If it weren't for Mists of Pandaria, I would not be where I am at today. The farm in the Valley of the Four Winds helped to treat my depression and pulled me back from the brink of suicide. That little farm helped me rediscover my love of gardening which led me to moving into an apartment that had a garden plot. I eventually gained a job at a garden center where I was promoted into their office. I am now chasing a new career and I have a passion for life. Up until that point, World of Warcraft was all about staving off death and destruction. But then Mists of Pandaria came along and it reminded us about life, about what it means to be alive, and why it is worth protecting. It is sobering and it is enriching. The Mists of Pandaria expansion is, in my book, the best expansion Blizzard has released for World of Warcraft.
I feel a bit of pity for those who skipped out on playing through Mists of Pandaria and returned for Warlords of Draenor. These people who said MoP was Blizzard running out of ideas missed an expansion of innovation and new stories. MoP was a breath of fresh air as it tried something new while Warlords, something many believed they wanted, fell on its face.
I quit around when firelands came out in cata, came back in 5.4 and had a blast. I enjoyed the quests, the areas, and PVP was really fun as ret pala, I even got a full set of the best gear you could get without arena. quit again a bit into WoD. didn't appeal to me at all.
I miss MoP so much. I loved just getting lost in the magic of the island and finding all the little secrets and lore. I have never got the hate for it at all. It was such a refreshing change for WoW and I hope we get something as interesting and unique with the next expansion. I still go back to chill at my farm from time to time, hehe. The music there is just lovely ^_^
@@Beholdstyle for calling someone lovely because I too shared the same experience she did as her description was very vivid ? Go be a feminist elsewhere with your blue hair
@@Beholdstyle ohhh me using the same word she used... That's why.... Yeah that's deffffffffff a reason to think someone's a creeper... Lmaoooooo get a lifeeeee
MoP was my absolute FAVORITE expansion. Even beats out Wrath for me. I loved every second of it, and feel nostalgic when i go back to Pandaria. It was just so wonderfully crafted and beautiful. Loved every single aspect of it except the horrible daily rep grinds.
I leave wow at 4.1 and come back at 5.4 and I regret that I didn't play the expac because the game looked fun and more engaging but maybe you can say nostalgia or wrath gate(poor bolvar) I think wrath's content is better. Wrath would be perfect if not for the forest under the dalaran...
I always loved MoP. I actually loved the world design and Asian themes, and thought it was a nice break from the heavy storyline and content of Wrath and Cata. It’s definitely one of my favourite expansions.
There's always been a longing to meet the Pandaren. They're so appealing in that they're from an island steeped in it's own special history, surrounded by mystical waters and exotic mists. That is some of their own lucky lore and it's wholly significant. As a player and experiencer of blizzard's stories, it was refreshing - a refreshing break from all the constant epic frenzy we so often get to/have to deal with. Adventuring on a very special hidden land, uncovering it's mysteries and seeing the links between it and our known world, interacting with or avoiding extraordinary races and peculiar creatures who also call this land home all helped provide the experience and feeling of true exploration. Because I was so fortunate to play a part in Mists of Pandaria, I feel enriched by it's pure waters, enheartened by harmonious bear-folk, and enlightened by the travels of an ancient turtle. I actually felt a breath of fresh air and welcomed Pandaria's native whimsy and curious remarkableness. I felt deep emotion during that expansion, wanting to assist the inhabitants in their plight. The majestic and enchanted water Pandaria is known for; Halfhill's rippling puddles when it rains, the Pools of Purity in the Valley of the Four Winds, Krasarang's shady shores and nearby gnarled woods, the lazy fishing villages scattered all around the coasts, the lush Jade Forests's comforting green bamboo sprinkled with glowing clouds of gentle fireflies, quiet little rivers and trickling waterfalls, the calming fountains found tucked near shrines and cozy pond nooks, sparkling Whitepetal Lake in Vale of Eternal Blossom (let us restore it someday please!), and of course the tranquil tides greeting all of Pandaria's shell-strewn, crab-crawling, beachy sands. The playful Hozen, wise Jinyu and fearsome Mogu. The glorious celestials. The ways. The bubbling soup pots, steamy noodle carts and saucy stir-fries. The humble wooden homes, ancient shines, massive scroll-filled libraries, moss-covered statues, sweet smelling gardens, cozy, lantern-lit caves, and anywhere your tired feet traveled, was a restful place to sit and be. And don't forget the tall rocky cliffs sprayed by the salty sea, while raising and training your fearsome but trusty cloud serpent! The heartfelt and moving music, I listen to it a lot - it's both calming and exciting. Oh, and the food! The food in Pandaria was the BEST! yummy! When Mists of Pandaria was coming out and I saw the Pandaren, Hozen, Jinyu, Mogu, Vermin, and all the curious inhabitants of that beautiful and mysterious island among the backdrops of the breathtaking exotic lands, seas, cliffs and clouds, farmlands, jungles, stone statues and thatched, wooden homes - I knew Blizzard and their artists were doing something very special. I couldn't wait to be able to travel to a new land and explore. Pandaria is such a fun, mysterious and charming land and I think (though I don't know exactly how to explain it) that Mists of Pandaria itself is even a great standalone game while also being an important part of the known world of Azeroth. I love how even though hidden away for a long time, Pandaria was directly connected to the rest of Azeroth's lore - while having it's own mystifying and special history. Pandaria's presence is so strong and the expansion's atmosphere, themes and environment are so appealing to me that I'm so thankful Pandaria exists and glad the expansion became a beloved part of our own puzzling story in World of Warcraft. Our characters did some amazing things there, and grew because of our time there and time spent with the peaceful Pandaren and the Island's exotic cultures. I always love returning to Pandaria. It truly does feel like a home I helped protect with all my heart. It still has so many secrets and treasures. Every step you took in Pandaria offered an adventure, an appreciation for your surroundings, and a wisdom. In every nook offered a thoughtful place to pause and enjoy life, every cranny offered a time to stop and fill your lungs with a sweet and refreshing breath. The lands hidden away by exotic mists held many wonders, and any Pandaren would tell you - that you were one of those wonders. The writers and artists and musicians and developers created a story that involved the treasures of discovery, exploration, friendship, compassion, lessons, curiosity and wonder - and by helping a land in need, we helped everyone - including ourselves. Slow down. Life is to be savored!
I think the idea of Mists having a peaceful, beautiful area in general really helped counter the fatigue we get going through the other expansions. I like feeling like we do indeed have a war effort going on and all, but that feeling doesn't jive with when we go out herbing or treasure hunting or rare farming. Having war-torn, fel-polluted areas as our gathering and exploration zones... well, it sucks. Mists kept a bit of a disconnect between our combat time and our downtime. And it WORKED. Wrath did a lot of this too, actually; there were beautiful non-undead zones that were just... great to go run and fly around in. And Shadowmoon Valley in WoD was amazing. But nothing's been as well designed as Pandaria for that purpose.
The one thing I absolutely loved in MoP was the storyline through questing. It's one of the only expacs that I don't remember the leveling aspect to be a grind because I was too involved with actually reading quest text and dialogue and thus the leveling just flew by. I also appreciated how the storyline through the zones were cohesive, unlike Legion. Everything flowed from one zone to the next in MoP where as I virtually just go to my map board and choose zones for shits in Legion. Why is it that the dangers of one zone don't exist in the next? Like the Withered sure as hell could, and should, be in the southern part of Val. Most of the leveling zones in Legion are too autonomous and that bothers me greatly.
I think that you've really raised some good points! I do regard each zone completely differently - nearly mathematically in Legion. The zones feel thematically isolated whereas in MoP it seemed like leveling through the zones was an escalation. The difference between Jade Forest's peacefulness and Dread Wastes's darkness is staggering in aesthetic alone. That being said I do love each of Legion's zones and the story lines are very well done when examined in isolation.
I’ll never forget how serious some of the story of Pandaria was only to hit my hearth and be greeted by the inn kazoo music. That jarring contrast for me summed up the entire expansion.
I want the next expansion to be a lot like MoP in regards to beautiful zones, new and amazing lore, and sense of exploration. If it is a south seas expansion then they can be super creative and colorful in these regards. I also want it to take many ideas from legion. This would include Mythic+, a productive patch cycle, and unique individual story lines (like order hall campaigns and artifact weapon quests). The individual story lines should be done through sub-races. You should be able to choose a sub-race at some point (like High elves, Wildhammer dwarfs, or Nigh Elf worgen) and then have a custom and adaptable story-line throughout the expansion based on your sub-race and other varying decisions. Think of it like the Altruis v. Kayn choice as a DH. Finally, scaling quests and mobs in all old content to your level would be a great way to make old content challenging and more important.
For me, MoP was by far the best xpac ever. Loved it the entire time. As someone previously mentioned, farms were so fun! Moreso than garrisons, that's for sure! Sometimes I still just go there for a fly around, just to enjoy the zones....nothing has come close to Jade Forest since
MoP is the most underrated expansion, and had it not had a silly theme, WoW's numbers would probably be waaaay hire right now (and if WoD wasnt such a bust) I came back to WoW after quitting in Cata due to LFR with no intention of looking back. Came back in 5.4, and Timeless Isle is the best end game zone ever. It's the closet thing you'll ever get to Vanilla. Yes it can be grindy, but it's super relaxing, and then when a prime rare spawns, Huolon, Ship, etc, you would see everyone stampeding to the said location on their mounts to kill it, very Vanilla esque. Also can't forget the PvP, being able to kill your own faction.
I loved mist, that's where I came back after leaving in the middle of wrath. Still go back to the timeless isles just for kicks, and go out west to see if krol is up, just because.
Mist of Pandaria brought me back into the game. I played Vanilla through WotLK as a serious raider, and by the time Cata came about I was well and truly burnt out. I took a 3 year hiatus from the game, didn't come back until 5.4. Still playing, albeit more casually and with more frequent breaks.
Wonderfully edited and narrated series, would love to see similar content in the future. Reliving the thrill and excitement of past expansions really is bringing back a lot of great memories.
MoP was my 2nd favorite expansion 1st was WoTLK(still miss being a frost dk tank) but MoP made something i was wanting for a long time actually viable, warlock tanks i could spec demonology and pick up glyph of the demon hunter and actually tank better then most actual tanking classes, then WLoD showed up and removed the glyph which made me sad then legion came in and ruined demonology warlocks for me by removing demon forums and reducing it to a pet spam class
Great Series, I really liked watching your retrospective on Mists. I feel like you captured the tone of Mists really well. Great job! And I cannot wait to see this for other expansions :)
MoP while not having the most replayable leveling content imo, was one of the best times in WoW I had. I met a lot of amazing people. Played more than I ever had previously PvP and PvE. And was over all content with logging in everyday because there was always something to do. While some of it felt overly grindy. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finally reached my goal. Overall I would put MoP in the #2 spot right behind Wrath.
I started playing in Mists about when ToT was dropped, and it is still my favorite expansion. I never got to experience Wrath like all the veterans did, so I guess I can't say it was the best, but to me, it is the best. The music that played at the MoP log-in screen will always pluck my heartstrings. The areas are, in my opinion, the most beautiful out of any in the game, and the music is incredible. I love the pandaren race, even if they were portrayed as a joke. It's one of the best expansions in my opinion, and I'll always remember it as the open arms that welcomed me into the game I know and love today.
So I was actually talking about MoP last night with a bunch of friends and old guildies, which led me to this video. We generally had the consensus that if MoP had ended 6-8 months after SoO dropped, more people would remember it fondly. But we all kind of agree that with its awkward start, - I remember people calling it 'World of Dailies' - and then it had that content drought that felt like it lasted far far too long at the end, we all got so burnt out we don't really look back with as much enjoyment as we should. We all almost forgot SoO was the same patch as Timeless Isle, since we enjoyed the Timeless Isle quite a bit, but when we think of the end of MoP all we think of is waiting over a year for anything to happen other than repeating SoO. But you're absolutely correct, th raid content and everything between 5.1 and the beginning of 5.4 was fantastic. I honestly forgot how much I was invested with the Isle of Thunder until watching this video. But again, that entire 5.1 to 5.4 feels like a small chunk compared to the monotony of the beginning and hating the end.
Absolutely loved the expansion from start to end, thought timeless was possibly the best thing they have ever added. Also loved this style of video, and the mists expan was perfect for it!
When time comes for WoD to get a retrospective: "Hello and welcome to another world of warcraft video. Warlords of Draenor... It happened. See you next time"
MoP was a very good expansion since the beginning and added a lot of value for the entire game, but I remember that most people just complain about pandas instead of enjoy the full experience. BTW, MoP had the best PvP setup, hope Blizzard can do the same good job for PvP in the next expansion. Thanks for share your point of view.
I adored this expansion. Having started in late Cata, 5.1>4 was, for my personal experience, the grandest of the game to date, as a semi-casual player, with a love for the art and story, What the team achieved here influences my attitude towards games as an art form. I remember completing the Thunder Isle quest chain where Taran Zhu confronts the factions. the memory of that conclusion gives me goosebumps. As does bartender v.s Wrathion haha! I think it's rare that character chemistry is handled as well in Legion as it was in MoP, by comparison.
Love this expansion so much. The music, design, and story is utterly breathtaking. And I swear to GOD, if Blizz ever brought back the old Vale, I would come back to WoW just for that.
Mists of pandaria was when I joined WoW, so I hold a lot of fondness for it. It is arguably one of the best zones in the game and the pandaren have my favorite starting zone by far.
Great work on this miniseries! BC is still the era that I remember most fondly, and I definitely was among those that thought MoP was pandering to their huge subscriber base in Asia. That said, I agree that this era was the most fleshed out and best developed mechanically WoW has ever been. Blizz really took a negative response and made the best of it, you can tell a lot of work and love went into this expansion.
As somebody who recently returned to WoW after a 3-4 year break I find it great that the expansion that I loved at the time is finally getting the recognition it deserved .
Guess not. he also said no dailies there...I remember doing dailies and weekly quests. He also mentions the loot chests. he said some were daily....yeah I don't remember daily ones at all. There were Little ones and a handful of big ones. But then never respawned.
Well, that story wasn't all that thorough since it couldn't be told completely during MoP but was rather fully fleshed out in WoD. In MoP, it was just a hint of things to come, which was nice.
In retrospect I really wish that I kept playing during MoP. So far it's the only expansion that I skipped, along with many of my friends. I hope they go for a more colorful and less dramatic/"doom-y" setting next time. Legion is nice, but the constant grinding and RNG-gear really is making everything feel meh. Can't remember the last time I was actually satisfied with a loot drop or some good AP, at least not past a few seconds of "oh nice, an upgrade". I believe that we can still find a nice balance between difficulty, time input and good quests and setting :)
Same :/ Skipped most of MoP. But I was honestly very casual before that. I went in after throne of thunder to try some characters, somehow got roped into roleplay... and from there I have been a dedicated player since.
Totally agree. I don't want more dramatic themed expansion, I want something like MoP was. Legion is all about demons and green shit everywhere and I'm fcking tired of it. :/
I think back at SoO every single time I log into World of Warcraft - literally the best and most difficult raid (beside ToS), I have ever done in my WoW carrie. Warlocks were so overpowered combined with some additional classes as well, and that really made the gameplay and the raid fun! :))))
MoP was my 2nd fav expack, after wrath. There was always so much to do and it was great. I only enjoyed WoD because it let me get caught up with all the stuff I missed out on in other xpacks since WoD had no content. I always had something to go back to in mop content during WoD.
MoP is my second favorite expac ever (behind Wrath. Sorry, Pandas, but Lich King and Death Knights win.). The Art was beautiful. The story well paced. There was always content. Personally, this Expac also came out during a lull in my life and filled a void and it really hit me well. One thing I'm sad Belluar didn't bring up was the Farm, one of my favorite points of this expac - a non-gathering method of getting materials made a huge difference for double crafters and allowed so much more freedom. I May not have wanted to level every alt to raiding, but every alt got to their farm. It felt rich and interesting. Plus I loved the people of Halfhill. Pretty much every NPC in Pandaria I loved. Truly, I love this. It's not quite as dear as Wrath, but that's like saying this Platinum isn't as great as this Gold. Both are fantastic and useful and awesome and a hell of a lot better than the shiny turd we got in WoD.
Mop was using Cataclysm techniques in a way that would make burning crusade proud. It was a final version of a good game. Except a few points but i can see over this.
MoP changed me. Unlike cataclysm, where the ending was "yay we killed the big bad deathwing" to "what did you learn from the lessons of Pandaria?". The player was made aware of how strong they are in the temple of the white tiger "we fought off demons, we fought off death, even the end itself", thats where I understood what the Sha truly is, "you are strong yes, but what if your enemy now is yourself?". It changed me as a person, it taught me how to not let my negative emotions bring out the worst in me. Oh and classes were fun.
I always felt Pandaland was a final love letter to us from what was left of the original dev team. Hopefully one day we can see it remade as an RTS. The whole thing feels like a WC4.
Timeless isle was my favorite part of wow. I quit during wod and might come back now that bfa is out, but I have so many good memories in mop and it’s mainly in timeless isle
man, i remember as a weaker (fairly young, inexperienced, poorly geared mage lmao) player the timeless isle was such a different experience for me than how you describe it... i wasn't even aware of the difficulty scaling with height! i remember the way i would play the island was i would try to explore all the nooks and crannies with the great mobility that mages got and combine that with invisibility to avoid aggroing anything (i was pretty terrible and found out the hard way that basically everything could kill me easily)... it's so surreal to find this video years later and see it through the lens of someone who actually knows what they're doing
This expension for me was clearly the apogee of wow and i wonder if we will see anything like this again ever, i always loved it and i played it fully it was for me awesome back then and lot of ppl didnt listen to me saying it was bad and now im happy to see more and more ppl understand the legacy this expansion had =) Great video mate, thank you PS: Its a bit sad you didnt tak much about the vale of eternale blossoms which had an evolution toward the whole expansion being psitine and pretty in patche 5.0/5.1/5.2 with an awesome storyline to udnerstand the story of the thunder kings and gather his weapons and armors, then have goblins digging in to find the heart of Y'shaarj and in 5.4 being destroyed by garrosh =( i was really upset they destroyed it and had no way to come back to the old pristine vale but im happy now in 8.3 you have it back =)
The timeless isle also added the pet battle celestial challenge thingy, which seems like an important predecessor to the deadmines and wailing caverns pet battle dungeons of legion.
Dont get me wrong, I love the quintessential Warcraft themed xpacs, but MoP was a breath of fresh air, a step backward to appreciate it all. It had some frustrating mechanics and features in the beginning but Blizz refined that later on. I played Wrath skipped Cata and came back in MoP and have played since then. For me, Wrath was my favorite just because of the beautiful and stunning scenery at the time as well as the LK lore. MoP, on the other hand, brought some philosophical moments to the game which was rather nice. The dungeons were easy and fast which allowed me to get them done and have more fun goofing off with guildies than worrying about executing mechanics and not dying to stupid crap. Conversely dungeons today are less social and more, "Lets move from point A to B to C and do X Y Z" MoP is the xpac that I was actually able to find a social guild to play with and just have fun, two xpac later I have yet to find another guild like that, no one seems to want that anymore, which is sad :/
dude this frog farming thing is one of the things that i never will forget , this got completly out of control after a time. people just searching grups in the lfr tool to go on the beach , wich was full of people , bashing frogs for hours. this was so dull that it was great. great moment of wow history for me.
honestly, i cant decide weather cataclysm or mists is my favorite expansion. Loved both of them, and the expacks after them just cant seem to capture me the same way those two did. Good times.
I Loved MOP As a soft-core raider and pvp player, i loved the grind, the daily quests, the exploration and the beaulty that MOP had. I wish in future expansions we have something like that...
The Mantid were by far my favorite race that has ever been in the game. Everything about their society was great and I adored their voice acting. I loved so much about Mists, and I was on board with it from day 1. I always thought people that hated it because lol pandas were insane and ridiculous, and sadly I think that crowd ended up speaking the loudest and we'll never get an expansion like this again. It was so obvious how much fun Blizzard had creating brand new races and locations and brand new lore for all these things. And going from Mists to WoD was just like... I dunno eating a delicious peach and then biting into a cockroach in the middle
MoP is still my favourite expansion so far for some reason. Maybe its the art style or something completely else. While other want Vanilla and WotLK legacy servers, I would like to have MoP one. Thanks for making these videos!
Little late to this, but MoP was my tipping point into taking a long break. I grew up with WoW and MoP hit in my teen phase where I was overly critical of everything, and I was comparing it to BC (as I remembered it) and saying that MoP was 'too easy, not challenging enough.' So, after doing some raiding in SoO, I just dropped out and explored other games. That lead to my love for the Dark Souls franchise and other RPGs. I briefly came back for WoD, despised the leveling and theme, dropped out again, and didn't return until 7.1 of Legion, and I've stuck with it since. Looking back now, MoP was a great expansion that really allowed WoW to start developing its story telling. They still need to work on their presentation, but at least now they're moving forward with the story rather than drawing on WC3 all the time. It was also just great time to be a hunter imo, especially survival. the rotation and utility was actually a blast to play. I guess that it's a bit of a shame that MoP came at the wrong time in my personal development, but I'm ok with that. It was going to happen eventually, and it'll probably happen again. The important part is that I discovered a new love for gaming in all it's forms, as opposed to just MMOs. WoW is great, but it's not always great, and now I have a new world to turn to when WoW just isn't doing it for me.
I joined the game after quitting during Cataclysm (having Skipped WOTLK) and until now days, i live in Pandaria. I think is the most pretty of all expansion. Well crafted music, content. It has lots of things to do and farm!!
Somehow I find this video so soothing. Siege was the end of my WoW experience and I remember these times fondly. MoP was beautiful to look at, but I would still rank it below TBC or WOTLK.
Trying to cover it all must've been quite rough, but I wish you would've covered proving grounds and challenge modes more. They were, in my opinion,, handled brilliantly. God this was just the amazing expansion I have played in general.
Both were optional side content, and Mists was packed to the absolute brim with that sort of thing. Notice how rare spawns and world bosses were only briefly mentioned, yet they were even bigger for most players? Seriously, Mists was so fucking amazing. Just SO much different stuff to do. No expansion before or since has ever come CLOSE. The ruin that was WoD almost makes me want to cry when I consider the comparison.
It was the last XPac I leveled all my char to max (11). It wasn’t all grind and had flying. I leveled 1 char to max in WoD and though I bought Legion, I have one char at 102 and have not played more than a few days.
I left WoW before 1st raid tier of Cata. I came back a few weeks before Warlords. The Jade Forest and Timeless isle were just stunning. Timeless isle also reminded me of a "plane" from like Everquest. Every mob on timeless isle had a mechanic or interaction or loot for you to use. Even the lowly non elites. From Death Adders to kiting turtles into people to looting chests to finding secret caves to using ghost pandas as companions. I still go back today for nostalgia, the tournament, and to farm the rarer battle pets. Spineclaw crab or Gulp Froglet anyone?
MoP was an amazing expansion. Definitely the best in the time I've played the game. It probably helps that I met the friends I still play with during it. Still, the content was fantastic, and I loved the Asian theme of Pandaria; I don't think think the art team has surpassed it since.
As a casual player who only sometimes does lfr timeless isle was the bees knees and i haven't been as happy as i was on that island. It was great it had just enough of a challenge that i couldn't afk but not so much that i couldn't solo the mobs. Oh and calling out enemies and rares was pretty cool to see everyone rush over and help take one down
personally i liked a lot of what MOP brought to the table, i love having 3 raid difficulties (not including LFR) as it provides more scaling for people of different skill levels. one thing i really wish they had kept was the item upgrade system. way better than the titan forging system. I'd prefer to know i can work towards an upgrade rather than bank on luck, and it also had a cap. right now you can run LFR and titan forge better than base line mythic raid gear and that to me isn't right. yeah i know it's rare, but still, with this expansion there was a cap of just how high you could take each piece so LFR gear might cap at say right between normal (flex at the time) and heroic (normal at the time), normal would cap between heroic and mythic and so on. wish they would bring that back, loved it.
Good series, I very much enjoyed it. I've often felt that Pandaria was a pretty solid expansion, especially pertaining to lore, post-launch/patch support and new systems. A lot of people were turned off by the Pandas. I might have missed it, but did you mention the destruction of Theramore at all? The little 'scenario' that was the pre-launch event and that sadly most of the pre-launch lore took place in the book (Tides of War). Notably the deaths of some pretty big people. I know you mentioned the expansion's wrapup taking place in a book too.
I found Mists to be the best expansion overall, with the exception of heart of fear I the raids were all enjoyable, I actualy loved the amount of dailys at the start, though I did prefer the ones on the isle of thunder, choosing to attack the thunder king or alliance forces each fittin into a small story, conversly I got bored of the isle of thunder very quickly cause it was just sensless grind, to flow to it, after I got the golden dragon mount I never returned (did get the black thunder mount early though). I felt that and people praising it though lead to some of the major problems of WoD. For those people that left not likeing the style change, they didnt see the big picture, pandaria was a micro cosm of what the war was doing. it started out beutiful but eventualy both sides began destroy it, and we saw garroshs pride and arrogance lead to one of the better villains in the lore we didnt need to be told this guy was a problem, we saw it, shame the epiloge was handeled in a book, it would have been good pre wod experainces.
I agree that MoP was the best expansion and ToT was the best raid (altough I liked Firelands too). But my main reason for that conclusion wasn't even part of your videos: Class design. I really loved most of the classes gameplay wise. After joining the game in the penultimate week of WotLK I mained a boomkin throughout Cata and was having tons of fun. It continued to be the most amazing specs during MoP. Especially in a 10man setting a good boomkin was a huge help for the group. Symbiosis was one of those amazing utility spells that enhanced the versatility even further. I leveled lots of alts during MoP and had good fun with many of them. Fury in 5.4. was great fun, Disc priest was kinda OP but amazing to play once you knew the encounters well, same with Mistweavers. When the WoD prepatch came I started hating my beloved boomkin and rerolled to SP for WoD which turned out to be a roller coaster (boring in Highmaul, really nice in BRF and pretty shitty in HFC) - but still tons better than the wrecked balance druid I was forced to play on a couple encounters. While I also liked the vibe of Mists of Pandaria and loved the beautiful zones and mixup of the usual dark storylines, as a dedicated raider the most important thing was class design and encounter design. While encounter design from all I can see from occasionally watching a streams or kill video seems to have remained somewhat okay, I really couldn't find any fun classes anymore. In Legion assa rogues were okay and ele shamans. But with BfA even those two got fucked up too. I quit competitive raiding after WoD, casualed around throughout Legion and finally quit WoW altogether after about 2 months of BfA. While my social life certainly benefitted from the shitty class design directions Blizzard took - I would probably start playing again were boomkins to be restored to MoP (or just Cata) status. Maybe in 10 years there will be not just a WoW Classic, but also Legacy servers for other stages of the game that are longed for by enough players, who knows? RIP Balance druid. Your MoP design will forever be missed.
MoP hands down my favorite expansion. For me the change in direction towards exploration and mood really won out in the end. I loved all the little content releases and spent way too much time just running around timeless isle. Wish the game would return to this sort of experimental xpac.
Regardless of what people say, I loved MoP. From the trailer, to the burdens of Shao hao, to the end game. I loved all of it. MoP is also the only expansion that Ive gotten to run from beginning to end. I started at the end of cata and had to stop about half way thru warlords. Then I pretty much missed most of legion and im now trying to get caught up in bfa before shadowloands. Most people that ive heard that say they hated MoP, hated becuase they didn't like the panda race. It's also the last expansion that didnt pander to the elites as far as flying goes. You have to go thru so much bs now just to fly that i cant fly anywhere after MoP. I really do miss MoP.
If it weren't for Mists of Pandaria, I would not be where I am at today. The farm in the Valley of the Four Winds helped to treat my depression and pulled me back from the brink of suicide. That little farm helped me rediscover my love of gardening which led me to moving into an apartment that had a garden plot. I eventually gained a job at a garden center where I was promoted into their office. I am now chasing a new career and I have a passion for life. Up until that point, World of Warcraft was all about staving off death and destruction. But then Mists of Pandaria came along and it reminded us about life, about what it means to be alive, and why it is worth protecting. It is sobering and it is enriching. The Mists of Pandaria expansion is, in my book, the best expansion Blizzard has released for World of Warcraft.
Amazing, I commend you for turning your life around like that :D Wish you good luck
So what you are saying is that Mists of Pandaria taught you that
LIFE IS TO BE SAVOURED
"What is worth fighting for?"... ;)
Good on you homey.. :D I got a chill reading this and feel happy for you..
Wow im very touched by your story, glad it turned around for you and you're doing well now, best of luck in your endeavours
I also thank World of Warcraft for giving me a new hope and keeping me happy at my lowest moments.
How do you clean up a Cataclysm?
With a MoP.
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Rofl
Akita ha. Ha.
HA!
You mean how do you smear a Cataclysm?
I feel a bit of pity for those who skipped out on playing through Mists of Pandaria and returned for Warlords of Draenor. These people who said MoP was Blizzard running out of ideas missed an expansion of innovation and new stories. MoP was a breath of fresh air as it tried something new while Warlords, something many believed they wanted, fell on its face.
couldn't have said it better myself
this is so true. I skipped on Panda Land because I thought it was going to be lame.... I regret it. a lot of people say it was their fav
I still disliked both, just one more than the other.
I quit around when firelands came out in cata, came back in 5.4 and had a blast. I enjoyed the quests, the areas, and PVP was really fun as ret pala, I even got a full set of the best gear you could get without arena.
quit again a bit into WoD. didn't appeal to me at all.
I spent the whole of MoP annoyed that I wasn't knee deep in demons. Now I'm on Argus missing my farm...
Such is life
I miss MoP so much. I loved just getting lost in the magic of the island and finding all the little secrets and lore. I have never got the hate for it at all. It was such a refreshing change for WoW and I hope we get something as interesting and unique with the next expansion.
I still go back to chill at my farm from time to time, hehe. The music there is just lovely ^_^
CATcatCATwoof ur lovely
All the hate MoP gets comes from all the people who never played it and just decided it was crap before it ever began.
Comeone.... LOL
@@Beholdstyle for calling someone lovely because I too shared the same experience she did as her description was very vivid ? Go be a feminist elsewhere with your blue hair
@@Beholdstyle ohhh me using the same word she used... That's why.... Yeah that's deffffffffff a reason to think someone's a creeper... Lmaoooooo get a lifeeeee
MoP was my absolute FAVORITE expansion. Even beats out Wrath for me. I loved every second of it, and feel nostalgic when i go back to Pandaria. It was just so wonderfully crafted and beautiful. Loved every single aspect of it except the horrible daily rep grinds.
I leave wow at 4.1 and come back at 5.4 and I regret that I didn't play the expac because the game looked fun and more engaging but maybe you can say nostalgia or wrath gate(poor bolvar) I think wrath's content is better. Wrath would be perfect if not for the forest under the dalaran...
Tyler Musselman yeah you should be thankful to our chinese culture style it is one of a kind in this world and no.1
I agree. MoP was so good!
for me it goes Legion, WOTLK, MOP, MOP had really engaging gameplay and the warlock talents were really fun. Like the casting while moving one.
It was also my favorite. Started playing ALOT during MoP. Never had time during previous expansions, so it was my vanilla
I always loved MoP. I actually loved the world design and Asian themes, and thought it was a nice break from the heavy storyline and content of Wrath and Cata. It’s definitely one of my favourite expansions.
There's always been a longing to meet the Pandaren. They're so appealing in that they're from an island steeped in it's own special history, surrounded by mystical waters and exotic mists. That is some of their own lucky lore and it's wholly significant. As a player and experiencer of blizzard's stories, it was refreshing - a refreshing break from all the constant epic frenzy we so often get to/have to deal with. Adventuring on a very special hidden land, uncovering it's mysteries and seeing the links between it and our known world, interacting with or avoiding extraordinary races and peculiar creatures who also call this land home all helped provide the experience and feeling of true exploration. Because I was so fortunate to play a part in Mists of Pandaria, I feel enriched by it's pure waters, enheartened by harmonious bear-folk, and enlightened by the travels of an ancient turtle. I actually felt a breath of fresh air and welcomed Pandaria's native whimsy and curious remarkableness. I felt deep emotion during that expansion, wanting to assist the inhabitants in their plight.
The majestic and enchanted water Pandaria is known for; Halfhill's rippling puddles when it rains, the Pools of Purity in the Valley of the Four Winds, Krasarang's shady shores and nearby gnarled woods, the lazy fishing villages scattered all around the coasts, the lush Jade Forests's comforting green bamboo sprinkled with glowing clouds of gentle fireflies, quiet little rivers and trickling waterfalls, the calming fountains found tucked near shrines and cozy pond nooks, sparkling Whitepetal Lake in Vale of Eternal Blossom (let us restore it someday please!), and of course the tranquil tides greeting all of Pandaria's shell-strewn, crab-crawling, beachy sands. The playful Hozen, wise Jinyu and fearsome Mogu. The glorious celestials. The ways. The bubbling soup pots, steamy noodle carts and saucy stir-fries. The humble wooden homes, ancient shines, massive scroll-filled libraries, moss-covered statues, sweet smelling gardens, cozy, lantern-lit caves, and anywhere your tired feet traveled, was a restful place to sit and be. And don't forget the tall rocky cliffs sprayed by the salty sea, while raising and training your fearsome but trusty cloud serpent! The heartfelt and moving music, I listen to it a lot - it's both calming and exciting. Oh, and the food! The food in Pandaria was the BEST! yummy!
When Mists of Pandaria was coming out and I saw the Pandaren, Hozen, Jinyu, Mogu, Vermin, and all the curious inhabitants of that beautiful and mysterious island among the backdrops of the breathtaking exotic lands, seas, cliffs and clouds, farmlands, jungles, stone statues and thatched, wooden homes - I knew Blizzard and their artists were doing something very special. I couldn't wait to be able to travel to a new land and explore. Pandaria is such a fun, mysterious and charming land and I think (though I don't know exactly how to explain it) that Mists of Pandaria itself is even a great standalone game while also being an important part of the known world of Azeroth. I love how even though hidden away for a long time, Pandaria was directly connected to the rest of Azeroth's lore - while having it's own mystifying and special history. Pandaria's presence is so strong and the expansion's atmosphere, themes and environment are so appealing to me that I'm so thankful Pandaria exists and glad the expansion became a beloved part of our own puzzling story in World of Warcraft.
Our characters did some amazing things there, and grew because of our time there and time spent with the peaceful Pandaren and the Island's exotic cultures. I always love returning to Pandaria. It truly does feel like a home I helped protect with all my heart. It still has so many secrets and treasures. Every step you took in Pandaria offered an adventure, an appreciation for your surroundings, and a wisdom. In every nook offered a thoughtful place to pause and enjoy life, every cranny offered a time to stop and fill your lungs with a sweet and refreshing breath. The lands hidden away by exotic mists held many wonders, and any Pandaren would tell you - that you were one of those wonders. The writers and artists and musicians and developers created a story that involved the treasures of discovery, exploration, friendship, compassion, lessons, curiosity and wonder - and by helping a land in need, we helped everyone - including ourselves.
Slow down. Life is to be savored!
I think the idea of Mists having a peaceful, beautiful area in general really helped counter the fatigue we get going through the other expansions.
I like feeling like we do indeed have a war effort going on and all, but that feeling doesn't jive with when we go out herbing or treasure hunting or rare farming. Having war-torn, fel-polluted areas as our gathering and exploration zones... well, it sucks.
Mists kept a bit of a disconnect between our combat time and our downtime. And it WORKED.
Wrath did a lot of this too, actually; there were beautiful non-undead zones that were just... great to go run and fly around in. And Shadowmoon Valley in WoD was amazing. But nothing's been as well designed as Pandaria for that purpose.
I fell in love with this expansion, because in the end, it was more about self-reflection.
The one thing I absolutely loved in MoP was the storyline through questing. It's one of the only expacs that I don't remember the leveling aspect to be a grind because I was too involved with actually reading quest text and dialogue and thus the leveling just flew by. I also appreciated how the storyline through the zones were cohesive, unlike Legion. Everything flowed from one zone to the next in MoP where as I virtually just go to my map board and choose zones for shits in Legion. Why is it that the dangers of one zone don't exist in the next? Like the Withered sure as hell could, and should, be in the southern part of Val. Most of the leveling zones in Legion are too autonomous and that bothers me greatly.
I think that you've really raised some good points! I do regard each zone completely differently - nearly mathematically in Legion. The zones feel thematically isolated whereas in MoP it seemed like leveling through the zones was an escalation. The difference between Jade Forest's peacefulness and Dread Wastes's darkness is staggering in aesthetic alone. That being said I do love each of Legion's zones and the story lines are very well done when examined in isolation.
The music in MoP and the story made me join a karate club and practice it. I felt so epic when I practiced home my style with MoP music ^^
MoP was just simply amazing. The music and the lovely scenery have a special place in my gaming career.
I loved MoP , the theme the soundtracks the pvp litteraly everything , best expansion ever
I hope they'll make 1 day MoP legasomcy servers that would be so awee!
fire mage was so fun
Please do more of these! This was such a good series!!
I’ll never forget how serious some of the story of Pandaria was only to hit my hearth and be greeted by the inn kazoo music. That jarring contrast for me summed up the entire expansion.
1:22 nice shot there, Bellular ;)
I was thinking the same xD
I want the next expansion to be a lot like MoP in regards to beautiful zones, new and amazing lore, and sense of exploration. If it is a south seas expansion then they can be super creative and colorful in these regards. I also want it to take many ideas from legion. This would include Mythic+, a productive patch cycle, and unique individual story lines (like order hall campaigns and artifact weapon quests). The individual story lines should be done through sub-races. You should be able to choose a sub-race at some point (like High elves, Wildhammer dwarfs, or Nigh Elf worgen) and then have a custom and adaptable story-line throughout the expansion based on your sub-race and other varying decisions. Think of it like the Altruis v. Kayn choice as a DH. Finally, scaling quests and mobs in all old content to your level would be a great way to make old content challenging and more important.
For me, MoP was by far the best xpac ever. Loved it the entire time. As someone previously mentioned, farms were so fun! Moreso than garrisons, that's for sure! Sometimes I still just go there for a fly around, just to enjoy the zones....nothing has come close to Jade Forest since
MoP is the most underrated expansion, and had it not had a silly theme, WoW's numbers would probably be waaaay hire right now (and if WoD wasnt such a bust)
I came back to WoW after quitting in Cata due to LFR with no intention of looking back. Came back in 5.4, and Timeless Isle is the best end game zone ever. It's the closet thing you'll ever get to Vanilla. Yes it can be grindy, but it's super relaxing, and then when a prime rare spawns, Huolon, Ship, etc, you would see everyone stampeding to the said location on their mounts to kill it, very Vanilla esque. Also can't forget the PvP, being able to kill your own faction.
I loved mist, that's where I came back after leaving in the middle of wrath. Still go back to the timeless isles just for kicks, and go out west to see if krol is up, just because.
Mist of Pandaria brought me back into the game. I played Vanilla through WotLK as a serious raider, and by the time Cata came about I was well and truly burnt out. I took a 3 year hiatus from the game, didn't come back until 5.4. Still playing, albeit more casually and with more frequent breaks.
Wonderfully edited and narrated series, would love to see similar content in the future. Reliving the thrill and excitement of past expansions really is bringing back a lot of great memories.
Part 1:ruclips.net/video/ZI6y4So6vRU/видео.html
Part 2: ruclips.net/video/y8YKGuI7Z34/видео.html
WoTLK next? :D
can you link part 3 plox?
BellularGaming Hellscream did nothing wrong!!!!
MoP was my 2nd favorite expansion 1st was WoTLK(still miss being a frost dk tank) but MoP made something i was wanting for a long time actually viable, warlock tanks i could spec demonology and pick up glyph of the demon hunter and actually tank better then most actual tanking classes, then WLoD showed up and removed the glyph which made me sad then legion came in and ruined demonology warlocks for me by removing demon forums and reducing it to a pet spam class
Great Series, I really liked watching your retrospective on Mists. I feel like you captured the tone of Mists really well. Great job! And I cannot wait to see this for other expansions :)
I loved the Mists of Pandaria.. I still love to play my windwalker teddybear with one black eye.
MoP while not having the most replayable leveling content imo, was one of the best times in WoW I had. I met a lot of amazing people. Played more than I ever had previously PvP and PvE. And was over all content with logging in everyday because there was always something to do. While some of it felt overly grindy. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finally reached my goal. Overall I would put MoP in the #2 spot right behind Wrath.
I started playing in Mists about when ToT was dropped, and it is still my favorite expansion. I never got to experience Wrath like all the veterans did, so I guess I can't say it was the best, but to me, it is the best. The music that played at the MoP log-in screen will always pluck my heartstrings. The areas are, in my opinion, the most beautiful out of any in the game, and the music is incredible. I love the pandaren race, even if they were portrayed as a joke. It's one of the best expansions in my opinion, and I'll always remember it as the open arms that welcomed me into the game I know and love today.
So I was actually talking about MoP last night with a bunch of friends and old guildies, which led me to this video.
We generally had the consensus that if MoP had ended 6-8 months after SoO dropped, more people would remember it fondly. But we all kind of agree that with its awkward start, - I remember people calling it 'World of Dailies' - and then it had that content drought that felt like it lasted far far too long at the end, we all got so burnt out we don't really look back with as much enjoyment as we should. We all almost forgot SoO was the same patch as Timeless Isle, since we enjoyed the Timeless Isle quite a bit, but when we think of the end of MoP all we think of is waiting over a year for anything to happen other than repeating SoO.
But you're absolutely correct, th raid content and everything between 5.1 and the beginning of 5.4 was fantastic. I honestly forgot how much I was invested with the Isle of Thunder until watching this video. But again, that entire 5.1 to 5.4 feels like a small chunk compared to the monotony of the beginning and hating the end.
Absolutely loved the expansion from start to end, thought timeless was possibly the best thing they have ever added. Also loved this style of video, and the mists expan was perfect for it!
I really enjoyed this 3 part series of looking back at one of my favorite expansions ever!! Amazing work!!
Honestly some of the best memories I have of WoW are from MoP times.
I started in wrath, an MoP is definitely still my favorite after all this time.
I started playing in MoP. Jade Forest is still 1 of the most beautiful places in WoW to me.
When time comes for WoD to get a retrospective:
"Hello and welcome to another world of warcraft video. Warlords of Draenor... It happened. See you next time"
MoP was a very good expansion since the beginning and added a lot of value for the entire game, but I remember that most people just complain about pandas instead of enjoy the full experience. BTW, MoP had the best PvP setup, hope Blizzard can do the same good job for PvP in the next expansion. Thanks for share your point of view.
4:14 "the place never got old for me" That's why it's called "timeless isle".
I adored this expansion. Having started in late Cata, 5.1>4 was, for my personal experience, the grandest of the game to date, as a semi-casual player, with a love for the art and story, What the team achieved here influences my attitude towards games as an art form. I remember completing the Thunder Isle quest chain where Taran Zhu confronts the factions. the memory of that conclusion gives me goosebumps. As does bartender v.s Wrathion haha! I think it's rare that character chemistry is handled as well in Legion as it was in MoP, by comparison.
Best xpac imo. Made good friends there. Sometimes, I just log in to listen to the music and visit some places. I miss Mop.
Loved every minute of mop.
Love this expansion so much. The music, design, and story is utterly breathtaking. And I swear to GOD, if Blizz ever brought back the old Vale, I would come back to WoW just for that.
For me the isle in TBC was great, but maybe its also nostalgia, cause I like to think TBC for me was the best expansion in WoW.
amen
Mists of pandaria was when I joined WoW, so I hold a lot of fondness for it. It is arguably one of the best zones in the game and the pandaren have my favorite starting zone by far.
Great work on this miniseries! BC is still the era that I remember most fondly, and I definitely was among those that thought MoP was pandering to their huge subscriber base in Asia. That said, I agree that this era was the most fleshed out and best developed mechanically WoW has ever been. Blizz really took a negative response and made the best of it, you can tell a lot of work and love went into this expansion.
As somebody who recently returned to WoW after a 3-4 year break I find it great that the expansion that I loved at the time is finally getting the recognition it deserved .
There was no story on timeless isle? Guess the Bronze dragon shit doesn't count?
He briefly mentioned it but unfortunately didn't connect it to the story :/
Guess not. he also said no dailies there...I remember doing dailies and weekly quests. He also mentions the loot chests. he said some were daily....yeah I don't remember daily ones at all. There were Little ones and a handful of big ones. But then never respawned.
Wombat's Byte If I'm not mystaken, there were weekly ones but I don't remember any daily chests at all.
Well, that story wasn't all that thorough since it couldn't be told completely during MoP but was rather fully fleshed out in WoD. In MoP, it was just a hint of things to come, which was nice.
There was, and loads of fun too p
Ahh I needed something to watch along with my food.
In retrospect I really wish that I kept playing during MoP. So far it's the only expansion that I skipped, along with many of my friends. I hope they go for a more colorful and less dramatic/"doom-y" setting next time. Legion is nice, but the constant grinding and RNG-gear really is making everything feel meh. Can't remember the last time I was actually satisfied with a loot drop or some good AP, at least not past a few seconds of "oh nice, an upgrade". I believe that we can still find a nice balance between difficulty, time input and good quests and setting :)
Same :/
Skipped most of MoP.
But I was honestly very casual before that.
I went in after throne of thunder to try some characters, somehow got roped into roleplay... and from there I have been a dedicated player since.
Totally agree. I don't want more dramatic themed expansion, I want something like MoP was. Legion is all about demons and green shit everywhere and I'm fcking tired of it. :/
MoP had such fantastic raids, I loved every tier.
When Bell say's "If you didn't bounce off the theme", I'm glad to say I didn't bounce off the theme. I loved mop
I think back at SoO every single time I log into World of Warcraft - literally the best and most difficult raid (beside ToS), I have ever done in my WoW carrie. Warlocks were so overpowered combined with some additional classes as well, and that really made the gameplay and the raid fun! :))))
MoP was my 2nd fav expack, after wrath. There was always so much to do and it was great. I only enjoyed WoD because it let me get caught up with all the stuff I missed out on in other xpacks since WoD had no content. I always had something to go back to in mop content during WoD.
By far my favorite Expansion.
ty bellular for one of the only entertaining wow series atm
Great retrospective. I would love to see more videos like this one!
MoP is my second favorite expac ever (behind Wrath. Sorry, Pandas, but Lich King and Death Knights win.). The Art was beautiful. The story well paced. There was always content. Personally, this Expac also came out during a lull in my life and filled a void and it really hit me well. One thing I'm sad Belluar didn't bring up was the Farm, one of my favorite points of this expac - a non-gathering method of getting materials made a huge difference for double crafters and allowed so much more freedom. I May not have wanted to level every alt to raiding, but every alt got to their farm. It felt rich and interesting. Plus I loved the people of Halfhill. Pretty much every NPC in Pandaria I loved. Truly, I love this. It's not quite as dear as Wrath, but that's like saying this Platinum isn't as great as this Gold. Both are fantastic and useful and awesome and a hell of a lot better than the shiny turd we got in WoD.
I joined in MoP and I loved it dearly. It will always be close to my heart.
Mop was using Cataclysm techniques in a way that would make burning crusade proud. It was a final version of a good game. Except a few points but i can see over this.
I loved MoP, still probably my favorite expansion
MoP changed me. Unlike cataclysm, where the ending was "yay we killed the big bad deathwing" to "what did you learn from the lessons of Pandaria?". The player was made aware of how strong they are in the temple of the white tiger "we fought off demons, we fought off death, even the end itself", thats where I understood what the Sha truly is, "you are strong yes, but what if your enemy now is yourself?". It changed me as a person, it taught me how to not let my negative emotions bring out the worst in me. Oh and classes were fun.
I always felt Pandaland was a final love letter to us from what was left of the original dev team.
Hopefully one day we can see it remade as an RTS. The whole thing feels like a WC4.
Best series you have done. Without a doubt.
Timeless isle was my favorite part of wow. I quit during wod and might come back now that bfa is out, but I have so many good memories in mop and it’s mainly in timeless isle
man, i remember as a weaker (fairly young, inexperienced, poorly geared mage lmao) player the timeless isle was such a different experience for me than how you describe it... i wasn't even aware of the difficulty scaling with height! i remember the way i would play the island was i would try to explore all the nooks and crannies with the great mobility that mages got and combine that with invisibility to avoid aggroing anything (i was pretty terrible and found out the hard way that basically everything could kill me easily)... it's so surreal to find this video years later and see it through the lens of someone who actually knows what they're doing
I loved the theme of Mop and even the panda race
This expension for me was clearly the apogee of wow and i wonder if we will see anything like this again ever, i always loved it and i played it fully it was for me awesome back then and lot of ppl didnt listen to me saying it was bad and now im happy to see more and more ppl understand the legacy this expansion had =) Great video mate, thank you
PS: Its a bit sad you didnt tak much about the vale of eternale blossoms which had an evolution toward the whole expansion being psitine and pretty in patche 5.0/5.1/5.2 with an awesome storyline to udnerstand the story of the thunder kings and gather his weapons and armors, then have goblins digging in to find the heart of Y'shaarj and in 5.4 being destroyed by garrosh =( i was really upset they destroyed it and had no way to come back to the old pristine vale but im happy now in 8.3 you have it back =)
The timeless isle also added the pet battle celestial challenge thingy, which seems like an important predecessor to the deadmines and wailing caverns pet battle dungeons of legion.
Timeless Isle and the farm was the most fun I’ve had in WoW even up until today.
Dont get me wrong, I love the quintessential Warcraft themed xpacs, but MoP was a breath of fresh air, a step backward to appreciate it all. It had some frustrating mechanics and features in the beginning but Blizz refined that later on. I played Wrath skipped Cata and came back in MoP and have played since then. For me, Wrath was my favorite just because of the beautiful and stunning scenery at the time as well as the LK lore. MoP, on the other hand, brought some philosophical moments to the game which was rather nice. The dungeons were easy and fast which allowed me to get them done and have more fun goofing off with guildies than worrying about executing mechanics and not dying to stupid crap. Conversely dungeons today are less social and more, "Lets move from point A to B to C and do X Y Z" MoP is the xpac that I was actually able to find a social guild to play with and just have fun, two xpac later I have yet to find another guild like that, no one seems to want that anymore, which is sad :/
dude this frog farming thing is one of the things that i never will forget , this got completly out of control after a time. people just searching grups in the lfr tool to go on the beach , wich was full of people , bashing frogs for hours. this was so dull that it was great. great moment of wow history for me.
Now for the Legacy of WoD: New models. Apexis. Scouting Map. The End
No One In Particular Don't forget Twitter! ... on second thought do forget about that...
Mists of Pandaria is the only expansion I have not had a break in. 5.3 and 5.4 were the best months of my life so far.
honestly, i cant decide weather cataclysm or mists is my favorite expansion. Loved both of them, and the expacks after them just cant seem to capture me the same way those two did. Good times.
I Loved MOP
As a soft-core raider and pvp player, i loved the grind, the daily quests, the exploration and the beaulty that MOP had.
I wish in future expansions we have something like that...
The Mantid were by far my favorite race that has ever been in the game. Everything about their society was great and I adored their voice acting. I loved so much about Mists, and I was on board with it from day 1. I always thought people that hated it because lol pandas were insane and ridiculous, and sadly I think that crowd ended up speaking the loudest and we'll never get an expansion like this again. It was so obvious how much fun Blizzard had creating brand new races and locations and brand new lore for all these things. And going from Mists to WoD was just like... I dunno eating a delicious peach and then biting into a cockroach in the middle
MoP was the objective best expansion. My second favorite tbh but thats for nostalgias sake. Sadly now its a neverending grindfest ^^"
Excellent series please make more of these!
MoP is still my favourite expansion so far for some reason. Maybe its the art style or something completely else. While other want Vanilla and WotLK legacy servers, I would like to have MoP one. Thanks for making these videos!
Little late to this, but MoP was my tipping point into taking a long break. I grew up with WoW and MoP hit in my teen phase where I was overly critical of everything, and I was comparing it to BC (as I remembered it) and saying that MoP was 'too easy, not challenging enough.' So, after doing some raiding in SoO, I just dropped out and explored other games. That lead to my love for the Dark Souls franchise and other RPGs. I briefly came back for WoD, despised the leveling and theme, dropped out again, and didn't return until 7.1 of Legion, and I've stuck with it since.
Looking back now, MoP was a great expansion that really allowed WoW to start developing its story telling. They still need to work on their presentation, but at least now they're moving forward with the story rather than drawing on WC3 all the time. It was also just great time to be a hunter imo, especially survival. the rotation and utility was actually a blast to play.
I guess that it's a bit of a shame that MoP came at the wrong time in my personal development, but I'm ok with that. It was going to happen eventually, and it'll probably happen again. The important part is that I discovered a new love for gaming in all it's forms, as opposed to just MMOs. WoW is great, but it's not always great, and now I have a new world to turn to when WoW just isn't doing it for me.
I joined the game after quitting during Cataclysm (having Skipped WOTLK) and until now days, i live in Pandaria. I think is the most pretty of all expansion. Well crafted music, content. It has lots of things to do and farm!!
This was a great series!!!! MoP #1 and really the father to Legion.
Somehow I find this video so soothing. Siege was the end of my WoW experience and I remember these times fondly. MoP was beautiful to look at, but I would still rank it below TBC or WOTLK.
Trying to cover it all must've been quite rough, but I wish you would've covered proving grounds and challenge modes more. They were, in my opinion,, handled brilliantly. God this was just the amazing expansion I have played in general.
Both were optional side content, and Mists was packed to the absolute brim with that sort of thing. Notice how rare spawns and world bosses were only briefly mentioned, yet they were even bigger for most players?
Seriously, Mists was so fucking amazing. Just SO much different stuff to do. No expansion before or since has ever come CLOSE.
The ruin that was WoD almost makes me want to cry when I consider the comparison.
The pvp in 5.4 was the most balanced in wow history
It was the last XPac I leveled all my char to max (11). It wasn’t all grind and had flying. I leveled 1 char to max in WoD and though I bought Legion, I have one char at 102 and have not played more than a few days.
I left WoW before 1st raid tier of Cata. I came back a few weeks before Warlords. The Jade Forest and Timeless isle were just stunning. Timeless isle also reminded me of a "plane" from like Everquest. Every mob on timeless isle had a mechanic or interaction or loot for you to use. Even the lowly non elites. From Death Adders to kiting turtles into people to looting chests to finding secret caves to using ghost pandas as companions. I still go back today for nostalgia, the tournament, and to farm the rarer battle pets. Spineclaw crab or Gulp Froglet anyone?
MoP was an amazing expansion. Definitely the best in the time I've played the game. It probably helps that I met the friends I still play with during it. Still, the content was fantastic, and I loved the Asian theme of Pandaria; I don't think think the art team has surpassed it since.
As a casual player who only sometimes does lfr timeless isle was the bees knees and i haven't been as happy as i was on that island. It was great it had just enough of a challenge that i couldn't afk but not so much that i couldn't solo the mobs. Oh and calling out enemies and rares was pretty cool to see everyone rush over and help take one down
Really enjoyed this series!
5.4 is one of my favorite Patches in WoW history if not my favorite potentially only over shadowed by Fury of the Sunwell.
personally i liked a lot of what MOP brought to the table, i love having 3 raid difficulties (not including LFR) as it provides more scaling for people of different skill levels. one thing i really wish they had kept was the item upgrade system. way better than the titan forging system. I'd prefer to know i can work towards an upgrade rather than bank on luck, and it also had a cap. right now you can run LFR and titan forge better than base line mythic raid gear and that to me isn't right. yeah i know it's rare, but still, with this expansion there was a cap of just how high you could take each piece so LFR gear might cap at say right between normal (flex at the time) and heroic (normal at the time), normal would cap between heroic and mythic and so on. wish they would bring that back, loved it.
Good series, I very much enjoyed it. I've often felt that Pandaria was a pretty solid expansion, especially pertaining to lore, post-launch/patch support and new systems. A lot of people were turned off by the Pandas.
I might have missed it, but did you mention the destruction of Theramore at all? The little 'scenario' that was the pre-launch event and that sadly most of the pre-launch lore took place in the book (Tides of War). Notably the deaths of some pretty big people. I know you mentioned the expansion's wrapup taking place in a book too.
I started early in vanilla and loved this game every step of the way. Pandaria was excellent.
I adore these kinds of videos. Please keep making them Bellular x3.
I found Mists to be the best expansion overall, with the exception of heart of fear I the raids were all enjoyable, I actualy loved the amount of dailys at the start, though I did prefer the ones on the isle of thunder, choosing to attack the thunder king or alliance forces each fittin into a small story, conversly I got bored of the isle of thunder very quickly cause it was just sensless grind, to flow to it, after I got the golden dragon mount I never returned (did get the black thunder mount early though). I felt that and people praising it though lead to some of the major problems of WoD. For those people that left not likeing the style change, they didnt see the big picture, pandaria was a micro cosm of what the war was doing. it started out beutiful but eventualy both sides began destroy it, and we saw garroshs pride and arrogance lead to one of the better villains in the lore we didnt need to be told this guy was a problem, we saw it, shame the epiloge was handeled in a book, it would have been good pre wod experainces.
Is it possible to do the Legendary Questline of MoP right now? Or did this line end with MoP? :o i would do it again ^^
I agree that MoP was the best expansion and ToT was the best raid (altough I liked Firelands too).
But my main reason for that conclusion wasn't even part of your videos: Class design.
I really loved most of the classes gameplay wise. After joining the game in the penultimate week of WotLK I mained a boomkin throughout Cata and was having tons of fun. It continued to be the most amazing specs during MoP. Especially in a 10man setting a good boomkin was a huge help for the group. Symbiosis was one of those amazing utility spells that enhanced the versatility even further. I leveled lots of alts during MoP and had good fun with many of them. Fury in 5.4. was great fun, Disc priest was kinda OP but amazing to play once you knew the encounters well, same with Mistweavers.
When the WoD prepatch came I started hating my beloved boomkin and rerolled to SP for WoD which turned out to be a roller coaster (boring in Highmaul, really nice in BRF and pretty shitty in HFC) - but still tons better than the wrecked balance druid I was forced to play on a couple encounters.
While I also liked the vibe of Mists of Pandaria and loved the beautiful zones and mixup of the usual dark storylines, as a dedicated raider the most important thing was class design and encounter design. While encounter design from all I can see from occasionally watching a streams or kill video seems to have remained somewhat okay, I really couldn't find any fun classes anymore. In Legion assa rogues were okay and ele shamans. But with BfA even those two got fucked up too.
I quit competitive raiding after WoD, casualed around throughout Legion and finally quit WoW altogether after about 2 months of BfA. While my social life certainly benefitted from the shitty class design directions Blizzard took - I would probably start playing again were boomkins to be restored to MoP (or just Cata) status. Maybe in 10 years there will be not just a WoW Classic, but also Legacy servers for other stages of the game that are longed for by enough players, who knows?
RIP Balance druid. Your MoP design will forever be missed.
I just fallen inlove with the OST of MoP
Same, it's actually my favorite login screen songs ever.
MoP hands down my favorite expansion. For me the change in direction towards exploration and mood really won out in the end. I loved all the little content releases and spent way too much time just running around timeless isle. Wish the game would return to this sort of experimental xpac.
It’s been 5 years since I’ve played WoW
Leroy JENKINS you didn’t have to go through WoD that’s good but you missed out on legion.
Llllleeerrrrooooooyyyyyy JJJJEEEENNNNNKKKKKIIIIINNNNSSSSS
Regardless of what people say, I loved MoP. From the trailer, to the burdens of Shao hao, to the end game. I loved all of it. MoP is also the only expansion that Ive gotten to run from beginning to end. I started at the end of cata and had to stop about half way thru warlords. Then I pretty much missed most of legion and im now trying to get caught up in bfa before shadowloands. Most people that ive heard that say they hated MoP, hated becuase they didn't like the panda race. It's also the last expansion that didnt pander to the elites as far as flying goes. You have to go thru so much bs now just to fly that i cant fly anywhere after MoP. I really do miss MoP.