Scroll of Resurrection rewards not allowed for monks, new pandaren

Last week, I wrote an article discussing some way you could prepare now for your new monk. One of the open questions at the end of that article was whether the Scroll of Resurrection's free 80 bonus would be applicable to new monks, as that could significantly impact the race for realm firsts.

Today, a Blizzard blog post clarified the situation, and the results are in: No free level 80 monk for you.

• The Scroll of Resurrection leveling system will be updated to work with Mists of Pandaria's new specialization and talent system.

• Resurrected characters will no longer have their talents preselected for them; however, a specialization will still available to be selected prior to entering the game.

• Players who receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. boost to level 80) to monk characters.

• Players who send or receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. in-game mount, boost to level 80) to pandaren characters that have not yet chosen a faction.

While this still leaves open the question of whether Recruit-A-Friend's level-granting bonuses will work for new monks, at least now the playing field is balanced for all who will be competing. While my intuition tells me that Recruit-A-Friend bonuses will probably be allowed for monks, you may want to start acquiring some heirlooms, just in case. (EDIT: Yes, RaF is allowed for monks.)

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!