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The week leading up to the launch of Blizzard’s fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria (MoP), players can participate in the first of the new scenarios. Scenario’s are a new mechanic introduced with this expansion that provide additional end game activities for players. The first scenario is called Theramore’s Fall and it went live this week. This scenario is also allegedly the pre-MoP “world event” that not only explains how Pandaria is found but the catalyst that reignites the feud between the Horde and Alliance. The night the scenario went active I grabbed my wife and my friend and we jumped in queue. This is what I think of the event from the perspective of a world event and from the perspective of the new scenario mechanic.

The Theramore “World Event”

In a word, I found the fall of Theramore world event “disappointing”. When you compare it to the zombie apocalypse (that introduced WotLK) and the earthquakes (that introduced Cataclysm), this one was extremely unimpressive. Even as I am typing this I am still hoping that there will be more to the pre-Mists world event then 15 minutes of countering assaults and the total destruction of Theramore.

I get that Blizzard wanted to show off their new scenario mechanic (which I will get to in a little bit) but I feel like they really dropped the ball. I feel like they could have done something to remind us every time we log in, until the expansion, that something terrible has happened. The scenario could still have been integrated into the event but I don’t think it should have been the only component of the event. I think they should have done more with Jaina since there was such a build up to the change in her persona.

Completing the world event the player is rewarded with a tabard or a mana bomb, some fireworks and a chance at ilevel 384 gear. It hardly feels like a world event at all.

The “Theramore’s Fall” Scenario

One of the new game mechanics Blizzard is introducing with Mists of Pandaria are called “Scenarios”. Basically its a group of 3 that has certain objectives to complete. My understanding is that every scenario will be designed in a way so any three people can participate regardless of class spec. You will not need “the holy trinity”, as I’ve heard it called, to complete the scenario. Its basically an instanced quest chain and it should only take 15-20 minutes to complete. You can only do the scenario by using the looking-for-group tool.

Aside from what I thought about the Theramore scenario as a world event, the scenario itself was a lot of fun. I really like the concept that I can just hop on and grab my wife and a friend and go knock something over and not have to spend all night doing it. I like that none of us have to play musical characters/specs so we have to make sure we have a tank/healer to be successful. It’s also nice, especially for alts, that you may be rewarded with a high level piece of gear. I don’t know what the plans are for rewards for the level 90 scenarios but I am interested to find out.

So far, my early impression is pretty positive for scenarios. I think its a pretty cool idea to add to improve the end-game experience. Honestly, I hope it is received well and perhaps other games will adopt the idea and perhaps even try to add their own tweak to it.