A few months ago I posted a thread asking people to predict review scores for MoP:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-review-scores
The results were indisputable, most people predicted MoP would score 90-94%.
Now look at the score on metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/wo...ts-of-pandaria
It is around 83%. This is the worst score a WoW expansion has ever had, and way below the expectations of what people predicted.
I'm not trying to start a war of words here, I'm pointing out factual data we now have regarding the quality of the expansion.
EDIT1: We're not talking about the USER SUBMITTED REVIEWS on metacritic here (which can be ignored), we're talking about the actual CRITIC Reviews from respected people like IGN, eurogamer and gamespot.
EDIT2:
Some points people have raised and my response:
- "It's impossible to judge this expansion until it's near the end, so the reviews don't matter"
- My response: You still have to pay full price for the expansion now, regardless of whether it's patch 5.3 or not, so reviews are valid.
- "Metacritic/IGN/gamespot suck(s), therefore you are wrong."
- My response: The theme of this post is the critics judgement of MoP. Also, if these reviewers had given extremely positive reviews of MoP, then I think a lot of people in this thread would have been defending them rather than attacking them.
- "MoP got 83%, why do you say MoP sucks?"
- My response: I'm not saying MoP sucks, I'm saying critical reception of MoP is far worse than previous expansions.
- "MoP is based on a 8 year old engine, ofc it's gonna be worse!"
- My response: Cataclysm was for a 6 year old game and it got rave reviews, do you really think 2 years should make such a drastic impact?
- "All my friends think MoP is awesome, therefore it is awesome."
- My response: This is anecdotal evidence and as such invalid in the larger context.