wow Is Dragonflight Mists of Pandaria 2: A Quick Comparison

[Starym 3,779]

 

Here's a quick look at the similarities of WoW's next expansion and one of its best ones, as players are seeing quite a few connections, both inside the game and out. Even on the surface, immediately after the announcement, Dragonflight does have that MoP feel to it - with a larger focus on the land itself, its mystical nature, and just the relatively lower-fantasy tone. But there are quite a few more similarities, as alana1312 remarks:

And while Garrosh was very quickly outed as the mail villain after the MoP announce itself, he certainly wasn't the focus of the reveal - in stark comparison to all three expansion that came before. As for Dragonflight, we have no indication of not only who the big bad will be, but even IF there will be one (although a very credible leak does have an answer for that, and it's not the fellow in the image above).

There are quite a few more similarities between the expansions, from the huge talent tree reworks, neutral race (that is seen as too cartoony) and so on, and it's clear there is definitely a strong connection between the two. Of course the big difference between them is the focus on the "war" aspect MoP had, but after how BfA went over, we probably won't be seeing that for quite a while (especially after the cross-faction additions coming soon). When it comes to Mists itself, the expansion wasn't quite popular before its release, but it has become one of the better-liked ones over time and is now regarded as one of WoW's high points, so let's hope Dragonflight is very similar to it in that way at least (and that we get another farm)!

[Arcling 877]

Kung-fu Panda comparison doesn't work (and people were making it since MoP annoucement), because those easter eggs appeared before that movie came out. Samwise Didier just liked to randomly draw pandas. Rest is pretty spot on, except for class maybe, since monks weren't limited to one race.

[Toky 36]

I got the similarities right away. Also, Wrathion once again plays a larger role. In Mists we worked with Wrathion to create the legendary cloak (which was awesome!). Will he be guiding us towards another powerful legendary?

[Dejo93 984]

1 hour ago, Toky said:

I got the similarities right away. Also, Wrathion once again plays a larger role. In Mists we worked with Wrathion to create the legendary cloak (which was awesome!). Will he be guiding us towards another powerful legendary?

eh. I'd rather not

[Frostyvexx 0]

A little similarity between the trailers is that they indirectly/subtlety hint towards the big bad without directly showing it. 

MoP trailer showed conflict between the Alliance and Horde which hinted towards Garrosh.

Dragonflight trailer had the Watchers/Statues that had been eroded over TIME which, IMO, hints towards Nozdormu becoming corrupted and turning into Moruzond.

Many leaks have also claimed that Moruzond/Infinite Dragonflight would be big bads in this expansion about dragons. Yes we killed Moruzond way back in Cata during the End Time dungeon but that was technically a different timeline. 

[Devylknyght 83]

2 hours ago, Arcling said:

Kung-fu Panda comparison doesn't work (and people were making it since MoP annoucement), because those easter eggs appeared before that movie came out. Samwise Didier just liked to randomly draw pandas. Rest is pretty spot on, except for class maybe, since monks weren't limited to one race.

The main Dragon stories in wow which Dragonflight will be based on, started with the Novel "Day of the Dragon" which was released in 2001. The "How to Train Your Dragon" Cartoon Movie released in 2010. So your point makes it EVEN MORE similar to MOP :). 

[MeOnIV 23]

2 hours ago, Starym said:

Here's a quick look at the similarities of WoW's next expansion and one of its best ones

I read that unironically, and I can only hope you wrote that in an unironic way too, lol, given the polarizing feedback that expansion received.

Despite the theme feeling just a little forced and a little bit out of place at the time, Pandaria still connected to the lore in a way that made sense.

The only expansion I had played since MoP was Legion so this is not me high on copium post-BfA/SL and rating MoP good in retrospect. I genuinely liked MoP, progression, raids, class design and overall pacing all felt really good with that one. I was just too scared to speak up at the time. ^^

If Dragonflight end up giving players the same level of fulfilment or "vibe" of MoP then it's definitely a good sign for me. That said, I'll still wait until a month post-release and then decide if I will play it.

[Teta 15]

my dream was to go back to pandaria, and it seems the gods favored me, thanks gods.

[Calysia 220]

I'd be down with that. MoP is one of the better expansions imho.

[Elevendk 20]

5 hours ago, MeOnIV said:

I read that unironically, and I can only hope you wrote that in an unironic way too, lol, given the polarizing feedback that expansion received.

Despite the theme feeling just a little forced and a little bit out of place at the time, Pandaria still connected to the lore in a way that made sense.

The only expansion I had played since MoP was Legion so this is not me high on copium post-BfA/SL and rating MoP good in retrospect. I genuinely liked MoP, progression, raids, class design and overall pacing all felt really good with that one. I was just too scared to speak up at the time. ^^

If Dragonflight end up giving players the same level of fulfilment or "vibe" of MoP then it's definitely a good sign for me. That said, I'll still wait until a month post-release and then decide if I will play it.

Dragon Isles feels "forced"? man you know...um.. that's just your opinion man. 

[MeOnIV 23]

7 hours ago, Elevendk said:

Dragon Isles feels "forced"? man you know...um.. that's just your opinion man. 

Pandaria.

[Arcling 877]

14 hours ago, Elevendk said:

Dragon Isles feels "forced"? man you know...um.. that's just your opinion man. 

Going on an expedition to Dragon Isles, just after Jailer warned us about that something coming and we can't stop it, does feel quite random. It probably means this whole story will be put on a hold for entirety or majority of this expansion, and then we will have something happen. But who knows, perhaps main villain in this expansion is going to be more interesting.

[Starym 3,779]

21 hours ago, MeOnIV said:

I read that unironically, and I can only hope you wrote that in an unironic way too, lol, given the polarizing feedback that expansion received.

Despite the theme feeling just a little forced and a little bit out of place at the time, Pandaria still connected to the lore in a way that made sense.

The only expansion I had played since MoP was Legion so this is not me high on copium post-BfA/SL and rating MoP good in retrospect. I genuinely liked MoP, progression, raids, class design and overall pacing all felt really good with that one. I was just too scared to speak up at the time. ^^

If Dragonflight end up giving players the same level of fulfilment or "vibe" of MoP then it's definitely a good sign for me. That said, I'll still wait until a month post-release and then decide if I will play it.

It was unironic. Most of the playersbase look at Mists in a very positive light nowadays, and it was pretty solidly hated on/around release.

[Starym 3,779]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

Going on an expedition to Dragon Isles, just after Jailer warned us about that something coming and we can't stop it, does feel quite random. It probably means this whole story will be put on a hold for entirety or majority of this expansion, and then we will have something happen. But who knows, perhaps main villain in this expansion is going to be more interesting.

It's not really random, the Jailer's actions directly made the Dragon Isles appear. At least I hope that's what happened and not some random other thing.

[Arcling 877]

3 minutes ago, Starym said:

It's not really random, the Jailer's actions directly made the Dragon Isles appear. At least I hope that's what happened and not some random other thing.

Looks like it might be some unrelated, ancient enemy, unless some speculations will be proven correct (someone we already know, like Murozond). Both of these cases would have nothing to do with Jailer, but it would be a good thing if they didn't ignore previous story. Jailer was underwhelming as a villain, however they should at least stick to the consequences of his actions.

[Starym 3,779]

2 hours ago, Arcling said:

Looks like it might be some unrelated, ancient enemy, unless some speculations will be proven correct (someone we already know, like Murozond). Both of these cases would have nothing to do with Jailer, but it would be a good thing if they didn't ignore previous story. Jailer was underwhelming as a villain, however they should at least stick to the consequences of his actions.

No, I meant what the Jailer did (attacking Azeroth) is what caused the Dragon Isles to awaken. So it's directly related, the events of Shadowlands triggered the events of Dragonflight. The super awesome mega threat the Jailer was referring to is a ways off, it was never intended to be connected to the next expansion - it's basically setting up the next several expansions. That's how I saw it anyway.

[Veela 2]

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Pandaren_Brewmaster_(Warcraft_III)
people keep forgetting Pandaren were in warcraft 3.. before kung fu panda was a thing, and we've seen humanoid dragons since tbc/wrath
Drakonoid, Drakaedon, and litteral Dragonman's
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dragonkin

[Helvorn 57]

18 hours ago, Starym said:

It was unironic. Most of the playersbase look at Mists in a very positive light nowadays, and it was pretty solidly hated on/around release.

Same as with any release, given enough time has passed (sole exception could be WoD) In 10 years maybe people will see BfA or SL in a very positive light.

The game itself and its players have changed fundamentally since MoP and not much to the positive. We will see if DF is at least a beginning to turn things around. Like BfA and SL I wont pre-order and will wait out the first weeks after release to see what is going on.

[Ragingwolf 286]

5 hours ago, Helvorn said:

Same as with any release, given enough time has passed (sole exception could be WoD) In 10 years maybe people will see BfA or SL in a very positive light.

The game itself and its players have changed fundamentally since MoP and not much to the positive. We will see if DF is at least a beginning to turn things around. Like BfA and SL I wont pre-order and will wait out the first weeks after release to see what is going on.

mmm....quite possibly but both had it's flaws.  BFA story went all over the place and to even remotely grasp and inkling of what was going on behind closed curtains you had to play both Factions' storys to get a general feel.  The grind was somewhat simple with gear  but did not fully explored passed it's capabilites and later become either a hinderance or a nieusance.

SL almost ran into similar issues with their storylines.  However, a meaningful choice of story never fell through like Blizzard stated during Beta and before the release of SL.  Newer features like the Vault, limited gear, and reward adjustments became more haphazardous along with the 'chore' list of things that needed to be accomplish on a daily/weeklie basis to be somewhat relevant in certain features of the game.

DF seems to hold some promise however I think I will wait over a year after the release.  I'm not easily swayed by pretty flashy gimmicks or 'new' right off the bat.  I'm more concerned how the expansion will grow over the course of 2 or more seasons of gameplay with overal playerbase moral and feedback being second.

[Starym 3,779]

7 hours ago, Helvorn said:

Same as with any release, given enough time has passed (sole exception could be WoD) In 10 years maybe people will see BfA or SL in a very positive light.

The game itself and its players have changed fundamentally since MoP and not much to the positive. We will see if DF is at least a beginning to turn things around. Like BfA and SL I wont pre-order and will wait out the first weeks after release to see what is going on.

Yes and no. MoP became more popular fast, as most of the hatred was due to the theme. The expansion itself was objectively good and when people actually played it more they got over the panda stuff. So while you're right in general, MoP doesn't fit into that paradigm as it was genuinely a specific case.

[Helvorn 57]

2 hours ago, Ragingwolf said:

DF seems to hold some promise however I think I will wait over a year after the release.  I'm not easily swayed by pretty flashy gimmicks or 'new' right off the bat.  I'm more concerned how the expansion will grow over the course of 2 or more seasons of gameplay with overal playerbase moral and feedback being second.

As I mentioned, I will wait some time too. I do not get caught by a surely nice looking new class/race combination. Which is ok for a new leveling experience, but like with any new race, class or allied races, this is no NEW and lasting content. Its an extra, but nothing substantial.

Its the "product cycle" (Blizzards words) that is way too short. You buy the expansion, play 2-3 months and than you m+, raid log after reset and do the usual rep grind. And then wait 1 week. We will have to see how much will be time gated and how long it will take until you hit the wall again.

1 hour ago, Starym said:

Yes and no. MoP became more popular fast, as most of the hatred was due to the theme. The expansion itself was objectively good and when people actually played it more they got over the panda stuff. So while you're right in general, MoP doesn't fit into that paradigm as it was genuinely a specific case.

Yes, thats what I meant. I had my problems with MoP at the beginning too. You either love or hate the Asia theme. I started into MoP with the latter. But met just in time some quite fanatic panda stuff nerds. And this guild showed my the quite interesting and extensive lore of the whole panda thing, then I started to enjoy the expansion. I never really got into the looks of the theme completely, but yes objectively the content was just good and enjoyable.