.

[Banard]

.

[Lisaara]

As I tell everyone, Beta will NEVER get out all bugs and pvp changes happen a lot during every expac. MoP didn't have any more than the other expacs then. Actually I think it had less compared to Wrath.

The only constant I can tell you to expect always is 'Change'. That is the only constant in the universe and WoW is not excluded.

As for mists, I loved it overall, even as a hunter, though I wish the rotation for BM hunters was a little less cooldown based.

[Makoes]

Over all with BM I am pleased, though my one main concern is still with BM tenacity pet's being to squishy and not holding aggro like they use to.
MoP over all has been really fun, though I think there are FAR to many factions that require rep grinding and that's just led me to leveling alts instead of rep grinding. But the pet battles are fun, the scenery and atmosphere of the game is great.
And there was some pretty neat looking gear.

[peanutbuttercup]

Final thoughts...
- Tracking rare pets was an interesting mechanic, I wouldn't mind seeing that continued in the future.
- Raided for the first time as BM. Still BM, though my toes are dipping back into Survival. Hoping that the specs can remain fairly balanced in the future and competitive with other classes (5.4 has been much better, but 5.3 was painful and a benchfest for many hunters.)
- Dealing with (and hating) button bloat. Recently it's been a little better, with some of the talent changes (passive Blink Strike) and a whole lot of macroing. I guess I would be satisfied if they just don't add more to the already full button bar in the next expansion, we shall see.
- And not hunter related but still "pets," pet battling has been my favorite part of this expansion! I thought I'd hate it and swore to never do it, but I guess I was wrong.

[Sukurachi]

though I think there are FAR too many factions that require rep grinding

This has been an issue for me.
I have a number of alts, all of whom have crafts capped.

I find it frustrating that none of the reputation dailies can be started until you hit level 90. This means my tailor, my enchanter, my alchemist... none of them can buy the faction-related recipes until they start grinding reputation, and that not until they actually hit level 90.

Otherwise, I've absolutely LOVED MoP.

I found most of the quest chains absolutely fascinating and enchanting. Some were gripping and moving. Most kept my interest, even through multiple repetitions on alts.

And I have to say that the cinematic that closes out the Wandering Isle, as you fly off to join the Horde, is just heart-stopping!

[Castile]

I really liked it overall.

It was however alot harder for me to raid as a hunter due to nerf,buff,nerf,buff and I felt so angry and upset at times at my own performance. (prob didnt help my RL was a jerk). So although i saw some heroic progression the raiding side was not as fun.

In terms of quests etc I think it was awesome. I enjoyed alot of the quest chains and lvled alot of alts this time round. As it stands every toon on my home realm (which is full on one account) is either 90 or 85+. I hope to get all my alts to 90 before WoD so I have one of every class to play

The rep grind didn't bother me tbh. I was used to handing in cloth and the tabard grind so dailies didn't bother me so much.

I liked the new pet tracking so much! Was such fun to find the footprints and follow them to your prize. I hope we get more of that!

And ofcourse the mounts!! <3

[Danielfboone]

I think it was a pretty good xpac for Hunters, especially for BM. I liked the new talent system and the way the most used things became baseline. I would make one exception to that however. I still don't like that Intimidation is available to all specs. It was always one of the things that made BM unique and fun. I loved the pet tracking and expanded stables but hated the new Spirit Beasts and how hard they made them to get. Luckily I wasn't enthused about having a spirit porcupine anyway. I wish they would have made a spirit Quilen.

I am also strongly opposed to this idea of petless Hunters. It would only make any kind of sense if we had our melee abilities back and they were strongly buffed.

I am one who liked the way the rep gaining worked. I thought the gated rep at the beginning made perfect sense and I liked the daily quest system. I only have the one level 90 though so I only went through it once. I thought the questing was great, the Pandaren starting area was fantastic, and the dungeons and raids were very good.

To me the worst part of MoP was patch 5.3. I hated the weekly quest and only did enough to get the mini hydra. I never went back to Durotar after that. I think it was the most boring patch in the history of the game.

Overall, I enjoyed MoP except for the fact that everyone in my guild stopped playing one by one starting with the leader. I basically have played the whole expansion solo and have only done LFR raids. However, I have grown to like how I can log in when I want and raid when I want without being tied to a schedule so it hasn't been all bad. I have missed the socialization though.

I'm looking forward to WoD and think it will come about 6 months from now at the most. At least I hope it doesn't take longer. I really hope they start the beta soon and I'd like to get in it like I was for MoP.

[peanutbuttercup]

Oh yes, the increased stable size! That's definitely a plus for me. Can't believe that slipped my mind.

[Vephriel]

Mists of Pandaria was a beautiful expansion, I really enjoyed the aesthetics and the scenery.

I'm not sure if I have any strong opinions on the mechanical side of things. Though I don't think it was directly the expansion's fault, my interest in WoW started to wane a bit this era. I didn't do any raiding, and I barely participated in content patches. Something about the endgame in MoP didn't grab me, but again I can't really say if that's the fault of the game or if it was just that time for me after about 8 straight years of playing.

Due to all of the above I have a vaguely mixed opinion since I had been looking forward to MoP so much, but then I lost interest. Overall I definitely enjoyed it, especially while I was actively leveling the first time through. I just don't have any lingering feelings of excitement or nostalgia like I usually get towards the end of an expansion.

I still have so many reputation grinds to do which I'll probably just leave for later when I can power through them at a higher level.

I loved pretty much all the pets we got though. (as long as I don't dwell on the Mushan *cries*)

[Wain]

Well I don't PvP (unless there's a special mount or pet involved! ) so I can't comment on that. I know people who do PvP become a lot more frustrated by class imbalance as it's far more personal. It's not some NPC you died to... you lost to another person.

But for PvE I really enjoyed it. I play BM and find it very comfortable.

And we did get some amazing pets. I never thought I'd see triceratopses in the game, nor that they'd look be so beautifully done. Quilen were also really cool. I remember the development on the beta as they seemed to change skeletons every other patch and we were worried how they were going to turn out weird... but in the end they got them just right. Goats... I know there are people who love them but I still feel they were an unexpected tame that we could have skipped in favour of mushan, yaks or kunchong. Before they became tameable I don't really remember many people yearning for them the way they did those other species. But overall I think we did pretty well

[Myrrmi]

I am a PvE BM (PvPing only if there's really nothing else to do or my PvP server demands it) and I really enjoyed the ride and feel quite comfortable with where I am today - and can't wait for WoD.
If it wasn't my eternal love for Northrend itself, I would say MoP has been the best expac ever.


The most treasured jewels that MoP brought me are:

1. Flex - it gave me the courage to start real raiding, which is a blast. Now I plan to be a regular raider in WoD, which should be even easier with the system extending to current normal.

2. More pet slots and new pet families. Waterwalking and b-rez on top of a hero and emergency heal! In your face, you mail-stealing shammies! XD

3. Talent system - easy to get into and operate, including changing at any time you need, yet still not completely idiot-proof (I have idiot-proofness)

4. Pet battles! Even though I'm more of a collector than a battler, I really enjoy them as an alternative option for alts levelling.

5. All the questing fun - both while leveling and at max level. 5.1 was single-handedly the greatest questing experience I've ever had, with 5.2 not far behind. I didn't even mind the GL that much, although they could have been a bit speeded-up.


What I don't like and would love it to go/change:

1. The pet taunt change. Could you change it back to the old way again, please? Pwetty please...? I'll give you cookies :3

2. Cats loosing any buff/debuff value for lvl<80 characters, while they're the most common and easy to get low level pet group, and also the one with the most models. It just plain sucks, such a waste.

3. The buff-nerf rollercoaster due to PvP reasons. Seriously... /cuddles her poor neutralised stampede pets

[Kööna]

To be honest, I really like MoP. At the beginning, when Blizzard announced that we would be able to play Pandaren, I thought it was a very ridiculous idea. When it came out, I was stunned with the environement's beauty. The only area I didn't like in MoP were the Dread Wastes. I remember getting really angry at Blizzard for ruining the Vale of Eternal Blossoms... x)

The Pandaren ended up being really awesome to play. (I never finished leveling my monk....and she is my only Pandaren. Hahaha.) They actually had credibility and I enjoyed everything about Pandaria...besides..... the fact that you had to do so much reputation grinding.... I hated the fact that I had to do dailies all the time to either get valor points or to get the rep I needed....It just reminded me of a bunch of reputations I actually didn't enjoy grinding back in the days. (Even though they were a lot harder to grind back in vanilla!)

TL;DR: I liked MoP, but I hope they won't put so many dailies and reputation to grind WHILE doing dailies...I get vored of dailies...ugh!

[Tsiya]

We got some nifty new pets, some new mechanics, some ups and downs. I'm having a hard time comparing because so far my favorite xpack was BC before they nerfed everything into oblivion. The scenery is the best.

[GormanGhaste]

It's interesting that 50 stable slots seems to finally be enough. For now, anyway I remember thinking that people would always be clamoring for more stable slots, no matter how many we got. I seem to have been proven wrong.

Edit: grammar!

[Lisaara]

Nope, 50 seems to be the magic number.

[pengupuff]

I liked MoP quite a bit, moreso than Cata. While I don't main a Pandaren, I think they're very endearing and really liked a lot of the characters that were introduced, like Lorewalker Cho, Taran Zhu, and Chen Stormstout. The new zones were beautiful, and I agree that we were spoiled with pets. So many! I was also really into the ongoing Wrathion quest chain.

I wasn't thrilled with all the dailies and I never got into the farming, but being a Pokemon fan, I liked the new pet battle system, though there are a few broken combinations that can be exploited if you're playing against others.

Overall, I'd say MoP is my second favorite expansion, right behind Wrath.

[Banard]

Lots of interesting points, it is interesting seeing the game through other peoples eyes.

Expect of course:

I'm having a hard time comparing because so far my favorite xpack was BC before they nerfed everything into oblivion.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()

ohh look its BC and this game is so hard! (note the sarcasm)

[Danielfboone]

Hey, I still use a cast sequence macro for Kill Command, Arcane, and Cobra. It maintains my focus and gets off KC on time. I manually weave in the other stuff like Glaive Toss, Kill Shot, Serpent (usually only once), Bestial Wrath, Dire Beast, and Rapid Fire and will spam Arcane during BW if I can. I also use Blink Strikes because I have more than enough buttons to push.

The sarcasm really wasn't necessary.

[Snope]

I don't think I realized how invested I got into Pandaria until the Vale of Eternal Blossoms was ruined. What clinched it was when I ran into Taran Zhu in the Siege of Orgimmar. Unlike in the Jade Forest where he comes across as kind of a jerk, he sounded absolutely devastated, as though the outsiders had betrayed his trust. I honestly felt a bit like I should have never come to Pandaria at that point.

I really enjoyed Pandaria's atmosphere. Unlike other expansions which focused on continually escalating stakes, Pandaria instead dialed it back and gave us a more relaxed and downright beautiful environment. Instead of fighting demonic hellbeasts from hell... We did silly quests where we helped with farming and started a farm of our own, attended a monastery full of people who are supposedly able to defeat 1000 999 opponents in a row, and fought against local fauna that know enough kung fu to make them more powerful than the armies of the Scourge. I had a feeling that things would go down the crapper as I continued through the expansion, but it's still nice change of pace to have an expansion where the grimdark starts later on rather than being there from the beginning.

Monks were a nice addition, especially since Brewmasters kill people with beer and sustain themselves through what is effectively damage procrastination. Hopefully we'll see more racial variety with Monks when the character models are updated. We seriously need more drunken Dwarf boxers and kung-fu moocows.

[SylviaDragon]

It was a mixed bag for me.
Pros:
1 amazing zones, a lovely atmosphere and quests that go beyond "kill 10 boars. did it? good. kill 20 more."
2 I liked the new rare tracking system. I think some pets were *too* easy to find but not having some deathknight fall from the sky and kill my rare after two days of camping was an excellent breath of fresh air. I also *loved* helping other hunters track their pets. I made a lot of new friends that way and it was a blast. "the tracks are over here" "wait, the footprint glitch means we have to go that way" "I think we are close, fly ahead and flare that bottleneck up ahead. I will close in from behind" "I found him! I found him!"
3 some of the new vanity pets were cool. I enjoyed some of the new models we got.
4 this xpack seemed to focus a lot more on fun/vanity items than other expansions. in years gone by you were seen as the life of the (afk) raid party and often marked as rich/pro if you had had the foresight to keep "that one item from that one quest in that one zone that turns you into <insert mob here>" but now there are lots of colctible items to keep around just for laughs. face masks, flippable tables and other items that are fun to use when killing time or roll playing.
5 Better quality models. I love my chain kitty. Smantha is my lovable, bloodthirsty little mop tiger.
6 all rare mobs became a little less infuriating and a little more rewarding with their buffs, vanity and sellable items that made them worth hunting.
7 As much as I hated running into crossrealm players, the idea of battletag and crossrealm parties was a game changer for me. One of the best things they have even done in my eyes. Most of my friends left my server years ago so being able to still hang out with, raid with and rbg with them made the game that much more fun.

cons:
1 although BM finally had its time in the spotlight, that spotlight was flickering on and off all exspantion. In the end it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. (although college destroying my ability to comprehend fun was probably another big part of it.) the up, down, up, down, buff, nerf, activated, passive, new spells, no spells chaos of this xpac finally made me give up and turn the game off. I could no longer keep up with the changes to my class. I'm not even sure what spells I had by the time I quit.
2 waayyyy to many daily quests. just...like....too many. no. bad. bad blizzard! go home and think about what you did! I spent six hours a day trying to get them all done and then I made the mistake of leveling an alt! (although the warbringer tokens did fix that pretty quick to thank you for that.)
3 way too many things locked away behind a hefty amount of new reputations all swarming in at once.
4 LFR was not fun. I'm glad to hear it is on the decline. even as the top raider in two guilds I found some of the boss fights to be a little too complex. (I hated anything that involved doing a complex dance to avoid getting hit while you lagged out from all the stampede cool downs being unleashed.) Some raids felt more like extra homework than a game but I guess that is to be expected now and then.
5 although I liked some of the new battle pets, I found it kind of annoying that there were some 20+ identical rats with slightly different names that needed to be caught for the achievements.

TLDR; the game brought in a lot of cool new, polished ideas I hope to see more of but the jarring ups and downs in the nerffs/buffs to characters made my head spin and there was way too much faction grinding; even for someone with 50+ factions and <the insane> I think I liked it more than cata but it wore me out in the end.