The Gaming Lizard

Mists of Pandaria has been revealed to be World of Warcraft's 4th expansion pack, bringing us not only new player race but surprisingly, a new base class. This expansion basically destroys everything we've known about WoW and attempts to build it from the ground up. And frankly? I can't wait for it.

Pandarian Race

The panda race was probably anticipated although the fact that they are cross-faction probably make many people pee in their pants. They look really cool and bouncey although I don't get the "THIS IS MY RACE" feel I get from Worgens. Maybe because they can't be Deathknights?

Speaking of which, Pandarians not being DKs is a logical step (although it removes to notion that DK is open to all class). They can't be Warlocks nor Paladins; Druidism is out of their league as well. I'm slightly more skeptical of Panda Shamans as they don't seem to be the elemental-worshipping type.

Monk Class

While not a Hero Class, the Monk Class still proves surprising as Blizzard has stated that balancing 10 classes is difficult enough. Not that we're complaining thou: Monk is a versatile class in the same vein as Paladins. They do not use auto attacks (shocking) and seems to have 2 kinds of resources.

The Brewmaster is a tank-type, how it works without auto attacks remains a mystery.
The Mistweaver is a healer: This brings us up to 5 healing classes, which should reduce the healer crunch.
The Windwalker is melee DPS: Not surprising although we don't really need more Melee now as it is. We'll see what is MOP's encounter mantra as range still remains superior to melee dps.

Strangely, Worgen and Goblins can't be Monk! Outrageous. Forsaken makes less sense as a Monk than Worgen. However, the only race I'm taking for Monk is good ole' Pandarian.


New Talent System

It's not just a revamp, it's tearing down the system then building a new one! Cataclysm streamlined a lot of the talent trees but ultimately, they are still cookie cutters *coughDeathknightcough*

The new system uses the 3-choose-1 system, with "tier" of a common utility (AOE, Control ect.) and every tier at every 15 level. It works but I'm worried for the new expansion.

I love the new system as this gives players even more choices than before. However, some talents are clearly for PVP usage. All these is still subject to changes thou, we might see better talents next Blizzcon.



That's all for the more shocking part of Today's Blizzcon. There are certainly more features to blog about but for now, we'll leave it as that!

Thanks to MMO-Champion for the images.