It is now official! Blizzard Entertainment has announced the release date for their newest expansion to the popular World of Warcraft game. I would assume that many of you are aware that the name of the expansion is Mists of Pandaria. Today, we learned that it will be released on September 25, 2012. It won’t be too long before we can all go roll a Panda, and explore the new portion of Azeroth.
Mists of Pandaria, or MoP, is the fourth expansion to World of Warcraft. Pre-orders for MoP are available right now, (but you cannot actually start playing it until the release date). This time, Blizzard is doing things a bit differently than they have for previous expansions. You can buy the Standard Edition for $39.99, or you can purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition for $59.99. This is the first time that Blizzard has offered a Digital Deluxe edition for World of Warcraft.
The Standard Edition, and the Digital Deluxe Edition, each will give you access to the full expansion. However, the Deluxe Edition comes with some extras: an Imperial Quilen flying mount, the Lucky Quilen cub, Diablo III Banner Sigil and Accent, and StarCraft II Battle.net Portraits. If you buy the Standard Edition, and later wish you had gone for the Deluxe, that’s ok. Players will have the option to upgrade to the Deluxe edition at any time.
The Mists of Pandaria expansion will allow players to explore the lost continent of Pandaria for the first time. Blizzard has added a new character class – the Monk. The new playable race, of course, is the Pandaran, (who look like large, humanoid, pandas). If you roll a Pandaran, you will later be able to choose if you want that character to join the Alliance or the Horde. This is the only playable race that is not automatically part of a faction from the moment you create it.
Right now, the highest character level is 85. In MoP, that has been moved up to level 90. This is good for those who love to level. Also, let’s not forget that the MoP expansion will include pet battles. This means that you can take (most) of the pets that you have been collecting over the previous expansions, and use them to battle the pets of other players, (similar to a Pokemon style game).
Personally, I am excited to know that I will soon be able to roll a Pandaran and check out the new stuff in World of Warcraft. I’ve already picked out the gender and name of my future Pandaran, and have decided that he will eventually join the Horde.