In the second of our ongoing series of articles in the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Review in Progress, we take a look at the earliest stages of leveling the new Monk class with the revamped talent system. We discuss rough spots and the good stuff so keep reading! Let us know what you think in the comments.

While Garrett’s off gallivanting with the likes of industry starlets and icons in Austin for GDC, it’s my turn to pick up the World of Wacraft: Mists of Pandaria review in progress to dig into the early levels of the new Monk class, the Pandaren starter experience, and the “new” leveling of WoW in general thanks to the revamped talent system. In general, I’d like to preface this entire article by stating that Mists is easily WoW’s most beautiful expansion to date.  So much so that the rest of the game outside of the new zones seems dull and simply dated by comparison.  There almost needs to be another “Cataclysm” to bring another facelift to Azeroth after the artwork seen here.  While it’s still the same eight year old game that you’ve come to love or hate, the visuals in Pandaria are simply of a whole other level compared to previous expansions.  But personally, that’s not quite enough to get months and months out of me again. Let me explain.

Read more of Bill Murphy's World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Review in Progress - Part 2.

Cannot help but feel MMORPG.COM have made little effort to really look at MOP and have just thrown something together at the last minute to keep up appearences.  The game has been out 3 weeks and you cannot manage a full review? you've completed the starter area and the first zone of the new 85-90 content in that time?

Not to comment on the content of these "in progress" reviews cus well there is little content and it's mostly inacurrate and full of supposition (see the first in-progress article about the jade forrest).

Not to say I can do better but then again my job is not to review games, but if it was I would hope to do a much better job than what I have seen thus far.

Just my little rant.

Here are some video reviews worth watching for a rounded review of MOP.

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2012/10/04/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-review

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/reviews/6389-World-of-Warcraft-Mists-of-Pandaria-Video-Review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=videos

The talent revamp sucks horribly. But my GF loves it, she doesn't have to get me to place her talent points everytime she levels.

You see, she doesn't really care about talents. So she loves this change. Blizzard is pretty smart that way...

What was the point of this review update?

Just to say how much you dislike the new talent system and how you were able to complete the Pandaren starter zone?

A review is just the opinion of one person but a good reviewer tries to be as objective as possible. The section on the new talent system clearly illustrates that this is not the case here. There was no attempt to discuss the pros and cons of the new talent system.

Does MMORPG.com even care about the integrity of their reviews anymore? Considering that this was written by the same guy that did the GW2 review, the answer is a definitive "No".

I haven't played MoP so I can only judge based on what I've heard.  I think revamping the talents was a mistake.  Getting a new talent every level was HUGE and a reward for the ding.

Pet battles really don't interest me at all.  They'd have to reward BiS items for my character to get me to play them.

LFR is a great addition, yes I know it was introduced in Cata,  and the one thing that may get me to buy MoP.  Paying $55 just to level my main in pandaria just isn't worth it to me right now.  I'm also not interested in staying on a PVP server anymore and that would cost me $25 to move.  The game is too prize gougy in todays market.

Originally posted by Xiaoki

What was the point of this review update?

Just to say how much you dislike the new talent system and how you were able to complete the Pandaren starter zone?

A review is just the opinion of one person but a good reviewer tries to be as objective as possible. The section on the new talent system clearly illustrates that this is not the case here. There was no attempt to discuss the pros and cons of the new talent system.

Does MMORPG.com even care about the integrity of their reviews anymore? Considering that this was written by the same guy that did the GW2 review, the answer is a definitive "No".

There are no pros to the new talent system, except you really don't have to worry about talent points any more there are so few of them now.  How else can you describe it?  It does suck, really!

They really can't dumb down the game anymore.  Why even play, they have taken all the challenge out of the game.

I guess these MoP reviews can alleviate the concern that MMORPG.com gives out good reviews based on advertisement revenue.

So let's list the compaints here (my response to said complaints in green):

• The game looks dated. (It is a game from 2004.)
• The new talent system removed customization. (Arguable, but I did have more fun spending talent points every level. Somewhat agree. Disagree that your character is no longer your own.)
• No new low level content aside from Pandaria starting zone. (We just had an expansion that redid the 1-60 leveling. Do you expect them to redo it every time there's a new race or class to level up? Name an MMO that has ever done that.)
• Pandas are cute and cuddly and have tails. (Get over Pandas being cute already. Many fantasy games have cute races and are rarely criticized for it. WoW is a heavily stylized world, and many races [and monsters] give off a cute vibe. Also, the tail issue is nitpicking.)

Originally posted by nsignific

The talent revamp sucks horribly. But my GF loves it, she doesn't have to get me to place her talent points everytime she levels.

 

You see, she doesn't really care about talents. So she loves this change. Blizzard is pretty smart that way...

Sounds great, no thinking required at all now. They're 'smart' that way, eh?

God, how shallow can it get before just being empty.

Well, didnt take long for this thread to degenerate into nothing more than WoW bashing.

So, business as usual here at MMORPG.com.

Originally posted by Valkaern

Originally posted by nsignific

The talent revamp sucks horribly. But my GF loves it, she doesn't have to get me to place her talent points everytime she levels.

 

You see, she doesn't really care about talents. So she loves this change. Blizzard is pretty smart that way...

Sounds great, no thinking required at all now. They're 'smart' that way, eh?

 

God, how shallow can it get before just being empty.

The talent choices are actually not that bad. It's not as 'fun' as putting a point into something every level, by any means. But the decision for which talent to pick to maximize your class or playstyle does require thought.

No offense, but this review reads like it's written by a GW2 fanboy. 

"Gone also is the only true sense left in WoW that your character was your own". So choosing between one of the 1-2 viable specs made you feel like you are different? And not now that you actually have to make choices?

For me the new talent system is a huge improvement. I can actually spec my character on my own without the "help" of websites.

hey Bill.

sorry you haveto waste your time playing this trash to review it. = lol

comeback soo to Tyrria!

;-)
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lol, such a bias review...

Not even sure why I bother with this site if its not GW2 then no game here gets praise.....

Originally posted by rygard49

• No new low level content aside from Pandaria starting zone. (We just had an expansion that redid the 1-60 leveling. Do you expect them to redo it every time there's a new race or class to level up? Name an MMO that has ever done that.)

 

 

My opinion on this is that:

1)  The content we pay for in an expansion shouldn't be paying for revamping low level content.  This was a major issue for me in Cata.

2) The billions of dollars they've raked in from subscriptions is more than plenty to get them to update the graphics of old content, if not replace the crappiest of quests.

Originally posted by boxsnd

No offense, but this review reads like it's written by a GW2 fanboy. 

 

"Gone also is the only true sense left in WoW that your character was your own". So choosing between one of the 1-2 viable specs made you feel like you are different? And not now that you actually have to make choices?

For me the new talent system is a huge improvement. I can actually spec my character on my own without the "help" of websites.

That "one point per level" (which, by the way, wasn't the case in Cata any more already) serves an important psychological function: "Power at your finger tips": You are in control.

With that one point you make your character more powerful, and you are the one that decides how. It is your decision. It's somewhat comparable to driving a car or taking the bus: A bus might be logically the 'better' alternative, but driving a car is far more enjoyable. Because you interact with the car, while the bus automates the journey.

And honestly? That journey had been already been cleaned and straightened out with Cata - if you honestly had to look up how to spec with those trees, then sorry, you just had no clue. At all.

Furthermore, 'regular talent points' build ties between the player and  'his' character: Every point spent means time spent thinking about what you want from your character, how you want to shape it.

Condensing that to one choice out of three (more or less) incomparables every fifteen levels (and NO other character building) is simply boring for many. Honestly, I tried MoP via the trial version, and from what I saw, many 'talents' don't even deserve the name. One problem is that many of those new 'talents' don't enhance anything. I was honestly stumped when I had to take that first point as Disc Priest. There wasn't anything useful for my playstyle. I ended up taking the one choice that I would "maybe, sometimes in very special circumstances" need.

Sure, for those min-maxers, there can't be another solution but to not give them anything to min-max. But, you know, not everybody plays to min-max (particularly in RPGs!), and catering to exactly that audience... well, some say, Blizzard is smart. Maybe. Maybe. But I sure feel like WoW has lost just about everything that had once made it great.