Mr. Nash gives us his thought on the recently announced World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, looking at its new features, race, and class, as well as the apparent shift in focus for the game.

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Mists of Pandaria: Several Steps in the Right Direction

After having about a week to digest all of the details that Blizzard has let loose regarding the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft, I for one am most pleased with the direction they're going this next go around. While the mechanics of heroic dungeons and raids have been interesting from what I've experienced of them, I found that once a player hit the level cap of 85, there wasn't a lot for them to do if they weren't into raiding, or dungeons. Their alternatives were to level alts, farm rep with various factions, do some PvP, or try their hands at archeology (an exercise in masochism if ever there was one). So, end game has been more of the same, yet again, three expansions on. Looking forward to Mists of Pandaria (MoP), it would appear that Blizzard is very much so trying to tackle this problem by adding a lot more for people to do if they aren't necessarily interested in raiding.

Over the last year or so I've found myself in this category of WoW player. I just don't like being shackled to my computer for two, three, or four hours at a stretch. I did this during Lich King, and often times found myself thinking, "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this" while trudging through Naxxramus, or Icecrown Citadel. So, with Cataclysm I've run all of two raids these last several months, doing a quick clear of Bastion of Twilight and Blackwing's Descent out of abject curiosity as to what the places were like. They were both interesting romps, but I could not see myself trudging through the things twice a week farming out gear and achievements. I just don't fancy dedicating such large consecutive blocks of time to the game. As such, I've been mostly leveling alts, running battlegrounds, and doing the occasional heroic dungeon during this expansion. Even then, it wasn't enough to really hold my attention, as I've gone so far as to quit the game, walking away from WoW for the better part of six months, unsubscribing, and doing other things.

Now, we have all sorts of things to look forward to in MoP. The expansion has all sorts of features directed towards people like myself: PvE scenarios, a challenge mode for running dungeons, and a Pokemon-esque pet battle system. These alone will breath a lot of life into the game for me. PvE scenarios will allow 3-25 people to group up and perform specific objectives laid out before them. I don't see myself doing the larger ones, but being able to nudge a couple of friends, and set off to do something meaningful together is a most welcome addition to the game. In the past, all I could look forward to doing in such small groups was maybe three manning some old raid content, or making a mini premade for some battlegrounds. That stuff is alright, but after a while it can get a bit stale. These scenarios should help liven things up as they'll offer a number of new things to do, and the developers can always add more as they think them up.

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I'm also rather curious about this new challenge mode that is being added to the heroic dungeons. Basically it's a time attack mode where players try to finish a dungeon as fast as they can while having the stats on their gear normalized so that they can never over gear the content. This is a feature that I've always wanted in the game, so I was tickled pink to see it announced here. It should prove interesting, as it will force a lot of the player base to put their money

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where their mouth is. A lot of people say that they enjoy a challenge in the game, and I'm sure for some this is very much the case, as they go for server firsts, crazy achievements, and whatnot. For others, though, I suspect it's a lot of hot air. Having seen so many players that talk a mean game only to fall flat on their face when push comes to shove, I suspect challenge mode may prove to be too much of a challenge for them. Nonetheless, I can't wait for it. There's even an in-guild leader board in the thing, which is great for people who like ladder-esque competition. I'm hoping that the board gets expanded to something faction and server-wide as well.

What really caught me by surprise was the pet battle system that Blizzard announced, as I certainly didn't see that coming. I've never been a big fan of Pokemon style games, but I do have a habit of collecting pets in WoW, so it'll be nice to be able to do things with them instead of just having them tag along on my misadventures. A nice touch with this system is that players selection of pets will be account-wide, so you don't have to collect the pets over and over on all of your characters for these battles. As long as one character has said pet, all of them will have access to it. The only thing that is unclear about this right now is whether this holds true cross faction. If my Blood Elf priest has the troll mask pet from the Argent Tournament, will all of my Alliance characters have access to it? I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the answer is "Yes" seeing as things like heirlooms can be shared cross-faction, though.

Before closing up, I should probably make some mention of the new race and class coming in Mists of Pandaria, seeing as they're sort of the centerpiece of the expansion and all. Personally, I can take or leave the pandas. They're cute and all, and I'm sure I'll roll a monk if only because they have a healing spec, and I make a point of playing all of the healers to a decent level of proficiency. Nonetheless, they don't knock my socks off or anything. I quite like their aesthetic, and the new zones that will be expanding on that look very good from what little we've been shown of them thus far. I don't see where all of the hostility came from by certain elements of the WoW community, saying these pandas were a slap in the face to the "serious fantasy" of this game, and that they were too childish. I know some WoW players will complain about anything, but what game have these people been playing these last seven years? WoW has never been all that serious. In fact, it's been quite tongue-in-cheek for the most part. The big bads have been serious for the most part, but the game as a whole, not so much. The people doing this complaining about pandas being childish remind me of gamers who think playing M-rated games is some sort of high water mark for their own maturity, and personal development. It isn't.

I've personally found the "serious business" set in this game to be quite tiresome, and really have no problem with the game shifting to something more casual, and accommodating to a wider spectrum of gamers. Pandas are probably the most visible display of this, but most of what Blizzard has announced for MoP suggests that they want the game as a whole to be more accessible again. Cataclysm saw the game go in the opposite direction, emphasizing raiding, and more involved PvE battle mechanics without offering enough to those who don't like that sort of thing. As a result (at least in part), subscriber ships have gone down for WoW over the past year. MoP appears to be trying to remedy this, and I couldn't be happier. The raids and tough dungeons will still be there for those who want them, but finally there will be a lot more to do for those who don't share that same level of interest in such content. It's just too bad that it took Blizzard so long to realize this. In any case, MoP is probably the first expansion I'm really looking forward too since The Burning Crusade. Hopefully it'll get here sooner than later.

Mr. Nash
October 29, 2011