Blizzcon 2011: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Revealed

Fourth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment’s critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game reintroduces the mysterious pandaren race to Azeroth

ANAHEIM, Calif. — October 21, 2011 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the fourth expansion to World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unveiled to a sold-out crowd at the company’s BlizzCon® gaming festival, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria™ lifts the fog of mystery surrounding a long-lost continent that has been newly rediscovered following the events of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm™. The new expansion reintroduces the elusive pandaren, originally seen in Blizzard’s real-time strategy game Warcraft® III, as a playable race and adds a brand-new player class: the martial-arts-focused Monk. While exploring the mysteries of an exotic new land and advancing to the new level cap of 90, players will experience a range of new content and game features, including new quests and dungeons, group scenarios and “challenge” modes, pet battles, and more.

“Players have been asking to see the pandaren in World of Warcraft since the game’s launch, and we’re excited to finally be able to give them a proper re-introduction to Azeroth,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to the new playable race and class, Mists of Pandaria contains a huge amount of new content, and we’re looking forward to sharing more information about all of it at BlizzCon and beyond.”

In the upcoming expansion, players will be able to explore the long-lost continent of Pandaria, which has remained hidden from the world since the sundering of Azeroth over ten thousand years ago. In the aftermath of the Cataclysm played out in World of Warcraft’s third expansion, Pandaria’s heroes are emerging from their land’s lush forests and cloud-ringed mountains to choose sides in the escalating war between the Alliance and the Horde and to share the extraordinary secrets of their ancient martial arts. As tensions between the factions near a breaking point following the discovery of this new world, players will be called upon to explore Pandaria’s exotic expanses, make contact with its strange indigenous creatures, and unlock the world-changing secrets that have been hiding in the mists for millennia.

New features coming in the game’s fourth expansion include:

New Playable Race — Pandaren: Adventure through Azeroth as World of Warcraft’s first neutral race and decide whether to side with the Alliance or the Horde.
New Playable Class — Monk: Unlock the secrets of pandaren martial arts and do battle as a damage dealer, healer, or tank.
Level Cap Increased to 90: Learn potent new spells and abilities while exploring uncharted zones and taking on challenging new content.
New Zones: Explore the lush Jade Forest, treacherous Kun-Lai Summit, and other exotic areas of Pandaria designed for high-level characters, and uncover the mystery of the Wandering Isle.
Scenarios: Join up with some friends to achieve a common goal, such as mounting a defense against invading monsters, in a flexible new type of PvE challenge.
Dungeon “Challenge” Modes: Master the ultimate five-player time trial to earn prestige rewards in a new dungeon mode that will put your resolve and coordination to the test.
Pet Battles: Challenge other players’ companion pets with your own collection in a new tactical mini-game, and find out who’s king or queen of the pint-sized battlefield.
New Talent System: Customize your character to suit your play style with the newly overhauled and improved talent system.

Launched in November 2004, World of Warcraft is the world’s most popular MMORPG. The game’s third expansion, Cataclysm, sold more than 3.3 million copies within its first 24 hours of availability, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time, and went on to sell more than 4.7 million copies in its first month.* World of Warcraft is available in nine different languages — with a tenth, Brazilian Portuguese, slated for release this year — and is played in North America, Latin America, Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, mainland China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

For more information on World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, visit Blizzard Entertainment’s official website at www.WorldofWarcraft.com. To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions — more information on available career opportunities at Blizzard can be found at https://eu.blizzard.com/company/careers/.

*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners. Includes digital distribution.

Chris Metzen announced the next World of Warcraft expansion: Mists of Pandaria. The Pandaren will be a new playable race located in the continent of Pandaria. The Horde and the Alliance will go all out war in this expansion.

“To contextualize what you are about to see, the war thats coming between the alliance and horde, picture it as a storm in the horizon. the land that you are about to adventure is more like the calm before the storm.

This expansion set is set in a place that has been lost to time for close to 10k years. Its a land of balance harmony and beauty until we arrive with all our hate, violence and factional conflict. The War that is coming for the World of Warcraft will be fought in this gentle place.

The curious race we’re are going to meet will just teach us a thing or two about who we are and why we fight.”

Overview

New Race: The Pandaren
The new playable class: the Monk
New Continent: Pandaria
New Pandaren Starting Zone: The Wandering Isle
Level Cap increased to 90
Challenge Mode Dungeons
PvE Scenarios
Pet Battle System
New Talent System

Cory Stockston said flying mounts in Pandaria will be available at level 90. As with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the developers feel that players should be able to enjoy the environments and quest progression that way better.

The Continent of Pandaria

5 new level-up zones to explore: Kun-Lai Summit, Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Townlong Steppes, Valley of the Four Winds, The Jade Forest.
Single, unified continent
Influenced by Asian landscapes
AH, Bank and Central Questing Hub
No flying until max level

Creatures of Pandaria

Jinyu – fish-like race
Hozu – monkey-like race
Verming – Kobold-like race looking like rabbits
Mantid – insect race

The Jinyu is a fish-like race, one of the wisest in Pandaria. They stick their staff into the water to attune and listen to the land.

Lore of Pandaria

A long, storied history
Magicallly hidden since The Sundering
A new land to explore …

The Pandaren have been there hidden and undiscovered behind a magical mist for thousands of years, after The Sundering.

The Alliance and Horde both see the lands of Pandaria as a rich and unexploited lush land, a resources hub, and wish to use the full resources to fuel their war.

The Playable Pandaren Race starting zone is The Wandering Isle. What’s amazing about it is that the Isle is really a massive turtle. The Pandaren is the first neutral playable race. At level 10, the player decides whether to be Alliance or Horde.

The Wandering Isle

Pandaren start zone
It’s a turtle!
Story focused with simple mechanics
Cross faction, choose Horde/Alliance at level 10

The Hozu are a monkey-like race that can be found throughout Pandaria and some of the dungeons. The Verming are like Kobolds, but more rabbit-like. They use bizzare weapons such as knives and forks wrapped up around sticks instead of axes.

The mantid are not like the silithid, with a hive-mind. These are more intelligent and wear clothing. They play an important role in the expansion, and a dungeon is themed around them. They have lived close to the Pandaren for milennia, but separated by a wall. Now they are breaching this wall, and we help solve that problem.

The mogu were the original inhabitants of Pandaria before the Pandaren got there. They have wanted to recover their lands.

The Jade Forest

Point of entry for Alliance & Horde
Lush rainforests and stone spires
Meet the Hozu & Jinyu
The Sha
The Temple of the Jade Serpent (dungeon)

The Alliance sorta befriends the Hozu and the Horde befriends the Jinyu.

Valley of the Four Winds

Two zones for the price of one!
Pandaren farmlands
Coastal Jungle
Stormstout Brewery
The Mantid

This zone borders the wall, where the Mantid lives.

New Features

New Pandaren race
Able to chose Horde or Alliance at level 10
Pandaren classes: Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior (No Warlock, Druid, Death Knight or Paladin)

Pandaren Racials

Epicurean – Increase the stat benefits from food by 100%
Gourmand – Cooking Skill increased by 15
Inner Peace – Your rested experience bonus lasts twice as long
Bouncy – You take 50% less falling damage

Monk Class

Brewmaster – Tank
Mistweaver – Healer
Windwalker – Melee DPS
Not a hero class – Starts at first level
Very martial-arts based
Lot of monk-only animations

Monk Races

The Monk class is not a Pandaren-only class. Blizzard allows other races to be a Monk: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Pandaren, Blood Elf, Tauren, Troll, Undead. The exception are the Worgen and the Goblin. Those two can’t be a monk.

Monk Equipment

They hit a lot with the hands and feet
But need weapons for some finishing moves: Staves and Fist Weapons, one-handed axes, maces and swords.
Off-hands for healers
Leather armor class (Agility or Intellect)