For me, what they almost got right was one expansion - the Mists of Pandaria.
Now, I get a few people don’t like Pandarens. It seems mostly due to the whole Kung Fu Panda thing - but just imagine for a moment that Kung Fu Panda never existed and Pandarens were purely based on Chen Stormstout and his early adventures and exploration beyond Pandaria. Anyone who played Vanilla or plays Classic will be familiar with finding Chen’s Empty Keg ingame, so this guy has been around a long time. Bringing in a unique lore-based race, especially having it neutral so you could play one on either or both factions, was a great idea (despite what Blizzard might say about it).
But all that aside, MoP had a lot going for it. On the Positive side:
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Professions were excellent in MoP. Every Proff had something good going for it, especially the crafting ones. Gear making crafts could create some lovely stuff, including nice pvp gear. Engineering had some creative options, such as making a lovely trinket with its sockets that was able to be traded. JCs could make the lovely panther mounts, and so on. Dev creativity reached real heights in MoP.
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Sunsong Ranch was as close as Blizzard got to player housing, for me. I discount the garrison of WoD because I think it started off the right way but ended up being a hole that so many of us fell into and got stuck in because it went to far - it sucked out any need to be out in the world gathering things and that isn’t what player housing is supposed to do. Sunsong provided a patch of ground where we could plant crops that helped in various ways but wasn’t so powerful that it made gathering unnecessary. It also had various missions that helped with factions but all we needed to do was visit the ranch, plant our crops, and head out again. It even had a house we could fix up and pets and npcs who could visit us.
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The dungeons and raids were good, as good as any I’ve seen. Only the long wait at the end left players with a bad taste. And Challenge mode was the first step towards creative dungeon experiences. (I still miss getting those gear appearances and phoenix mounts…)
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Having extra areas scattered around the map gave players lots of things to do - Isle of Thunder, Timeless Isle, Isle of Giants, they were creative, fun zones and I didn’t even miss flight there because their size didn’t really need it. Yes, TI dragged on at the end but, again, only the length of expac drought was the real problem.
And let us not forget the beautiful serpent mounts.
Its already a text wall so I won’t go on. It had issues - they all do - single node taps were still there at the time and if you didn’t have flight it could be a drag levelling your gathering. We were still on a linear quest/levelling path and that got a bit boring by your xth alt level up. But all in all, it was a fine expansion and one Blizzard could learn from, rather than ignore.
10 Likes
Yeah. I really disliked the flavor of MoP: just not interested in furry races, uncomfortable with the (well-intended) orientalism, the armor sets were an absolute drag for transmog, and how they chose to frame the Alliance v. Horde conflict was smug and pat and I didn’t think they’d let us follow the story to its natural conclusion.
But the actual quality of that content was really good; well-executed even if I just hated the premise. Inverse Cataclysm.
2 Likes
MoP was awesome. It was one of those expansions that struck the perfect balance between humour and seriousness.
It also got better every single patch. Just a great all round expansion.
7 Likes
Awesome expansion. Best, in my opinion. And Pandaren were an awesome addition. Amazing lore and aesthetic.
2 Likes
Class design was fun for a lot of classes. I will miss forever miss the xpac’s demo and destro.
I wish they continued challenging class questlines similar to the green fire. Artifacts were interesting, but lacked the excitement and challenge that green fire offered while it was current.
Even though wpvp and pvp in general was a mess, it was the last time I enjoyed pvping. After that, the enjoyment steadily declined up until now where I rarely touch a bg or arena.
5 Likes
Haven’t had a warlock since classic. How’d the green fire compare to the Mage Tower? I enjoyed that a lot.
Mage tower required you to just learn boss mechanics that shared multiple specs.
After obtaining the quest item from any rare on thunder isle, you have to go throughout Outland to obtain pieces of a soulstone. Eventually you’ll be making your way through the Black Temple.
Tboss required you to understand basic warlock spells. Demonic circle was needed for a quick los. Enslave demon to enslave a pit lord to help. Juggling a few mechanic awareness and eventually you’ll kill him and steal his green fire.
Mage tower, even though beating it felt good, didn’t have the same feel of the class fantasy that Blizz wanted so badly in Legion. Also it was a beyond buggy mess. My warlock was barely played in Legion yet with horrible gear I could get all three specs by either a well timed mortal coil to skip a phase (afflic) or spam fear a boss to get her stuck (demo) out of the main area.
Watching a video on green fire questlone would be better than what my post could say. Typing on the phone so any errors is whatever.
3 Likes
It kinda smacked of racist undertones. But it’s their lore so 
2 Likes
What’s racist about asian pandas?
It was more the mashing together of lots of different Asian cultures to create the Pandaren stuff.
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And people were concerned that it may offend Asian players? Because that seems like a very American attitude.
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Well I’m Asian and it made me uncomfortable with all the mixing mashing of my culture with anothers. It kinda detracts from the uniqueness of your culture and it is kinda just saying “pour all the Asian things in this bag, they are all the same anyway.”
But it’s their lore, so it’s whatever.
2 Likes
Just to be clear, did you grow up in America?
In what way was it demeaning? No Asian native I’ve spoken with has ever seemed bothered before. I interact with many Taiwanese people and they seemed to have really liked it.
Edit: Asking genuinely, no sarcasm and such.
2 Likes
It wasn’t, it’s literally just this weird thing America has with being sensitive to cultures they don’t understand.
1 Like
Listen I’m not saying everyone hates it, or all Asians have a problem with it. What I’m saying is taking bits and pieces of every Asian culture, not renaming them in anyway is kind of pseudo saying “all Asians are the same.”
And that’s very rude to say I don’t understand my own culture. I visit Japan quite often, I have family there. I’m not throwing a fit about this, i’m simply expanding on what that person potentially meant by “uncomfortable orientalism.”
I never said it was demeaning either. I’m just expanding on it.
But please don’t try to gaslight me about MY culture.
3 Likes
MOP also had a way better history, that BfA miserably tried to copy, wanting somehow to be bigger and better, instead we had this immense failure of faction war, a pointless plot with the azerite, the waste of one of the most expected villains with a DBZ move and one of the worst finals i can think off
Basically a worse version of “draenor is freeeeee”
classes are awful now, PVP is awful.
2 Likes