MoP was a faction conflict centered expansion done right. Nearly everything that happened was because of the conflict. Actions had consequences. Unlike BFA where blizzard was writing two expansions into the one because they have a hard on for undead elf boobs.
Jordan Read Exactly. The “war” aspect of BFA felt like a super forced narrative to “fill in the gaps” of the Sylvanas story that they wanted to tell. Good war narratives have to be built up to be good and not just thrown at us out of no where. As well as having it be visually neutral and “morally gray” as to why it’s being started instead of painting a faction as good and the another as evil when both have been portrayed as good from different standpoints. MoP in my opinion was very well written because everything synergized and just made sense. Ignoring the fact that they basically threw away Garrosh’s previous writing and character, he was the perfect villain for the expansion in the way he was portrayed and his action. This is made further evident by his speeches during his fight in SoO.
@@july5345 uh what? All monk specs were viable. All dk specs were good. All locks were op if you had the right gear. There were winners and losers but it was hardly one spec per class
@@grizzman9989 im talking about classes with 2 and more dps specs and I meant PvP wise. Most classes had only 1 spec for pvp. it was like a 1 in 10 chance of seeing a warlock that's not destro, or warrior that's not arms.
MoP's probably my favorite expansion, i loved how they did cooking and the farm, the challenge mode sets, the class's were sooo much fun, Isle of Thunder is probably my favorite patch area, neck and neck with the sunwell one, the questing experience leveling up was really good too, I still love doing the Jade Forest questline. The Monk class was a really nice addition.
I agree that it was really good minus the fact that the made garrosh evil so that there would be a final boss since they couldn’t think of one. He was and still is my favorite character.
@@twinkacast cata was the worst expansion in my eyes, the thing that bugged me the most is that they removed rating requirement for the best PVP sets so now all of a sudden everyone can get the best PVP set even if they suck at the game. Wow was never the same ever since cata released they lost so many players that expansion the game was never able to fully recover back to the glory days
@@brandonsbettas I'd actually argue Garrosh worked really well as a villain. It's more of the fact that they chose to do with the first-ever boss who we didn't kill after defeating them. Instead of redeeming Garrosh they just plopped him down as a plot device for us to get into WOD and for him to die in a questline. And again, while I liked how he died and the quest leading up to it I wish he was instead saved rather than killed.
As much as everyone loves to rag on the "Panda" expansion, it honestly was really good. Classes were good, PvP was good, Raids were good, Timeless Isle was good. Monks too.
I disagree with everything except the Monks and Tier15 and Tier16. The first Raid(T14) tier was worse than Dragon Soul and MT Hyjal, still better than ToC, because what isn't?. PVP was CC hell and dominated by ranged/casters. Timeless isle made the game patch-based instead of expansion based and was mega boring to begin with. Classes started strong, but by 5.3 the simple rotations were as good as or even better than the full rotations and by 5.4 the simple rotations were the rotations for most classes.
@@rattlehead999 ill give you this cata gets more hate then it deserves but dragon soul and that stupid fucken under water zone can suck all the dicks. timeless isle was great because they through both factions into the same endgame zone and took away flying, all of the mop zones are beautiful as fuck. mop had dogshit easy specs bm, aff fury and combat but also had more difficult specs demo and enhance. plus two really good raids throne of thunder and siege of orgrimmar. lfr was shit but guess what that fucken came out in cata. also mop had one of the best daily quest systems where you could farm up your transmog whilst working on your cape. people who complain about mop pvp are shit at pvp that a fact.
WoW! The comment section is filled with players praising MOP or remembering it fondly :D That's something that only a couple of expansions have managed to do over the years imo.
Its a common trend in all fandoms - new stuff gets flamed relentlessly until newer stuff comes along to be flamed instead and the older stuff gets praised. See Star Wars and Star Trek for non-gaming similarities (people actually praise the SW prequels now...).
God that Alliance flying quest at the start was so hilarious at launch. There were so many players that the flying machines all blocked eachother out. You had like 15 people all complaining they can't see. It was like 3 AM and I couldn't stop laughing. Possibly one of the most entertaining experiences I've had in game.
MoP was an expac I had no expectations of being good, coming out of cata which I found to be really disappointing and going into this weird, panda, asian inspired, expansion, just felt so lame and like it was so far from what had made warcraft good to begin with. However, MoP had consistent content release schedule, the content was some of the best the wow team has ever produced with the Isle of Thunder and TImeless Isle being two of the best open world content patches ever in my opinion, not to mention some of the absolute best and most fun raids with Throne of Thunder and Siege of Orgrimmar. The class design and balance was THE best in wow as far as im concerned, damn never every spec was viable in both pvp and pve, and damn near every spec was really really fun to play. A lot of my favorite iterations of wow classes come from MoP. The pvp was extremely fun and competitive, my friends and I all got really into pushing arena rating during this xpac. The faction war stuff in the open world was interesting, and while at first I wasnt big on the Sha and the Pandas, the solid storytelling and beautiful world design really sucked me in over time. MoP was an xpac I expected to hate, but it was firing on all cylinders, great pve, great pvp, great class design, great balance, great world content. There's not much to dislike about MoP and to this day it remains one of my favorite wow xpacs, and the only one in recent years that I truly consider a great xpansion. Enough gushing for one comment though, I love MoP.
Stylistically and thematically MoP is probably my favorite expac. Some of the changes and additions made the game more appealing to me at the time (talent changes). The cinematic trailer is still number one for me.
With the new shadowlands leveling I chose to go back to pandaria. I gotta say the nostalgia and just the relaxed nature of the zones has been wonderful to experiences again. I remember being super bored of this xpac by the end of it but it truly was a gem that very few got to experience.
Considering past and future expansions mists was amazing. Visually and musically mop was amazing pure art. PvP was good the raids were amazing timeless isle was good....mop was beautiful.
Speaking of this xpac being considered a joke, when talking about the shadowlands leveling with my wife where players can pick what xpac to play through she always comes back with "yeah but what if someone picks the pandas!?!?" 😂 great videos btw! I am loving these trips down memory lane. 👍
Leveling alts with fully enchanted heirlooms was absolutely ridicilious, i one shot players at level 50-60 as a prot warrior with shield slam, and soloed ring of blood in nagrand as a disc priest. Great video, brings back so many good memories.
It’s a shame MoP was viewed so poorly - it was such a solid expac. Doing those CM’s is one of my best overall memories, and one of my proudest achievements. Did it all as a pug, and the pally gear remains maybe the best transmog armor they’ve ever made.
Since I started playing wow at the tail end of cata, MoP was my first time I ever experienced an expansion while everything was new and fresh. I know some of my memories are just nostalgia but I think Pandaria was visually so beautiful and it was a great time to be a new player because it was more accessible than the older game and before the game got more complicated and convoluted with later expansions.
Best expansion I EVER played. The pvp was absolutely amazing, and raid were actually difficult on heroic difficulty. And they did the timeless isle so right.
@@JaeyXVI there was the pvp power/resilience thing making it horrible for new players to get into pvp as the expansion progressed and also warriors and hunters got nerfed early on making them worse in pve because of pvp
I absolutely loved how beautiful and alive pretty much every inch of Pandaria looked and felt, there are so many cozy spaces you could find just by wandering around with no reason to exist it seemed other than that some map designer thought it'd be nice. I love that sort of stuff. The inns felt welcoming the towns were active, wildlife teeming without being too overcrowded (in most places) and that helped the more sinister areas of Pandaria stand out even better, the Dread Wastes, the Isle of Thunder when it released, whenever a sha infestation would erupt you knew it was some serious bad-news-bears. Maybe people were so incensed about the "fat lazy pandas" cause they saw too much of themselves in them?
I think one of the things I appreciate about MoP the most was that it genuinely felt as if there were lingering consequences to the war between factions. Perhaps the landscapes we'd been playing in for years beforehand made it all seem 'normal', but I'll never forget that /sharp/ contrast of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms before and after Garrosh's influence. This was also the first expansion I picked up the habit of having one of each class at max, because it felt like there was something fun in all of them I could find (I know I might be blind on this one, but I miss the Shadow Orbs mechanic and Devouring Plague for Shadow Priest so much that I find it difficult to enjoy the spec without it). Pandaren I feel neutral on, personally -- but now, after watching this and being reminded of the great time I had in this expansion, I think I'll be making a pudgy, plated emo of my own.
Honestly, even back during MoP’s run, I never really saw it as a joke. I actually really liked it. The music, the aesthetic, the worldbuilding and characters. Everything about it was great that I was surprised to hear that the majority of players seemed to hate it (I’ve seen people call the Pandaren a joke race, but I never really understood that complaint as while there were comedic moments, the Pandaren could deliver serious moments when needed).
@@WoWFtw8 the annoying thing is that Blizzard added GCD changes, less burst abilities etc. because by the end of MoP most specs could burst one another to oblivion. this was only cause of power creep huge numbers not class design, reduce stats and let us have a fk ton of abilities
The Vengeance cheese alone was my favorite part of this patch. Being able to finally level up a warrior or paladin as protection spec was insane and magnificent. You felt so powerful pulling so many mobs in questing! It made you WANT to play a tank andy Pally/War made it through this patch constantly Protspec even for dailies and questing.
Vengeance was honestly so great for farm status fun. By the time we had Siege of Orgrimmar on farm, we were starting to get really innovative with pushing vengeance over the top so that our tanks - particularly me, a Prot Warrior - could do more damage. Things like quick taunts to refresh Vengeance when not actively tanking; taking multiple extra stacks of debuffs, with personal and external cooldowns being used to mitigate that extra damage; using the DPS legendary cloak instead of the tank on fights we weren't in danger; or standing in things we really shouldn't have, like the slams on Garrosh intermission phase. My favorite was on Paragons of the Klaxxi, I'd take the mutation after we killed Rikkal at the beginning, and then hold on to it for the big burn phases, most notably the power burn on Xaril toward the middle of the fight. I'd pop my GG Macro (Recklessness, Avatar, Blood Fury, and a DPS Pot), pop Shield Wall and Demo Shout, mutate into the Scorpion, and proceed to spike over 1,000,000 DPS for the 30 seconds I mutated. Literally melted the entire boss during that 30 seconds. I know it had to go, but god that was so much fun as a tank.
My favorite thing in mop was dot snapshotting. It allowed demonology lock to be very strong at high gear levels with their doom dot and hand of guldan dot.
was my last expac as a hardcore player and ii dont mean that as a bad thing or ill to MoP i *LOVED* this expac. i loved the theme the music the art i remember being in 9th grade seeing the reveal trailer and just being HYPE. the day it came out i was getting out of school got home it was on my bed my mom got it and i was FLIPPING OUT while it was installing lol. it was my best time in PvE and PvP loved timeless and the biggest reason you said it in your video it felt whimsical and i LOVE that shit great time for me next to Wrath.
The lore had fantastic story and execution, the tiers felt well timed and placed, the final antagonist was also a heavily discussed and well written character. It was an old god as well as a faction conflict done correctly. The best part though was the incredible visuals and light tone it brought to an otherwise edgy and dark game.
Yup, Druid, Mage, Hunter, Warlock, if you played any of these, you'd love MoP's class design. Monk was good too, but not compared to those 4, while the rest of the classes were ass by 5.2-5.3 and just terrible by 5.4 due to the simple rotations being more powerful than the full rotation. Ranged/casters dominated PVE damage meters and PVP. 3v3 arenas were ok though.
Pandaria was seen as joke for a multitude of reasons - some of the major ones I think are associated with the below: 1. As you mentioned Pandaren were originally a joke race created by Samwise Didier that became canon with the founding of Orgrimmar. 2. At this point we've seen a lot of western game developers and Hollywood bend over backwards to breach the eastern markets in earnest. 3. It felt like a very fanservicey attempt to recoup the severe losses from the Cataclysm expansion which saw many players abandon the game. This made it feel like Blizzard was desperate to perform financially by bringing a much beloved and mysterious part of the WoW mythos to the spotlight. In hindsight, the expansion appears to have performed very well and introduced a set of systems that provided some longevity to the game like challenge modes, transmog and account-wide mounts which brought some life to older content.
I want them to bring back MoP reforging. Yes it needs some work but I feel like it and the secondary stats removed in WoD where victims of Blizz's habbit of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. When something doesn't work perfectly Blizz too often just flat out removes that feature instead of fixing it
Mists was The last expansion I played every patch of. I had taken breaks during Wrath, Cata, and Mop, but it was different since it was during content droughts and I always came back for the next patch. I skipped all of WOD, 90% of legion(came back for catchup mechanics and Sargeras fight,) and skipped all of BFA until a couple weeks ago when I decided to pick up BFA and grind out the allied race achievments before prepatch. I've always been a casual pvper with solid mechanical skill, but no desire to raid or get high rating in arena. MOP was the pinnacle for me because I finally had every single class at max level, decked out in epic pvp gear. I finally felt like the playing field was level and I was able to defeat many opponents in duels I had been destroyed by in past expansions due to gear differences. Im giving shadowlands a chance but if I can't easily keep at least 4 toons competitive in pvp through nothing but bgs and low elo arenas I'll probably dip before I even purchase the expansion(waiting a week this time instead of preordering.) Mists spoiled me too much and I don't think they'll ever have an expansion this friendly for solo players and non-raiders again. I ain't raiding for my pvp gear, at least I'm wrath I only needed a pve weapon.
MoP was definitely a fantastic xpac... there are so many positives, and so few negatives. I hated that they gated Valor gear behind rep, but beyond that, it had some incredible raids and a great storyline. I still remember the night it was released, questing with my (now long lost) guildies and being amazed by how incredible it looked and loving the questing, and loving the raids.
It was dogshit and it kicked PvP players in world PvP to the ground because they made resilience baseline effectively making pvp gear obsolete. Absolute dogshit of an expansion pvp wise.
In my eyes, Warcraft isn't just about one or a handful of expansions. Instead, it offers a doorway into an expansive fantasy realm that I cherish in its entirety rather than in pieces. It's perfectly alright for some expansions to lean into whimsy and grandeur more than others. I treasure both the grave and the light-hearted facets of the game equally. At its heart, Warcraft is a fantastical journey-a space where I unwind, revel in enjoyment, and bond with friends. I've always approached Warcraft as the immersive game it is, not a solemn narrative. To persistently demand its gravitas seems misplaced to me.
Still my favorite expansion. Had so much freaking content added compared the the ones that came before. And the writing was imo the best Blizz has done since warcraft 3.
All these years later, I still don't understand the pandaran "hate" .... MoP was a fine addition to WoW, and came at a time when we still had gear sets in both PvP and PvE, a story that was engaging and made sense, and a new class (Monk) that has proved to be a fan-favorite over the years. Lots of great content in MoP.
I started back in Wrath, played through Cata as a noob(was a nightmare LOL) and then I quit in the beginning of Pandaria, to come back at the end of Legion.. I'm kinda disappointed I didn't see Pandaria through to the end though. It DID look like it got better toward the end :)
When it came out; it was the first time I quit after the two months, it just didnt do it for me. That said, revisiting it now I have a *blast* there levelling alts; every single time. I regret not having stuck it out a bit more.
I played Vanilla/TBC/WOTLK and didn't play anything else. Upon first viewing I legit thought the Pandarian reveal was an April fools day bit, same with the Demon Hunter release. I started playing SoD last year and migrated to the fresh Cata servers for a 100% brand new blind play through. I am super hyped for MoP to come later this year, I have no clue what to expect.
It didnt quite incapsulate the MMO feel of all the classic expansions but MoP had a fantastic story, the best class gameplay and insanely good features (challenge mode for example and return of world bosses)
I rly loved Mop because i was old enough to buy my own computer and was abel to play arenas with my brother and cousins abd got my first 2k raiting. Good memoris :)
It's so dumb when people hate MoP, because it has pandas. Raiding is like 80% of WoW's content and there were barely any pandas in MoP's raids. Mogu'Shan Vaults: Mogu and Zandalari Heart of Fear: Mantid Terrace of Endless Springs: Sha corruption Throne of Thunder: Mogu and Zandalari Siege of Orgrimmar: Orcs and Goblins
I wonder if this expansion really wasn't that bad. I have personally never liked mop but I think it's because every one of my freinds abandoned the game here and I remember the game feeling empty boring and lonely by then so I quit before I really gave it a major chance
Wasnt the reason for pandaria the goal to get into the Chinese market? At least thats what I recall was said back then on business insiders. There was a panda in Warcraft 3 btw, the brewmaster during the bonus campaign
After BC and Wrath ofc, this was by far my favorite expansion. So much amazing content and a nice fresh environment from the last two very dark expansions. I truly loved the story, classes, environment, and the BIG NUMBERS ofc. They did everything right with a faction conflict expansion, and everything they did wrong was so easily overshadowed by the things they corrected and added over time (Timeless isle and legendary cloaks... i mean do i need to say more).
Though I stopped playing addictively at launch of Cata, I did come back and trial each of the Expansions and I will admit, I really enjoyed Pandaland. There were Class individual changes that I didn't like but the art, tunes, story and Old God spookiness did a lot to earn credit. Compared to BFA and Shadowfail, it was a masterpiece.
Ah.. MoP.. When I solo-tanked Sha of Pride Heroic and was number 1 damage, number 1 healing and last on damage taken. That was good times, wish it was still like that.
MoP was... incredible, honestly. It was over the top without being ridiculous, combat was dynamic and encouraged mobility, boss fight design was as good as its ever been (with only a few examples of 'urgh, that boss' syndrome), the graphics and music are outstandingly beautiful, there was never a shortage of things to do without it feeling grindy (with some exceptions - the legendary cloak being the prime suspect) and exploration felt worthwhile. Even the final patch with the Timeless Isle felt good, despite being filler! Only downsides? LFR and waiting forever for the expansion to end. And the toxic aspect of the playerbase (and former players) never stopping for breath in between complaining about everything. If was THE expansion for me for Raiding. I finally got into a decent guild that cleared all heroic content before nerfs (aka, before Mythic was introduced - which paradoxically was easier then the old Heroic setting) and played the whole expansion as a Warlock (so never being forced to heal off-spec) and dominating the damage meters. It was a feel good time for me. Shame it was followed up by the expansion that killed my enthusiasm for Retail WoW.
I remember how EVERYONE wanted to hate this expansion because of the pandas. In the end they loved it, let it be a lesson never judge a book by it's cover. I think there were pandas even in Warcraft 3.
10:53 I still think Rogues should have some kind of ranged weapon. It still seems odd to me that none of their specializations focus on pistols, hand crossbows or rifles.
I'm torn between the best thing in MoP, it was either PvP or vengeance. Hitting 2M+ shield slams in SoO was just so fun, trying to stand in LITERALLY EVERYTHING with a warrior, solotanking normal SoO in HC gear while having 400k+ dps. It was just insanely fun but it also required for you to know exactly how much can you survive. Best tanking experience ever in WoW imo.
2:05 "...the old god bit that pops up near the end of the expansion, I guess..." Looks like SOMEBODY didn't max out their Klaxxi rep to Exalted at the beginning of the expansion or you would have known the Old Gods (or at least their influence) were going to be the main antagonist throughout MoP.
Best expansion imo, I wish shadow orbs and devouring plague came back for shadow priests cause it was so much fun. I can't play shadow priest now without getting bored. Quit cause no flying in dreanor made me never want to leave the garrison
Judging by how unpopular it was compared to previous expansions I think it is a safe bet that we wont be getting classic mop servers. But I'm sure u could find a mop private server to relive the content for free!
@@ariannamvar3472 but far less popular then the 3 versions of the game we are almost certainly getting: vanilla, TBC, WotLK. If you think mop is coming to classic servers let me know, I just highly doubt it. Not that I wouldn't want mop classic servers. I would enjoy playing a monk again to see how it feels and the raids and pvp!
@@ariannamvar3472 they would stop after wrath because they would be getting less return on their investment. After wrath they wont do anything imo, they will keep the servers up until it doesn't make them money but only time will tell
Honestly the best expansion WoW has ever had in terms of class fantasy, class balance, quests/leveling, dungeons and raids. Yes you can dislike the artstyle and pandas, that's your preference ...but the actual content of the game was the peak for me.
I think getting a talent point every level was rewarding and a good motivation to get that next level. Now, several expansions later, there's not really a difference between levels
This was my fav expansion after bc. WotLK was good but the whole crusade bullshit in the middle ruin it. Pandas looked boss and were animated extremely well. I completely stopped after the isle of thunder after starting since classic. I’ve resubscribed in the last 2 days got a copy of BfA and it’s a whole damn new game and I’m impressed at how much they’ve tried and exceeded the visual aspects of a very old game.
MoP was a faction conflict centered expansion done right. Nearly everything that happened was because of the conflict. Actions had consequences.
Unlike BFA where blizzard was writing two expansions into the one because they have a hard on for undead elf boobs.
Jordan The “ fourth “ was should have been the war for pandaria
MoP felt more like a 4th war to me than BfA.
Jordan Read Exactly. The “war” aspect of BFA felt like a super forced narrative to “fill in the gaps” of the Sylvanas story that they wanted to tell. Good war narratives have to be built up to be good and not just thrown at us out of no where. As well as having it be visually neutral and “morally gray” as to why it’s being started instead of painting a faction as good and the another as evil when both have been portrayed as good from different standpoints. MoP in my opinion was very well written because everything synergized and just made sense. Ignoring the fact that they basically threw away Garrosh’s previous writing and character, he was the perfect villain for the expansion in the way he was portrayed and his action. This is made further evident by his speeches during his fight in SoO.
I Love almost everything about mop
Undead elf boobs are amazing tho
Mop was the expansion where every class was overpowered and it was amazing
It was an expansion that most class only had 1 spec that worked.
@@july5345 uh what? All monk specs were viable. All dk specs were good. All locks were op if you had the right gear. There were winners and losers but it was hardly one spec per class
@@july5345 I tanked in Prot, DPS in Fury, and PvP in Arms. That's 1, 2... 3. That's all three specs that worked well.
@@grizzman9989 im talking about classes with 2 and more dps specs and I meant PvP wise. Most classes had only 1 spec for pvp. it was like a 1 in 10 chance of seeing a warlock that's not destro, or warrior that's not arms.
@@iHitchiti I didn't make my words clear enough.
MoP's probably my favorite expansion, i loved how they did cooking and the farm, the challenge mode sets, the class's were sooo much fun, Isle of Thunder is probably my favorite patch area, neck and neck with the sunwell one, the questing experience leveling up was really good too, I still love doing the Jade Forest questline. The Monk class was a really nice addition.
By far my favorite expansion to this date. The music, story, characters, zones, etc were really really good.
I think my favorite was cata. Dragon Soul was a garbage raid but the rest of the expansion was really good.
I agree that it was really good minus the fact that the made garrosh evil so that there would be a final boss since they couldn’t think of one. He was and still is my favorite character.
@@twinkacast cata was the worst expansion in my eyes, the thing that bugged me the most is that they removed rating requirement for the best PVP sets so now all of a sudden everyone can get the best PVP set even if they suck at the game. Wow was never the same ever since cata released they lost so many players that expansion the game was never able to fully recover back to the glory days
@@brandonsbettas I'd actually argue Garrosh worked really well as a villain. It's more of the fact that they chose to do with the first-ever boss who we didn't kill after defeating them.
Instead of redeeming Garrosh they just plopped him down as a plot device for us to get into WOD and for him to die in a questline. And again, while I liked how he died and the quest leading up to it I wish he was instead saved rather than killed.
@@brandonsbettas they didn’t make him evil they foreshadowed what would happen in siege of orgrimmar all throughout wrath and cata
As much as everyone loves to rag on the "Panda" expansion, it honestly was really good. Classes were good, PvP was good, Raids were good, Timeless Isle was good. Monks too.
Except warriors
I disagree with everything except the Monks and Tier15 and Tier16. The first Raid(T14) tier was worse than Dragon Soul and MT Hyjal, still better than ToC, because what isn't?.
PVP was CC hell and dominated by ranged/casters. Timeless isle made the game patch-based instead of expansion based and was mega boring to begin with. Classes started strong, but by 5.3 the simple rotations were as good as or even better than the full rotations and by 5.4 the simple rotations were the rotations for most classes.
@@rattlehead999 yea yea blah blah its cool to hate on mop
@@jordonlegge9819 Nope it's cool to hate on Cata and WoD, MoP has been dick sucked since WoD.
@@rattlehead999 ill give you this cata gets more hate then it deserves but dragon soul and that stupid fucken under water zone can suck all the dicks. timeless isle was great because they through both factions into the same endgame zone and took away flying, all of the mop zones are beautiful as fuck. mop had dogshit easy specs bm, aff fury and combat but also had more difficult specs demo and enhance. plus two really good raids throne of thunder and siege of orgrimmar. lfr was shit but guess what that fucken came out in cata. also mop had one of the best daily quest systems where you could farm up your transmog whilst working on your cape. people who complain about mop pvp are shit at pvp that a fact.
dude, I just binge watched this series so far, because I discovered your channel today and now you upload this. this is nice
WoW! The comment section is filled with players praising MOP or remembering it fondly :D That's something that only a couple of expansions have managed to do over the years imo.
Its a common trend in all fandoms - new stuff gets flamed relentlessly until newer stuff comes along to be flamed instead and the older stuff gets praised. See Star Wars and Star Trek for non-gaming similarities (people actually praise the SW prequels now...).
God that Alliance flying quest at the start was so hilarious at launch. There were so many players that the flying machines all blocked eachother out. You had like 15 people all complaining they can't see. It was like 3 AM and I couldn't stop laughing. Possibly one of the most entertaining experiences I've had in game.
MoP was an expac I had no expectations of being good, coming out of cata which I found to be really disappointing and going into this weird, panda, asian inspired, expansion, just felt so lame and like it was so far from what had made warcraft good to begin with. However, MoP had consistent content release schedule, the content was some of the best the wow team has ever produced with the Isle of Thunder and TImeless Isle being two of the best open world content patches ever in my opinion, not to mention some of the absolute best and most fun raids with Throne of Thunder and Siege of Orgrimmar. The class design and balance was THE best in wow as far as im concerned, damn never every spec was viable in both pvp and pve, and damn near every spec was really really fun to play. A lot of my favorite iterations of wow classes come from MoP. The pvp was extremely fun and competitive, my friends and I all got really into pushing arena rating during this xpac. The faction war stuff in the open world was interesting, and while at first I wasnt big on the Sha and the Pandas, the solid storytelling and beautiful world design really sucked me in over time. MoP was an xpac I expected to hate, but it was firing on all cylinders, great pve, great pvp, great class design, great balance, great world content. There's not much to dislike about MoP and to this day it remains one of my favorite wow xpacs, and the only one in recent years that I truly consider a great xpansion. Enough gushing for one comment though, I love MoP.
I could read this all day
I think this sums it up for a lot of people really. What really suprises me is how classes all had 1 talent tree, but were all so good.
If I ever get to play enhancement again like it was in mop I'd consider resubbing
I would do anything for mop class design too be back, rip the best PvP this game will probably ever see:(
I agree, i came back since taking a break halfway through wod. What happened to pvp in bfa? Its not like it was in mop?
You sure have stepped up as a content creator these past few months.. keep it up man
This has been a really great lookback, fantastic job. MoP is right behind Wrath as my favorite expansion ever.
Stylistically and thematically MoP is probably my favorite expac. Some of the changes and additions made the game more appealing to me at the time (talent changes). The cinematic trailer is still number one for me.
Play on tauri mop private server
With the new shadowlands leveling I chose to go back to pandaria. I gotta say the nostalgia and just the relaxed nature of the zones has been wonderful to experiences again. I remember being super bored of this xpac by the end of it but it truly was a gem that very few got to experience.
Considering past and future expansions mists was amazing.
Visually and musically mop was amazing pure art. PvP was good the raids were amazing timeless isle was good....mop was beautiful.
Speaking of this xpac being considered a joke, when talking about the shadowlands leveling with my wife where players can pick what xpac to play through she always comes back with "yeah but what if someone picks the pandas!?!?" 😂 great videos btw! I am loving these trips down memory lane. 👍
This expansion had the most beautiful zones hands down
Agreed. But I still have a soft spot for BC’s nagrand.
chris pytko That’s nice too
Leveling alts with fully enchanted heirlooms was absolutely ridicilious, i one shot players at level 50-60 as a prot warrior with shield slam, and soloed ring of blood in nagrand as a disc priest. Great video, brings back so many good memories.
TheZeptux lol I remember that clearly, Prot warriors in low level pvp... shield slam was ridiculous 😂
Love this series. Thank you for putting it together.
It’s a shame MoP was viewed so poorly - it was such a solid expac. Doing those CM’s is one of my best overall memories, and one of my proudest achievements. Did it all as a pug, and the pally gear remains maybe the best transmog armor they’ve ever made.
WillE never had the makings of a varsity athlete.
Small hands that was his problem
Since I started playing wow at the tail end of cata, MoP was my first time I ever experienced an expansion while everything was new and fresh. I know some of my memories are just nostalgia but I think Pandaria was visually so beautiful and it was a great time to be a new player because it was more accessible than the older game and before the game got more complicated and convoluted with later expansions.
Exactly same with me, i was 13 yrs old and totally hooked haha
Best expansion I EVER played. The pvp was absolutely amazing, and raid were actually difficult on heroic difficulty. And they did the timeless isle so right.
The timeless isle was great as a timeless isle, not as something to be implemented in the whole world.
i would kinda disagree on pvp but everything else is spot on
@@myagi20000 the pvp was the best part wtf
@@JaeyXVI there was the pvp power/resilience thing making it horrible for new players to get into pvp as the expansion progressed and also warriors and hunters got nerfed early on making them worse in pve because of pvp
Well that's because old HC is current mythic
I absolutely loved how beautiful and alive pretty much every inch of Pandaria looked and felt, there are so many cozy spaces you could find just by wandering around with no reason to exist it seemed other than that some map designer thought it'd be nice. I love that sort of stuff.
The inns felt welcoming the towns were active, wildlife teeming without being too overcrowded (in most places) and that helped the more sinister areas of Pandaria stand out even better, the Dread Wastes, the Isle of Thunder when it released, whenever a sha infestation would erupt you knew it was some serious bad-news-bears.
Maybe people were so incensed about the "fat lazy pandas" cause they saw too much of themselves in them?
I think one of the things I appreciate about MoP the most was that it genuinely felt as if there were lingering consequences to the war between factions. Perhaps the landscapes we'd been playing in for years beforehand made it all seem 'normal', but I'll never forget that /sharp/ contrast of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms before and after Garrosh's influence. This was also the first expansion I picked up the habit of having one of each class at max, because it felt like there was something fun in all of them I could find (I know I might be blind on this one, but I miss the Shadow Orbs mechanic and Devouring Plague for Shadow Priest so much that I find it difficult to enjoy the spec without it). Pandaren I feel neutral on, personally -- but now, after watching this and being reminded of the great time I had in this expansion, I think I'll be making a pudgy, plated emo of my own.
Honestly, even back during MoP’s run, I never really saw it as a joke. I actually really liked it. The music, the aesthetic, the worldbuilding and characters. Everything about it was great that I was surprised to hear that the majority of players seemed to hate it (I’ve seen people call the Pandaren a joke race, but I never really understood that complaint as while there were comedic moments, the Pandaren could deliver serious moments when needed).
The pvp in MOP was the best
all i see here are facts
100%
every class had their OP thing, if you could play it right, you were super strong.
as it should be
@@WoWFtw8 except for Spriests lol but fk them anyway
@@WoWFtw8 the annoying thing is that Blizzard added GCD changes, less burst abilities etc. because by the end of MoP most specs could burst one another to oblivion. this was only cause of power creep huge numbers not class design, reduce stats and let us have a fk ton of abilities
I really liked MoP. The relaxed tone of the first act was refreshing and paired well with how dark the final act turned out to be.
"Apply death, until its dead" :D
Marvelous!
The worst part about MoP is having to wait for part 2 of this
Dot snapshotting was what separated the good from the great. Being able to pump out more dps than an equally geared person was so satisfying.
The Vengeance cheese alone was my favorite part of this patch. Being able to finally level up a warrior or paladin as protection spec was insane and magnificent. You felt so powerful pulling so many mobs in questing!
It made you WANT to play a tank andy Pally/War made it through this patch constantly Protspec even for dailies and questing.
Vengeance was honestly so great for farm status fun. By the time we had Siege of Orgrimmar on farm, we were starting to get really innovative with pushing vengeance over the top so that our tanks - particularly me, a Prot Warrior - could do more damage. Things like quick taunts to refresh Vengeance when not actively tanking; taking multiple extra stacks of debuffs, with personal and external cooldowns being used to mitigate that extra damage; using the DPS legendary cloak instead of the tank on fights we weren't in danger; or standing in things we really shouldn't have, like the slams on Garrosh intermission phase. My favorite was on Paragons of the Klaxxi, I'd take the mutation after we killed Rikkal at the beginning, and then hold on to it for the big burn phases, most notably the power burn on Xaril toward the middle of the fight. I'd pop my GG Macro (Recklessness, Avatar, Blood Fury, and a DPS Pot), pop Shield Wall and Demo Shout, mutate into the Scorpion, and proceed to spike over 1,000,000 DPS for the 30 seconds I mutated. Literally melted the entire boss during that 30 seconds.
I know it had to go, but god that was so much fun as a tank.
My favorite thing in mop was dot snapshotting. It allowed demonology lock to be very strong at high gear levels with their doom dot and hand of guldan dot.
Been waiting for the mop changes videos 😁
Mop scenarios and music were very very well done.
was my last expac as a hardcore player and ii dont mean that as a bad thing or ill to MoP i *LOVED* this expac. i loved the theme the music the art i remember being in 9th grade seeing the reveal trailer and just being HYPE. the day it came out i was getting out of school got home it was on my bed my mom got it and i was FLIPPING OUT while it was installing lol. it was my best time in PvE and PvP loved timeless and the biggest reason you said it in your video it felt whimsical and i LOVE that shit great time for me next to Wrath.
MoP is tied for my favorite period in WoW with vanilla
The lore had fantastic story and execution, the tiers felt well timed and placed, the final antagonist was also a heavily discussed and well written character. It was an old god as well as a faction conflict done correctly. The best part though was the incredible visuals and light tone it brought to an otherwise edgy and dark game.
This expansion makes me feel very nostalgic.
No wonder you liked MOP lol.
You played druid and warlock xD. I will never forget those insane chaos waves lol
Everything was insane in MoP if you were good enough to play your class correctly, thats why it was good
Give me Symbiosis back dammit >:(
Yup, Druid, Mage, Hunter, Warlock, if you played any of these, you'd love MoP's class design. Monk was good too, but not compared to those 4, while the rest of the classes were ass by 5.2-5.3 and just terrible by 5.4 due to the simple rotations being more powerful than the full rotation. Ranged/casters dominated PVE damage meters and PVP. 3v3 arenas were ok though.
Dude your channel is amazing!
I loved the art style of this expansion the most!!!
Pandaria was seen as joke for a multitude of reasons - some of the major ones I think are associated with the below:
1. As you mentioned Pandaren were originally a joke race created by Samwise Didier that became canon with the founding of Orgrimmar.
2. At this point we've seen a lot of western game developers and Hollywood bend over backwards to breach the eastern markets in earnest.
3. It felt like a very fanservicey attempt to recoup the severe losses from the Cataclysm expansion which saw many players abandon the game. This made it feel like Blizzard was desperate to perform financially by bringing a much beloved and mysterious part of the WoW mythos to the spotlight.
In hindsight, the expansion appears to have performed very well and introduced a set of systems that provided some longevity to the game like challenge modes, transmog and account-wide mounts which brought some life to older content.
This xpack was the best for classes and pvp. Zone were nice, colorfull and different. Feel very nostalgic about it
Say what you will, MoP was awesome. I had so many good memories here.
@@wyrmwoode Legion tho
@@ForOne814 nope, not Legion.
@@ForOne814 legion was good for pve but pvp sucked
@@JaeyXVI yeah. Scaling was good but everything else was kinda meh.
@@wyrmwoode Nope the first meh expansions and the last.
Hnads down best class design in any MMO to date. Every class flet like an absolute BEAST to play.
I want them to bring back MoP reforging. Yes it needs some work but I feel like it and the secondary stats removed in WoD where victims of Blizz's habbit of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. When something doesn't work perfectly Blizz too often just flat out removes that feature instead of fixing it
Another good video WillE. Panda goofiness aside, I had fun during mop; pvp and pve.
Mist of Pandaria in a nutshell:
🐼🚫⚔️
🐼❤️🥡
Ave true to Caesar
Still was a great xpac
I loved mop. Was best expansion to me. Pvp was great, map design was great, atmosphere was amazing and chill vibe
Mists was The last expansion I played every patch of. I had taken breaks during Wrath, Cata, and Mop, but it was different since it was during content droughts and I always came back for the next patch. I skipped all of WOD, 90% of legion(came back for catchup mechanics and Sargeras fight,) and skipped all of BFA until a couple weeks ago when I decided to pick up BFA and grind out the allied race achievments before prepatch. I've always been a casual pvper with solid mechanical skill, but no desire to raid or get high rating in arena. MOP was the pinnacle for me because I finally had every single class at max level, decked out in epic pvp gear. I finally felt like the playing field was level and I was able to defeat many opponents in duels I had been destroyed by in past expansions due to gear differences. Im giving shadowlands a chance but if I can't easily keep at least 4 toons competitive in pvp through nothing but bgs and low elo arenas I'll probably dip before I even purchase the expansion(waiting a week this time instead of preordering.) Mists spoiled me too much and I don't think they'll ever have an expansion this friendly for solo players and non-raiders again. I ain't raiding for my pvp gear, at least I'm wrath I only needed a pve weapon.
Mists by far was my favorite expansion, especially with class design. I miss demonology warlock.
I was that one mad fool who tried to make Demonology work in PvP because it was so damn fun.
It was Destro for me. HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE Chaos Bolts.
WoD made me sad when they nerfed the hell out of it and also turned us back into static casters.
@@andromidius man those chaos bolts were the worst especially since i was a rogue n gettin caught by an unsuspected bolt was gg
MoP was definitely a fantastic xpac... there are so many positives, and so few negatives. I hated that they gated Valor gear behind rep, but beyond that, it had some incredible raids and a great storyline. I still remember the night it was released, questing with my (now long lost) guildies and being amazed by how incredible it looked and loving the questing, and loving the raids.
mist of pandaria is my favourite expansion and i'm really looking forward to play MoP Classic again in maybe 3 years :)
More like 6
The pandaren and Pandaria were in Warcraft III as well ... In the Broxegar campaign...so I don't know why they thought it was a joke
PVP in MoP was godly! I miss it so much! So many abilities and PvP power. What a time to play. Now its ruined. RIP MoP
It was dogshit and it kicked PvP players in world PvP to the ground because they made resilience baseline effectively making pvp gear obsolete. Absolute dogshit of an expansion pvp wise.
@@DanteRedeemed Just because you were bad does not mean the expansion was bad lol.
@@DanteRedeemed Worked out great for me, baseline resil and Heroic raid gear that is 50ilvl higher then PvP gear was fun destroying everybody.
Timeless Isle was the best, most fun patch/zone ever. Nothing since has come close.
In my eyes, Warcraft isn't just about one or a handful of expansions. Instead, it offers a doorway into an expansive fantasy realm that I cherish in its entirety rather than in pieces. It's perfectly alright for some expansions to lean into whimsy and grandeur more than others. I treasure both the grave and the light-hearted facets of the game equally. At its heart, Warcraft is a fantastical journey-a space where I unwind, revel in enjoyment, and bond with friends. I've always approached Warcraft as the immersive game it is, not a solemn narrative. To persistently demand its gravitas seems misplaced to me.
Still my favorite expansion. Had so much freaking content added compared the the ones that came before. And the writing was imo the best Blizz has done since warcraft 3.
All these years later, I still don't understand the pandaran "hate" .... MoP was a fine addition to WoW, and came at a time when we still had gear sets in both PvP and PvE, a story that was engaging and made sense, and a new class (Monk) that has proved to be a fan-favorite over the years. Lots of great content in MoP.
I started back in Wrath, played through Cata as a noob(was a nightmare LOL) and then I quit in the beginning of Pandaria, to come back at the end of Legion..
I'm kinda disappointed I didn't see Pandaria through to the end though. It DID look like it got better toward the end :)
When it came out; it was the first time I quit after the two months, it just didnt do it for me. That said, revisiting it now I have a *blast* there levelling alts; every single time. I regret not having stuck it out a bit more.
I played Vanilla/TBC/WOTLK and didn't play anything else. Upon first viewing I legit thought the Pandarian reveal was an April fools day bit, same with the Demon Hunter release.
I started playing SoD last year and migrated to the fresh Cata servers for a 100% brand new blind play through. I am super hyped for MoP to come later this year, I have no clue what to expect.
3 years later still waiting for part 2/2
It didnt quite incapsulate the MMO feel of all the classic expansions but MoP had a fantastic story, the best class gameplay and insanely good features (challenge mode for example and return of world bosses)
My favorite expansion
Peak of PvP 💕
I played 0 sec in MoP. The first time I put WoW on the shelf. It was just too much deviation from the original fantasy direction.
I rly loved Mop because i was old enough to buy my own computer and was abel to play arenas with my brother and cousins abd got my first 2k raiting. Good memoris :)
And we didnt had a great combo, we played ww enhance and holy priest
Really enjoyed mop back in the day!
We will all come back to pandaria soon, that day I will cry the manliest of tears
This is the most special expansion for me because I was at the launch event in Cologne, Germany
Can t wait to replay Pandaria.
I will be there🎉❤
i loved mop so much. ToT is my all time favorite raid
It's so dumb when people hate MoP, because it has pandas. Raiding is like 80% of WoW's content and there were barely any pandas in MoP's raids.
Mogu'Shan Vaults: Mogu and Zandalari
Heart of Fear: Mantid
Terrace of Endless Springs: Sha corruption
Throne of Thunder: Mogu and Zandalari
Siege of Orgrimmar: Orcs and Goblins
I wonder if this expansion really wasn't that bad. I have personally never liked mop but I think it's because every one of my freinds abandoned the game here and I remember the game feeling empty boring and lonely by then so I quit before I really gave it a major chance
Wasnt the reason for pandaria the goal to get into the Chinese market? At least thats what I recall was said back then on business insiders.
There was a panda in Warcraft 3 btw, the brewmaster during the bonus campaign
My favourite expansion.
After BC and Wrath ofc, this was by far my favorite expansion. So much amazing content and a nice fresh environment from the last two very dark expansions. I truly loved the story, classes, environment, and the BIG NUMBERS ofc. They did everything right with a faction conflict expansion, and everything they did wrong was so easily overshadowed by the things they corrected and added over time (Timeless isle and legendary cloaks... i mean do i need to say more).
Though I stopped playing addictively at launch of Cata, I did come back and trial each of the Expansions and I will admit, I really enjoyed Pandaland. There were Class individual changes that I didn't like but the art, tunes, story and Old God spookiness did a lot to earn credit.
Compared to BFA and Shadowfail, it was a masterpiece.
10:44 the Deadzone for hunters had been removed since Patch 2.3 in BC.
Ah.. MoP.. When I solo-tanked Sha of Pride Heroic and was number 1 damage, number 1 healing and last on damage taken. That was good times, wish it was still like that.
MoP was soooo goooood, every class was bonkers and it was awesome (except for warlock fear never breaking on dmg, that was frustrating)
This is still my favorite expansion!
Would love to see a full video about monks.
MoP was... incredible, honestly. It was over the top without being ridiculous, combat was dynamic and encouraged mobility, boss fight design was as good as its ever been (with only a few examples of 'urgh, that boss' syndrome), the graphics and music are outstandingly beautiful, there was never a shortage of things to do without it feeling grindy (with some exceptions - the legendary cloak being the prime suspect) and exploration felt worthwhile. Even the final patch with the Timeless Isle felt good, despite being filler!
Only downsides? LFR and waiting forever for the expansion to end. And the toxic aspect of the playerbase (and former players) never stopping for breath in between complaining about everything.
If was THE expansion for me for Raiding. I finally got into a decent guild that cleared all heroic content before nerfs (aka, before Mythic was introduced - which paradoxically was easier then the old Heroic setting) and played the whole expansion as a Warlock (so never being forced to heal off-spec) and dominating the damage meters. It was a feel good time for me.
Shame it was followed up by the expansion that killed my enthusiasm for Retail WoW.
I remember how EVERYONE wanted to hate this expansion because of the pandas. In the end they loved it, let it be a lesson never judge a book by it's cover. I think there were pandas even in Warcraft 3.
Such a great expansion. I was hyped as soon as it was announced, never understood the hate.
10:53 I still think Rogues should have some kind of ranged weapon. It still seems odd to me that none of their specializations focus on pistols, hand crossbows or rifles.
PvP wise - best expansion
By far the most underrated expansion imo
I'm torn between the best thing in MoP, it was either PvP or vengeance. Hitting 2M+ shield slams in SoO was just so fun, trying to stand in LITERALLY EVERYTHING with a warrior, solotanking normal SoO in HC gear while having 400k+ dps. It was just insanely fun but it also required for you to know exactly how much can you survive. Best tanking experience ever in WoW imo.
2:05 "...the old god bit that pops up near the end of the expansion, I guess..." Looks like SOMEBODY didn't max out their Klaxxi rep to Exalted at the beginning of the expansion or you would have known the Old Gods (or at least their influence) were going to be the main antagonist throughout MoP.
Never liked mop lore wise and dailys, but gameplay was good for sure, 81-82 twinks was my fav. And those impressive chaos bolts, oh my...and hozens!
Old Talent System was a Kill for me in MoP… Felt so unrewarding leveling up to this date on retail.
Best expansion imo, I wish shadow orbs and devouring plague came back for shadow priests cause it was so much fun. I can't play shadow priest now without getting bored. Quit cause no flying in dreanor made me never want to leave the garrison
MoP was a fantastic expansion, right behind BC in my books
I wold give anything for blizzard to make a MoP classic server
Judging by how unpopular it was compared to previous expansions I think it is a safe bet that we wont be getting classic mop servers. But I'm sure u could find a mop private server to relive the content for free!
@@MRkriegs I mean it's much more popular than current expansions so :/
@@ariannamvar3472 but far less popular then the 3 versions of the game we are almost certainly getting: vanilla, TBC, WotLK. If you think mop is coming to classic servers let me know, I just highly doubt it. Not that I wouldn't want mop classic servers. I would enjoy playing a monk again to see how it feels and the raids and pvp!
@@MRkriegs It just doesn't make sense why blizzard would stop at Wrath. What would they do after wrath?
@@ariannamvar3472 they would stop after wrath because they would be getting less return on their investment. After wrath they wont do anything imo, they will keep the servers up until it doesn't make them money but only time will tell
Honestly the best expansion WoW has ever had in terms of class fantasy, class balance, quests/leveling, dungeons and raids. Yes you can dislike the artstyle and pandas, that's your preference ...but the actual content of the game was the peak for me.
I think getting a talent point every level was rewarding and a good motivation to get that next level. Now, several expansions later, there's not really a difference between levels
This was my fav expansion after bc. WotLK was good but the whole crusade bullshit in the middle ruin it. Pandas looked boss and were animated extremely well. I completely stopped after the isle of thunder after starting since classic. I’ve resubscribed in the last 2 days got a copy of BfA and it’s a whole damn new game and I’m impressed at how much they’ve tried and exceeded the visual aspects of a very old game.