The Daily Quest: I bring Pa -- OK, I just bring posts
by Anne Stickney 
Oct 24th 2011 at 6:00PM
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
Mists of Pandaria was officially announced this weekend, and the reaction has been vocal, to say the very least. I'll be linking a metric ton of posts from here and there around the blogosphere this week, but for now, here's a few first impressions for your perusal.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Mists of Pandaria was officially announced this weekend, and the reaction has been vocal, to say the very least. I'll be linking a metric ton of posts from here and there around the blogosphere this week, but for now, here's a few first impressions for your perusal.
- Mana Obscura looks over all the upcoming tidbits of information for the new expansion.
- Red Cow Rise is wondering what those elusive lady Pandaren are going to look like, among other things.
- Priest With a Cause is feeling a little disappointed with all the expansion information.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jfofla Oct 24th 2011 6:13PM
Do we really have to hear from a burned out bitter player like Preist with a cause?
Nothing Blizzard could have offered can please someone like that.
Shintar Oct 25th 2011 12:05AM
Well, I think that's kind of hyperbolic, but I actually agree that it's strange that Anne linked this post of mine. I mean, *I*'m quite aware that WI readers probably don't care about reading me whinge about stuff that they are positively excited about. And personally I could do without the angry anonymous trolls that this kind of advertising gets me as well.
Saeadame Oct 24th 2011 6:14PM
Where is that fanart from? It's very cool.
Anne Stickney Oct 24th 2011 6:28PM
I did that actually, way back in the Mists of Pandaria predictions post I did for KYL. http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/08/07/know-your-lore-tinfoil-hat-edition-the-mists-of-pandaria/
Tfish92 Oct 24th 2011 6:31PM
That priest with a cause article was a lot of whining about nothing.
We hardly know anything about the next expansion except for the fact that there is no overall bad guy, and the key features. Why are people being so quick to judge that this expansion will be the worst one ever story wise when we don't know any of the story?
The crying about the dungeon challenges is stupid too. You don't have to do those, and they are going to be a separate queue from the normal dungeons too. It's not like everyone zoning in will say "let's go for a gold medal" ever single dungeon you zone it to, so if you don't find that attractive don't do it.
If the thought of anything changing in an MMO makes you want to quit the game, then you are in the wrong genre. WoW is an ever changing constantly evolving game. If it was exactly the same forever they would never get new subscribers, and the old subscribers would get bored and drop off.
When you've got over 10 million people playing a game you can't really hope to make everyone happy all the time.
SmokeTheBear Oct 24th 2011 7:53PM
I agree. I also take issue with his complaints about the new talent system. I don't believe it's going to lead to "another balancing nightmare." If you actually look at the sort of talents they're putting in the talent tree, and compare those to the abilities they're providing to each spec within the flow of leveling, it's pretty clear that the changes are going to have the effect of simplifying balancing. They're also going to have the effect of simplifying the game for players.
On top of that, they're giving us lots of fun ways to customize our play style through talents that don't directly affect our mitigation/healing/damage. Sure, the talents aren't final, but there's a clear philosophy behind them, and if I had to guess, I'd say the ones that are likely to be changed or scrapped are the ones that can be combined with other effects for unintended shenanigans, or the ones that actually do affect a spec's core output in a way that force a choice or complicate balance.
The biggest thing to take from gripes like hers is that people really do fear change. "I absolutely do not have the stomach to relearn everything about all the classes I play from scratch *again*." Well, you're probably not going to need to relearn everything from scratch. In fact, you're probably not going to have to relearn much, and you'll probably get a good grasp of how everything works as you level from 85-90. But that fear of having your understanding of a class turned on its head is enough to give some people a sick feeling in their stomach, regardless of how likely the outcome being feared actually is.
TonyKP Oct 25th 2011 7:21AM
Yep. Change can be a pain in the aspirin. I ended up leaving one of my accounts canceled at Cata's launch because the 80s that were on it (pally healer, newly treeless druid healer, and a hunter) had changed so much that I didn't feel like relearning how to play them.
I'm actually cautiously optimistic about Mists of Kung Fu Panda because a lot of what's been unveiled so far has been a tacit acknowledgment of the mistakes that were made with Cataclysm (very reaffirming). It shows that the developers can learn from their missteps (or that someone higher up in Blizzard or Activision is making them learn) and are willing to make the attempt in MoKFP to fix them.
jeppe0311 Oct 25th 2011 8:00AM
@Tfish92. As you state: we know the key features. That should be enough to make at least provisional judgements about the expansion. You make positive ones, others (quite a lot) make negative ones.
Optional dungeon challenges. I have no idea what the rewards are, but if they are better than what you obtain from normal dungeons, then the challenges are not really optional.
Have you heard of the idiom: "The straw that broke the camel's back"? I'm sure Mists of Pandaria isn't the only thing that makes players quit, but it might be said straw.
When you have 10 million subs, surely you are doing something right. However, when you offer Diablo III for “free” to 12 month subscribers then you are evidently a little worried about the drop in subs as well.
@SmokeTheBear: I agree that the new talent system will not necessarily end in a balancing nightmare or be hard to learn. However, if you think it will provide you with any kind of choice (assuming you are a raider), then you are deluding yourself. One spec will always be marginally better than another for the role you play, and you will be expected to use that spec. Also you use the word simplify as if it's a good thing, one might as well say "dumb-down". I like my games complex.
On a side note: Has critical writing gone the way of the dodo on wow-insider in order to protect the game that ultimately is your livelihood? All I see is panda-praise and general fan-boyism, while a considerable part of the community is worried about the change in target audience, from including adults to excluding everything but drooling toddlers. Man up wow-insider, you are better than this.
3teek7 Oct 24th 2011 6:26PM
I find it pretty funny that a big part of Blizzard's fan base is angry that we don't get to kill another big lore character this expansion (that we know of) while another large part of Blizzard's fan base (namely, a lot of old Warcraft RTS fans) is upset that we are killing off so many big lore characters.
Funniest of all is that I really don't care about either point, and I just want to play. Everyone seems to expect so much and demand so much to go their own way, that they cannot look past smaller details and just enjoy the game. Then again, I've been told that I'm very mellow, so I'll probably fit right in with the Pandaren anyway.
Gaurisk Oct 24th 2011 6:57PM
Between Kael'thas, Lady Vashj, Illidan, Staghelm, and the naga of Vashj'ir, I was ready for a break from Elves Gone Bad before we go tackle Aszhara and Xavius.
ElrithCC Oct 24th 2011 7:11PM
Wasn't Xavius defeated in the Emerald Dream novel? And then finally killed once and for all in the last Cataclysm Teldrassil quest chain before going to Darkshore?
moura_andreluiz Oct 24th 2011 7:20PM
I kind agree in some points with priest without a cause, the dungeon challenge for me is not fun , if it were kill the boss a certain way i would be cool with it, i always hated timed runs in games, add to that the fact tha dungeons we ll be like Wotlk again (aoe everything and wonder how the boss died) .
I like some stuff tough , like not having a big bad, a new continent and the ally vs horde war but so far all the info has been underwhelming for me .
I ll wait and see .
Corath Oct 24th 2011 10:29PM
Since it fits with the topic, at my blog (http://corath.wordpress.com) I have a bit of a roundup of some of the highlights of BlizzCon 2011.
http://corath.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/blizzcon-a-magical-time/
Enjoy!
Philster043 Oct 25th 2011 12:05AM
Mana Obscura mentioned people didn't like Shadowfang Keep and Grim Batol. Why? I didn't see any problems with either one.
Hurbster Oct 25th 2011 2:43AM
Shadowfang was a PITA if you were a Tauren or a Dranei I know that.