QContinuum

I know people have been waiting for me to do my write up on Mist of Pandaria. I used to do regular write ups on World of Warcraft dating back to BC. There are a few reasons why I quit writing as much. One is I just haven't playing as much and two is most of the people I played with are no longer are playing. This doesn't mean WOW sucks and isn't fun anymore it's more a combination of moving on with life and the desire to do something new after many years of playing it. Many I used to play with have finished school and have careers. Some are married. Things change. The other day we were standing around comparing Tera, SWTOR, Guild Wars2, etc and WOW. The consciences was WOW is the best overall MMO/game especially what they can do with quests and story lines. Even though that is true some are playing Guild Wars2 or some other games because it is different and refreshing. Some just don't have the time anymore to get to a gear level they want to be at when they play the game.
So on with the write up. I have spent time playing SWTOR, Tera, and Guild Wars2. I have also been playing other games like Diablo III. The only reason I mention them is because I want the write up to be have some prospective to other MMOs. The game graphics are somewhat dated in WOW and I wish they would updated some of the models. That said the game has defiantly been updated with the MOP expansion. The phasing is almost flawless now. They can phase NPCs buildings and other items. You can be in a town with other players and they are working with NPCs you cannot even see. For them it's a town and for you just getting there its a mess that needs help. Unlike other expansions or any other MMO that I have played you can work for an NPC that stays with you to progress the storyline. This gives much more meaning when you are later helping them in a heroic or instance. The questing in the new land Pandaria (levels 85-90) is second to none in any game I have played. Cut seens, vehicles, and just some fun and unique story telling. Leveling/questing in the new land is fun (at least the first time through). Loot from quests are items you can use for whatever class you are playing and how you are spec. I leveled my druid and I had the choice or feral gear or casting gear. Also if you are on a PVP server then get ready for some world PVP. You cannot fly in Pandaria until you are level 90. Most of the questing is The Horde and The Alliance side by side. Blizzard has gone out of its was to setup conflict between the two factions.

The Looking for Group (for instances or heroics) and Looking for Raid has been updated and works better than ever. In addition to those they have added Looking for Scenarios. Scenarios are kind of like an instance except there are only three players and they can be any class. You don't need a tank or healer for example. These are normally quick to run and you get Justice points from them. Besides the justice points you also get a gift box which always contains gold but may also have gear in it. If there is gear then it is something you can use (if you don't already have something better).

The issue with MOP comes when you reach 90. For some reason Blizzard decided that you need to grind rep before you can spend any Justice or Valor points for epic gear. When I say grind I mean grind. You have to do dailies. I used to like dailies when they meant extra gold or unique items like mounts. It's not so fun when you have to do them to get gear. This has caused a fair share of complaints and I am not sure why they are doing it this way. Because of the complaints they just made a change where you can share your rep with your alts so you only have to grind it once. The dailies aren't bad and the way it opens a land or tells a story is kind of interesting. But they are dailies and they get old fast when they are required. The dailies do give Justice points which is a plus.

In addition to the dailies the amount of Justice points given for a heroic run or scenario is not as much as before. You also cannot store as many. So once you get the rep you have to run more heroics than ever before. Just like before you have to reach a certain item level in order to use the Looking for Raid. The heroics are fun for the most part with interesting mechanics. Like before they have taking some of the older low instances like SM redid them and made then level 90 heroics. This is another place where Blizzard shines.

If you are not to burnt out on WOW I recommend MOP. Most of the expansion is awesome The quests, artwork, music, instances, mounts, and boss mechanics are the best in the business. I admit that I am not happy about the required rep grinds. It's kind of like hitting 90 and then leveling another 5 levels doing dailies. I am glad I bought it and it has been worth playing to me. Overall I like it better than cata.