World of Warcraftās Mists of Pandaria expansion is huge. One one end, it starts at level one, with a new starting area for the new Pandaren race. On the other end, it raises the level cap from 85 to 90 and adds an enormous amount of high-end and end-game zones.
Mists of Pandaria, then, is best looked at from two different perspectives. One: how is it for the new player? Since the game introduces a new character race and starting area, that implies it offers a good chance for players new to the game to jump in. And two: how is it for the experienced player? If someoneās been in a holding pattern at level 85 for years, what does Mists of Pandaria offer to that player, and how do its many changes improve or diminish the World of Warcraft experience?
To get both perspectives, we did something weāve never really done before, and tag-teamed the review. I created a brand-new World of Warcraft account and rolled my first ever level one Pandaren to experience the world. Mike Fahey logged back in to his long-dormant level 85 character and set out to explore the higher levels of Pandaria. Both of us have been logging our experiences with the game. Hereās what we think.
https://lastchance.cc/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-log-one-yep-i-su-5948568%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The Newbie: From Level One On Up
Imagine a party.
As you approach, thereās music and laughter pouring from every door and window, down the lawn and into the street. Clearly, the folks inside are having a good time.
WHY: It offers a continuation of the World of Warcraft experience, but at this point that experience just isnāt quite enough.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Developer: Blizzard
Platforms: PC
Release Date: September 25
Type of game: Asian-themed expansion to enormous, sprawling, well-established fantasy MMORPG
What we played: [Kate] Created a new level 1 pandaren and played primarily solo quests to the high 20s
[Mike] Earned a couple of new levels for my level 85 Alliance mage, collected pets, farmed turnips. Logged into my nephewās level 90 character to explore the rest of the new zones. Transferred gold from my nephewās account to mine without him knowing it. Thatāll show him.
Our Two Favorite Things
The massive size, scope, and scale of the world (complete with suitably epic music
The lands of Pandaria are beautifully crafted considering the limitations of the aging game engine.
Our Two Least-Favorite Things
Constant competition with other players for resources (mainly kills) and the hurry-up-and-wait (for respawns) roadblock it puts in questing
Thereās not enough to distract from the tired gameplay of the previous 85 levels.
Made-to-Order Back-of-Box Quotes
āIām a blue-haired panda killing homeless people for, apparently, the side of good. Wow, WoW.ā -Kate Cox, Kotaku.com
āItās been a beautiful seven years, but I think itās time we started seeing other people.ā -Mike Fahey, Kotaku.com
The house is huge. There must be twenty rooms, plus a sprawling backyard. Everywhere you turn, there are enormous crowds of people. You havenāt been able to find the bathroom yet, but you did manage to get to the kitchen and the bar well enough.
Drink in hand, youāre shouldering your way from room to room through the mob. You thought for sure there were going to be some people you know here, but then you find out you missed them by a couple of hoursānow, theyāre somewhere else, and not coming back.
As you listen to the conversations around you, you begin to realize everyone else here works for the same massive company. Theyāre all talking about stuff from work that you just plain donāt get. They all showed up fresh from the office in $1000 suits and designer shoes, and youāre wearing a year-old pair of jeans from Old Navy.
Itās not a bad party. The drinks are good, the hosts are hospitable, and thereās a crazy amount of food. Everyone else is having a blast. But having arrived so late, you just donāt fit into the established conversations. You drift on the edge, overhearing some inside jokes you donāt get.
It seemed like it should be fun, but this just isnāt your night. This party got started without you, and youāre not really adding anything to itāor getting anything out of it. After another circuit of the house, when your drink is gone, you put the cup down and quietly leave the revelers to it.
I cannot think of any better analogy for me and a month of World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad game. It does many things very well. Most of those things, though, feel oriented toward getting players quickly and efficiently to the maximum level, where those players can then enter the raid progression.
After eight years, itās not unexpected that WoW would be focused on its loyal players, the roughly ten million or so subscribers who occupy those upper levels. As a result, though, it doesnāt feel particularly welcoming to new playersāand that starts from the moment of purchase. Mists of Pandaria doesnāt include the base game or any other expansion content. A new player must first buy the Battle Chest, and then purchase a Pandaria key.
The early-level Pandaren content also doesnāt necessarily add very much to the new player experience. Although the Wandering Isle itself is lovely, it introduces WoWās many small annoyances early on. Every task needs repeating slightly too many timesāwhy 10 or 12 dead whatevers, when 6 would teach me a skill just as well? Why does the [x] I need to collect from monster type [y] only drop an average of one in three kills? And given that, why do I need a dozen of them?
Still, the plot arc that wanders through the Wandering Isle does a good job setting up the point and purpose of Pandaria in the larger scheme of things, and introduces both the Horde and Alliance as worthy partners a young Pandaren might join. But once the Horde and Alliance show up, thatās the end of it. Right around level 12, the player departs the Wandering Isle, never to return, and heads straight into āold worldā content.
Cataclsym is all right, but itās not Pandaria. To understand why a cataclysm is so important, and to know what effects it has on the before and after of Azeroth demand a context that a new player simply doesnāt have. And instead of running around exploring the diversion of an Asian-themed world, full of soaring temples and irritating monkeys, itās right back to the same-old same-old of humans, dwarves, and elves.
To a genuinely new player whoās been busy exploring other MMORPG offerings over the last few years, WoWās age really shows. The art has a clear style, but it feels very undefined around the edges, and lacks the crispness of a 2012 offering. Getting around feels clumsy and slow, and the Pandaren experience involves a lot of back-tracking for a player who wants to level up a profession like skinning or mining.
As well, the gameās well-known penchant for pop humor can be extraordinarily distracting at times. Sure, I get that Mikael Bay is going to make something go boom (which is in character for a gnome), butā¦ where do the thugs of the medievalesque human village Iām in get their sunglasses from?
The Veteran: Level 85 and Up
Seven years. For nearly seven years Iāve played in Blizzardās colorful cartoon fantasy world. It began as obsession, every waking moment of those first few months not dedicated to sleeping, eating or earning a paycheck was spent exploring every aspect of that strange new place.
As the months turned to years my relationship with World of Warcraft settled, as relationships often do, into a comfortable pattern. Iād dabble in high-end content, eventually wandering off to give other massively multiplayer games a chance to win me over. They never did.
Blizzard drew me back again and again with the release of game-changing expansion. The Burning Crusade tempted me with the promise of new alien landscapes to explore. Wrath of the Lich King introduced an intriguing new character class and a battle with one of the settingās most tragic villains. The daring Cataclysm violently reformatted the entire world of Azeroth, giving me a compelling reason to explore the planet all over again. I awaited the release of each new expansion with giddy anticipation.
It was no different with Mists of Pandaria. I logged myself out in the Alliance capitol of Stormwind so Iād be ready to plunge headlong into the newly discovered panda lands the moment the pack went live. I spent the first few hours in game cooing over new features and soaking in the Asian flavor of Pandaria, all the while familiarizing myself with the substantial changes to game mechanics that had been instituted since Iād last seriously played.
And then I got bored. So very bored.
Within minutes of a rather spectacular entrance into the newly-discovered expansion lands I was back in the old World of Warcraft questing pattern. I killed a certain number of things. I collected a specific number of objects. While these menial task-lines often culminate in some spectacular setpieces, those brilliant moments end too quickly, and itās back to the quest grind. I am a machine collecting experience points and equipment in order to make it easier to earn more experience points and equipment.
Certainly thatās the same formula World of Warcraft has always employed. The problem is Blizzard is running out of ways to distract me from it.
Within minutes of a rather spectacular entrance into the newly-discovered expansion lands I was back in the old World of Warcraft questing pattern.
A portion of the blame lies in the previous expansion, Cataclysm. The major restructuring of the world was such a profound and powerful change that adding a handful of new areas to exploreāno matter how well-crafted and packed with loreāpales in comparison.
The gradual dumbing-down of the gameās mechanics also play a strong role in the open-sore exposure of the tired gameplay. Back when there were expansive skill trees and equipment types to hem and haw over I could busy myself planning out my character or hunting down pieces of armor and weapons. Now I have nine sets of three talents each to choose from, and every quest line is designed to ensure my character is sufficiently outfitted for the coming challenges.
There are new distractions here. Iāve harped on the expansionās Pokemon-style pet battles, and Iāve enjoyed the cooking-supplement farming mini-game more than I probably should. However, with full-game versions of both experiences readily available, thereās no reason for me to spend $15 a month to fool around with them here.
Mind you Iām coming at this from the mindset of a strictly player-versus-enviroment World of Warcraft veteran. I am not a raider. I am not a PVP-er. I just enjoy getting together in a group with some friends or strangers and running through quest content. Or at least I did.
Itās funny that Kate mentions that Mists of Pandaria is focused on World of Warcraftās most loyal players. I count myself among them, yet Iām not feeling the love.
