Originally Posted by
Pyromelter
4/10.
I believe I am uniquely qualified to give a ranking, since I have been playing this game for quite a long time, have dabbled in all aspects of the game, and have all 11 classes to level 90.
This expansion for the most part was garbage. Here's a breakdown
Talents/classes - 2/10 The talent system revamp screwed up way more than it fixed. I think most people don't quite realize what a cluster-F blizzard made with the talent system. There was only 1 class that was left mostly alone, and that was rogue, and rogue is the one class where you don't see a crapstorm of whining on the class forums based on class mechanics.
Leveling 1.45/10 - The leveling was okay-ish, the first time through. I'd give leveling alone maybe a 6/10. Some cute moments, nice rewards, nice XP gains doing quests in dungeons, things like that. Where it gets knocked down is the no flying thing. Completely, absolutely, and totally unacceptable, such that leveling 10 more times through is a 1/10, so if we average [(1 x 10) + 6]/110 = 16/110 = .145 x 10/10 = 1.45/10. So 1.45/10 for leveling. Yeah, it was that awful. Compared to cata, where you could breeze by and really choose where you go, and had more dungeon options, or wrath, where you had 3 of the absolute best quest chains the game has ever seen (wrathgate, mathias lerner, bridenbrad, not to mention thorim and sholazar's lore).
Story - 2/10. Garrosh is the worst character in the history of the game. Very little in the pandaria story made you give a crap about any of it. The opening scene on both sides of horde and alliance were fantastic, so I give some credit there, but everything out of the starting area was just one log slog through the mud.
pvp - 4/10. Decent. Button bloat and class systems really screwed up pvp in mop though, on top of the fact that gear differentials also really screwed up mop
art/graphics/style - 8/10. Let's face it, pandaria is kind of pretty, as were many of the dungeons and whatnot. Some of the tier sets left much to be desired though.
world pve (max level) - -9 billion/10. Blizzard said "Me mortar, you players are herbs, i grind you to dust." If blizz wants to know why they lost 2+ million subs, there you go blizz. Keep on not giving flying, keep on giving people poor incentives to do crappy rep grinds and mob grinds for low-drop rate items. You listened to your "hardcore everquest base" type players, and that's where it got you. Guaranteed another 20% loss in WoD with a continuation of this policy.
dungeons/scenarios - 8/10. The biggest problem was not enough dungeons. Challenge modes were a great addition to the game, as was proving grounds and brawler's guild. 5mans were just fine in their current state, people who whine how they are "lolezmode" frankly are completely out of their mind, because 5mans never have rewarded the best gear, but have always been a nice, fun way to play team wow, kill some bosses, and collect some loot/crafting mats in a stress-free way. Anyone whining about how they are easy has zero ground to stand on due to challenge modes, which are definitely not easy. Again, lack of increased 5mans in WoD is concerning.
Raids- 7/10. T14 was average. Not terrible, not great, however T14 was significantly hampered by blizzard's asinine decision to make leveling a crazy grind and no flying, meaning alts and alt pug raiding was almost unheard of in T14. T15, on the other hand, was awesome. T16 was very good, but certain imbalances and frankly boring encounters made it just kind of "meh," when compared to raids like ICC and Black Temple. For an end of raid expansion, it was a bit of a letdown (although of course way better than dragon soul). Flex was also a win.
The reason I think people are ranking MoP higher than I am is the recency effect of raids and dungeons becoming much more casual friendly. MoP was definitely a success from the "instanced PvE" standpoint. It was decently successful in pvp, and looked pretty nice. It was a complete and utter failure in every other way I can think of. The class changes and talent system were absolutely horrendous (except for warlocks ofc, and the lack of changes to rogues made them way better than everyone except locks), the insane grind drive so many people out of the game, and leveling for the many of us who are altoholics was absolutely atrocious.