>memorable, top tier raids
>most beautiful overworld
>actually felt like exploring a setting that was previously established and not something that appeared just to push the plot forward
>best class design
>best pvp
MoP was objectively the best expansion
dude kung fu pandas lmao
I am willing to concede it (probably) as the best version of neo-WoW and better than post-Ulduar Wrath which, while Cataclysm is an obvious way to mark the change, shares most of the neo-WoW's problems in addition to 3.2 and 3.3 content being trash and mediocre respectively.
However, at the end of the day it's neo-WoW. At some point (I believe that was during WoD) I got a free game time offer and I gave MoP leveling content a try but it was simply unendurable, 100% linear """""cinematic""""" follow-the-arrow meme bullshit, and the general style of the game had long since been cemented as Facebook and queue simulator not-really-an-RPG. I have seen screemshots of zones, videos of raids and I have taken a look at how some of the classes used to play, and what I've seen is more or less in line with OP said. But as far as I'm concerned, those are just irrelevant details when I'm in total disagreement with the overall design paradigm and style of the game.
Anything past Wrath is garbage.
absolutely based MOP poster
mogu'shan and throne of thunder were pretty cool. everything else was meh
Revisiting Wrath on a private server has convinced me that it was garbage too. At least, any patch after 3.1 was garbage.
SoO was a pretty nice raid.
And class design was top notch, BrM monk and maybe the best iteration of demonology warlock ever.
The worst part was the content drought on 5.4, it was fucking insane how long that was.
No one would shut the fuck up about this and the pokemon pet battles when it was all revealed
>MoP was objectively the best expansion
>lol dude MoP was da best
Why are people never bringing up the fucking fact that SOO lasted 14 months?
It was pretty clear how much soul blizzard poured into the details and aesthetic of MoP, I feel for them for all the wrathbab backlash they got when they announced pandaren as a race despite them technically being canon for a very long time
Looking back, it really felt like a breaking point for them. They wore their heart on their sleeve and made something new and beautiful and got shat on for it. Hope you like world of farmville.
Kinda reminds me of how game freak stopped caring after all the backlash from generation 5 about not being able to fill your party with your favorite pogeymons. No pikachu no buy, who cares about the interesting new set of 150 pokemon and well made world and story, now all we get is fanservice and bullshit.
i heroic cleared tot and soo which were top tier so i'm happy
Chin Chang Chong
Sadly I skipped it after the disaster that was Cataclysm, then came back for the itch in WoD. I fucking loved this continent and felt so sad I never got to experience it as it was meant to be experienced.
fucking felt like cool shit when I got that reputation panda mount kite. all the dumb noobs asking how I got it
>They wore their heart on their sleeve and made something new and beautiful
The game was literally and only made to cater to and "Win over" the asian market
Because anyone with a brain stopped playing after a while of that garbage, and even WITH that, it's STILL the best expac by a significant margin.
It was a fun expansion, it looked really pretty, and frankly, I'd taken quests from weirder-looking dudes, so the pandas didn't really bother me.
No reason not to stop after clearing heroic SoO though
Blizzlike 3.0.3 is also god-awful, although with extreme custom tuning it can be kinda nice: after all, the greatest fault in T7 content is tuning that is beyond trivial (in terms of environment design and the like it's not too bad) and the most damning features of Wrath's trash design aren't apparent at that point: 5-mans are trivial but at least you don't quite global the bosses, there's no planned obsolescence of (same-expansion) content because there's only one raid tier, raid difficulty modes aren't completely stupid, itemization is less dull etc etc. Conversely, it does enjoy all the good things Wrath has to offer (classes on average becoming more involved to play, greater quest variety without going completely overboard with meme quests, compelling lore and nice world).
Blizzlike 3.1 is also a bit of a question mark. It's the same thing except that Ulduar is a thoroughly solid raid rather than one that can be made bearable with 400% level of buffs, but it too needs custom tuning, both to compensate for 3.3.3 talents and players being more experienced in general (although the gap obviously isn't as great as it would be in vanilla for example): at the end of the day Wrath is a raidlogging expansion and Blizzlike Ulduar is a pushover and not all that compelling. It also makes some of 3.3.3 Wrath's flaws very apparent: for starters, class balance at T7/T8 gear levels is GOD-AWFUL. Never mind that locks and DKs are obviously the classes to stack for the final boss, at early Ulduar gear levels they're just generally highest-performing classes and while it's not Yoggy+0 levels of imbalance, they're favored for all of the Keepers, too. Granted, actual 3.1 mechanics would make the balance slightly less lopsided.
>not mentioning how fem pandas are the best girls.
ONE JOB
Definitely based.