At the BlizzCon conference over the weekend, the fourth expansion to the MMORPG World of Warcraft, Mists of Pandaria, was announced. The full announcement in Russian is published here. In short, a new continent is being added – Pandaria, populated, respectively, by pandarens – anthropomorphic pandas. All allusions to China are not coincidental: the nature there is Asian, the architecture, the Pandaren themselves wear characteristic outfits and practice tai chi in the fresh air.
Pandaren first appeared in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, but they did not have any significant role in the plot there: Pandaren Brewmaster was a neutral/mercenary “hero” in the online maps. He had some interesting abilities.
Blizzard now claims that players have “long asked” the developers to bring pandaren back to World of Warcraft, which they are “happy to do.” More, however, it seems that this expansion is being done specifically for the Chinese market, specifically to please the numerous, presumably, players from the Middle Kingdom.
Interestingly, the pandarens are a playable race, but initially neutral, i.e. not related to either the Horde or the Alliance, and interacting, if necessary, with either of the two factions.
A new class is also being added – a monk, reminiscent of a druid in that monks will only be able to wear leather armor, but will be able to perform three key roles – tank, healer or melee DPS.
The maximum level increases to ninety; a new talent system appears (yes, talents are changing again), the developers promise to eventually release a lot of new content and “return the newness of the world to players.”
How long this novelty will last is another question: with flying mounts, the sights of any continent can be fully explored in 20-30 minutes.
The most interesting thing so far is the reaction of the players themselves to the announcement. The reaction is largely mixed with a fair amount of skepticism (or even outright whining about “how bad everything is”), some chuckle about direct allusions to “Kung Fu Panda” (which, however, is not surprising – allusions to pop music). culture in the game, apparently and invisibly).
Well, someone is trying to reason with the uninformed, arguing that while no one has played Mist of Pandaria, it is somewhat premature to draw far-reaching conclusions.
A release date has not yet been announced, but given the release dates of previous expansions, it is reasonable to believe that it will happen sometime in late 2012.
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