fast as possible, 'cause only the players that have been playing since Day One deserve to feel like they're a part of the overarching story and not just eternally playing catch-up to everyone else, going through content that everyone else is already bored with and has been done a billion times over. Those day-one diehards are the only players that matter, after all, which is why Blizzard caters to them and expects new players to get the damn lead out and get caught up already you slackers, 'cause they've got a schedule to keep and your enjoyment and satisfaction doesn't factor into that. Really, who cares if you've got the core game and three expansion packs worth of content to get through if you've just started, you knew that when you bought this game, now get crackin' before they announce the fifth one!
So yeah, this is kind of a cynical point of view, but it's how I feel; it's the point of view of a player who played WoW frequently for several years, leaving and coming back, giving it multiple chances to both the game and to Blizzard. But no matter how much they improved (or if not improved, just shook up) the gameplay, they never did anything to address this issue I've just described; their client treatment.
In short, to hell with WoW and to hell with Blizzard. I've joined Guild Wars 2, I'm enjoying it immensely, and so far ArenaNet has treated me far better as a customer than Blizzard did. It's still pretty young and GW2 does have room for improvement, but so far they've done better right out of the gate than a lot of MMOs, WoW included, and I've got a lot of hope for 'em as time goes on.