Mists of Pandaria

The :rolleyes: emote is in fact exactly 10 characters long

And well, they will definitely announce the next expansion, since Cataclysm will "end" after 4.3 and a following non-major-number event patch (mentioned by Chilton in some interview) and I don't think they'd delay the announcement to a later, third-party convention/press event, not to forget that the previous expansions were announced at BlizzCons as well - coincidentally, BC was 2005, WotLK 2007, Cata 2009, and now is 2011. (Though I expect the next announcement in 2012 already, as they are planning shorter expansions)
Whether this expansion will be "Mists of Pandaria" or not, we will see...

Originally Posted by Frostypwnd

Oh come on, don't join the retard in his spamming.

I just hope they make a different mmo different style and also adictive as wow , all these expansions are getting dull , everything is the same since day1...

Originally Posted by External

all these expansions are getting dull , everything is the same since day1...

Are you referring to day 1 of MMOs or of WoW? Having an MMO change its (play)style during its lifetime would a) be quite difficult for technical reasons and b) alienate many players.

So, what do you mean by "different style"?

Originally Posted by Nathanyel

Are you referring to day 1 of MMOs or of WoW? Having an MMO change its (play)style during its lifetime would a) be quite difficult for technical reasons and b) alienate many players.

So, what do you mean by "different style"?

Actually, Star Wars Galaxies did that twice and, yes, it did alienate the player-base quite a bit.

OT: I don't really mind what the next expansion is as long as it's interesting......

Not familiar with SWG, care to explain what those changes were?

Originally Posted by Weerra

Oh come on, don't join the retard in his spamming.

sorry 10chars

Quoted from a blue:

"Yeah, we need to offer a lot of different kinds of content so that non-raiders still have things to do, or even for raiders to do on off nights. The Molten Front dailies were really popular for several weeks, but like all content, players eventually move on. We hope the DMF and even Transmog will provide some non-raid focused activities in 4.3, but beyond that we have plans to do a lot more. And when you see them you'll be all like :O and we'll be all like and then people on the forums will still be all like（╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻"

Visibly they are working on contents that can be enjoyed by non-raiders, and according to the blue, it seems like it will become a major feature for either a patch or an expansion. Maybe Scenarios for Mists of Pandaria, if the damn thing is actually confirmed.

Holy rainbows batman its flying panda bears!

Originally Posted by starkey

Skeeter: Hey Panda Bear! We don't take kindly to your types around here.
Bartender: Now Skeeter, he ain't hurtin' nobody.
Skeeter: No! I wanna know something from Mr. Panda Bear here. If you pandas are from mountainous areas of China and Tibet, how come you only eat bamboo which is prone to grow in dryer, more arid regions?

My computer screen is covered in coca-cola.

Originally Posted by ControlBlue

Visibly they are working on contents that can be enjoyed by non-raiders, and according to the blue, it seems like it will become a major feature for either a patch or an expansion. Maybe Scenarios for Mists of Pandaria, if the damn thing is actually confirmed.

I'm thinking Scenarios sound a lot like Blizzard's response to Rift's Chronicles... we shall see what they are if they ever see the light of day.

Originally Posted by Myzou

Protip: Pandaren have MORE LORE than the Draenei did before they became a race. Heck, I don't even think an uncorrupted race of Draenei was even thought to exist before they were announced.

So people using the lack of lore as a reasoning, there's that. On top of that, the Worgen lore was pretty much completely rewritten to bring them to the alliance, same with new lore for a completely new cartel of goblins being written to bring them to the horde.

Blizzard can do what they want. If they want us to have Pandaren, we'll get pandaren. If they want us to have a half zebra, half vulture race, we'll get that. \

Actually, the goblin lore for the Bilgewater Cartel was outlined in the Dark Factions RPG sourcebook, the same book that outlined most of the pandaren lore.

Otherwise, you are mostly correct. Prior to announcing draenei as a playable race in BC, the only "draenei" in the lore were those creepy "lost one" mutants from WC3 and Swamp of Sorrows, and the eredar were a completely unrelated race of demons. They turned the "lost ones" into a devolved race of uncorrupted eredar, and "draenei" became a race of uncorrupted "eredar".

With the worgen, prior to their introduction as a race in Cataclysm, they were just mobs in several WoW zones. Their backstory was limited to being "feral creatures summoned from another dimension". To add them as a race, Blizzard turned that other dimension into the Emerald Dream and came up with a huge backstory to connect them to the night elf druids and turn the remaining Gilneans into worgen.

The race with the weakest lore prior to their introduction into WoW would have to be the gnomes, hands down. They were almost non-existant prior to WoW, and there was even a bit of controversy when Blizzard announced them as the fourth Alliance race. Before WoW, their lore consisted almost entirely of the descriptions for two units in WC2, which outlined them as relatives of the dwarves that built mechanical contraptions. That was all there was to their lore.

Compared to any of the above, the pandaren are already steeped in lore, thanks to their appearances in both WC3 and the RPG sourcebooks. Not to mention a couple TCG cards, the official Warcraft 10th Anniversary action figure, and an upcoming comic book that was shown at the end of their Comic-Con 2010 panel.

I'm really hyped about MoP, but there's something that bothers me, take a look at this:

Warcraft 3 Pandaren:
img703.imageshack.us/img703/7472/pandarenbrewmaster.gif

World of Warcraft Pandaren:
img20.imageshack.us/img20/3115/panda1s.png

I think they would look so much bad ass with the Warcraft 3 green glowing eyes:

img15.imageshack.us/img15/2223/panda2g.png

Originally Posted by Warsongleaders

I'm really hyped about MoP, but there's something that bothers me, take a look at this:

Warcraft 3 Pandaren:
img703.imageshack.us/img703/7472/pandarenbrewmaster.gif

World of Warcraft Pandaren:
img20.imageshack.us/img20/3115/panda1s.png

I think they would look so much bad ass with the Warcraft 3 green glowing eyes:

img15.imageshack.us/img15/2223/panda2g.png

they should add the green eyes. it adds character to them. hopefully they can still change it.

Would be a nice touch, though it'd be enough to have eye color as a customization option.

---------- Post added 2011-10-23 at 02:27 PM ----------

official poster, a Pandaren with green eyes: