Blizzcon 2011: Introduction to Mists of Pandaria

I leave you a summary of what happened in the introduction panel to the fourth expansion of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria !.

Intro to Mists of Pandaria Panel

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Quote from: Blizzard (Source)
Mists of Pandaria will open the gates to the mysterious lands of the pandaren, allowing the inhabitants of Azeroth to discover the wisdom and power of this powerful race, while unlocking some of its darkest secrets. Members of the World of Warcraft: Preview roundtable unveiled many of the new features, designs, and gameplay changes that will come with this epic new expansion.

Here are some of the most interesting facts from the roundtable.

Objectives of the expansion

With each new expansion, the development team looks for new opportunities to improve and expand the current game. Expansions open up new possibilities to further advance Azeroth's history and to enhance the gaming experience by combining new gameplay mechanics with existing funnier aspects.

What do developers want to achieve?

Make players re-experience and travel the world.
Offer more possibilities: more content to enjoy and more things to do.
Provide numerous avenues for players to earn rewards and advance their characters.

pandaria

The unique and Asian-inspired landscapes of the continent of Pandaria span five new zones for players to explore, in addition to the new pandaren starting zone and a central quest zone.

History and creatures

Pandaren have a long and interesting history, but they have been hidden behind the fog since the time of the Cataclysm. The discovery of this lost continent will allow the Alliance and the Horde to meet new and interesting creatures ... whom they will probably end up killing.

The Jade Forest: level 85-86

Players will first enter Pandaria through the Jade Forest. This area is filled with lush rainforests and sculptural stone spiers. The Alliance and the Horde will ally with indigenous creatures to wage a war here that will have lasting consequences for the Jade Forest, and perhaps the rest of Pandaria as well.

Valley of the Four Winds: level 86-87

With rich farmland to the north and dense jungles along the southern coast, the fertile Valley of the Four Winds is Pandaria's pantry. Players will team up with Chen Thunderbeer to discover his family roots in the legendary Thunderbeer tavern. Meanwhile, trouble looms along the great wall that protects the pandaren empire from the mantid mobs to the west ...

New Features

New playable race: pandaren

Native inhabitants of Pandaria, pandaren will be able to join both the Alliance and the Horde. Pandaren characters can be: hunters, magicians, monks, priests, rogues, shamans and warriors.

Pandaren Racial Powers

Like the races of Azeroth, pandaren have their own characteristics in the form of racial bonuses:

Epicurean: Increases stats per food buff by 100%.
Food: Cooking skill is increased by 15.
Inner Peace: The experience bonus for rest lasts twice as long.
Spring: You take 50% less fall damage.
Sedative Palm: You touch a vital point on an enemy target and cause them to go to sleep for 3 seconds.

Monk

Mists of Pandaria also introduces a new class: the monk. This class is strongly rooted in martial arts, and although they use weapons such as staves, fist weapons, one-handed axes, maces, swords, and more; his strength actually resides in his hands and feet. This new class will also have its own unique animations, avoid the use of auto attack, and start at level one. They can adopt one of three functions:

Brewmaster: tank
Mistweaver: healer
Windwalker: Melee DPS

The pandaren have paved the way for the rest of the races to follow the path of the monk as well: draenei, dwarves, gnomes, humans, night elves, blood elves, orcs, tauren, trolls, and undead.

Monks, like Druids, will benefit from leather armor with agility or intellect, depending on their talent build, and will also rely on chi (energy) to perform class-specific moves like Swift Strike or Roll. Quick Strike will generate light or darkness that can be spent on other moves.

New talent system

Mists of Pandaria will take classes to another level, offering the opportunity to make more meaningful decisions, such as: more flexible settings and authentic specializations.

Specialization

Players will be able to choose a specialization at level 10, giving them a new specialization ability and opening up new options within that specialization. As the character progresses, he will have access to more specialization abilities. Some may be talents that already existed, and some may be old key abilities that are more dependent on the situation.

Example: Paladin Protection

Level 10: Avenger's Shield
Level 20: Hammer of the Righteous
Level 30: Judgments of the Righteous (Passive)
Level 40: Shield of the Righteous
Level 50: Grand Crusader (proc)
Etc

Starting with Mists of Pandaria, players will no longer spend talent points. The current three talent tree system will be converted to a single, small talent tree per class where players will earn talents every 15 levels. Each talent will open one of three different options available in the tree to delve into the chosen specialization. By pruning the talent tree, the development team aims to create a system in which there are no required talents or mold specializations. Talents will also be easily changed, as with glyphs.

* For more information on the design of the new talent system, read the World of Warcraft Talent Roundtable blog.

Gestures

The quests will allow small groups of players to venture together on short stays, with progressive objectives and an overall plot. Quests are completely non-functional, so you don't need a tank or healer to perform them - any combination of classes will do. Queues will be fast! The smaller quests will be similar to group missions and help players build faction reputations, while the larger ones will unfold as epic PvE battlegrounds with important objectives and lots of storyline events.

Challenge mode for dungeons

Heroic dungeons will be easier for random groups, but that won't leave players looking for a more difficult path to be stranded. The challenge mode for dungeons will allow those looking for a greater challenge to venture into dungeons with specific objectives (complete the dungeon in x minutes) and will reward players who meet those objectives with bronze, silver and gold medals. Players who jump into challenge mode will see their equipment balanced to ensure a level of difficulty for all participants, creating a level playing situation. The winner will win the loot, consisting of uniquely designed equipment that can be transmogrified to further define the character's appearance.

Pet battle system

Another cool feature to be introduced with Mists of Pandaria is the pet battle system. This system will function as a secondary profession accessible to all players. Players will be able to use their current non-combatant pets or capture new non-combatant pets to level up and pit them against each other.

Dungeons and Raids

The new expansion will include three new raid dungeons and nine dungeons, six of them in Pandaria. Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery will reach level 90 and Heroic difficulty, as will the Castle of Dark Fang and the Mines of Death. In addition, the Scarlet Monastery will be divided into two different dungeons.

With the inclusion of the Raid Finder in Patch 4.3 and the new Challenge Mode, the intention is to open up many opportunities for top-level players to participate in various advancement options in the game.

* Read the Dungeon and Raid blog for more information after the panel discussion.

Mission content

With Mists of Pandaria, we're shifting our focus to creating top-level content with greater replay potential, while offering incentives for all players, including those who participate in dungeons and raids. The missions in Pandaria will create a less linear experience, with multiple mission zones to choose from. But do not count on flying until you have reached the maximum level.

The developers are also studying factions in depth, and in the future, reputation with them will be achieved through the game, without the need to use a tabard to repeatedly earn reputation. Opportunities similar to the recent Magma Front daily missions will offer top-level solo content in Pandaria.

PvP

Mists of Pandaria will add three new battlegrounds and a new arena to World of Warcraft.

New battlefields

Stranglethorn Diamond Mines: game load
Valley of Power: total contact game
Crater of Azshara: DotA style game

New arena

The Tol'vir Proving Ground will utilize the breathtaking landscapes of Uldum and the art style of the Tol'vir with a simple design based on the sand of Nagrand.

Achievements for the account

Achievements will now be available at the Battle.net account level. Many achievements will be shared between characters, such as raid achievements or career maxing.

Major class changes

Here is a short list of some planned changes for the classes:

Hunters: Hunters' minimum range (including dead zone) and use of melee weapons will be removed.

Warlocks: this class will receive a unique resource for each specialization type in its arsenal.

Shamans: Benefit totems will be removed and all totems will become useful.

Druids: It has always seemed like this class had four specs, so now it will.

For all classes:

Spell books will be cleaned.
Rotations will be improved.
Spells will be learned automatically.
Several new spells will be added.
Specializations will be further developed.
Above all, talent trees should be FUN.

We will reveal much more information to you during the development of this exciting new expansion and we are looking forward to doing so in the coming months.

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Quote from: Blizzard

What is Mists of Pandaria?

The goal is to combine new gameplay with the most fun parts of the past.
The plan is to get people back into the world, instead of having players roam around Stormwind and Orgrimmar all the time once they reach max level.
Developers want you to do what you want to do to progress your character. They really want you to feel like you have a menu of content where you can pick whatever you want to do, and you shouldn't feel forced to do something to progress your character. For example, daily quests will reward you with value points but it will still be faster if you raid of course.
Character builds are going to be completely revamped. Talents were still too cookie cutter, so the developers want to give players more choices in their talents.

pandaria

5 New leveling zones to explore
Single, unified continent
Influenced by Asian landscapes
AH, Bank, and Central Questing Hub
No flying until max level
There's 5 leveling zones but they are very large zones, and you won't have your flying mount.

Lore of pandaria

A long, storied history.
Magically hidden since The Sundering
A new land to explore….
Pandaria was discovered during the cataclysm, a naval battle between horde and alliance was taking place close to it.

Pandaren starting zone

It's a turtle! It left Pandaria 10 000 years ago and never came back. Pandarens who wanted to discover the world left on that turtle.
Story focused with simple mechanics
Cross faction, choose Horde / Alliance at level 10.

Creatures of Pandaria

The Jinyu are fish-like creatures and will be in a wide number of zones.
The Hozu are a monkey-like race, they stand up on their legs and can walk around. They play tons of pranks on the local pandarens and are also in a lot of zones.
Verming are… new kobolds, they kinda look like evil bunnies.
Mantid: Whole raids and dungeons around this race. Insect race that has been there since the beginning of ages. They have been separated by a giant wall. They are starting to go crazy and are going through the wall
Mogu: Ancient race, original race on pandaria. The mogu want the island back from the pandaren, they are really mad. You will see them in dungeons.
Sha: Manifestation of the evil energies that flow through the earth. If there is any sort of battle these guys pop up.

Jade Forest

This is where Alliance and Horde will be landing. The horde is washing up on the north side, the alliance on the south side. There will be one unified start zone and Alliance / Horde will end up meeting up in the middle.
Lush rainforests and stone spires
The Alliance will try to become friends with the Hozu, and the Horde with the Jinyu and will try to turn them against each other.
Temple of the Jade Serpent will be the dungeon of this zone. It will be your 85-86 Dungeon, it has been taken over by Sha

Valley of the Four Winds

Two zones for the price of one! This zone is huge, the entire north side of the zone is pandaren farmlands, the south is a coastal jungle.
You will get to choose between the north side and the south side when you arrive. You can go back and switch side if you want the other quests.
The dungeon of this zone is Stormstout Brewery.
This is where you will have your first interaction with the Mantids, they broke through the wall and are now attacking pandarens villages.
This is a level 86-87 zone

New Features

The pandarens are the new race.
The female model isn't done yet.
At level 10, you will get to choose between horde and alliance.
Pandaren Classes: Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior
Racial - Epicurean - Increase the stat benefits from food by 100%
Racial - Gourmand - Cooking skill increased by 15.
Racial - Inner Peace - Your rested experience bonus lasts twice as long.
Racial - Bouncy - You take 50% less falling damage.
Racial - Quaking Palm - You touch a secret pressure point on an enemy target, putting it to sleep for 3 sec.

Monk New Class

Brewmaster - Tank spec
Mistweaver - Healer, a healer who can stand up in melee and will let players experience a «new healing style»
Windwalker - Melee DPS
This is not a hero class, and it will start at level 1
The class is very martial-arts based
Lots of monk-only animations, the healer and tanks will have different stances they can stand in, etc ...
Monk Races - All of them except Goblin and Worgens

Monk Equipment

Leather Armor (Agility or Intellect)
They hit a lot with hands and feet
They will need weapons for some finishers: Staves, Fist Weapons
They will also be able to use 1H Ax and maces, swords
Healers will get off-hands, they don't want healers to use shields.

Monk Resources

Chi (energy) slowly regenerates and is only used for your Jab and Roll abilities.
Jab generates Light and Dark force, which are used for everything else. Some finishing move uses dark force, some uses the light force.
Don't auto attack! Devs want you to have this street fighter feel where you punch a lot

Cataclysm Talents

Pro - The level 10 specs were really nice and gave you a role early in the game, definitely a keeper.
Pro - Removing junk from the talent trees was also a very good move.
Pro - Having some kind of choices for optional skills / subspecs worked out pretty well.
Con - You had a risk of «skipping» important talents
Con - There wasn't enough junk removed
Con - There wasn't enough choices, you might have a different final talent point than another combat rogue but it just wasn't enough. The cookie cutter build still persists.
Con - No enough customization, no true hybridization (Using a little bit of 2 different trees)
Con - Players got grumpy

Talent System 2.0

The talent system is gone! Ok, not really, but it's greatly changed.
You now have your class abilities, your spec abilities, and your talents.
You still choose your spec at level 10, and you get a spec ability at level 10. You will get additional spec abilities later. There are anything that you really need to function, they will just be given to you to make sure you have all the tools you need to have.

Example - Prot Paladin

LVL 10 - Avenger's Shield
LVL 20 - Hammer of the Righteous (Prot and Ret)
LVL 30 - Judgment of the Just (Passive)

Talents

There is no talent points or ranks.
There is one talent pree per class.
You earn talents every 15 levels.
You get to choose 1 out of 3 every time you get a new point, you can only pick one of them and can't go back to get the other ones.
There will be no mandatory talent. There won't be any cookie cutter build or anything, it will depend on what kind of optional ability you want.
You can now change talents as easily as you change glyphs.
More info in the Talent Tree Panel at 2:15

PvE Scenarios

PvE Scenarios are a way to give new interesting content that doesn't make sense in a dungeon content.
Scenarios are more about reusing parts of the world in interesting new ways, and introducing new types of PvE gameplay that we've never seen before like PvE battlegrounds.
They are short instances for a few players, the amount of players can vary depending on the scenario, some of them can be for 3 players.
You don't need the typical tank / heal / dps setup, you will just be able to enter and play your role no matter what it is.
It will be a staged experience where you will try to achieve some greater goal
For example, a scenario might require you to kill 25 kobolds in stage 1, then find and return 4 goldshire children, and then kill the boss.
Developers would like to do PvE battlegrounds, where you will have to slay 50 alliance / horde soldiers, destroy 6 towers and the barracks, and then defeat the enemy General.
They could replace group quests.
It uses the same queue system as the dungeon finder
Since there is no role requirements, queues should be instant.

Challenge Mode Dungeons

Complete a dungeon in x minutes
To earn Bronze, Silver, Gold medals.
Gear levels are normalized, all your gear will be brought to the same level to make the competition even.
You can't just get better gear to overpower it.
It will reward sweet looking gear with no stats, and value points!
Challenge Mode will reward you with very unique looking gear to show off how awesome you are to your friends
A new challenge dungeons UI will be added, you will be able to check your medals, your ranking, show what rewards you can unlock, etc….

Pet Battle System

You will be able to collect, level, and battle with companion pets.
It will be accessible to all players.
Works with almost every pet
Pet Customization, you will be able to name your pet, give them visual abilities, etc ...
There will be "Wild pets", you can find them in the world and engage in battle with them. You will then be able to get that pet and add it to your Pet Journal.
Pets have random stats, some of them will be very good at tanking, some will have a CC ability, etc ...
Some pets will only be found during a specific season, while it's raining, or during the day or the night. Some of them will only spawn in the spring, when it's raining, in elwynn forest at night!
Most pets will become tradable, even after it's leveled, etc ...
Pets will be account wide
Your pet journal will display info on all your pets, including stats, skills, and also drop locations and lore info for the pets you don't have yet!
Winning battles earns you experience, and levels your pets.
You will learn new abilities. Every pet can use 3 abilities in a battle at one time.
Every time you level you will also increase the stats of your pet.
You will level multiple pets to build your team.
You have 3 battle slots, one for each pet in your team.

Pet Battle System - Battle

PvE and PvP Battles
It will be turned based.
A simple combat system.
Fight with a team of 3 pets
Queuing system, you will be able to find a fight pretty fast depending on the level of your pets.

Pet Battle System - Customization

You will finally be able to name your pets, and see that name in battle.
Items for your pets, you will have an item slot for your pet and might be able to socket gems in those items, etc ...
Individual builds of abilities and different teams.
Masters and Masters abilities, there will be different NPC pet masters in the world who will let you earn abilities when you beat them. For example, beating the master of mechanical pets will get you a new ability for your pet!

Dungeons

9 new dungeons in the new expansion
6 dungeons will be in Pandaria
Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery (Wings 1 and 2) will be back in Heroic Mode

Raids 3 new Epic raids!

They will feature two enemy races, the Mogu and the Mantid.
Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulties will be available for all raids from day 1.
World raid bosses will return!
More info will be available at the Raids & Dungeons Panel today.

quest

Increased focus on max level content, it will reward you with Valor Points.
Incentives for dungeons / raiders to run quests and do outdoor / daily kind of stuff. For example finishing a quest might give you a buff for the day, and maybe that buff will let you roll on a loot that only appears to people with that buff.
More quest choices, and a lot less linear
No flying until max level, it's much easier to keep people on the ground and create interesting quests when you know people won't just fly away and drop on the boss.
Faction improvements, there will be group of factions and they will let you work for all factions from that group to get your rewards. This way you don't have to grind a single faction anymore.

PvP New Battlegrounds (Not final yet)

Stranglethorn Diamond Mines - Payload style gameplay.
Valley of Power - Murderball
Azshara Crater - DOTA
New Arena - Tol'vir Proving Grounds

STV Diamond Mine

Goblin Mine below northern STV
payload style gameplay
Escort mine cars to depot
Multiple tracks, you will get a lot of options and you will be able to decide which way you want the cart to go.
First to x resources wins

Valley of Power

Located in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms
Murderball style gameplay
Holding the object earns points
Multiple point zones, depending on where you're hiding you will earn more / less points
Object deals damage to holder
Damage increases over time.

Tol'vir Proving Grounds - Arena

Located in Uldum
Simple layout based on Nagrand sand
Sense of place in the world
Just a simple square with 4 pillars / statues, etc ...

Achievements

Allow achievements to be shared among all characters on the same Battle.net account, things such as the raid achievements and the ones which are difficult to get.
Allows to include new achievements such as "get all the professions to the maximum level"

Major Class Changes Resilience

Devs like the way Resilience works in PvP, and how it gives a nice goal for players looking to progress / upgrade their gear in PvP
Resilience is a pretty huge barrier for people who want to start PvPing.
Resilience will become a base stat, and will increase a little every time you level.

ranged weapons

Hunter minimum range is gone!
Hunter melee weapon is gone!
Ranged slot for all other characters are gone.
Relics are gone.
Rogues and warriors can now throw their melee weapons
Wands become main hand weapons

Warlock

Unique resource for each spec.
Affliction will keep Soul Shards, they are currently not interesting enough but devs have cool ideas for them.
Demonology will get Demonic Fury, you build up Demonic Fury and you metamorphosize when you max your Demonic Fury. More skills will be added to Demon Form, etc ...
Destruction will get Infernal Embers. The destruction warlock who keeps getting casting fire spells get hotter and hotter and will eventually deal insane amount of damage, you can build it up pretty quickly and unleash your big spell.

Shaman

Buff totems are gone. It just wasn't very interesting to be the buff bitch of the group.
All totems are now useful
New totem examples:
Earthgrab totem - roots
Repulsion totem - repels
Bulwark Totem - absorbs

Druid

They always felt like they had 4 specs, so now they do.
Feral - Cat (melee dps)
Guardian - bear (tanking)
Some overlap between the two
All druids can still go cat or bear form.

All classes

Spell books cleaned up, got rid of more junk, the goal is to clean up action bars a little more without removing the fun things.
Rotations will be improved
Spells will be automatically learned, you won't have to go to your trainer anymore.
You will get a new spell at level 87, level 90 new talent point.
Talent trees should be fun, and you should have more choice than just a cookie cutter build.

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