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Blizzard hosting live Mists of Pandaria dev chat on October 27th
Oh, those crazy Blizzard devs! They just can't seem to stay out of the news lately. The latest bit of panda-related madness comes courtesy of tomorrow's dev chat announcement. If you've got questions about the newly revealed Mists of Pandaria expansion pack, you'll want to sign up for a CoverItLive account and prepare to fire away at Blizz's best and brightest. If you've got complaints, well, it's a moderated dev chat so you're probably out of luck. In any event, the fireworks start at 8:00 p.m. EDT, and you can read all of the details at the official Battle.net website.
The Queue: Back in the land of weather
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. Today is my first day back in Wisconsin post-BlizzCon, and I have just one word to describe how it feels to be back home: cold. Phoenix asked: Alex, you've been saying for years how much you hate pandas. Are you going to quit in MoP?
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria sets a new direction for Blizzard's first MMO
Blizzard has made the next expansion in the World of Warcraft official as Mists of Pandaria, and after conquering other planets, the Lich King, and a big bad dragon, the Horde and Alliance are headed to ... China. Well, not China per se, but Pandaria, a long-rumored, Eastern mysticism-influenced realm, where panda-based humanoids roam, brew and drink beer, and offer players the next five levels in their continuing progression. As is often the case with this game, many players have revolted. The Pandaren have long been used as a joke in the world of Warcraft, either referred to on April Fool's Day, or showing up in the company's parodic Christmas cards. But lead quest designer Dave Kosak says players who scoff at Pandaria should think twice. "Maybe people, because they've only been portrayed as cameos or only April Fool's jokes, people think that there's nothing to this race, and that's not it at all," Kozak says to us during BlizzCon last week. "I think the Pandaren are kind of fascinating -- they work hard, they play hard, they eat hard, they drink hard, and they don't do anything half way." The Pandaren, in addition to some of the other announced features of the new expansion, point to the next long arc of the World of Warcraft game. In the first few expansions of the title, Blizzard has cashed in on the earlier origins of the series. But with Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard seems to be setting up the world's most popular MMO for years of content to come. %Gallery-137261%
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!
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!
Breakfast Topic: What do you expect from this year's BlizzCon?
Well, we asked ourselves, and we figured it was only fair to ask you too. Not that many of you didn't weigh in on the original post, but this is really the sort of question that's best to crowdsource, especially after staggering back to one's room from the bar at the Annabella: What do you expect to see at this year's BlizzCon? With a look at the schedule of events on day one, we can reasonably expect to see a preview of the Deathwing encounter (well, more of it), and the most common guess that I've seen so far is that the talent system is going to be overhauled in the run-up to the next expansion. Interestingly, that seems to have been a popular guess even before the BlizzCon schedule was released and all but confirmed that something is afoot. Speaking of expansions, there's the specter of that "World of Warcraft preview" panel this afternoon, and I think we all know what that's going to be about. Sort of. Pandas? Emerald Dream? Xoroth? Tijuana? Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv, and 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 Insider's BlizzCon 2011 predictions
It's quiet around the WoW Insider offices today -- many of us are on our way to Anaheim as you read this. After all, it's BlizzCon 2011 Eve ... uh, Eve. And we can't stop thinking about all the exciting news that we're 48 hours away from learning. Floodgates, people -- they're going to open. Since our brains won't let us consider anything but BlizzCon right now anyway, we thought it might be a good idea for all us staffers to write down our predictions for 5.0 and the convention in general. The bosses think it's a good idea because you want to read about BlizzCon so you'll give us precious, precious page views. I think it's a good idea because we get to have a lot of people on the record who are going to look ridiculous in 48 hours on account of how wrong they are. That, my friends, is what we call a win-win. So, if you'll allow me to get things started: BlizzCon 2011 prediction involves Tyler sneaking past WoW Insider security at our Reader Meetup and getting so close to Fox Van Allen that he needs to be tazered by a security guard to keep him from touching the talent. Also, um, probably something with pandas or whatever.
Transmogrification and the dismissal of the silhouette theory
Blizzard recently announced at the Gamescom gaming convention in Germany that patch 4.3 is coming, and it's coming on strong. With brand new features like a separate bank for your old gear, a transmogrification NPC who can change the look of your gear, and even Deathwing himself as a raid, patch 4.3 opens up a ton of possibilities for the future of World of Warcraft that we might not have seen coming. For me, the most stark change that patch 4.3 is bringing about is not a change to the systems or gameplay, but a philosophical change at the heart of World of Warcraft that spells out some of the potential big announcements that might be coming our way during BlizzCon. Transmogrification is bigger as a philosophical leap than we think, and here's how. The silhouette theory World of Warcraft's factions are rooted in an idea called silhouette recognition. What this means is that you can easily tell who your friends or enemies are based on their aesthetic look. The reason there are no "humans" on the Horde side is because Blizzard wants you, as a Horde player, to point out a human on the battlefield. The same goes for every race. No two sides have races that feature identical silhouettes. This is even the reason worgen are forced into their bestial forms in combat -- players need to know that you're a worgen. This goes for gear as well. Blizzard practically invented the gear tier system in raiding and made it so your two most prominent pieces, shoulders and headpieces, were the sought-after marks of power and prestige, and a physical reminder of player accomplishment. My shoulders currently tell you that I've been to the Firelands, killed many bosses, and taken their stuff. My silhouette is instantly recognizable as a raider who is geared and powerful.
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.
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.
Blizzard registers Mists of Pandaria trademark
MMO-Champion is reporting on a new Blizzard trademark that was just filed for "Mists of Pandaria," potentially the name of the next World of Warcraft expansion to be announced at BlizzCon this year. This is not the first time Blizzard has filed for a trademark in such a way, as Blizzard filed for the "Cataclysm" trademark back in 2009. While this trademark does not explicitly say that it is the name of the new expansion, the class of trademark does point to its being filed for computer game software and lines up, according to MMO Champion, with other Blizzard trademarks for expansions. While it is not confirmed that Mists of Pandaria is the next expansion, it very well could be. We don't exactly know what the next expansion has in store for WoW players, but we are certain to find out at BlizzCon. Mists of Pandaria could be an expansion that opens up many islands still as of yet explored and populated by players on Azeroth and could potentially provide some new land grabs for the Horde and the Alliance to quarrel over after Deathwing's demise. Whether or not the Pandaren race will be playable is definitely up in the air, but Blizzard has apparently had issues with bringing panda people into the game in the past. Personally, I would much rather prefer another space exploration expansion like The Burning Crusade, as we've been on Azeroth for two expansions already, and I think it's time to head to the stars again.
Pandaren in the World of Warcraft
In among all of the "omg fake pets for real money" drama from this week's announcement, we may have missed something big: the Pandaren are now live in the World of Warcraft. The Pandaren are my favorite Azerothian race, even though they're essentially a joke -- Samwise Didier just loves pandas, and he made art for an April Fool's joke that Chris Metzen loved so much they decided to include the bears as real characters in Warcraft III. Since then, they've become fan favorites (not least of all, especially for me, because alcohol and ale are a big part of their culture), but we've only seen hints of them in World of Warcraft. There was a rumor going around a while back that they would never appear in the game because China didn't allow depictions of violence against the bears, but that was just a rumor. Still, the Pandaren have existed in WoW only as a Blizzard in-joke. We assume they're out there somewhere, but until now, no one has ever seen one. Of course we say "until now" because there are now little Pandaren monk noncombat pets running around, bowing, and doing magical kung-fu. Does this mean that the future Emerald Dream expansion will have us all playing as Brewmasters? While yes that would be awesome, not so fast again: Diablo and the Zergling from Starcraft are both in the game as noncombat pets, and they don't mean anything at all (although they were both included in the game before the announcements of Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 -- maybe Blizzard is working on a Pandaren-based puzzle game? Conspiracy theorists, assemble!). And just because we all have Grunty doesn't mean murlocs are suddenly going to take to spaceships with battle rifles in the official lore. But it's cool to see Pandaren actually in the game, even in pet form, and who knows, maybe we will one day find the legendary realm of Pandaria in our own version of Azeroth.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Portals, pandaren, and Jaina Proudmoore
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Let's get this party started with Lionheart's question...What is that barred off instance looking portal thing in Stormwind, by Old Town? Were the gates once open?There are actually two of these in Stormwind. Neither of them were ever open, they're relics of unfinished projects. One is a closed off little guarded island in the Canals. That one was going to be the Stormwind Vault, probably a dungeon like Arcatraz or the upcoming Violet Hold in Dalaran. Probably.There's also the barred off one at the end of the Canals, right down the way from that one. This is probably the one you're referring to, I'm going to guess? I don't think we've gotten a real answer on this was supposed to be, but it was probably going to be the portal to player housing. They actually did start work on player housing at one point, but never got far. There are relics of it in the game files. Half completed houses/structures, things like that. They all use the Stormwind motif for their appearance, and they would have to put it somewhere. Through this portal is a safe bet.thinice asked...Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas. Any chance they'll hook up against in the future? What are the details of their history together?
