World of Warcraft; Mists of Pandaria at a Glance

Mists of Pandaria for Casual Players

           Mists of Pandaria’s has finally been released, and as usual, players have a smorgasbord of content to anticipate. There is no reason for casual players, who prefer swinging a sword or casting a spell while questing in Azeroth or enjoying a 5-man heroic to participating in a 25-man raid, to feel as though their needs are being overlooked, however. Whether you have a busy schedule that limits your time in the game to an hour or two a day, dislike the high pressure environment of raids, or are simply a lone wolf, there are numerous indications that Mists of Pandaria will provide you with an abundance of action, adventure, and interest.

Intricate zones with numerous quest hubs

            A vigorous, detailed questing experience is one of the announced design goals of the new expansion, and since many casual players enjoy questing – particularly those quest chains that tell an interesting story or involve fun experiences that go beyond collecting 200 kobold nostrils and 50 chunks of shattered treant remains – this is excellent news for that end of the World of Warcraft spectrum.

The zones introduced in Mists will feature self-contained sub-zones, each one with heavily developed terrain, quest hubs, and detailed story lines to form the core onto which intriguing quest lines are built. The intention is to make it possible for you to enjoy several different leveling experiences in the same zone when you are leveling up different characters.

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Some of the new zones include:

The Jade Forest (85 to 86), a coastal jungle wilderness with storylines based around Alliance and Horde survivors shipwrecked after a naval battle or crashlanding a zeppelin respectively, with the need to interact with pandaren, fishfolk (the jinyu) and monkeyfolk (hozu). These two “local factions” are at war with one another, with their conflict mirroring that of their eventual allies, the Alliance (jinyu) and Horde (hozu). There is a dungeon here and a faction of pandaren who will eventually train you to obtain and ride a Cloud Serpent mount through a long, involved quest chain – an ideal solo project with an excellent reward for the casual gamer.

The Valley of the Four Winds (86 to 87) is a mixed landscape, with pandaren farms fringed with wild rainforest. The Stormstout Brewery is an outdoor dungeon based around the struggles of the famous Pandaren brewmaster to recover his brewery from various menaces. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Valley for solo players is the ability to start your own mini-phase farm by acquiring reputation with the Tillers. This farm, if properly tended, allows your character to grow herbalism nodes, cooking ingredients, and possibly non-combat pets, though this last is still in doubt.

The Krasarang Wilds (86 to 88) is a zone whose details are still somewhat misty, but this coastal region includes an island archipelago with a “lost civilization” theme, and is also home to the perilous Mogu, which are dog-like humanoids with massive, muscular builds. Dark mangrove jungle lines the coast and surrounds sinister Mogu ruins, and additional hostile races lurk in the forest and islands.

Kun-Lai Summit (87-89) is steep, mountainous area with monasteries of secret monks dedicated to guarding against ancient evil and a tauren offshoot race, the Yaungol, who resemble yaks. A marmot-like race of guides, the grommle, are also present. Lest the serious theme of a monastery guarding against evil – which is also a faction – remain undisturbed, a heinous pun is also included in the zone’s details, since the tallest peak here is named Mount Never-Rest.

The Vale of Eternal Blossoms (90), the Townlong Steppes (89 to 90),  and the Dread Wastes (89 to 90)round out the selection of new zones for casual players to explore.

A new race

            Casual players are frequently excited about the chance to play a new race, particularly since Blizzard has established a custom of providing extremely intriguing, detailed starting zones for new races ever since the Draenei and Blood Elves were introduced to the game. The Pandaren have been rumored as a new race almost since WoW’s release and will finally be playable in Mists of Pandaria.

These shaggy black and white bipeds offer you the chance to sit the fence on factions until you finish the starting zones, since both Alliance and Horde players can roll Pandaren. For more sociable types who interact with others in the starting zone of their character’s race, there is a bit of poignancy in the fact that your friends of today may join the opposing faction tomorrow.

Many of the racials of Pandaren appear to be based directly off the Kung Fu Panda cartoons, and the starting area quests will no doubt reflect this as well, but for those who want to try out a new race with a touch of Blizzard’s usual pop-culture humor, there is much to lure the casual player.

The Monk

            Finally, there is the monk class to play. Some details of this class have emerged, including tentative talent trees. Though these are still in flux and could be heavily reworked or even scrapped, some of the talents look quite powerful and interesting, such as the Level 75 Ring of Peace, which creates a sanctuary area around the Monk for 10 seconds within which hostile creatures or characters cannot attack or cast harmful spells – a juicy tidbit for casual PvP enthusiasts to anticipate. For more info into the game as well as the awesome in-game guide click here.

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