mists-of-pandaria-beta
Latest
Mists of Pandaria Beta: New music files uncovered
Wondering what your experience in Pandaria is going to sound like? Me, too! I've been happily playing the beta all along with my music turned up -- but unfortunately, most of Pandaria has been absent of any kind of musical track. The few pieces we have been treated to from the Wandering Isle and the login screen had me firmly convinced from the get-go that I wanted the soundtrack, but I've just had a little more convincing. The folks over at MMO-Champion dug up a surprise over the holiday weekend: a full 30 minutes of musical tracks found on a recent beta build. The track names aren't really spoiler-related, they're just named after various races and zones in Pandaria, so you can feel free to listen without fear of plot spoilers. The Sha piece is particularly haunting, but all of the pieces have a certain beautiful flair to them. And if one of these tracks reminds you of another game, you may be right. Joining the team for Mists of Pandaria is none other than Jeremy Soule, a name you might recognize. His most recent work includes the soundtrack for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If you're interested in hearing what musical treats Mists has to offer, give the video above a listen. As always, remember this is datamined content, so it may not make it into the official game -- but if the video is any indication, we're in for a treat. I can't wait to hear the rest of the music. 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!
Anne Stickney05.29.2012
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Core abilities tab teaches proper play
I don't really play more than one class at a time. Oh, I have alts, don't get me wrong, alts of nearly every class. I just don't really play them very often at all. Part of this is because my playtime is limited and when I am playing, I want to play on my main. But the other part is that it's hard to keep up on class changes for classes I don't play. I started raiding in vanilla on a priest, and when I switched to rogue, any and all priest changes that happened did so outside of my gaze. I simply wasn't paying attention to them. And with the sweeping changes to classes across the board with every expansion, I never could really pick up my priest again, not in the same intuitive way I played her in vanilla years. I'm not the only one who has this issue, and in Mists of Pandaria, there's a new feature to help address that to a degree. The Core Abilities tab doesn't break down every spell in your character's spellbook -- but what it does do is point out the core abilities for the class and spec you happen to be playing.
Anne Stickney05.29.2012
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Enrage changes in Mists beta
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. The last time we talked about the Mists beta, I mentioned that rage was the big story. It continues to be so, especially the Enrage mechanic. Right now, for all three specs, Enrage is the means by which rage generation gets accelerated. Since you only generate rage by damage dealt and specials in the beta, enrage is really necessary to make rage generation work. So the most recent change to Enrage needs to be thoroughly discussed. With this change, arms will proc Enrage with Mortal Strike and Colossus Smash, while fury will use Bloodthirst and Colossus Smash. Protection will rely on the Critical Block mechanic of the protection mastery. All three specs will be able to force an enrage state via the ability Berserker Rage.No longer will any attack have a chance to proc the enraged state, instead, specific attacks and abilities will do so. In the case of fury, the critical hit chance of Bloodthirst has been increased to compensate for the loss of potential enrages from other attacks.
Matthew Rossi05.26.2012
Arcane Brilliance: Familiars, porcupines and Frostbolt healing, oh my!
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we'll be discussing a few of the more recent additions and tweaks to our class on the Mists of Pandaria beta. Some of them are awesome. Some of them are silly. And some of them are porcupines. You see that thing up there in the picture? That tiny little legless flaming elemental from vanilla WoW? That's one of our three new familiars. That's right: familiars. I've actively campaigned for mage familiars in the past, even as far back as this crusty old post from 2008, in which I also wished for more portals, a Blink spell that actually worked, and a rumored new ability called Mirror Image, which I believed would prove to be a combination of a bacon double cheeseburger, the second coming of Christ, and a double rainbow out of a leprechaun's butt. So young! So naive. I always imagined my mage running around with a tiny furry minion, maybe mouse with glowing eyes, or an ominous crow, possibly animated by Don Bluth, that would do my bidding and tell me which cottage in the forest Princess Aurora was hiding in. I imagined a wizardly pet that would be always by my mage's side, part of the persona, perhaps conferring a passive buff or something. Well that isn't quite what we're getting here.
Christian Belt05.26.2012
Mists of Pandaria: New Wrathion voice files datamined
So, have you been wondering why exactly Wrathion's made an appearance in Pandaria? Datamining over the course of the past month or so has revealed several legendary quality items, and the possible existence of a quest chain for more details on what those legendary items are for. And of course this all ties back to our dear friend Wrathion, who has apparently been quite pleased with what he's seen so far in Pandaria. But Wrathion, while a black dragon, isn't necessarily a bad guy. A bit short-tempered, yes. A creature you certainly wouldn't want to cross, absolutely. A black dragon with an agenda that benefits something other than himself? ... well, that actually seems kind of likely. MMO-Champion dug up some voice files for Wrathion and the apparent quest chain for those legendary items. The implications are utterly fascinating, both for current events in Mists of Pandaria, and for future patches as well. Spoiler Warning: These voice files may contain big spoilers for Mists of Pandaria. If you are avoiding spoiler content, turn away.
Anne Stickney05.25.2012
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The evolution of itemization
Let me introduce you to the Massacre Sword. It was, and still is, a solid leveling green with a rather good model. I point it out to you to show you the odds of getting one with stats you'd actually want on a warrior, paladin or hunter (the three classes that would be using the sword at the time the game launched) and how likely it was you'd get, say, a Massacre Sword of the Boar or Whale. Granted, you could get a few fairly useful combinations (one of Strength or Agility, say, or a good two stat combo like Bear, Tiger, Eagle, Monkey or Gorilla depending on your class. This was a green drop, of course. It wasn't meant to be the best of the best, just something to pick up and use on your way to dungeon loot. It's hard to compare it to what it would be replaced by nowadays, because a lot of that gear was re-itemized when Cataclysm came out and the dungeon levels were adjusted up or down. I remember replacing it with Lord Alexander's Battle Axe, followed by a Demonshear and an Arcanite Champion, before forays into Molten Core and Blackwing Lair. It's fascinating to consider how itemization works as a tool in driving players forward. Bad itemization, while baffling at times when encountered in game, actually serves a purpose in the hands of the developers. An item with too good of a stat spread can actually serve as a hanging burr, sticking to your character long after it should have been replaced. I mention this because, to my mind, Mists of Pandaria is the first expansion to really know this, forwards and backwards. This is the expansion that will use gear design to motivate you better, more skillfully, and more expansively than ever before.
Matthew Rossi05.25.2012
Mists of Pandaria: Sunwalker Dezco for Warchief
Spoilers for Mists of Pandaria in this post. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy Sunwalker Dezco. As a tauren, I love the idea that there's a tauren presence in Pandaria, and that unlike most of the Horde the leadership of said tauren, actually uses the quotes around the word Warchief when talking about Messere Hellscream. I first met the Sunwalker in the Krasarang Wilds. He was leading an expedition to Pandaria inspired by the visions of his wife. After that, I ran into him again helping out against the mantid, then in Kun-Lai Summit at the Temple of the White Tiger, where he gives out a quest to meet with one of the August Celestials within the Temple of the White Tiger. After Xuen, the White Tiger, tests your mettle, he allows you and Dezco (if you're Horde) to go south. Pretty much everything Dezco says or does shows that he's loyal to the Horde, but clearly less than enamored with Garrosh and his particular way of leading it. Dezco is very involved with the quests leading to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms as well as Krasarang and Valley of the Four Winds, and he's at once a determined bringer of the light and a much more tolerant and reasonable Horde figure than we've seen in some time. I'm just glad to see a new, no-nonsense tauren lore figure, and to see the tauren taking some initiative in Pandaria. And I admit, I love the idea of a sarcastic tauren paladin. 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!
Matthew Rossi05.24.2012
More Mists of Pandaria beta passes may be on the way
We're currently receiving reports that more Mists of Pandaria beta passes are being issued -- with a twist. Because all Annual Pass subscribers have received their beta invites, this round is going to those that did not purchase an Annual Pass. If you've registered your interest in beta access on your WoW account, you may have gotten in as well. Please note: if you receive an email notification that you have a beta invite, don't click any links in the email. Just go to Battle.net, log in, and check your accounts to see if you indeed have beta access. And if you are granted beta access, you may want to check our gigantic amount of Mists of Pandaria beta coverage to catch up on what's changed, what's gone, what's new, and what's incredibly cool. 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!
Anne Stickney05.24.2012
Ghostcrawler weighs in on shaman feedback
The beta has been under way now for some time, as have the feedback posts on the official forums. Shaman have had a few major changes to their repertoire, as well as a few more minor ones, but the general feeling from reading the posts made in the forums is that these changes don't go far enough. Shaman, it appears, don't feel like they're getting what they need to be viable, let alone competitive, and the unique nature of a lot of their abilities seems to continue to be as much a hindrance as it is a help. But arriving like the white knight in medieval-styled dramas, just as the situation feels dire and unsalvageable, is Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street. The shaman feedback post has finally had the equivalent of a Blizzard seal of approval, in the form of a blue post from the bluest of blues. So what did the big GC address in his post, and what still remains outstanding for beta shaman? One big complaint that many shaman brought up was glyphs. I recently tweeted fellow WoW Insider writer Joe Perez about this very matter, namely, that shaman glyphs were a mess. They felt either very lackluster or very penalty-heavy. A few patches ago, before the recent changes, I was playing my shaman with two empty glyph slots, because none of the glyphs felt worth using. This is a Bad Thing. A recent patch went some way to repairing this, but with it, a host of new problems appeared, some of which GC addresses after the break.
Olivia Grace05.23.2012
Totem Talk: New look for Chain Heal, new features for resto shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how So with all the excitement over the release of Diablo III, Mists hasn't been one to sit idly by and just be completely quiet. There have been a number of changes to shaman in general over the last few builds. I figured if you could tear yourself away from the eternal struggle of the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, then we could take a look at some of those changes. One of the most underrated aspects of the new expansion, in my opinion, is the glyphs themselves. There's a lot to be said about the importance of the glyphs in the new expansion. I personally feel that they will become much more useful as tools to help define our healing kits for the fights, much more so than talents currently do.
Joe Perez05.22.2012
Shifting Perspectives: Scribbles from an alternate universe
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, we joyride through Pandaria with fountain pen in hand. Old school, baby. I'm back to scribbling. Every beta, a pile of poorly organized notes starts to grow at the side of my computer with numbers, observations, witty column titles (these I seem to have misplaced this time around), questions, gripes, and a truly stupefying amount of cat hair. I turn this pile into a series of articles on how druids are doing and try not to think too hard about having possibly misread my chicken scratch to ruinous effect. (In unrelated news, until linking the above articles, I hadn't revisited the video I shot of a premade druid in level 85 blues off the Cataclysm beta and was horrified by the set of responses. Or better yet, here's the video I shot of female worgen casting animations. Oh, YouTube commenters -- you never fail to deliver!) This is actually a collection of notes from the last several weeks on the beta. Most of them are bear-flavored, because there's not much point to questing as restoration unless your other hobbies include watching paint dry, snail racing, or the complete works of Schopenhauer.
Allison Robert05.22.2012
Lichborne: Ghostcrawler discusses death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. To say that the death knight community has been a little grumpy this past week is probably an understatement. Essentially, what happened is that we got a post from Ghostcrawler discussing some of our Mists of Pandaria beta issues, and in almost all cases, he wasn't quite on board with our complaints. This week, we'll hit some of the highlights of what Ghostcrawler said and what they mean for our class, as well as look at some of the changes we have seen coming from the beta. It's not a disadvantage -- it's a feature In the list of perennial death knight complaints, there are three that are probably pretty near the top and have been for a while. First, unholy pets and summons do not scale with mastery. Second, unholy has very little in the way of burst AoE. Finally, critical strike is incredibly undervalued for frost due to Killing Machine. Ghostcrawler pretty much breezed through all three of these complaints with a classic "working as intended." That's not to say he didn't explain all three reasonings to some extent, but they all boiled down to the idea that the dev team is perfectly happy with the skills working this way, because they're all calculated differences that separate the death knight trees from each other.
Daniel Whitcomb05.22.2012
3 things the Black Market Auction House needs to succeed
The Black Market Auction House seems to be a controversial topic. Some players love the idea, while some players utterly detest the idea with every ounce of their being. Regardless, the theory behind the Black Market Auction House is a solid one. Removing gold from the WoW economy is something that is desperately needed in the days of Auction House kings, in order to balance everything out. If the Black Market Auction House works, it'll even out player gold to a reasonable level, keeping items on the regular Auction House at reasonable prices. And for those who spent the tremendous amount of time it takes to amass their fortunes, it means that they finally have something to spend their reward on, something tangible and -- let's face it -- something pretty cool. In expansions past, we've only had one or two really major gold sinks to speak of, whether crafted mounts, or really useful mounts purchased from a vendor. Once those mounts were purchased or crafted, there was a vast sea of nothing for people to spend that gold on. But the potential for abuse runs pretty high with this thing. And as I pondered the potential side effects of the Black Market Auction House, I realized there are certain things that really need to be in place to make it work effectively.
Anne Stickney05.21.2012
Mists of Pandaria: 'What has changed?' makes class changes more palatable
One of the sharpest double-edged swords in Blizzard's arsenal is the constant iteration to class and play design that comes with each World of Warcraft expansion. On the one hand, players like innovation and new mechanics and spells to keep their favorite class fresh. On the other hand, players could reject the changes as too severe or too different from the class they originally set out to play, as was the case with Alex Ziebart and myself with paladins in Cataclysm. It's a risky move to change up the core mechanics of a class, and the introduction of the "What's New" window helps streamline this occasionally daunting issue. New and old players alike will benefit greatly from the "What has changed?" tab. Simply open up your spellbook and click on the last tab at the bottom. You'll be greeted with a new screen giving you the run down on some of the biggest changes to your class coming in Mists of Pandaria.
Mathew McCurley05.21.2012
5 things you need to know about the Temple of the Jade Serpent
So, last time on 5 Things You Need to Know, we took you on a rollicking, barrel-rolling, beer-spewing adventure through the Stormstout Brewery. Many laughs were had at the adorable kitty-esque bosses, many a hammer was clicked, fruit and vegetables were hurled, and much drunken japery was had by all. If the Stormstout Brewery was the chirpy cheerleader, then the Temple of the Jade Serpent is the emo sister, the one with the funky hair and the slightly offbeat jewelery. This is the Daria to Stormstout's Quinn. (Am I showing my age by referencing retro MTV cartoons? You bet I am!) So just like last time, this is definitely not a full, step-by-step guide (but of course, we already did one of those for you). This is a set of simple facts that will arm you with just enough knowledge to tackle this second dungeon with the panache we expect of our dashing, well-read audience. Let's get on with it! 1. You can go either right or left at the start. You start in a room with some quest givers, and in beta, the eminent Flaskataur, Esq. fulfills all your needs for glyphs and Tomes of the Clear Mind-- and frankly, your needs for tauren in adorable hats. From there, you have two corridors leading to the first two bosses through some trash. You can go either way. After killing whichever boss you kill second, you will be guided via a ramp to the next stage of the dungeon. I reckon right is easier than left. You may disagree. After you've killed whichever side you start with, you'll need to go back from whence you came and do the other one.
Olivia Grace05.21.2012
Blood Pact: Demonic Leaping to new heights of awesomeness
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill is disappointed that moonkin are allowed to ride mounts, but not metamorphs. That's just not fair. I admit: I don't play demonology. As much as I'm a maestro at affliction, corruption gliding from my fingertips, I just fall apart when it comes to mastering the demonic arts like Illidan. So on the one hand, I don't really know where demonology is supposed to be heading in Mists of Pandaria, apart from Metamorphosis being just more awesome now. On the other hand, I don't have the old habits to rewrite over. I'm new blood, much like the revamp of warlocks in Mists will certainly attract people who don't play the class now. I'm perfect for testing how easy the spec is to pick up for newbies. I can tell you this: I was having fun on beta demonology. All you have to do is Demonic Leap with me beyond the break.
Megan O'Neill05.21.2012
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Finally, a portable reforger
Deep in the heart of Kun-Lai Summit, at The Grummle Bazaar, lies a vendor named Uncle Bigpocket who, at some point, will sell the Grand Expedition Yak, this expansion's version of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. It's a beautiful beast, but what caught my attention were the vendors on the side of it. One of them is named Cousin Slowhands, a NPC who seems like he probably sells water and food and the like. The second vendor, on the other hand, is named Mystic Birdhat, Arcane Reforger. Many players have posted on the forums (we've even floated the idea), pleading for some type of portable reforging tool. Well, it seems Blizzard was listening! While the price for the mount would appear to be about 60,000 gold, the possibility of account-wide mounts makes this purchase worthwhile. Hopefully, someone in your raid or dungeon group has some deep pockets! [Thanks to Runek for the heads up!] 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!
Dan Desmond05.21.2012
5 great group roleplaying hangouts in Mists of Pandaria
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Are you ready for Pandaria? I don't think I can really repeat it enough: Pandaria is beautiful. The locations are gorgeous, and the amount of detail that went into simple things like leaves and trees is just phenomenal. Even if I don't have any quests to complete, simply running around and soaking in all of the scenery while snapping as many screenshots as possible is a lot of fun, particularly since there are hidden shrines with bits of lore all over the place now! Since last week's jaunt into the wilds of Pandaria seemed to go over well, I decided to point out a few more places that are suitable for roleplay. Only this time, we're going to take a look at some really large areas where guilds or groups could hang out or large events could take place. Group events can be a lot of fun, even if they're a little harder to coordinate. Having the perfect backdrop for an event makes it even more fun -- and Pandaria is full of perfect backdrops.
Anne Stickney05.19.2012
Arcane Brilliance: Going back to the future with Alter Time
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we're going to jump into the not-so-distant future -- specifically, the day we hit level 87 in Mists of Pandaria. We're going to need 1% of our base mana, some plutonium, and 1.21 gigawatts, and we're going to need to be moving at 88 miles per hour. Mages are getting a fair number of new or reworked spells and talents in Mists of Pandaria, but arguably the most intriguing of the bunch is Alter Time. Continuing along with the time -manipulation theme already established by spells like Time Warp, upcoming talents like Temporal Shield, and the time chicken tier 13 armor set, Alter Time allows us to transport our mages back in time to the ancient era of six seconds ago. It's an incredibly interesting mechanic that works in practice about how I expected it to in theory, which is both good and bad.
Christian Belt05.19.2012
Dungeon Mastery: Shado-pan Monastery
Kun-Lai Summit is host to the Shado-pan Monastery. In Mists of Pandaria, you'll undoubtedly get a chance to experience and help rid the instance of Sha influence. Megan and I decided to check the place out and see what the deal is. We teamed up before when she carried me kindly tanked for me in the Stormstout Brewery. Like last time, I healed on my holy priest, Megan tanked on her druid, and we were accompanied with two hunters and an enhancement shaman. Your group needs to be at minimum level 87 in order to queue. The video above is a little under 50 minutes long. We would've been able to move quicker if I hadn't been in combat all the time. Yeesh. Even the Matticus needs a drink from time to time. Gu Cloudstrike Cloudstrike is the first boss your group will challenge. You'll run into Cloudstrike outside on a plateau just as you leave the first chamber. It's a three-phase encounter involving Cloudstrike and a flying serpent.
Matt Low05.18.2012