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!