Pandaria makes its appearance on the world map
MMO-Champion has revealed that the latest beta build, 15739, will finally put Pandaria on the map. The fog of 10,000 years has lifted, and the elusive continent's position has finally been established, at least to the satisfaction of Azeroth's cartographers. (That really must have been quite some fog.) Beta testers on Pandaria will no longer appear to be somewhere in the swirling midsts of the maelstrom, which will likely be a relief.
While the zone map itself has been accessible to folks on Pandaria almost since the beta became active, its exact position relative to the other zones has not been established until now (although we've always known it'll be in the southern area of Azeroth). It's positioned opposite Northrend, occupying that conspicuously empty bit of the map. It looks, then, as if the continent might be accessible via ship rather than purely via portal, which would fit in well with Blizzard's ideas on increasing the time players spend in the world it's creating.
It does make me wonder whether any future expansions will create more continents in this area apart from those four or whether any future zones will be on an Outland-esque plane on a different map. Sure, there's room for more land mass either side of Pandaria, but then where would the pictures of ships go? Or perhaps a new zone will emerge in the middle, to the horror of the navigators of Azeroth's fleet.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
