5.10.2012

World of Warcraft as we all know is the #1 in the MMORPG genre, and is currently beating off competitors still to this day. I've played Star Wars The Old Republic, Guild War 2, Conan, Warhammer, Aion, Rift, Lord Of The Rings Online, and something always draws me back to WOW. I loved SWTOR for questing and the story line, was the perfect blend and was extremely enjoyable, Guild Wars 2 again is a different line of MMORPG and im enjoying it, but something is drawing me back to WOW.The game is extremely similar to previous expansions, there seems to be no major changes in terms for quest lines and variation, the half level I've done so far,is pretty much the same guff I've done for the 5x 85's I've levelled and the couple of hours I've played so far @85. Get quest from person X, Kill 10, collect these, shoot this, talk to him and her etc etc.. Nothing major, but again, im basing this off 4/5 hours of play in MOP. Not sure if quests get any different as you level up, but who knows.I know you will never get an MMORPG which doesn't have similar quest lines, but WOW seems to have done nothing extra (so far) to add variation, to add change, to be different, SWTOR and GW2 seems to have variation in both terms of questing and area quests. I liked these a lot for questing and haven't found these a choir or tedious to level, both enjoyable and fun. WOW is the opposite for me.I have also done a 5man dungeon already and just seemed the same thing as previous, Shoot, move, shoot adds... SWTOR was also similar in this respect and I don't think much can change but I didn't really raid much in SWTOR and I haven't levelled high enough in GW2 to warranty anything significant.I have created a Monk Panda, just to see what the fuss is about but only got to level 3 and got bored and wanted to level my main. (Hunter), have spoken to a few friends who play and none of them seem interested as yet to level a Monk or Panda/both. They are interested in raid content and getting to 90.I have done a few pet battles and is just a flight on Pokémon. I did enjoy Pokémon but not so sure it's for me in WOW.With all this above though, I'm compelled and eager to keep playing.. It's not the best thing Blizzard have created for WOW, and my favourite expansion was Burning Crusade, I loved Naxxamaras and the Karazhan raids.So there are a few pro's to be happy in the new expansion, about but expect the same cons as previous expansions and the fact it's pretty much 5 more levels to play around with and added extras in-between.The one thing I do have a massive gripe about is that you have to level all the way to 90 even if you already have a 90. To level 90 (89 levels :P ) on a new character us a bomb and would take a casual quester like me a good long time to get to 90, 80 was bad enough and 85 was even more than a pain. There should be if you have a 90, that you can start @ 60/70 or something. Was please that a DK started @ 55, made it a lot better to level for me anyways.I have: Hunter 85, Warrior 85, Paladin 85, Druid 85, DK 85 and will be levelling my Hunter first then see what happens and how long/how I feel.Overall I'm happy-ish so far, and having tried a lot of the MMORPG's that have emerged to de-rail WOW, I find SWTOR better for questing and character building, GW2 better for social interaction, pure graphics excitement and the multiplayer aspect of it, but WOW (I've been playing since it came out pretty much) has not a starch on the 2 mentioned, but is #1 for a reason and draws me back every time.**UPDATE - Having played it now for a good time (about 18-20 hours, have gone up 3 levels) and still believe that the quest lines are very similar to the last expansions and is just a different settings and scenes. There are a few quests which I enjoyed, which are quests where you are a NPC (eg Chen Stormstout) and become that NPC and fight and do the quest as them. Very enjoyable.I am still convinced that I hate this game and prefer GW2 - SWTOR but cannot stop playing it. I'm enjoying levelling my Hunter (just dinged 88) and my DK (85 and a half) - I healed with my druid in a random dungeon and found it fairly easy with 378 ilevel gear (some 398 ilevel). It all seems very familiar with old grounds, but this is pure questing, so I know it's not going to change dramatically and cannot wait to hit 90 content and am half enjoying questing.Also levelled a Panda Monk to 11 (basically quested until I got to Stormwind) and just find this to be a Druid, it has different spells but same mathematics and generics. They wear leather, they need Agility for DPS/Tank or Intellect for Healing. I was surprised at this as would have thought that it would be strength needed for monk class's (punching, chopping, jabbing etc) Maybe this was too much work for Blizzard to incorporate leather/strength items into the game, but have made it easier for themselves and seem lazy just to make it use the same as Rogues and Druids. I was soo hoping it would be a lot more different and a completely new class, but to me, the monk are just too similar to Druids, but can be used with some other races which the Druid cant. (Undead, Human etc)Not sure what the end content is like, and what the new scenario scene is all about, but hopefully will find out soon (only 2 levels to go at writing this review)Also just leveled my Panda Monk to 15 and did 6 random dungeons.4 of the 6 dungeons were full of Monks, not 1 other class.1 of the 2 remaining from above 4 of the 5 class's were monksthe last dungeon remaining was 3 outta 5 were monks.So 90% were Monks and about 75% were Panda's.I believe it would of been a little better if the Panda's could only be Monks and Monks could only be Panda's.

1.10.2012

I started playing WoW just before TBC and was sucked into the game from the get go. I raided and spent most of my time playing during the Burning Crusade and while I continued to play on and off throughout Wrath and Cata I never really got back into the game like I did with the first expansion. When I heard the forth expansion was to include Pandarens I quit WoW. I canceled my subscription and stopped up until release of Mists. My girlfriend thought it might be a cool game to play and as an illustrator I have purchased every collectors edition simply for the awesome art books (bday present from the missus, ty). So we got a copy each and signed back up for a month.I was actually surprised how much I am enjoying the game again.I always hated Pandarens as a race since their introduction many years ago and their occasional cameo appearances in WoW. But they are starting to grow on me. My girlfriend and I made a couple of Pandas, among other characters, and started questing together, the quests are the typical WoW gather/kill/collect quests but the environments and the new monk class do feel fresh if not slightly outside of what I am used to seeing in a WoW game. I am still yet to level my 85's to 90 so cannot really comment on that side of things having just finished grinding my profs to start the new Mists zones (is it weird that I enjoyed that also?) but from what I have seen so far, I am actually enjoying the game again. Not too sure whether it is down to the almost childish new class or the aesthetics of the new zones but I am actually wanting to play this game again after getting so bored with Cata. I do hope new content is released more often to justify the sub fee but I cannot complain.When compared to an Xbox game WoW is a bargain. I have been playing for several years and have never done everything. It's probably impossible. If Cata had been better and more exciting I would have continued to play. I don't know what it was about that expansion that made it so dull...but meh. Anywhos, I'd rather spend 8.99 a month on wow than pay the xbox live fee, buy each game at £30-40 a pop plus all the dlc and map packs etc. There are plenty of things on WoW to do and after my break I am ready to start enjoying the game again.I admit however, that Blizz are probably aiming to get a new generation of players into this game with the latest expansion, you can't deny that. But the old races still exists and there is plenty of content for mature players also. They need to adapt to a new generation of gamers, especially if sub numbers are dropping. Not too sure what people were expecting Blizz to do, come out with Cata 2 and watch their subs drop even further or try a new tactic to bring in younger gamers? From a business stand point it was the right thing to do, especially considering their older player base is starting to leave the game. I am also sick of people slating WoW for being Blizzards 'cash cow' and I hate that term with a passion. Companies make things or provide a service to make money. If they didn't make money the games would not exist. I like buying the collectors ed. for the art book and I would not pay real cash for virtual pets, mounts etc. by choice. But again some people like that. Its personal preference really. And if there is a market for it, why not make money from it? Not tooo sure why a money making product or a companies 'cash cow' is seen as such a bad thing, clearly it means the company or product is doing well for itself. Yet people still buy the product then complain after they have chucked their money at the company. Don't want to fund Blizzard? Don't buy the products. Simple. No need to cry. Just stop buying from them.

27.9.2012

This seems to be getting a lot of bad press so I thought I'd put a few things into perspective for people.The biggest and most important point I can make is this: It's an expansion to World of Warcraft. Quite simply this means more of the same but in a different setting. It happened in The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, and now Mists of Pandaria. Throughout it's life it has always been the same type of thing, grinding, quests, dungeons and raids so don't expect something entirely new.The second obvious point are the similarities between Mists of Pandaria and the children's movie Kung Foo Panda. People are reviewing down based on this, yet it is clear by the box art,let alone the description, that the pandas use martial arts. If this isn't your thing then why buy the game? I'll admit I find the vulgar rip off a little unsettling but the bottom line is the pandas are not actually as bad as I'd originally thought they would be, and the monk class is playable by not just pandas. I took a panda shaman through the starting zone as was very impressed by the art work. Likewise I'm sure the monk will be a fun class to play when I get round to it, it doesn't have to be a panda.Now that's out of the way I'd also like to mention the significant differences between Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm. For me Cataclysm was a huge let down, Blizzard seemed to lose the way in terms of content and lost a fair few players due to the increased difficulty. People are entitled to their opinions on this matter, but I am of the belief that the game should be playable by everyone, from the casual to the hardcore. From the get go Mists of Pandaria has dumbed the difficulty back down to 3.3 levels, whilst this might infuriate the odd hardcore guild it means casual players can experience content without too much difficulty. Once done with dungeons you can move onto the new Raid Finder tool, which offers the raiding experience but decreased difficulty. The regular raiders still have their normal raids, and the hardcore their heroic raids. Blizzard have even given the dungeons a challenge mode, to reward the more hardcore casuals. So from a "normal" end game experience, there really is something for everyone.Mists of Pandaria also features more additional content than ever before. There are plenty of quests, including a mass of dailies. The reputation rewards are there, with some cool mounts as rewards. There are new scenarios, for 3 players to do epic instanced quest like chains in. Pet Battle offer a Pokemon style game for pet collectors and Farming will offer a Farmvillesque slant to the game. Then of course there are the usual profession updates and an entirely new class, the aforementioned monk.I'll also mention briefly the continent of Pandaria. It's nice to be back on a new continent, and Pandaria is really really beautiful. Remember when you first saw Icecrown Citadel in Northrend? You get that kind of feeling, a lot. The art guys did really well here.Mists of Pandaria is shaping up to be a brilliant expansion. If you quit due to Cataclysm then now is a great time to come back and restore your love of World of Warcraft. At the end of the day you don't have to be a Kung Foo Panda if you don't want to be.

15.4.2013

Well, I'm not going to start with the usual generic I've been playing since 20xx or since this expansion or vanilla...no no, I'm going to start by saying one thing, just one; Fun.This expansion offer's a range of stuff, even if it did take a age to come out but I'll get back to that later. First I want to say that after getting 9 of the 11 class's up to the maximum level that they feel overall more on par with each other now, unlike back in Cata when blood deathknight's where in every bg I went in. Also I am glad to see that they have tried a new style in this expansion pack; Seeing the same old style's just plonked into a different place was starting to get a bit boring...In the new continent they have called Pandaria,

6.10.2012

MoP is at least on a par with WotLK.- If you play and like WoW you will be very pleased with MoP.- If you used to play WoW and you are done with the game then MoP won't bring you back.- If you stopped playing WoW because Cataclysm wasn't great then MoP could bring you back.The Pandaren work very well as an NPC race and fit perfectly with the Chinese theme. The Pandaren as a player race, and looking at the starter area, are clearly aimed at a younger demographic. This has been much maligned by gamers but if Dad is raiding and Mum is in RBGs then the kids have a small space in which do gentle questing in a beautifully designed starter area. Those same kids will be older in a few years when Titan (codename for Blizzard's next MMO)

26.10.2012

ABOUT THE GAME------------------If you have played wow before - and you probably have if you're getting this expansion, then the format hasn't changed too much. Generally it is the same format... but within an interestingly 'Asian' culture/theme (Kung-Fu anyone ?).However there are big re-vamps to certain items such as;*The Talents system (now considerably simplified)*The PVP system and stats, (gear stats changed)*Quest zones (both Horde and Alliance will get quests from the same quest giver in the same questing area's). This will be most noticeable on PVP servers obviously.*Daily quests (there so, so many of them!)*Farming! (you can now be a farmer)*The introduction of the new Monk class (and from what I have seen so far,

17.11.2014

Many like to bash this expansion because of the Monk/Pandaren combo, some even argue that it was "inspired" by the movie Kong Fu Panda, which in fact wasn't because Pandaren were first referenced on Warcraft 3, way before the movie, not to mention a quest which existed in game and that referenced the "Pandaren Monk", since at least The Burning Crusade expansion and up until Cataclysm.As for the expansion itself, I think it brought some interesting changes. Some people don't like the changes to talent system, but I feel most builds were pretty "cookie cutter". Playing as a Feral DPS Druid I didn't have much of a choice in terms of talents, but with the new system,

30.9.2012

So I'm not in the "Rush to get to 90" crowd. Level 88 so far, three zones finished. I guess I'll update this if things change in later zones / levels.The questing system has changed a bit. Gone are the whole-zone quest chains from cataclysm, and instead each questing hub has it's own quests that can be done independently of the others. This means if an area is busy you can move off to another one and not be blocked from progressing. I see some people have referred to this as "fragmented" but I certainly did not get that impression. The locations and set pieces are used well and there is a compelling story running behind everything if you take the time to actually read the quests and the npc dialogue,

3.2.2013

This is the newest expansion for the world of warcraft mmorpg. The expansion is a lot of fun, with lots of great new features. These include the new race (pandaren) and class (monk), and the new zone (pandaria), along with new dungeons, raids and scenarios to go with them. There are also some other fun new things, one I have particularly enjoyed so far is the new battle pets idea. Any pets (and mounts) you obtain are now available to all characters on that server, and are all together in their own little menu. The companion pets can be trained by battling other people's pets, or some wild critter type pets. They gain xp and level up, and the wild pets in each zone will be higher level,

6.1.2013

I think alot of people have narrow views when it comes to World of Warcraft. Every expansion you see people throw their arms in the air and cry it's the end. But no matter what these people have to say I strongly believe Mists of pandaria is excellent and here is why.There is ALOT to do in Mists of pandaria not only from level 85-90 but at maximum level too. Alot of people complain about the collection quests, kill quests or travel quests but there is a fundamental problem with their complaints... 95% of them dont actually read the quest text which is just plain silly when you are playing a MMORPG. If you take the time to read why you are performing the action you will find there is a story hidden behind it.

26.9.2012

First of all it was ordered on the 24th, dispatched and arrived early on the 25th so well done Amazon.Obviously this is a *first impression* from just a *few hours* of gameplay but its looking like more of the same so far. Chugging on through the questing that uses pretty much the same pacing and storytelling mechanics as WOTLK (game rendered cut-scenes for storytelling) but with a very linear single line of progression for a faction, standard warcraft style, with a soft oriental setting and music.Again (so far at least) my rather underpowered character (ilevel 324) has been munching through the 'opposition' without even a sniff of danger, levelling a protection tank but the biggest challenge is collecting up enough mobs to take on in one go.

11.2.2013

I stayed away from Mists of Pandaria as I had stopped playing WoW for about 6 months and with the bad reviews for MoP I wasn't being lured back. Then I had an email for a 10-day free trial of MoP. I thought it would be fun just to go for 10 days to see old friends and see the new content. Quite to my surprise, I have thoroughly been enjoying MoP...and even started a new Panderan monk character who I have really been enjoying levelling. I haven't visited the end-game content yet, and have had a number of guildies who have recently left the game as they have been driven out by the typical grind. But for me, having come back from a long time away, I think Blizzard has done a really good job with the content,

13.12.2012

Bear in mind I only have played the starter (free) edition, so this is not a full review as you can only get to level 20.However, I'll do my best to write a good review.I have to say it is amazing.As a Panadrin you start off on the isle of Pandaria on which you have many quests to complete. If you want advice on what type to choose I would recommend Hunter, as you start with a tuedrtle. The best tactic is to let your turtle do the attacking and take shot's from long range.Anyways, after many adventures you are present with a choice: Horde or Alliance? I chose Horde, but made another save and chose Alliance and as far as I can tell it has basically the same quests whatever your choice.After arriving at Orgimmar (I chose the Horde)

30.9.2014

Still playing it, can't put it down. Send help and pizza.Seriously though, it's WoW, what can I say about it that hasn't already been said? Well, I can say some things about it, Pandaria is a nice looking zone but it's packed to the brim with dailies, for every Oondasta fight on the Isle of Giants there are a ton of bloody fishing dailies with Nat Pagle. The pre-Siege of Orgimmar raids are pretty weak, especially Terrace of Endless Spring(seriously, what is this crap?) but Siege of Orgrimmar itself is pretty hype. There is a Legendary questline that has some pretty awesome lore to it but the actual questline is GRINDY as all hell, it's not fun at all, it doesn't feel like a journey,

13.1.2013

I bought this for a friend's christmas present (we both play the game). He loved it and the feedback I've got may read like a Blizzard advertisement if I go too deep into it! Just be assured once he's got to the new content he's enjoying the game a lot more than he did at the quiet lull towards the end of Cataclysm.The Panderan were a sort of joke to players, they were a side note in the original Warcraft RTS. However the new race starting area is expansive, well thought out and designed and really puts you into the mind of the characters, RP realm or not - the monk class (even with the new talent system) is equally fun to learn and play. I can't say anything about the new zones since I've not got there yet,

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (Add-On) (PC/Mac) - Reviews

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