World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Review

Ok, I don't play WoW anymore.. I have lead three guilds in the past 1 through each of the first 3 games of WoW....I loved LOVED vanilla...LOVED TBC even more....absolutely hated WOTLK and I didn't even bother with the rest of them. My guilds were very successfull, downing the big names and doing the sides and all that....but before I give my ultimate complaint let's review:

Vanilla WoW:
- First of its kind
- LOTS to do, and 40 man raids? INSANE! (in a good way) you had to work to achieve success and if you didn't you failed, that simple. It gave purpose to WoW having 1023984034 subcribers and kept the *****s (the morons that can't stay out of fire) the hell out of raids they didn't belong in.

TBC:
everything from the first paragraph and more...a LOT more...themed dungeons from the beloved blizzard RTS games, and the dungeons weren't so easy...it was either "get 10 or 25 people based on the dungeon and do it or don't" ..."you want to raid illidan? there is no option..get 25 and get it done"...that simple...

Outland was phenomenal and I thoroughly enjoyed questing and raiding there.

WoTLK:
and finally the crap hits the fan...4 different versions of the exact same instance? (10 N/H..25N/H) the differences? harder mechanics and if you succeed you get a gem slotted item that apparently can overtake the necessity of progression.
The dungeons were so poorly thought out that they all looked identical once inside (mainly ICC) the mechanics were so flawed they had to nerf the dungeon to give massive buffs so people could progress through them.
funny that I was able to grind out heroic 5 mans and after a month or less have armour sufficient enough to raid the highest level dungeons.
I am sure glad I got this group together to kill this top tier boss simply so that I could pass on an item that is actually worse than what the vendor gave me...
Mounts were lame
all armor and all characters looked absolutely 100% identical if they progressed.
Blizzard doesn't care.
influx of noobs/drama kids/and just flat out jerks.

After downing Arthas in 25 man (which I thoguht was one of the most pointless and poorly thought out fights WoW has ever had) I immediately realized one thing....
Blizzard..Sold...Out...$15/month x 10,000,000 subcribers..you do the math per month...why should they care? They know that no matter what they do to this game people will still pay the money because they are addicted to it. Some people go so far as to use it as an escape from reality. The inter-realm queue is stupid, the dungeons have just gotten retarded...and honestly when you allow people to kill the main antagonist of the series what difference does deathwing make to me? and Pandas?.....lol yeah ok.....so now I can kill this Titan dragon with 10 misfits and beat on his hand for a few minutes until the dragons come and save me....I particularly love how pointless things have gotten in WoW....now we can become pandas!...and wearwolves!....GOBLINS!........a tauren paladin......uh huh...you know people actually have 4-6 characters maxed out as a just in case...and the dual talent spec is ruining it too because now you no longer need to worry about finding another player and incorporating them lol. Why the hell would I want to do the exact same dungeon for any reason? "oh this gives you better loot though"........uh huh.....I loved seeing a lvl 70 DK solo OS 10.....great job blizzard...great job.

Yes, I still play WoW and happen to love it. Been playing for about 5 years and although I have a few complaints and agree with SOME of this review (the quest repeats, etc), the reviewer (Kate Cox) also failed to mention some of the really awesome NEW dungeons (and yes...battlegrounds). The new dungeons are funky and challenging with frustrating (in a good way) moments. Very fun! I do PvP though with this new expansion, the PvE has been lots of fun. I especially enjoy the more challenging quests and dungeons with my 85s and 90s including the extra awesome new armor. I do wish there were more options available for toons lower than 85 in the new content. The panda thing is....weird. As a Horde toon, "the Horde is NOT CUTE" though I will say that most everything about the new expansion is cute. I kind of wish we could play as an elemental or something. My suggestion, try WoW for a week for free and get a taste for yourself. The graphics are super nice and there are many bonuses worthy of play time.

"Cataclsym is all right, but it's 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 doesn't have."

Stating this is completely out of mind. Why? You played from a new player's perspective while not being a new player. Saying that Cataclysm, from a new player's perspective, had a lot of effect on the before and after of Azeroth is like saying that turning Lordaeron into Undercity had a lot of effect on the before and after of Tirisfal Glades. Imagine Vanilla WoW was the 1st expansion to the game. In the original, Lordaeron was there. In the expansion, it's Undercity. Or, take Ungoro crater. In some previous, imaginatory, versions of the game, Ungoro crater didn't exist. Or maybe, thousand needles were flooded like in cataclysm, or Tanaris was not a desert, or this and that and what not. The world changes constantly and has been changing before wow was even released (if you can understand what I'm trying to say here). For a new player, it just isn't relevant because all and any content is actually new. They do not need a context. The present is their context.

On the other hand, the veterans review didn't actually review the game. It just stated what we all know, that you have to do "grindy" quests to reach the level cap and do some BGs, raids or heroics. What about the talent system? You did mention it, but what about it. Is it good? Bad? Does Blizzard's Quality vs Quantity talent philosophy work out or not?

Stating that the engine is old is like saying that milk is getting boring because it's colour is still white.