World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria detailed

Nick Mertes 25 Jul, 2012 at 10:15pm ET Article published in Gaming

The fourth expansion to World of Warcraft, titled “Mists of Pandaria” has received a release date: September 25, 2012

Key features of Mists of Pandaria promises a wide variety of content for new and returning World of Warcraft players. Features include a new playable race (the Pandaren), a new character class (the monk), and an expansive new continent for players to explore as they adventure to the new level cap of 90. The expansion also includes a host of new gameplay elements designed to give players even more ways to enjoy the game, including scenarios—a flexible new kind of cooperative PvE trial—challenge modes, which offer high-prestige rewards for mastering Mists of Pandaria’s 5-player dungeons, and an all-new pet battle system.

The Standard edition ($39.99) contains the expansion only and can be purchased either at retail or digitally from Blizzard.

The Digital Deluxe version ($59.99) may only be purchased online at Blizzard’s web site, and contains the following extras:

In-game mount: Take to the skies of Azeroth astride the mystical Imperial Quilen flying mount
In-game pet: Journey across Pandaria with the Lucky Quilen Cub at your side
StarCraft II Battle.net portraits: Bring the Horde and Alliance rivalry to the far reaches of the Koprulu sector with exclusive Infested Orc and Night Elf Templar Battle.net portraits
Diablo III Banner Sigil and Accent: Display your status as a hero of Pandaria with the iconic markings of World of Warcraft’s newest playable race, the pandaren

Players who purchase the Standard edition may also upgrade to the Digital Deluxe package on the Blizzard web site for $20.

The Collector’s Edition ($79.99) may only be purchased in retail stores, and contains all content from the Digital Deluxe package plus the following extras:

Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-Ray: Learn about the creation of Pandaria with this two-disc set featuring over an hour of commentary, insider interviews, and developer roundtables
Collector’s Edition Soundtrack CD: Experience 20 orchestral pieces from Mists of Pandaria
The Art of Mists of Pandaria Book: Explore this 208-page hardcover tome featuring never-before-seen pieces from the expansion, from early concepts to final 3D renderings
Chen Stormstout Mouse Pad: Equip your desk with this special-edition mouse pad featuring the legendary pandaren brewmaster

Mists of Pandaria is available for presale now at Blizzard’s web site.

Comments

25 Jul 2012 ~ 10:43pm Teramona Weeeell, I really liked World of Warcraft. Maybe this means a few of us will start playing together again? Is that too much to hope for in the wake of all this GW2 excitement?
25 Jul 2012 ~ 10:48pm Theironhand I want to play it, but I'm afraid GW2 will be taking up most of my time.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 12:33am SpencerForHire
Weeeell, I really liked World of Warcraft. Maybe this means a few of us will start playing together again? Is that too much to hope for in the wake of all this GW2 excitement?
Not gonna lie, it would take a lot to go back to that game... A lot more than delivering everything we have been asking about for years FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 12:39am Teramona What if I bought everyone a month or something for Christmas? Early Christmas...
26 Jul 2012 ~ 12:40am SpencerForHire Heheh, I appreciate the idea but please don't bother for me. I really have no interest.

That being said, if you enjoy it, do not let me or anyone else deter you... I just don't know how much of a group you will be able to pull together.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 12:41am Teramona Meh. I'm going to be playing Guild Wars 2 as well, so... maybe I shouldn't bite off more than I can chew.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 12:54am Theironhand I still play World of Warcraft for about 4 or 5 hours a week, but not as often as I use to, and to be honest $80 for a expansion pack for a game, and another $25 dollars because my stupid guild wants me to switch over all my WoW characters to our main server, and the membership is going to add up to be a lot, so buying Mists of Pandaria will have to be delayed for a couple months for me.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 1:49am RahnalH102 From what I have experienced in the beta I'm fairly sure I'll enjoy Mists. Personally, I think one of the best changes they added was a return to gear that does more that just plain old stat number crunch. As for the reworked talent system I believe they are heading in the right direction but if they nailed it on this iteration I'm not sure.

I still play regularly and even manage a guild at the moment. I will be playing GW2, continuing WoW, AND will be going through my next semester of college as a starving artist. I believe I am some sort of masochist.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 3:21am Chooch Played the beta. Same ol same ol. GW2 for me.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 8:23am MAGIC I might pick it up and play a bit, we'll see how much GW2 keeps my interest in the first month.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 9:40am NullenVoyd Wife's been getting a little too addicted to the pet battle system in beta. We both used to take off a coupe days to play new major updates like this ALL DAY together, but this time I'll likely pass on even getting it. Just not inspiring me anymore, which is a shame because they've apparently done A LOT with this expansion.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 11:44am MiracleManS @teramona my wife still plays and wants the expansion. There's a good chance I might join in since I've been selling things in Diablo 3.
26 Jul 2012 ~ 1:36pm Canti This still isn't out yet?
27 Jul 2012 ~ 12:57pm Tim When Cataclysm came out, it took me a full year to get around to leveling one of my 3 80's to 85.

So I have an 85 Hunter, an 81 Paladin, and an 80 Warrior. And miscellaneous other characters between 13 and 50.

If I have time I'll level my 81 Paladin to 85 for the expansion, but I might be too busy playing Starcraft 2, wherein I am now #8 in my Silver league as a Terran player.
27 Jul 2012 ~ 12:59pm Tim And Blizzard is always pushing this flying mount or that flying mount, but there is only one true EPIC flying mount in WoW as far as I'm concerned. The Phoenix from Tempest Keep. Ashes of Al'ar. Do want!
28 Jul 2012 ~ 7:54pm RootWyrm Been in closed beta for a while, largely running in stealth mode (characters folks don't know, renames, etcetera.)

Underwhelming doesn't begin to describe MoP. It's been a never-ending string of The Exact Same But Even Easier Than Wrath, Poorly Designed Gimmicks That Don't Work, and That Feature You Really Were Looking Forward To Is Now Being Pushed To A Future Date. By the way, this is the second to last WoW expansion (possibly THE last depending on sales) if they stick to their word - they have been saying for at least 5 years that WoW will never, ever go past Level 100. They consider that the absolute hard stop; doesn't mean they'll shut down the game, but they have repeatedly said they will never go past level 100.

But it's blatantly obvious that they aren't even trying with this expansion, and it's being rushed out the door to meet the Activision-Blizzard "ONE EXPANSION PER YEAR!!" mantra (after Cata slipped badly) and in a futile effort to prop up the still declining subscriber count. The latest numbers are well under 10M subs, and of that, at least 51% will most likely never have access to Mists of Pandaria. According to Morhaime, "China still represents more than half our global player base".
They have to produce a special version for China with altered graphics and text as is - look up "Lord Marrowgar Chinese" for an example. Yeah, well, there's a blanket ban on any depiction of pandas (Giant and Red) and violence in China and it is absolute and aggressively enforced. The China market is a large part of why no Pandaren anywhere previously; a whole expansion based on them? No amount of modifications will get that to pass MoII, GAPP or SARFT censors.

When it asked me why I was cancelling, I just put in "Mists of Pandaria. See my beta feedback."
28 Jul 2012 ~ 10:45pm Tim When I was watching the live stream of Blizzcon 2011, and they revealed the Panda expansion, I just kept waiting for the joke to be over, and after a while I just had to say to myself "Are they serious? This new expansion is all about frickin' PANDAS?" They do seem to be serious. Pandas.