Pandas and a strict asian theme is a let down for me personally, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't give the game a chance. I dislike a few things, surprisingly the new talent system isn't one of them!!
I am not a big fan of chinese fantasy styled RPG's and pandaria looks like one, it feels a little out of place. Luckily, I know that for patch 5.1 and onwards the story will get better and drift more and more away from the original style. (No sources but I think this is expansion will focus less and less on pandas and more and more on evil Garrosh and the burning legion, and I can't wait for that) Alot of the quests are fun and all I can say is so far so good. Not the disappointment I expected it to be. Staying subbed for now and I did not during Cataclysm.....
It doesnt matter what WoW does, it has been the ICON for over several years it already won
really cant wait to see how the sales of MoP have done a month after release. The subs really are not important as they dont tell you whats really going on in the EU/US market. The sales of MoP is gonna tell you around how many players are paying 15 a month.
Its got good graphics - engine needs an overhaul tho but they still look good.
Music is great, IMO.
For once, Blizzard got excellent voice actors. They work well. No more of those Gilnean accents.
The story holds well. Blizzard developed some lore which is developed in game.
The Mogu and Mantid make a nice diversion from the Old Gods. The Hozen and Virmin are fun...annoying but fun. The Jinyu look good. The Pandaren are depicted very well. Whoever wrote these should be set loose on the Dwarves. The one failure with the Pandaren - IMO - is that their affiliation with the Horde doesn't appear to be that strong. A lot of Pandaren stories, and lore, and beliefs etc all seem to show a strong alignment with the Alliance. They need something to show the side of their character that draws them to the Horde.
Gameplay - is the same as before. There are some new additions - the visible tells showing danger zones for example. I can easily see Blizzard improving upon that with an active dodge system as well but that would be in the future.
Content - finally getting back to the more content of Vanilla and TBC. And its varied content, with less grinding. Farmville and Pokemon are great additons, though the farm is very simple right now. I think Sims would be a good bet for next Xpac
Questing - nice, varied, not as linear as Catac but perhaps a little too much emphaiss on dailies and high health NPCS to grind down (means they last long enough to move from fun to annoying)
Theme...currently, the theme is very asian/chinese. This does make it a very nice change of pace. But if you don't like it, thats perhaps the one aspcet you cana't work around.
Overall...I'm satisfied.
EJL