The latest patch to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, "Landfall", has been widely hailed as a good step forward for Blizzard Entertainment. In our latest WoW Factor, we take a look at why it's an important update. Check it out before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Hi, I’m Reza. I have been a long time World of Warcraft player, starting during its original beta and playing ever since. I’m the guy who has always enjoyed the game and appreciated the way it has evolved over the years. It has been a wonderful adventure and continues to impress me even after all this time. I have delved into other MMO’s from time to time as well, but none of them have the pull that World of Warcraft has. It’s immersive, rewarding and its solid mechanics, in my opinion, outperform the competition. With the release of Mists of Pandaria, there are now so many things to do in the game making it appealing to many types of gamers, a task the industry is still struggling with, especially in this genre. I have friends of all skill types who enjoy World of Warcraft in different ways and that’s just damn cool.

Read more of Reza Lackey's The WoW Factor: From BlizzCon to Landfall.

I've somewhat recently returned and decided to re-roll instead of continue on one my 85's, so I'm only level 59 now and in the dreaded Outlands questing chunk...

But I can't wait to get back to Pandaria and see all that is available in this expansion.

Originally posted by Normandy7
I Like Wow and go back to it from time to time but I have to disagree when you say Azeroth has yet to reach it's limits.

We were there, when a world of limitless adventure opened up before us. We rose defiantly, against all those that threatened the peace of our kingdoms. We ventured to a new alien world, and cast the lords of shadow and flame back into the abyss. It was we who held the line as death itself rose like a tide to swallow everything we held dear. We have endured the breaking of the world, and must now face the Destroyer and end his cycle of destruction. But soon we will face a new chapter. An adventure unlike any we have known thus far. A mystery shrouded by superstition, a land of forgotten power and ancient magics, and a people that may well change the fate of us all. For all the challenges we have faced and all the places we have been, Azeroth's limits have yet to be revealed.

I'm not sure "evolved" the best word to describe what has happened to WoW.  It sure seems very dumbed down now. The complete degredation of the community ensures that those that thrive off that remain, while keeping others away.  Its a babysitting tool for lazy parents to plop their children in front of.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. 

Wpvp. I'm amazed that the releases earlier this year didn't have it. Heck even TESO is doing a funny pseudo Wpvp area thing, unbelievable. 

I played WoW for 5 years, and RIFT for 10 months. The others didn't make it past four months, with 3 weeks on the low end. 

Going to be truthful here I'm one to just ascept and complete quests just to get them out of the way. What was introduced in 5.1 (Landfall) has brought about a change. The dailies yeah they are pretty much pick up and complete with no reading required. However, its the yellow quests that unlock as your rep climbs that is something that isn't present in any of the other dailies. The story that is being told is of great concern to me and my faction. I really like the story telling in this expansion and how its being presented.

As far as new game elements there are plenty. If you don't like doing something there is always a out. For example I've level lots of alts and enjoy doing so. At the same time gearing out a main and a primary alt. Its fun and I enjoy doing the things to get them the gear. When I get a bit burned out I turn to pet battles which is a complete flip from the norm. That is only one example but there is some much diversity in the game and with new content being pushed out quicker I don't feel as though there will be a lul in the game at least until they move onto the next expansion.

Refreshing to read an entertaining piece explaining why someone enjoys their particular game of choice.

More articles like this, about other MMOs,  would surely  be welcome here.

Originally posted by Muppetier

Originally posted by Normandy7
I Like Wow and go back to it from time to time but I have to disagree when you say Azeroth has yet to reach it's limits.

We were there, when a world of limitless adventure opened up before us. We rose defiantly, against all those that threatened the peace of our kingdoms. We ventured to a new alien world, and cast the lords of shadow and flame back into the abyss. It was we who held the line as death itself rose like a tide to swallow everything we held dear. We have endured the breaking of the world, and must now face the Destroyer and end his cycle of destruction. But soon we will face a new chapter. An adventure unlike any we have known thus far. A mystery shrouded by superstition, a land of forgotten power and ancient magics, and a people that may well change the fate of us all. For all the challenges we have faced and all the places we have been, Azeroth's limits have yet to be revealed.

The conflicts in Outland and then Northrend really did feel detached from the main of Azeroth, and even Deathwing only really "damaged" the world didn't really "break it" you could say.

Then Pandaria feels yet again removed from the greater whole of Azeroth...

I really hope the next expansion is something like the return of the Burning Legion or the Titans and really, really, really brings about an "end of the world" feeling to Azeroth.

This expansion will hopefully bring all out war to Azeroth between Horde and Alliance and then WHAM out of nowhere Titans/Burning Legion returns in absolute mass force and lays waste to everything.

I want to see every-single-zone turned into a massive warzone or graveyard with a story that progresses over the course of the expansion that really brings Azeroth to the brink of destruction...

Cataclysm kind of failed IMO in that regard - never really felt the drive towards the apocolypse.

They need to really shake up WoW again like they did with the Cataclysm but this time completely mess things up.

Not just damage a few buildings here and there in the cities but completely overrun them or wipe them off the map.

Create a complete 1-95 experience in Azeroth proper - Outlands/Northrend/Pandaria and some Cata zones still there for nostolgia but leave as side stories generally viewed as "legacy" and in no way attached to the main story.

I want to see raids to recapture cities that then become friendly again when the next raid cycle starts. Previous tiers raid could be accessed through a Caverns of Time kind of thing.

I want to see great use of phasing and even public quests added to recapture zones and hold/fortify what few defensible locations remain.

But when the next expansion starts, every single zone has to be recaptured through questing and dailies and public events like the pre-expansion events and stuff like opening of Gates of AQ.

A fan can dream...

I was quite disappointed with the talent tree changes made by Blizzard -- I liked the more complex trees that were available in prior expansions.  I canceled a month or two after capping 90 on my priest.

So... 5.1 adds even MORE dailies? Just what the game needed... Cripes. Now I know I should just uninstall as all of the freaking dailies that MoP passed off as content were so godawful. Nothing stays "story" like doing the same couple of quest lines every few days. 

I'd expect people to be leaving game much more quickly than previously.

Originally posted by Scummyman
When Blizzard stops thinking that all players want more and more dailies thrown at us, then maybe a lot of players will come back.

They did add 3 scenarios for each side (5 total) and expand their massively popular battle pet system and also give incentives for world PvP as well.

They could add 10 dungeons, 3 raids and one daily quest and the same people would complain about more dailies.

Originally posted by Mari2k
WoW is doing good. Even the comunity is ok now, sure there is a huge amount of kids around couse its still the most popular mmo. But most anoying kids play ftpmmos this days and the nerds are playing sandbox games or garbage like darkfall.

you arent doing any favors to people's image of the WoW community

Played from launch to Cataclysm and then pretty much lost interest in the continual grind/dailies affair.

I havn't seen a single feature in the new expansion that would tempt me back to be honest and especially put off by the new talent trees.

Was also pretty dissapointed with Diablo III, which cost a pretty penny, so I'm loathe to give Blizzard more dosh for something I'm not sure I'll enjoy.

I've yet to find a decent replacement though, I didn't mind SWTOR, but that has stagnated pretty badly, especially from a PvP point of view.