I’m going to try to talk about what I think of the Mists of Pandaria expansion without revealing too much about what is happening lore-wise. I know its only been a couple of days since the expansion has gone live, but I feel like I already have enough to talk about to warrant this post.
The premise is the war between the Horde and Alliance has heated up to volcanic proportions as a result of the senseless demolition of Theramore. The fighting between the two factions has brought them to the shores of Pandaria, a peaceful and lost island of the Pandarians. The presence of this island has only now been revealed thanks to Deathwing’s attempted re-ascension. Now both sides are battling for control of this island and the Pandarian’s are stuck in the middle, forced to choose a side.
I know the European launch seemed to have gotten off to a rocky start but I think the seamless launch in the US went off flawlessly. I would even go so far as to say that this is probably the smoothest launch Blizzard has had with a WoW expansion.
I haven’t played the Horde side yet, but so far the Alliance side is pretty fun. The battle pretty much starts right away as you are sent to the island in search of something very precious that has been lost. Although, about half way through questing in the Jade Forest you are ready to smack the little punk. I have only just begun my adventure and I have only reached level 86 so far (because of that whole “real life” thing that gets in the way).
I have also tried out the pet battles, which is pretty much WoW-style Pokemon, but its still pretty entertaining. If you are an avid pet collector, like my wife is, then you will find this component to be very fun and will only exacerbate your addiction. The nice thing is, since pets are not account wide, it doesn’t matter what toon you are on, or what server you are on, any pet you capture as a result of your pet battle, all of your toons will have it.
I am anxious to reach the max level and try out the scenarios, new dungeons and new raids. Perhaps I will have a follow up post after I have progressed a bit more into the new content. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments from your MoP experiences thus far.
/Cheers!
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 latest content patch has been out nearly two weeks and by now everyone should have picked their new talents and glyphs for pretty much all of their toons. This patch brought a lot of changes to the game including the revamped talent system, which I’m still on the fence about. I felt a little bummed when my warlock hit 83 the other day and I was all excited about setting a talent point but then remembered I don’t get to do that until 85. I have not had an opportunity yet to try out any of the new rotations to get a sense of whether the specs I chose for my classes match my play style. I imagine that I may have to spend some cash changing my talents around until I find something that best suits me.