The Queue: Come to me, Pandaria

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

The beta does not currently allow questing on Pandaria, and it is driving me batty. It's so close! Let me quest, dang it!

bethontheharbor asked:

So has anyone bothered to get shots of the Theramore area, or is it blocked off. I haven't seen anything from that town posted anywhere.

Theramore hasn't changed at all yet, so there's nothing to see.

Goarther asked:

How much content has been added to the beta since the version that was playable at the press event?

The current beta build appears to be the same build we were playing with at the press event, but Blizzard's locked it down more heavily since then. At the presser, we were able to quest in Pandaria, but that entire continent is currently off limits in beta. Players' being able to access that continent in the first 24 hours of the beta was considered a bug, and you can't get there anymore. Temple of the Jade Serpent and Stormstout Brewery were both playable at the press event, but those have been disabled in the beta as well.

So ... as far as we know, there hasn't been any content added since the presser. There is actually less content available for testing.

direbadgercvlry asked:

Any word on new hunter tames yet?

As readers mentioned yesterday, the beta hasn't progressed quite that far yet. The continent of Pandaria isn't open yet, and the pandaren newbie zone doesn't let you tame anything. When Pandaria opens up, though, I expect you'll be able to take the new tigers, porcupines, and possibly cranes. I'm sure there are other things in there to tame as well, but we simply haven't gotten that far yet.

riley asked:

So which is it? Pand-a-ria or Pand-o-ria? I keep hearing both?

Well, there is definitely no "o" anywhere in the name Pandaria. It's name after pandas and not the Greek mythology figure Pandora. Suzaku supplied the simplest pronunciation guide yesterday, I think: "pand area" like "land area."

ejunk asked:

any indication as to where pandas are dropped off following the starting area?

If you choose Alliance, you get dropped off directly outside of Stormwind. If you choose Horde, you get dropped off atop a tower in Orgrimmar.

Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!