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BlizzCon 2011: Pet battles introduced in Pandaria
Mists of Pandaria will be introducing Pet Battles. You will be able to use your companion pets to battle against each other. There will be leveling, items, teams and better ways to acquire your pets. Here are some highlights: The companion pets can attack wild pets and capture them to add to your collection. The battles will be turn-based. You will be able to customize your pets with names, items and builds. There will be Masters that you can fight and gain a Master Ability for your pet. As you collect pets, you can form them into teams to take into battle. Pets will be account-wide, including levels and customizations. Pets will be tradeable. You will be able to put them on the AH or give as gifts. So you can build up to high-level pets and sell them for high prices. All players will be able to access pet battles. You will be able to use almost all pets. Looks like we will no longer be able to call our companions "non-combat" pets. Of course, all of these things are subject to change without notice. But this looks like a fun sub-game that many people will want to spend most of their time playing. The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2011: Hands on with Mists of Pandaria
I'm sure that you've already heard the news of the next World of Warcraft expansion: Mists of Pandaria. As an added treat to the reveal of the next expansion, those in attendance at BlizzCon have the opportunity to sit down and spend some time with the new race and the new starting zone. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to play through what was available and to get to know the new Pandaran race just a little bit. We also got to spend some time with the new class, the monk. Join us after the break for more information.
BlizzCon 2011: Blizzard reveals new talent system
Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street got on stage at Blizzcon a few moments ago to unveil an entirely overhauled talent system for Mists of Pandaria, the next World of Warcraft expansion. After four expansions of "cookie cutter" talent builds, Blizzard has broken and reconstructed the entire talent system in order to put the choice for talents directly into the hands of the players. They strove for this in Cataclysm and made some good advances, but ultimately fell short of the goal. Like the current talent system, players will choose their specialization at level 10. This specialization chooses what abilities you'll be gaining as you'll level up, rather than there being baseline talents. There will be a few baseline class abilities, but not nearly as many. According to Ghostcrawler, these spec abilities will be "anything your spec requires." Spec abilities will be learned out in the field when you level; you only need to visit the trainer to choose a new specialization! In the preview at Blizzcon, the holy specialization for paladins received staple holy abilities, such as Holy Shock, Holy Light, and Beacon of Light. Some specialization abilities will be available to two specs, such as both ret and prot getting Hammer of the Righteous. The other part of the talent system is that there is now one talent tree for every class. At every 15 levels, you get one talent point, which can be put into one of three talents for that level. You can't go back and take previous talents. These talents are looking to be abilities, not boring things like passive healing or damage buttons. There are no ranks for these talents. The goal is for there to be no mandatory talents, and that you should choose what you want on a per fight/per content/per choice basis. Retalenting should be as accessible as reglyphing is right now. So, for example, a paladin will choose holy for her spec, and as she levels up will gain all her core holy abilities. When she hits level 15, she will gain her first talent point, which will be usable on either Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, or Pursuit of Justice, which all sound like a speed boost to me. Once she makes this change, she won't be allowed to choose the other two talents when she gets her next talent point, though she can later choose to retalent if she feels she chose poorly. The three choices you have to take at any level will all share a same theme in common. In the previous paragraph, you have three talents that will be mobility based. (Warriors also get mobility talents at 15, their choices being Juggernaght, Warbringer, and Double Time.) The idea is that you don't forego a mobility ability for a dps ability, or a cc for a survivability cooldown. An important point to note is that even though these abilities have the same names as current talents in the game, they will not have the same effect. They are being redesigned to try to appeal to all three specs in a talent. The point of new talents is to offer a form of utility that you can customize for your playstyle, and not mandatory choices for maximum DPS/HPS/Survivability. All in all, it's looking to be a simplified, better, and ultimately more choice-driven take on talenting, and I couldn't be more excited. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
WoW: Mists of Pandaria will introduce Pokemon-like Pet Battle System
The Blizzard Entertainment developers are walking through the biggest features of the newly announced Mists of Pandaria expansion, and while you can head on over to our sister site at WoW Insider for all of the details, there was one big new feature that we couldn't ignore. Players have been able to collect pets in the World of Warcraft for quite a while now, but a new Pet Battle System will come with the next expansion that allows players to both customize their pets with new names and other items, and even battle each other. And if you think that sounds a little bit like Pokemon, you're not wrong at all. The battle system, which Blizzard's lead designer Cory Stockton walked through, will have players choosing three pets to fight with at a time, turn-based battles using three abilities per battle (out of six), and even "Master Trainers" which can be beaten around the world of Azeroth to unlock new abilities. Pets can be obtained in all kinds of different ways, and there will be new "wild pets" that can only be found out in the world (in Goldshire, the devs suggested, while it's raining, during the Spring, only at night). Blizzard has given away special pets during holidays, at events like BlizzCon, and even sold pets for real money on the store. As if World of Warcraft needed to be any more addictive, Blizzard has somehow figured out a way to include their own version of Pokemon inside of it.
Blizzard discusses Mists of Pandaria details
The big day-one BlizzCon announcement is that Mists of Pandaria is going to be the next World of Warcraft expansion, and we've got some new details on what players can expect from the new content. For starters, Blizzard is once again reworking the talent system, as the studio feels that the current system hasn't aged well and has been plagued with cookie-cutter builds. Instead, each class will have a single talent tree, and every 15 levels players will choose one of three available talents. Talent builds can be changed as easily as glyphs, meaning it's possible to customize your talents mid-instance in order to tune for a specific fight. Outdoor raid bosses are making a return, and Blizzard is aiming to allow players to choose their own paths through the content rather than forcing them onto a set path. For more details, head on past the cut!
BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria Pandaren racials
Our friends over at Wowhead News (who helped us throw a heck of a party) also have been posting all sorts of Mists of Pandaria information. One of the tidbits they have for us are what, exactly, our new Pandaren brothers and sisters will have for racial abilities. It's interesting to see that these racials are pretty strong for leveling. Bouncy: reduces fall damage by half. Inner peace: double rested XP. Gourmond: +15 to cooking. Epicurean: double stats to food buffs. Quaking Palm (from the live stream): Puts a target to sleep for three seconds. Some of these (the Epicurean racial in particular) seems pretty strong, maybe even too strong. They're interesting in terms of how they touch on the Pandaren's lore and personality. Keep reading our coverage, including liveblogs of each panel. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria trailer
For those of you at home who lack livestream access and refuse to believe the whole Pandaria thing until you get to see it with your own eyes ... Well, here you go: the Mists of Pandaria expansion trailer. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2011: Pandaren will be playable by both the Horde and Alliance
The moment we've all dreaded (or eagerly anticipated, that's up to you) is here: The Pandaren will be playable in the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion. Here's the kicker: They'll be playable by both factions, which means Blizzard really has thrown out the silhouette theory it's stood by for years. We saw that coming with transmogrification, though. It isn't much of a surprise. The choice as to whether you're Alliance or Horde doesn't happen at character creation, though. The choice will come after you've played through the introductory quest chain for your character. Once the stage has been set and you see where the lines of war have been drawn, you will choose which faction represents your interests best. Exciting? Oh, yes. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria announced
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria will be the fourth expansion to the game. It was announced today at the opening ceremonies at BlizzCon 2011 in front 26,000 cheering fans. The expansion promises to deliver the next phase in WoW's development, ushering in a new era of quests, raids, PVP, professions, and instances. The major details: New talent system Pandaren race The region of Pandaria New monk class Level cap raised to 90 Dungeon challenge mode PVE Scenarios Pet Battle System Follow us all day for the next few days as we cover BlizzCon from top to bottom! Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2011: Opening Ceremony Liveblog
We'll be live blogging the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2011. The start times for this liveblog is as follows: Pacific Time zone: 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time zone: 12:00 p.m. Central Time zone: 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time zone: 2:00 p.m. We're expecting a lot from this BlizzCon opening ceremony, including the Mists of Pandaria expansion, some StarCraft expansion announcement, and potentially an announcement concerning the Diablo 3 release date. Stay tuned! We'll start liveblogging soon. 10:42 a.m. - Patch 5.0 will introduce a new talent system. 10:42 a.m. - Initial reports are that the expansion will be playable at BlizzCon today. The rest of the liveblog after the break!
Tom Chilton suggests Mists of Pandaria "wildly overhyped"
Maybe Mists of Pandaria isn't quite as likely as we all thought. IGN PC had a chat with Game Director Tom Chilton about the rumors of the upcoming expansion, as well as the upcoming patch 4.3 and the possibility of WoW moving to a free-to-play model. Chiming in on the subject of transmogrification was Art Director Chris Robinson, who explained a little about the details behind the feature and its restrictions. Robinson clarified that protecting class integrity was an important factor in both armor design and the upcoming transmogrification feature: "When you see those demon wings you know 'Okay that's a warlock,' you know you can apply that to his tier twenty-one armor but it's still a warlock." So what about free-to-play? Chilton confirms that it's "definitely a possibility," but for those of you looking for an immediate free-to-play version of WoW, you're going to have to wait. Chilton clarified that the change would be a dramatic departure from Blizzard's current business model, and it would take quite a bit of convincing to switch models. As to the subject of Pandaren ... Speculation swirled recently regarding Blizzard's decision to trademark "Mists of Pandaria," as many thought it may indicate the name of the next World of Warcraft expansion. Pandaria, in Warcraft lore, refers to the home of the Pandaren, basically humanoid war pandas you may remember making an appearance as neutral heroes in Warcraft III. Chilton said the speculation was, "wildly overhyped." He added, "if you look at traditionally how we've handled that race it's been in those secondary products because we haven't realized it in the world. Most of the time when we do anything panda-related it's going to be a comic book or a figurine or something like that." Comic books, figurines, or a new expansion? Time and undoubtedly BlizzCon will tell. Check out the full article over at IGN PC.
The Queue: Riding this joke 'til the tires go bald
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 Queue is now in order! We all know that Samwise Pandas Club threw a party the other day and not one of us was invited. Now what do you say if we form a new club and call it the ... He-Man Panda Haters Club? Now I think we oughta have a president. Now, the man we elect must be the worst panda hater of us all. I nominate ... myself. Because I hate pandas. Gutrot asked: Alex I think you write the Queue on Monday right? The other writers have speculated about Mists of Panderia but you haven't except for your panda hate. What do you expect to see?
WRUP: Pandaren vs. Ethereals
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! On Thursday, Blizzard uploaded a curious new picture to its Facebook page. It's called "Glimpses," and it shows three ethereals in a building that looks identical to Cordell's Enchanting in Stormwind. But a glimpse of what? Patch 4.3? The next expansion? The picture set off a flurry of speculation. One intrepid soul decided to treat the names as anagrams, converting Vaultkeeper Razhid to "hide a true leak," with "remaining letters ZPRV." I tried playing around with the letters myself, and all I can seem to make out of it is "Bill is The Mole." What do you think that means? Of course, a lot of people out there are wondering whether or not ethereals will play a major part in the next expansion. So, in addition to the "What aRe yoU Playing" question, this week, we asked our columnists a very simple followup question: %Poll-67612%
The MMO Report: Higher credit rating edition
This week's MMO Report finds Casey Schreiner looking to exchange sexual favors for a higher credit rating. With that out of the way, he also finds time to talk up a few MMOs. Highlights include a mention of Blizzard's panda-flavored expansion rumors as well as a bit of commentary on BioWare's Jedi Consular class trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Next up is a blurb about Guild Wars 2's Sylvari week, and in addition to hearing Schreiner utter the phrase "sentient tree-sprout," we get a recap of the recent blog post focused on the character designs. Bounty Hounds Online also gets a mention, and The MMO Report even has a few beta codes to hand out for the upcoming sci-fi MMO. This week's Massively mention (always the highlight of every MMO Report broadcast) is up next, and focuses on DC Universe Online's superserver merge. Finally, no MMO Report would be complete without Uncle Casey's mailbag, and you can find that -- as well as the rest of the show -- after the cut.
Jaina Proudmoore working book title: Tides of War
We have learned from author Christie Golden's Facebook page that the working title of her newest World of Warcraft novel, which will focus on earth-shattering changes for fan favorite Jaina Proudmoore, could be titled Tides of War. Since Jaina's heritage and background (her father being Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, leader of Kul Tiras) is that of Kul Tiras, the island nation of seafaring humans, this title makes sense, especially if it heralds the return of the nation of Kul Tiras back to World of Warcraft. Christie posts: "Okay, starting on Tides of War, the Jaina (Proudmoore!) book. Am thinking if I work this right... I won't have to work weekends this time. Woot!" There is a lot of speculation going on about the next expansion, including the filing of a trademark for Mists of Pandaria, as well as Chris Metzen revealing the earth-shattering Jaina book at Comic Con last month. While Tides of War is admittedly a working title, it signals a strong naval theme that links up well with an island expansion, the island of Pandaria, and a generally water-y world we're looking at. This is all still speculation, of course.
Titles Tell Stories: How "Mists of Pandaria" breaks the mold
Mists of Pandaria was filed as a trademark by Blizzard last week, sending the WoW community into pandemonium. Love them or hate them, pandaren may be making their way to Warcraft sooner than you think. As a title, though, does Mists of Pandaria work in the same way Blizzard's past expansion titles have informed the public about their general storylines? While I was drafting The Queue a few days ago, one particular vein of questioning stood out among the rest. Blizzard has recently filed for a peculiar trademark, Mists of Pandaria, under the classification of computer software (among other things). Many people believe that Mists of Pandaria will be the name of the next expansion, heralding in an age of World of Warcraft in which the fan-favorite pandaren finally make their emergence out of the shadows and into our hearts. Others hope that the pandas stay as the joke they originated from and WoW keeps only its other 50 bipedal, anthropomorphized races and rejects the pandaren concept. Either way, it is cause for discussion. The title is an art form in the games industry. A title has to tell you everything you need to know right up front, on the box, to give players new and old alike an understanding of what the game is going to focus on, set the theme, set a tone, and even clue us in to the major plot points. The title Mists of Pandaria could or could not do those things. I've taken the liberty of writing up some words on the subject of this potential title. I could be right and could certainly be wrong, but here's some food for thought. The Queue question that got this all started for me:
Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Mists of Pandaria
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. I never thought in a million years that I'd be revisiting the topic of the pandaren, but it looks like it's now something worth discussing. Earlier this week, it was discovered that Blizzard filed a new trademark for something called "Mists of Pandaria." Blizzard's done this before, filing the Cataclysm trademark back in 2009 before the expansion was announced. This has led to the assumption that the mysteriously named "Mists of Pandaria" is lined up to be the next expansion. Needless to say, this information was so far out of left field that it appeared to be coming in from the right. But let's think about this from a lore standpoint. All expansions need a storyline behind them -- now moreso than ever, given the extremely story-driven vehicle that is Cataclysm. For a race that was originally an April Fool's joke, the popularity of the pandaren, as well as what little written word we have on the race, makes this a pretty interesting prospect. Believe it or not, there are actually potential reasons behind all of this, given what's happened so far in Azeroth to date. So let's take a tinfoil hat look at what this expansion could theoretically look like, from a story standpoint. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a speculative look into what has gone before and what's to come. The events presented are just theories at this point and should not be taken as fact.
WRUP: Pandaren Madness Minute
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! In case you haven't heard already, just this past week, Blizzard registered a trademark for Mists of Pandaria. And what, you may ask, is Mists of Pandaria? ... what? Don't look at me. I don't know. Could Mists of Pandaria be the next expansion for World of Warcraft? There's plenty of evidence that this is the case -- Blizzard filed the same kind of trademark for Cataclysm shortly before its official announcement. Thing is, though, Mists of Pandaria could be so many things other than an expansion, too: A digital expansion for the WoW Trading Card Game Blizzard's WoW-related foray into mobile gaming An exciting new Plug-In scent from Glade Ultimately, though, your guess is as good as ours. What exactly are we guessing? Well, funny you should mention it -- just this week, I asked our columnists a very simple question to interpret as they saw fit: "... pandaren?"
The Queue: Panda-monium 2: Electric Bamboogaloo
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. This is all your fault, Blizzard. I hope you can live with yourself after that title. Garghle asked: Um... Mists of Pandaria? Is that really the next expansion? Pandaland?
Rumor: World of Warcraft's next expansion has been named
First there was The Burning Crusade, then Wrath of the Lich King, and, most recently, Cataclysm. World of Warcraft's expansions have been the lifeblood of literally millions of gamers' playtime, which is why many fans are anxiously awaiting word of the fourth expansion pack to the hit MMO. Today we may know the name of the expansion: Mists of Pandaria. According to MMO Champion, Blizzard filed a trademark with this title on July 28th, which is exactly in line with how the company has procured titles for the previous expansions. The trademark specifies that this is for "computer game software." The Pandarens are one of the more light-hearted races in the Warcraft franchise, with kung fu panda bears from a secret empire somewhere in Azeroth. Despite being fan favorites, the Pandarens have been rarely seen in WoW, while Blizzard has used them in a couple different April Fool's jokes in the past. We'll be keeping our eyes on Blizzard for any official confirmation.
