Several weeks ago I wrote a review on the “World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria” beta test, and now I’ve returned to write about the actual game.

The first thing of note is that the experience gain is much more pronounced. I’ve been playing for one week and I’ve gotten to 89. I expect to reach 90 by the end of the day.

The game itself is pretty large, having seven new zones and six new dungeons. Three more dungeons have been upgraded for use as Level 90 dungeons.

Scarlet Halls, Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance have been given a boost in item level and difficulty as heroic only dungeons for high-level characters.

Jade Forest is sprawling, and requires that you go back and forth across it several times.

Valley of the Four Winds is a little smaller, and doesn’t have as much running around but mainly centers on Chen Stormstout and his niece Li Li as they try to find the Stormstout Brewery, one of the new dungeons.

Aside from the large amount of ground travel, the land is beautiful. The architecture reminds me of Ironforge if it were built by the ancient Chinese.

Speaking of running around, all flight has been restricted to Level 90 characters, which makes the expansion seem much longer than they used to be.

You were able to fly at 60 with Cataclysm which made the trip seem short while still being engaging. Being forced to use ground mounts until you hit maximum level makes you notice the hard work Blizzard put into the game as well as the danger of Pandaria.

Onto the other aspects though. The music and graphics are pretty but seem like they came straight from “Mulan,” and “Kung Fu Panda” which fits the expansion.

One of the new features of the game is pet battles, which seem like they were stolen from “Pokémon,” which may well be the case but it’s still fun.

In short, the game is much better than it was during beta and I would recommend it to all “World of Warcraft” players. You may be able to convince people who quit a while ago to come back for it.

Rating: A+

—Robert Bolton

Online Writer

To contact Robert Bolton, email onlinewriter@occc.edu.