Which expansion was better - Cataclysm or Mists of Pandaria?

[Felixon]

I recently leveled my alt and at level 80 I had to choose where to level - Cataclysm zones or Pandaria zones. One of the leveling video guides on youtube said,that it's better to level in Pandaria and skip Cataclysm altogether. Yet,when I thought of it,I decided that I will better level in Cataclysm zones. I started with Hyjal,got to the middle of it and went to Twilight Highlands and now i'm almost level 90. At that point,I realized,that I had much more fun in the Cataclysm zones - I find the whole theme of Twilight Hammer and end of the world at every corner way more interesting than the story of Pandaria.

The whole Cataclysm story had a direct impact on the fate of Azeroth all through the expansion,while Pandaria dealt mostly with the threats inside of Pandaria and only in the end of it we find out that if we wouldn't stop Garrosh,the Old Gods would take over. I have to admit - I don't like the Vash'jir and the naga theme,and I haven't raided much during the Cataclysm - probably,the main reason why people disliked the Cataclysm were it's raids. But were the raids of Pandaria much better?

Many people weren't happy about how long the Dragon Soul patch lasted - but so did the Siege of Orgrimmar. In the start of Cataclysm,heroic dungeons were quite challenging and quite difficult compared to the pull everything in Wrath of the Lich King dungeons. Mists of Pandaria dungeons were easier,but this expansion had 1 new feature - challenge mode.

If we look at all of the aspects of the game,which expansion was better and why?

[SL1200]

Cataclysm by a long shot. Remember, they actually tired to remove 5 man dungeons in mop. In my opinion, that one reason alone makes Mop the worst expansion.

[Lochton]

For me, Mists of Pandaria.

[Deleted]

Mists, no contest - cata was easily the worst xpac till warlords (with bfa currently vying for the spot) came along.

[Chonar]

My opinion on Cataclysm is an unpopular one, if I'm to believe the forums..

... I liked Uldum. A lot. being part of an Indiana Jones movie and taking out goblin hitler was too much fun.
For everything else though, Pandaria beats Cataclysm by 9001%.

Mmm.. though Cataclysm did give us the new music for Tanaris and Twilight Highlands, some of my favorite ambient musics in game....

[Donald Hellscream]

For me Mists of Pandaria was better, aside from the massive daily quest overload at the start I generally found MoP better in almost every way, the raids, with the exception of maybe heart of fear, were generally superior to the Cataclysm raids imo.

[Khaza-R]

Mists by a metric ton. I can't think of a single thing that Cataclysm did better.

MoP was a very cohesive expansion. The story-telling and world building were extremely well done. Class design was good. Timeless Isle was great.

[Felixon]

For me Mists of Pandaria was better, aside from the massive daily quest overload at the start I generally found MoP better in almost every way, the raids, with the exception of maybe heart of fear, were generally superior to the Cataclysm raids imo.

Could you explain why they were better? Asking,because I started to raid again in the end of the Mists of Pandaria and didn't get a chance to see the decent raiding during the Cataclysm,because my guild disbanded. Were those the boss mechanics or something else?

[Rhade1337]

Mists by a metric ton.

I can't think of a single thing that Cataclysm did better.

Just the start of cata was good, the dungeons were hard af and they got nerfed....... :|

P.S. MoP is in top 3 best expansions for me.

[Jamie081]

I really like the Cata zones and I can't stand Dread Wastes or Townlong Steppes, but I LOVE the other zones, especially Krasarang Wilds because the Erhu instrument in it sounds amazing. In terms of content MoP wins. It actually had well-structured end-game and they dealt with the overwhelming daily issues quickly.

[Felixon]

Mists by a metric ton. I can't think of a single thing that Cataclysm did better.

MoP was a very cohesive expansion. The story-telling and world building were extremely well done. Class design was good. Timeless Isle was great.

What do you think about the Cataclysm theme,old world remake,the leveling zones of Cataclysm in general?

[FuxieDK]

Cata... How can there be any doubt?

Cata's only problem was people complained too much about Dragon Soul..
MoP was below average..

Cata gave us, the best zone in the game: Vashj'ir!!

[Donald Hellscream]

Could you explain why they were better? Asking,because I started to raid again in the end of the Mists of Pandaria and didn't get a chance to see the decent raiding during the Cataclysm,because my guild disbanded. Were those the boss mechanics or something else?

I just enjoyed most of the raid content more in MoP, just the general feel of the raids and the boss fights were better, again in my opinion.

However most of the fights in the Cataclysm raids were really good, mostly what soured it for me was the last two fights in the Dragon Soul raid.
I suppose it does sound silly that two raid bosses soured it but it just felt like such a let down for a fight that should have been a epic encounter.

I mean you are squaring off against a dragon aspect, I understand that you can't have a traditional fight against a dragon the size of a building but how the fights were executed was still a massive letdown.

[mihai25]

In terms of today wow Bfa situation, both expansions are good.

[LMuhlen]

Could you explain why they were better? Asking,because I started to raid again in the end of the Mists of Pandaria and didn't get a chance to see the decent raiding during the Cataclysm,because my guild disbanded. Were those the boss mechanics or something else?

IMO, both expansions had a great first tier, from a raiding perspective. Cata was even a little better. It was a bit chaotic because they gave us 3 raids at the same time, and guilds could choose where to focus their progression on, but I liked it. However for second tier we have Firelands (which is all fire), with 7 bosses, versus Throne of Thunder (more diverse ambiance) with 12 bosses and a 13th heroic only bonus boss, and a final tier of DS (huge disappointment appearance-wise) with 8 bosses versus SoO with 13 bosses, iirc.

Of course the number of bosses isn't all there is to it, but the quality of the encounters was also much better in MoP. DS had the last 2 fights, which are supposed to be the pinnacle of the expansion, facing us versus a bunch of fire tentacles and goos.

[Vampyrr]

For me MoP was the worst expansion of all time. I had a better time with Warlords by a large margin than I did with MoP. I liked the story and feel of Cata

[Felixon]

I just enjoyed most of the raid content more in MoP, just the general feel of the raids and the boss fights were better, again in my opinion.

However most of the fights in the Cataclysm raids were really good, mostly what soured it for me was the last two fights in the Dragon Soul raid.
I suppose it does sound silly that two raid bosses soured it but it just felt like such a let down for a fight that should have been a epic encounter.

I mean you are squaring off against a dragon aspect, I understand that you can't have a traditional fight against a dragon the size of a building but how the fights were executed was still a massive letdown.

Well,many people hate it,but I think,that the mechanic was quite new and unique - heck,it took coordination and focus not be thrown off the back,adds had to die when the tank has positioned them, the other adds had to be taken down fast - I can't say,that the boss fight was crappy. The second part - it wasn't as much as interesting,as it was challenging,again you had to deal with bunch of things at the same time.

[D3athsting]

Cata because it was with mop that blizzard made the biggest step in dumbing down the game, talents removed, hit removed (instead of reworking it so that it could give benefits when overcapped), dungeon journal and tooltips in the spell book that basically teached you how to play a class (e.g. "use this skill when you're at low rage" etc...)

[Donald Hellscream]

Well,many people hate it,but I think,that the mechanic was quite new and unique - heck,it took coordination and focus not be thrown off the back,adds had to die when the tank has positioned them, the other adds had to be taken down fast - I can't say,that the boss fight was crappy. The second part - it wasn't as much as interesting,as it was challenging,again you had to deal with bunch of things at the same time.

I like the concept of Spine of Deathwing but I just don't think that the fight itself was enjoyable and madness of Deathwing while not necessarily an easy encounter again wasn't all that interesting for me, certainly not as an end of expansion encounter.

[A Chozo]

Mists easily, but Cata's only bad part were Zul'again and Dragon Soul with it's reused assets. It wasn't a bad expansion.