It’s finally here! The Mists of Pandaria! Like many other World of Warcraft players when the expansion dropped, I eagerly dove straight in, leveling my character as fast as possible. During most other expansions, I have tried to do whatever I can to ease the leveling process. I am not a fan of questing at all; however, I was pleasantly surprised by how the questing experience from levels 85-90 felt. One of the most obvious plus’s to the questing in Mists of Pandaria is the idea of a new continent waiting to be explored. In cataclysm, though the zones were new, they all felt isolated and insignificant. This sense of exploration however, is just the tip of the iceberg when talking about the questing experience in Mists.
The first thing that I noticed while questing was the unique feeling that some quests had. Blizzard definitely tried to make players feel like they are doing something new, rather then just “kill 10 of X then come back and kill 10 of Y”. An example of this is the quest Shark Week in the Dread Waste. For this quest, players most kill sharks and collect 200 teeth. This may sound like the same thing that players have always done, which in reality it is. Yet in order to collect the teeth, players must first collect the jaw off of dead sharks, then pull the the teeth out of the jaw. Though it requires players to do the same old thing, little changes like this actually made the questing experience a bit more entertaining.
Another aspect of questing that really stood out to me were the quests in which players were able to control other characters. The quest, Broken Dreams in Valley of the Four Winds is a great example of this. Players are able to control Chen Stormstout, as he searches through Stormstout Brewery in attempt to find sign of his long lost relatives. These types of quests are not really anything new to World of Warcraft, yet they were definitely more common. Having more quests like these allow players to see the roles that other characters have on the story line, thus enriching the stories behind quests.
The final part of the quests that I enjoyed was the cutscenes. It seemed that almost every major quest line had at least one cutscene in it. Having these really helps Blizzard tell the story behind questing. This is extremely helpful to players as well, since a lot of players just focus on the tasks that the quests require, without thinking about why they are doing these things. These cutscenes however, show how the quests impact the world around them, making them feel much more exciting. The cutscenes wrap up the entire questing experience, allowing Blizzard to convey their story to the fullest extent.
To be honest, I was half considering trying to level from 85 to 90 by just doing battlegrounds and dungeons. That is how much I have despised questing in the past. Yet I was pleasantly surprised by how unique the new quests in MoP felt. The quests were much more unique then normal, and the story much more enriching, giving the quests a positive feeling. It is far too early to tell how the rest of the expansion will unfold, but if the questing is any indication, then it will be a treat to continue to explore the new continent of Pandaria in the upcoming months.
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