How is WoW doing since MoP?

[Tedsterz]

Game is filled with PVP ganking on CRZ.

In terms of other aspects. Worst expansion so far in terms of endgame content. Very few 5 man dungeons. Scenarios are just bad and unintresting. LFR killed the feeling that raids actually were worth doing. Instead you just wait 1 hour in LFR Qs to get your guarantied random rolls per week. And random really means random.

Normal and heroic raids are close to dead wit LFR. And since Normals have been made harder and more complicated many guilds are dead cause ppl are forced into LFR instead.

The real issue with this Xpansion is ofc the core balance of roles that has been totally and utterly destroyed with high DPS driven content (dailies, Brawlers guild, scenarios for faster Qs). At the same time both tanks and specially healing roles are directly punished and are having to suffer extra with added system like itemlvl upgrade system that increases the gap between main spec and offspec gear.

So basicly - Blizzard screwed up big time. So much that healers and tanks are now just a minority group in the game and many are forced out and going for other games. Many have gone RIFT and are having a blast. It supports multiroles so much better than MOP and does not punish players for wanting to play something other than dps.

I say so far that MOP is the worst expansion yet - based on simple facts of core balance that BLizzard got horribly wrong when it came to 3 roles needed to play this game in the best way possible.

People are forced into LFR? this made my day.

[Ryme]

What we know for sure:

It brought in a lot more players, be they old or new.
Critically, it's being praised.
Players seem to be enjoying the PvE side of things bar some slight annoyances.
Decline in activity is being reported on every single major 3rd party tool, this is normal, however, it's all being reported as much faster and steeper than previous post expansion states.
Blizzard's stock price has fluctuated a hell of a lot during the few months mists has been released, including an all year low in mid November with current prices closing in on this figure again. ****Remember Blizzard's stock is Activision Blizzard stock, all their products influence what goes on here****

Speculate on those facts as you will, but they are all true.

[Ohleemar]

I'm seeing more and more people playing in Mists than I did in Cata and Wrath.
In places world pvp is still good, but thankfully in the actual daily quest areas (at least on my server) it's low. Once you get outside the actual quest area, however, it's fair game.
Thanks to CRZ, it's very easy to find people to do lowbie things with. That makes lowbies much nicer.
With the changes to cities, the world is definitely alive. You need to leave cities to do the things you want to do.

---------- Post added 2012-12-31 at 08:02 AM ----------

Game is filled with PVP ganking on CRZ.

In terms of other aspects. Worst expansion so far in terms of endgame content. Very few 5 man dungeons. Scenarios are just bad and unintresting. LFR killed the feeling that raids actually were worth doing. Instead you just wait 1 hour in LFR Qs to get your guarantied random rolls per week. And random really means random.

Normal and heroic raids are close to dead wit LFR. And since Normals have been made harder and more complicated many guilds are dead cause ppl are forced into LFR instead.

The real issue with this Xpansion is ofc the core balance of roles that has been totally and utterly destroyed with high DPS driven content (dailies, Brawlers guild, scenarios for faster Qs). At the same time both tanks and specially healing roles are directly punished and are having to suffer extra with added system like itemlvl upgrade system that increases the gap between main spec and offspec gear.

So basicly - Blizzard screwed up big time. So much that healers and tanks are now just a minority group in the game and many are forced out and going for other games. Many have gone RIFT and are having a blast. It supports multiroles so much better than MOP and does not punish players for wanting to play something other than dps.

I say so far that MOP is the worst expansion yet - based on simple facts of core balance that BLizzard got horribly wrong when it came to 3 roles needed to play this game in the best way possible.

No, just no. I play on a pvp realm with characters leveled 1-90 and I have YET to be ganked on CRZ. There are PLENTY of 5 man dungeons, but the point of WoW isn't to just dungeon. That's why they added so much stuff. And how the hell are tanks and healers being punished? I do scenarios on heal specs all the time and get thanked by the people I run with over and over. And if you think tanks and healers are terrible in Brawlers guild, you've never dueled as one. Mists has higher subs than any xpac yet and is by far the most fun. Just because it didn't cater to your minimalistic views of how the game should be doesn't mean Blizzard screwed up. You just need to get over yourself.

[RicardoZ]

It's pretty fun, my only problems stem from PvP balance, CRZ, and the playerbase.

CRZ only because it makes leveling my alts a pain in the ass. Waiting 5 minutes for respawns that are often nicked from me as soon as I try to pull.

I don't care about PvP balance because I don't ever play PvP and I'm not on a PvP server, so whatever.

The CRZ thing is one of the main barriers keeping me from resubbing at the moment. I could understand if it was only for PvP servers and people who wanted that world PvP back could get it, fine. But I honestly don't see how it's going to be beneficial to me as an altaholic and somebody who likes to level professions. When I first heard about it, I had a vision of it being like LFD with all the trolling and nasty people, except EVERYWHERE you go, with NO escape and no way to "opt-out". I imagine they didn't put in an "opt-out" function because they knew everybody would use it and their idea would have been entirely in vain. I haven't heard anything that tells me otherwise from people who have kept playing.

On top of that, I'm hearing that MoP is a gated daily grind, which really turns me off. If I'm willing to put in the work and the time to raise my rep by farming mobs or doing turn in quests or something, then dammit, I want to be able to do it instead of getting cut off and hitting a glass ceiling every day/week. Not a fan of that idea AT ALL. I don't want to hit max level and then have to spend a ton of time wading through dailies and suffering through a boring rep grind and not even be able to have my favorite pasttime of alt-levelling to fall back on because CRZ's have ruined low level content.

Maybe it's just because I haven't played Mists for myself yet, but I fail to see how these factors add up to the "best expansion ever" as I've heard touted by some players. Maybe for them it's great, because most of them are these "I've been around since Vanilla!" folks, but I'm not one of them...so chances are it's probably just not my cup of chai.

On the upside though, I would really like to get into Scarlet Monastery and the new Scholomance, which have always been among my favorite parts of the game's lore and storylines. The Brawler's Guild looks FREAKING AWESOME (fat chance I'll get an invite though, which will just end up pissing me off in the end), and the new talent system looks like a positive change. But aside from that, from my perspective, I don't see anything that really makes me want to buy Mists and resub.

[Osmeric]

What we know for sure:

It brought in a lot more players, be they old or new.
Critically, it's being praised.

MoP brought in fewer players than Cataclysm. Granted, this can be explained as residue of the reaction to the previous expansion(s).

Critical praise is meaningless. Cataclysm got critical praise -- go back and look at some of the early reviews.

[RicardoZ]

Critical praise is meaningless. Cataclysm got critical praise -- go back and look at some of the early reviews.

That's because the way it was marketed to critics was "Hey, check out all this new stuff we did with the 1-60 zones." Which is what the expansion was all about. It wasn't an "end-game" expansion until the last patch.

I remember reading all the hate about Cata coming from players who got to 85 within 24 hours of release and immediately started complaining about how there was nothing to do, meanwhile there's 2 revamped and redesigned continents full of over 3'000 quests worth of brand new content that is more dynamic and engaging than ever before sitting there going unused because people didn't bother to read the label before they took the pill.

[Kilpi]

Game is filled with PVP ganking on CRZ.

In terms of other aspects. Worst expansion so far in terms of endgame content. Very few 5 man dungeons. Scenarios are just bad and unintresting. LFR killed the feeling that raids actually were worth doing. Instead you just wait 1 hour in LFR Qs to get your guarantied random rolls per week. And random really means random.

Normal and heroic raids are close to dead wit LFR. And since Normals have been made harder and more complicated many guilds are dead cause ppl are forced into LFR instead.

The real issue with this Xpansion is ofc the core balance of roles that has been totally and utterly destroyed with high DPS driven content (dailies, Brawlers guild, scenarios for faster Qs). At the same time both tanks and specially healing roles are directly punished and are having to suffer extra with added system like itemlvl upgrade system that increases the gap between main spec and offspec gear.

So basicly - Blizzard screwed up big time. So much that healers and tanks are now just a minority group in the game and many are forced out and going for other games. Many have gone RIFT and are having a blast. It supports multiroles so much better than MOP and does not punish players for wanting to play something other than dps.

I say so far that MOP is the worst expansion yet - based on simple facts of core balance that BLizzard got horribly wrong when it came to 3 roles needed to play this game in the best way possible.

I must be doing something wrong then. I play mainly a holy paladin, but then at some point I figured out I can use Retri to do dailies and other things that needed killing (though I did figure this out already in WotLK since IT'S BEEN THE SAME SINCE). It could be though, that I'm just a genious.

[Granyala]

Pandaria is a gorgeous continent with interesting storylines.
Raid content is cool and has new unique mechanics.

I think WoW is in a pretty good shape right now.

Ofc. people always bitch and moan.

[RaZDaZ]

The game is going in the direction that I don't want it to in most areas particularly PvP although 5.2 looks to change some things I hate.

PvE is something I haven't bothered with much since Firelands mainly due to no interest in raiding anymore but I've heard people say it's some of the best raiding content since TBC so that's probably worth checking out if you like raiding. Heroics are far too simple and far too lenient to offer any kind of enjoyment or difficulty.

Pet battles, I've never liked turn based RPG and never will so it's a no no for me.

Scenarios boring as fuck to be honest with no challenge, like a weaker heroic.

Challenge modes I don't care for in the slightest.

Dailies and the new reputation system is what killed it for me. I don't mind doing heroics all that much for rep and gear but being forced to do dailies to be competitive with raiders and to get the best gear minus raiding is the quickest burnout in a game I've ever experienced, I lasted 2 weeks I think and had to quit the game for awhile.

Pandaria is beautiful though. Questing is alright but the zones themselves are gorgeous.

Basically, if you like raiding then this expansion is pretty good but if you like PvP that isn't revolved around instant CC and crazy burst damage everywhere then you will be disappointed. Some people love this expansion and some hate it.

[Eadoin]

I log in and end up somehow wasting like 4-5 hours a day doing archaeology and pet battles... I'd say mission success on MoP getting me to play more.

[naturetauren]

coming from cata to mop the game has been a huge step up.

Yes but for me its like they added some salt on my chips.

[PrairieChicken]

Fanboys and Haters engaged in endless war as usual

[nemro82]

Yet half the guilds that raided Dragon Soul have disappeared...

From 62k guilds down to 35k guilds that have killed at least one boss.

My server went from 117 guilds to 51 guilds raiding. Blizzard classifies this as a HIGH pop realm.

That only shows how stupid easy DS was, and not there are 50% less people playing.

[Ryme]

Critical praise is meaningless. Cataclysm got critical praise -- go back and look at some of the early reviews.

Get ready for this, it's a pretty crazy view, but it's the one I hold.

Cataclysm was a good expansion. Hell, it was a great expansion at Launch - revamped old world, flying in old world, T11 was a good to great tier.