World of Warcraft Classic's Mists of Pandaria run reaches its end, as the Siege of Orgrimmar arrives in Azeroth

I maintain that, of all World of Warcraft‘s myriad expansions, Mists of Pandaria is the best. The vistas. The storyline. The addition of Monk. It’ll always be my favorite expansion, and I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Temple of the Jade Serpent. Reliving those memories with WoW Classic has been an absolute blast; a nostalgia-filled romp through my childhood. Now, however, the Siege of Orgrimmar has arrived; Garrosh Hellscream needs dealing with, and the Mists of Pandaria chapter needs closing.

Siege of Orgrimmar is the final questline in the MoP saga. The Horde/Alliance war is at its climax, and Warchief Garrosh Hellscream has to pay for his crimes. In a moment of desperation, the Darkspear Rebellion and Alliance strike an uneasy truce against their sole foe: the enemy of my enemy is, indeed, my friend. The Siege of Orgrimmar is that final push into the Horde’s lands, and Hellscream’s last hurrah.

It’s one of the biggest inflection points in World of Warcraft’s long history. I remember trying my hand at joining a raid group for the first time as a woefully awful Brewmaster Monk (I was 15, leave me alone). Sure, I sucked, but man I was so damn excited.

All of the Siege of Orgrimmar content has finally landed in MoP Classic, with the MMO’s iconic multi-part raid taking us from the corrupted Vale of Eternal Blossoms (now Sorrows) into the Horde’s capital city, where the emboldened Warchief lies in wait.

Once you’re done with the raid, you can take on the update’s five new World Bosses: Chi-Ji, The Red Crane; Yu’lon, The Jade Serpent; Niuzao, The Black Ox; Xuen, The White Tiger; and Ordos, The Fire-God of the Yaungol. The latter is only available to fight if you’ve obtained Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak.

With World Bosses come World Buffs, and if you’re lucky enough to get the blessing of the August Celestials, your damage and healing will be increased, while your damage taken decreases. On the flip side, however, your enemies will be dishing out more damage, too, with some Celestial Dungeon monsters hitting a little harder, while the Kor’kron Banners scattered throughout will empower nearby enemies.

If you’re a little less into raiding, the Proving Grounds are back, testing your solo abilities. Work your way up through the ranks to reach Endless, where you’ll have to fend off wave after wave of increasingly powerful foes.

You’ll also want to spend some time impressing Emperor Shaohao by slaying the Yaungol who are infecting Pandaria. Earn yourself Silver Coins and then spend them on the Harmonious Porcupette (yes, that is an order), or, alternatively, the account-wide Heavenly Golden Cloud Serpent mount. He’s also pretty cool, but c’mon. Porcupette.

If you’re more interested in aesthetics, there are, of course, new class sets. There’s the Grievous Gladiator set for Warriors, while over in the PvP sphere there’s the Vicious Reigns for either the Alliance’s War Steed or Horde’s Warsaber, and the Vicious War Wolf or Vicious Skeletal Warhorse for Horde players. You’ll need to win 100 3v3 matches or 40 RBGs to get them.

I’ve been waiting for Mists of Pandaria’s final quest to drop, and I’m truly excited to dive back into its raids (hopefully I’ll be a little bit better than I was at 15, but no promises). For me, it’s that nostalgia that keeps pulling me back; Midnight hasn’t quite hooked me, so thankfully Classic’s been there in its stead. With the MoP chapter closed, I’m interested to see whether Warlords of Draenor Classic appears at BlizzCon, and what that’ll look like. We are starting to catch up to Retail, after all.