Having left behind the lush pastures of the Valley of the Four Winds and the haunted jungles of Krasarang, I’ve moved on to the north of Pandaria and the mountainous zone of Kun-Lai Summit. I mostly played this zone on my rogue, but I also did a few chains on my warlock.

Insert obligatory spoiler warning.

The snows of Kun-Lai:

Kun-Lai Summit is the first zone since Wrath of the Lich King with a significant quantity of snow. There was never any significant chance I wouldn’t like it.

The visuals aren’t the only thing I liked about Kun-Lai, but they’re certainly a big plus. It’s a beautiful zone, but it’s not pretty, if you catch my meaning. I much prefer zones with this kind of harsh beauty to more welcoming areas. Teldrassil is beautiful, but that’s its problem. It’s so nice that it’s impossible to feel any sense of danger or adventure while questing there.

Kun-Lai is incredibly beautiful, but its a stark beauty. It has an edge to it, a feel of mystery and menace that makes you want to charge toward the horizon and face whatever it can throw at you.

The landscapes are unusually varied, too. Kun-Lai includes everything from snowy peaks to harsh steppes to tropical coastlines.

These visuals are complimented with some truly impressive music that combines the harmonious Asian influences heard elsewhere in Pandaria with an ominousness that underscore the zone’s wild feeling.

When it comes to the quests, I find Kun-Lai reminds me of Krasarang. There aren’t really any mind-blowing or extremely memorable moments — barring one, which I’ll get to — but everything is solid and well-done. There are no glaring examples of bad design or story-telling. And unlike Krasarang, Kun-Lai’s stories don’t feel rushed or unfinished.

The zone does have its lackluster moments, mostly surrounding the Grummles, but even those aren’t actually bad. I expected to hate the Grummles, as I dislike most any race designed as a cartoonish representation of one character trait as opposed to real people. See: Goblins, Gnomes, Hozen, and every Star Trek alien pre or post-Enterprise.

However, I found myself developing a certain fondness for the little guys. I think one key reason for this is that, unlike some similar races, they fit well into the universe. Goblins and Hozen are too obviously the invention of modern culture. They stick out like a sore thumb.

Grummles fit, though. They remind me of all the eccentric gremlins and fairies you see in old myths and folklore. It makes sense to me that there’s a race of tiny, superstitious oddballs living in the mountains of Pandaria.

Kun-Lai continues to hammer home the devastating consequences of the arrival of the Horde and the Alliance with its quest chains surrounding the Sha and Yaungol. Meanwhile, the NPCs from the Jade Forest make a return and steadfastly ignore the way their actions have made the Pandaren suffer. Simply put: We are horrible, horrible people.

I have to say, I’m loving this whole arc. I like any story where expectations are reversed, where the heroes have to confront the possibility that they may not be as heroic as they thought. This more mature type of morality is reminiscent of the good old days of Warcraft III, and its return makes me very happy.

But I’m also wary. The story isn’t over yet, and it won’t work if there isn’t some great change or revelation at its conclusion. If Mists of Pandaria concludes with the Horde and the Alliance still at each other’s throats as they always have been — and realistically, I don’t see how it couldn’t — this will all have been for naught.

Getting back to Kun-Lai specifically, I also enjoyed the arc revealing the alliance between the Zandalari and the Mogu. I’m not really a big Mogu fan — they’re too basic, too crude — but linking them to the Zandalari is a great way to make the events on Pandaria feel connected to the rest of Azeroth.

It brings the Warcraft universe together rather nicely, and the revelation that the Zandalari lost their home shows that Blizzard is not going to just ignore the consequences of the Cataclysm. This kind of continuity is necessary for a truly great story, and it’s something World of Warcraft has tended to lack until recently.

I mean, how many WoW players who never played Warcraft III realized that WoW takes place immediately after what amounts to the apocalypse? How many realize the Alliance and the Horde were at peace before WoW?

That’s an old rant, though.

While the Sha and Mogu plots were fun and hold greater significance when taken in the context of the whole of WoW’s story, they ultimately weren’t exceptional quest chains. They’re not the “home run” moments we saw in the Jade Forest.

But there is one quest in Kun-Lai that stands out for me: Anduin’s debate with Xuen in which he tries to convince the Celestial that there’s more to the Horde and the Alliance than the violence they’ve shown on Pandaria.

I loved this quest. It was very fun gameplay to battle all the Sha mini-bosses, but it was even more enjoyable from a story perspective.

Now, maybe this is just down to me being an Anduin fanboy, but I thought it was quite interesting to hear him trying to argue for the innate goodness within us, while Taran Zhu takes the opposite viewpoint off to one side. Interestingly, I found myself agreeing with both representatives in a lot of ways.

Though small, I also liked the role played by Sunwalker Dezco. It was good to see signs of dissent within the Horde. It’s long overdue, as the implication for the last two expansions has been that the Horde is entirely okay with Garrosh Hellscream’s honourless tactics and genocidal goals.

Overall, Kun-Lai isn’t my favourite WoW zone by any stretch of the imagination, but it might be my favourite Mists of Pandaria zone so far.

More zones like this, please.

I continue my spoilerific journey into the lost continent of Pandaria. Now, my characters have split up, with my warlock venturing into the steamy jungles of Krasarang and my rogue riding across the sun-soaked fields of the Valley.

It should be noted that I have not seen the climax to both zones because I split my characters up. I think it’s dumb you need to do both zones on a single character to get the full story.

Anyway…

Krasarang Wilds:

This was an interesting zone, I thought. I wasn’t a big fan of the zone aesthetically — too muddy and claustrophobic — and it didn’t have any “this is Warcraft at its best” moments like the Jade Forest did, but I found it a good, solid quest experience.

I liked the continuation of the Sha arc, and I especially loved the concept of a place so choked by despair that the land itself is literally weeping. Certainly puts another nail in the coffin of the “pandas are for kiddies” argument.

All in all, the Sha storyline is turning out better than I’d hoped, and it’s an interesting twist to see us players as the villains. If I had one niggling complaint, it’s that I wish the game would put more effort into drawing the connection between our actions and what’s happening to Pandaria. We’ve done a horrible, horrible thing. The game should be doing everything possible to lay the guilt trip on us.

I also liked the arc with the Sunwalker and his pregnant wife. Warcraft tends to focus on grand, universal conflicts, and I like that, but I also very much appreciate it when they can bring things down to earth with more humble problems. Makes the world feel more real.

And the ending is just heart-breaking. That’s a quest that will stick with me for a long time.

Mists of Pandaria’s questing hasn’t brought the major leap forward in quality we saw in Cataclysm and Wrath, but if there’s one thing I can point to that MoP is doing better than the previous expansions, it’s making NPCs feel like real people.

Traditionally, most of the NPCs in this game have felt like little more than quest-dispensers. Blizzard didn’t put a lot of effort into making them into legitimate characters in the story, barring a few notable exceptions.

However, between a huge increase in unique voice-overs and more fleshed-out writing, the NPCs in Pandaria feel much more like living, breathing people, and that makes the stories come alive a lot more.

Getting back to Krasarang specifically, my one major complaint is that it feels unfinished. All the major arcs are very short and conclue quite abruptly. Considering all the cool ideas that went into this zone, that’s kind of disappointing.

The Valley of the Four Winds:

I didn’t like this zone.

Honestly, there’s not much more to say other than that. Beating up overgrown bunny rabbits and baby-sitting Chen Stormstout’s obnoxious niece do not fit my definition of heroic adventure. Whereas the Krasarang Sunwalker plot made the world come alive by evoking powerful emotion with a simple dilemma, the Valley is just domesticated and dull.

Aesthetically, the zone is bland. It’s pretty, but it’s pretty in a very monochromatic and uninspiring way. The music is utterly forgettable.

Also, who else is crushingly disappointed they couldn’t get the original voice actor for Chen Stormstout? This new guy is just so… flat.

Finally, I’m no expert on geography, but I’m pretty sure the Valley of the Four Winds isn’t a valley. It appears to be a plateau.

Pretty much every expansion has had at least one zone that just didn’t work, though. Even Wrath had Sholazar Basin. In some ways, I’d rather have a zone that’s a total write-off than something that falls just short of perfection like the Jade Forest did.

The one thing I did like about the Valley of the Four Winds is the farming mini-game in Halfhill. It’s a fun little change of pace from the usual questing model, and I’m looking forward to expanding my farm once I hit 90.

Bottom line:

Level through Krasarang. It’s a better zone all around.

Or at least I think so. What’s your opinion?