Adventures of a future Pandaren.

The recent Blizzcon announcement of Pandaren as the new playable race in the next expansion really made me look forward to playing one, and I decided almost immediately that I would need to come up with a great Panda-inspired name and level a new character some time before the launch of Mists of Pandaria. (followed by the obligatory race change, of course.)

This is how Pandaid was born. Over the last few weeks, I've leveled a priest for the first time. This is also the first character I've leveled through the 1-60 zones since they were revamped. I was impressed. The old zones really do feel like new, cataclysm content. I thought the Looking-For-Dungeon system worked great, with quest givers in all the instances, and useful blue-quality loot from the Satchel of Helpful Goods you get at the end of each run. The Hero's Call boards are another perk I hadn't fully appreciated. Every time I finished questing in a zone, I could not only follow whatever bread-crumb quests I had picked up in that zone, but I could check the boards in the major cities for quests that would send me to other zones suitable for my level. This meant I could quest for five or ten levels and then run dungeons for five or ten levels, and no matter what level I was, the Hero's Call board would put me back on track.

So off I went, fully equipped with lots more spare time than someone by age should have and every experience-boosting heirloom I could get my hands on. I passed 60 within a week. Then I started queuing for Outland dungeons, and that's where I discovered the weaknesses of the LFD system. Sure, they still gave the Satchel of Helpful Goods, but there wasn't a single quest giver in any of the burning crusade dungeons. At one point, I was level 64 and had only completed Hellfire Peninsula. The only bread-crumb quest I had was for Zangarmarsh, and I knew that wasn't level-appropriate. I flew all around Shattrath looking for the Hero's Call board, but it seems there isn't one. No problem, I thought, I'll go back to Stormwind! No quests on that board, either. Indeed, I was on my own, as if I had actually gone back in time to an era where such amenities simply didn't exist.

Pandaid cries in front of an unhelpful Hero's Call board.

So, as I write this, Pandaid is level 84, and I seem to have survived the TBC and WoTLK content, but I sure was happy to see that Hero's Call board light up again when I reached level 80. The thing is, I just can't shake the feeling that Blizzard really dropped the ball by not carrying those features across those 20 levels. I realize they're not make-or-break features; Clearly I made it to 80 on several toons before they even existed. However, if the absence of those features for those 20 levels made such an impression on me, a veteran wow player, I can't help but wonder what kind of impression is left on players who play through those levels for the first time.

One other small complaint I had with leveling is what I consider poorly thought out ability progression; Early on, and primarily only in dungeons, I had issues with running out of mana and having no way to regenerate it in combat. Also, I had no AoE ability at all until 62 (lol @ Holy Nova) and no meaningful AoE until I learned Mind Sear at 74! Obviously, every class (or spec even) will be different, so your mileage may vary.

Share your own panda-inspired names and/or your experiences with leveling post-cataclysm in the comments below!