A very exciting announcement was released yesterday about the next WoW expansion entitled Mists of Pandaria. If you have not heard the news, check out the coverage from MMO Champion, WoW Insider and WoWHead. There is a whole lot of information to take in and digest. In an upcoming post, I will share my thoughts on the Warrior class changes that will be taking place. I have withheld my judgement and stance on the Warrior class changes, in order to allow the Dev’s to reveal enough information so as to be able to make a thoughtful post. I definitely have been following what they have been saying about my class! In terms of the general game information that was released yesterday, a few areas have me really pumped up!
There are two “mini” games that players can take part in if they so choose. These both seem totally cool and potentially a lot of fun. I am definitely looking forward to them with much anticipation. First is the non combat pet combat system. As an avid non combat pet collector, I was stoked when they mentioned at the last Blizzcon about the non combat pet battles. It looked totally amusing and engaging then and with the further information which was released yesterday, I am even more excited. I can’t wait to get in there with my little panda cub taking on other pet opponents. That will be fun, “competitive” and hilarious all at the same time by the looks of it!
The other “mini” game that they will have is something akin to a ‘farmville”, where players can manage a little plot of land and use it to raise herbs or other needed and useful items. It is possible to even have livestock, such as sheep , which would provide wool I would imagine. It seems like a pretty intriguing idea to me, and I am very happy that they are adding in more “mini” games into WoW. Perhaps if things go well enough with players managing a farm of sorts, it may lead to player housing or guild halls. All in all I am really keen on adding different game elements which allow more diversity of how one wants to spend time within the game.
One of the biggest aspects that I am really excited by is the fact that we get to travel to a new land of Pandaria. The screenshots that I saw from the Blizzcon presentations were absolutely beautiful! It will be really cool to finally be able to emerse oneself within the Pandarian landscape, which is grounded within an Asian landscape and perspective. One interesting aspect that the different developers kept harking upon within the media presentations was the aspect of wanting players to really explore and take in the new lands. I am exceedingly excited by their focus upon players doing just that. When I went through the Dark Portal back in the BC expansion, I was so taken in by the splendor of the “sky” over Hellfire, that I literally did nothing other than just take it all in for a good half hour. As a “hardcore” casual player, I relish how the different zones look and feel atmospherically. Even though I am no artists, I can at least really appreciate all of the many hours and days that go into making the world and the environment of the zones look as amazingly beautiful as they are.
One last thing I wanted to mention about the information which was released yesterday was the fact that there seems to be some notion that the Alliance will get some TLC in terms of the events in what are to transpire leading up to the release of the expansion, since the Alliacne players have qqed how the dev’s are so “pro Horde”. It was mentioned that the Alliance are to come into our main capital Horde city and take out our current Warchief Garrosh Hellscream, who “has become corrupted and has been doing some really nasty things beneath Orgrimmar.” While I am all for taking out the bad guys, it pains me that we have to have the Alliacne come into our “home” and remove our Warchief! There seems to be quite a lot of discussion as to just how and why Garrosh becomes corrupted. My bed is that it has something to do with Ragefire Chasm. I got into a long discussion last night with my buddy over Garrosh, so suffice to say that Horde players are still pretty divided on either being for or against him. Personally, I think he has grown into a pretty decent Warchief for the Horde. He is not perfect, but he was what the Horde needed in a Warchief. I will write more about Garrosh in a future post.
All in all, I am very excited for the Pandarian expansion and can’t wait to be Kernhoofian it up!!! Bring it on!!!!
For the HORDE!!!!!
