Mists of Pandaria Exceed Your Expectations?

[ablib]

Well that's not true. Did you forget about Isle of Thunder?

I did forget, actually. Thanks.

That's probably due to how I felt about the Isle of Thunder.

[saidolol]

i think its only few things that made this expansion bearable and thats: RBGs and Challenge Modes.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Came in to it with low expectations and can't say it was a good expansion. At this point, it's a toss up between Cataclysm and Mists as far as worst expansion is concerned but both for different reasons such as raids, talents, locations, and content downtime. MoP gets bonus points for bringing back large raids though.

BC > WotLK >> Cata >= MoP is how I would rank the expansions.

Given how WoD is shaping up, I feel much better about it than MoP so, by default, I would say it'll be the third best expansion on my list but that remains to be seen until it's out.

[Nahela]

MoP was my favorite expansion thus far, playing since day 1 classic.

[magicric]

Failed hard imo. Had never unsubbed until MoP. Shame really cause I really loved the game.

[Granyala]

I want to know honestly, do you believe that Mist of panda exceeded your expectations for an expansion?

I expected "omg lul-panda kung-fu" and was pleasantly surprised by dark themes such as Sha and old Yr'shaarj.
Pandaria was up there with the usual Blizzard quality and delivered a nice respite from the usual Doomsday Legion theme.
Also, I really enjoyed the Pandaren wisdom and the Burdens of Shaohao.

That being said: I'm ready to kick demon butt again.

I agree on the replayability though. Did almost nothing with my alts once they dinged 90. Doing the same raid dungeon with X characters is not fun for me. Most especially in the form of LFR.
I prefer the old model where you could equip alts via non trivial 5mans.

[okteej]

An unnecessary lore detour with exceptional gameplay elements to makeup for most of that problem.

I expected a 6/10 expansion but I'll go ahead and rate it a 7/10 for keeping me on my toes at times.

[Klingers]

Well, tastes differ. I for one do not have much positive things to say about the new setting, new places, new races and new class. The fact that they're new does not make them fun/fantastic/great/interesting by definition.

It deviated heavily from whatever else had happened in the rest of the series.

Now this might be weird, but I like Warcraft because it's Warcraft.

Or, it used to be, and hopefully will be again with WoD.

I can appreciate your position. I've been a Warcraft fan since 1995. I've been a lore buff since I started reading the Warcraft II manual cover to cover in 1996. I started playing WoW about 3 months after release not because it was an MMO, but because it was a Warcraft game.

Heck, I've tried and failed for 10 years to get into other MMOs without getting bored fast. Never happened. Now all my friends except for one have moved on from WoW, the only thing that keeps me coming back is the lore.

I'll give you that it was different, but I don't think it "wasn't warcraft"... Especially with the subject matter of the 5.1, 5.3 and 5.4 patches.

[Irian]

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lore-wise it was honestly better than both Cataclysm and what exists of WoD so far, so I don't know why people nitpick about that. At least it made some sense, as opposed to "giant flaming dragon shoots up from the ground, and then....does....nothing but sets sub-60 zones on fire for the entire expansion while we go fight his buddies" and then we're now getting "we're not saying it's time travel...but yeah it's time travel" expansion, where they practically tell us flat-out not to think about the lore.

MoP was whimsical, but Pandaria was (for better or worse) a real part of WoW lore and if you actually stop and think the expansion through, everything comes together pretty nicely. It was a well-told story and honestly, I feel like it was most of all supposed to be a breather between the "giant, evil force threatening all life" crap that sums up literally every other expansion to date.

[diddle]

New Race: Pandaren
New Continent: Pandaria

Worst expansion.

[LilSaihah]

I want to say no.

They had some big plans for the narrative structure and the narrative itself. I don't think it quite lived up to my expectations.
I also hoped that the talent system would be a bit better than it was but maybe that was an unfair expectation. WoD is a huge improvement on this front.

[Sansnom]

This is laughable at best.

MoP had some of the worst lore to date. The lore and story of the expansion was so thin that the player didn't even feel emotionally invested to care at all.

Oh Throne of Thunder? Who is this guy again that poses so huge a threat? Why does he matter that I kill him?

They really grasped at straws to try to get players invested in the raid encounters, and actually have a desire to kill them other than "fat lewts."

And what would have been the alternative? Re-use old lore and characters? I don't follow lores correctly but I do not remembering anything major with some of the bosses in Ulduar. Thorim? Yes there was a back story during questing, no more than about Lei Shen. Algalon? I do not recall anything mentioned him in any major ways.

And Deathwing? Some liked him, the lore behind the whole cataclysm. Personally, I felt he was really boring.

Blizzard is trying to introduce new characters into their ever ongoing story. I personally like them doing than rather than Batman vs Joker style, fighting the same antagonist all the time. One major complain I see with MoP is Panda Panda.

If people cannot look the past the "Kung-Fu Panda" that is their choice. I find it weird that people accept a druid bear, a talking cow and talking goats but have a problem with the Panda, because of what? Kung-Fu Panda? Well, I like to ask is they see a druid bear, do they see a teddy bear?

[Deleted]

I will not talk about gameplay or stuffs because the most important element in an universe to catch me is the style/lore/ambiant/narration aspect.

And my God, Mists of Pandaria ones are great!
I really enjoy levelling in Pandaria, travelling with Chen and Li Li Stormstout in the Valley of The Four Winds, Pandarens have a very nice story, the fact we have not a Big Villain to defeat allows me to discover more about this new world, lessons about how to find harmony like "What is worth fighting for?", the "soft & happy" ambiant becoming "oppressive and sad" (Dezco wife or Suna Silentstrike).

Even It's not flawless, like I would to know more about what are really August Celestials, Tushui and Huojin philoshopy opposition, how Garrosh become so quickly a tyrant,etc.., I frankly think MoP has one of the best lore/narration in WoW.

Damn way better than Burning Crusade, who has really hurt Warcraft Lore. Between S.F technologies and the horrible characters mess like Keal'Thas or Illidan who the only thing we remember of him is "YOU'RE NOT PREPARED!".
WoLTK has too a nice lore with, of course, Ulduar but with the constant Arthas apparitions and his "Hahaha! I'm the Big Bad Evil of this expansion!" monologues, I found It's boring.

[jaymzkerten]

Still, it was an afterthought compared to the threats we have fought and faced before. They really built us up for the Lich King, Illidan, Kael'thas, Vashj, Kil'jaeden, Yog'Saron, Deathwing, Ragnoros

This thunder king guy.... thunderking who? Is pretty much how I felt (and many many other people) when we had to go face him.. Not to mention ToT was a guided rail train bland and boring.

Lich King - themed boss of the expansion. Illidan - themed boss of the expansion. Vashj/Kael'thas - lieutenants of Illidan. Deathwing - themed boss of the expansion.

Hak'kar, Nefarian, Ossirian, C'thun, Kel'thuzad (level 60 version), Magtheridon, Gruul, Prince Malchezaar, Anub'arak, Al'akir, Cho'gall. All the other bosses that were at the end of a particular raid yet did not have much lore outside of the raid. Did you care about them?

Yogg'saron and Ragnaros had just as much lore behind them as Lei'shen. Outside of some questing in Icecrown and Hyjal respectively you did not hear much about either of these bosses.

Unless of course you are referring to vanilla Ragnaros, in which case there is even LESS lore on him than any of these bosses.

[Nanaboostme]

MOP was going great, the leveling, scenery, content was much better than Cataclysm.... until SoO came along everything just went downhill

[Gadfly]

Lich King - themed boss of the expansion. Illidan - themed boss of the expansion. Vashj/Kael'thas - lieutenants of Illidan. Deathwing - themed boss of the expansion.

Hak'kar, Nefarian, Ossirian, C'thun, Kel'thuzad (level 60 version), Magtheridon, Gruul, Prince Malchezaar, Anub'arak, Al'akir, Cho'gall. All the other bosses that were at the end of a particular raid yet did not have much lore outside of the raid. Did you care about them?

Yogg'saron and Ragnaros had just as much lore behind them as Lei'shen. Outside of some questing in Icecrown and Hyjal respectively you did not hear much about either of these bosses.

Unless of course you are referring to vanilla Ragnaros, in which case there is even LESS lore on him than any of these bosses.

You don't know what you are talking about, most of those people you mentioned had MAJOR lore about them before they were raid bosses.
Half of them were in books and War2/3 before wow even came out, and the old gods and their lieutenants were around before wow as well. (Rag, C'thun, Al'akir)

The ones that didn't: Ossirian, Hak'kar, Gruul, Prince Malchezaar..
And none of them were significant bosses during their tier..

[jaymzkerten]

You don't know what you are talking about, most of those people you mentioned had MAJOR lore about them before they were raid bosses.
Half of them were in books and War2/3 before wow even came out, and the old gods and their lieutenants were around before wow as well. (Rag, C'thun, Al'akir)

The ones that didn't: Ossirian, Hak'kar, Gruul, Prince Malchezaar..
And none of them were significant bosses during their tier..

I was strictly speaking in terms of WoW itself, yes in the whole of the Warcraft universe they have backstories. People have a tendency to say, "Why should I care to kill this guy?" about many raid bosses in WoW, even for ones that have a long history in the universe.

As ZG was the main theme of patch 1.7 I'd say Hakkar is significant there.

[tj119]

I hated it so much from day 1 I quit after the first month. Just recently returned to prepare for WoD, hopefully better appeal to me.

[Deleted]

New Race: Pandaren
New Continent: Pandaria

Worst expansion.

Yeah but you have the Draenei from Draenor so it's not the exception. I know their home planet is Argus but still. It isn't endemic to Pandaria.

[Common Sense]

I loved Pandaria, the Pandaren, and I firmly believe monks are the best thing added to WoW in a long time. The content was very well done and I love what Pet Battles have become. The best new type of content MoP brought is definitely the Brawler's Guild, and I hope to see it expanded in WoD.
All this said, MoP failed miserably in one sense. I don't what happened, I don't know why, or how it occurred but in 5.3 random battleground queues tripled (sometimes more) in length for horde. Gearing up any alt is now a mind numbingly boring task that makes the game completely unappealing to me at the moment.