Mists of Pandaria: My Photos from Blizzcon

[Beltharean]

Hullo, hullo! Greetings, greetings. If you haven't learned by way of mouth, I'm attending Blizzcon for the third (!) time, and during this little jaunt over to the Anaheim Convention Center Blizzard released a certain expansion that you may or may not have heard of by this point, containing my personal favorite race in WoW lore. I'm a nerd, I know. If you don't like spoilers, DO NOT look ahead. DO NOT read what I'll be writing. And DO NOT look down, because the first picture isn't in a spoiler.

(Yeah, it's awesome, I know, so you should probably just keep reading)

(P.S. I apologize for the quality of the photos, I didn't go into this expecting to document it, so I was forced to take them in terrible lighting with an iTouch... I suppose it's better than nothing though!

P.S.S. In the midst of writing this, I found additional photos, taken by others than myself, as such I can't claim everything here. I'd like to throw out a thank you to those at Wowpedia, MMOChampion, and whoever else managed to get pictures up too. Albeit, much higher quality ones.)

MISTS OF PANDARIA

~From the Horse's Mouth, Beltharean's Report on the Events of Blizzcon~

The Wandering Island

It is the rare pandaren indeed who sought a way beyond the mist. Generations ago (Ten thousand years in fact), pandaren explorers began to gather on the back of a giant turtle: Shen-zin Su. The great sea turtle roamed Azeroth's oceans, perhaps the only contact pandaren had with the outside world. They have had a consistent period of unchanging weather on the island, a wilting lotus being the first signs of trouble to come, for a winter that has not touched the island for 10,000 years would soon follow. Even today the ancestors of those first Pandaren with the 'Wander Lust' roam Azeroth's seas on the back of the ancient Shen-zin Su.

This... Is where the life of your Pandaren will start.

The Island

Spoiler:

The island itself is in all actuality the great Shen-zin Su's own shell. If one were to look over the edge of the great cliffs that rest upon his back, they would see the ancient turtle's head.

Temple of Five Dawns

Spoiler:

The first image is of the Temple of Five Dawns, taken from a balcony at the Shang-Xi Training Ground



This is an image of the shrine atop the highest point of the Temple.

Shang-Xi Training Ground

Spoiler:

Training Pandaren Monks



An image of the Training Ground and the island's edge.

The Singing Pools

Spoiler:

A group of swans in the Singing Pools.



A shrine at the edge of the pools, presumably the Pandaren's version of a graveyard, as far as the resurrection spot is concerned.

Ki-Han Brewery

Spoiler:

What's a Pandaren settlement without a brewery!

The Dai-Lo Farmstead

Spoiler:

My Pandaren Musha, taking a rest in the inn at the Dai-Lo Farmstead.

Alcohol supplied by the Ki-Han Brewery and it's affiliates, barley and hops courtesy of the Farmers at the Dai-Lo Farmstead.

Interestingly enough, the main crop that's grown there seems to be... Pumpkins and carrots. Who knows!

The Mobs of The Wandering Isle


Hozu

Spoiler:

The Hozu are a race of mischievous monkey men, hell bent on causing trouble wherever they may be. Seemingly, their sole purpose is to act as a nuisance to the Pandaren and whatever people they may encounter... Much like actual monkeys, who love to grief people however they can.

Verming

Spoiler:

The verming are thieves to the bitter end. They dig tunnels (drawing parallels to kobolds) under the farms of the Pandaren, leeching off of the creations of others, (Another parallel to kobolds, who tend to steal mines) as well as being diminutive, stupid, and having an obsession over a trivial item. In the case of the verming, they love carrots. It's also been noted they will be the new equivalent of the murlocs, so get used to seeing their grimy little faces literally everywhere.

Tigers

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, I was unable to take a photo of the tigers; They were six levels higher than me, and I kept getting mauled before I could snap a good one. This is a pretty self explanatory one, and there isn't much special about them.

Armadillos, under a new name I forgot to write down.

Spoiler:

Once again, self-explanatory

The Sha

Spoiler:

For this... I am eternally sorry. I feel like I just shot myself in the foot, because the Sha are THE iconic enemy in Mists of Pandaria, and I didn't get a single photo. They are to the Pandaren what the Legion is to the Draenei, what the Shadow is to the Light, the Nightmare to the Druids. In essence, these are the 'big bads'. Blizzard is trying to focus on the factional in-fighting in this expansion, and not have some sort of prime evil, but these guys still seem to be at the core of what's going on.

Except, you're the reason they're there.

The Pandaren lands have been, for ten thousand years, nearly devoid of war. They're a generally peaceful people, but in those rare times where battle breaks out on their sacred land, the evil Sha begin to surface. They are the physical manifestation of the negative energy that comes from war, a manifestation that the Shado-Pan Clan have been dealing with for millennia on Pandaria itself. The Sha however, have surfaced on the Wandering Isle, with the advent of the Horde and Alliance coming aboard.

The more you fight, the stronger they get, the more numerous there are. It's possible that they are isolated only to Pandaren areas, and that's why they've taken the peaceful approach that they have in the past. Because there are legitimate ramifications of violence on Pandaria and the Wandering Isle. Only time will tell as more lore gets leaked out, but the Sha will be an interesting group to keep tabs on.

Something Else?

Spoiler:

I was only able to go through about half of the Pandaren starting zone before I got booted off the computer for the next wave of Blizzconians to take my place. I wasn't happy that I didn't get to take all the photos I wanted, nor that I didn't even get to go through the entire zone, but alas, you can't always get what you want.

MORE TO COME!

Don't worry, don't worry. I still have over 30-40 pictures of new zones, mobs, raids, and dungeons, along with three videos of what they look like. I've been putting this one post together for about 45 minutes now though, so I'm not sure if I'll make another tonight, but I will tomorrow. That being said:

TUNE IN NEXT TIME, FOR...

THE CONTINENT OF PANDARIA, AND IT'S FIRST DUNGEON, THE STORMSTOUT BREWERY!

Help Chen Stormstout reclaim his ancestral brewery from a band of violent monkeys. It isn't explicitly stated, but we can only assume that this is the work of the sly Hozu... Whether or not the most renown Pandaren in the world can reclaim his brewery is up to you, and you alone.

[Rigley]

On a side note I find the divide between those who absolutely hate and those who absolutely love this expansion to be pretty strange; Mostly saying this from all of the threads back and forth I saw on MMO-Champion (and even in /Barrens earlier)!

Then again I guess it's kinda like when Cata came out and people hated the oldworld changes/Goblins/Worgen.

Or when WotLK came out and people hated Death Knights.

Or when Burning Crusade came out and people hated Draenei/Blood Elves.


....

I sense a pattern!

I jest, though. I'm honestly looking forward to this thing, despite all of the people pushing back and forth on it. The art design for this expansion just makes me happy. :B

[Beltharean]

Once upon a time I RP'd a Pandaren Pikeman in a text based RP between a few friends.

My views on the race were forever altered, and I've been a fan for quite some time now. I was literally laughing out loud at Blizzcon at the ridiculousness of them being a race, but with the advent of the new class, as well as the new artwork, I can definitely say that even if you aren't a huge Pandaren fan you'll most likely enjoy the game. Now, this -was- only a small piece of MoP. And it -was- a piece tailored specifically to draw people in...

But let me put it this way:

If it was meant to draw us in, it did a damn fine job. My friend hated the idea at first, but seemed to warm up to the idea of the Pandarens as we went through the starting area. By the end he really seemed to enjoy it, and didn't have any negative feedback for the devs when we went and filled out a survey afterwards.

[Rigley]

Eh. To be honest I don't really care as much when people bash how the game will play, because that's either take it or leave it; you either like the gameplay or you just really shouldn't bother with it, heh.

What vexes me are those who criticize the art design and such; for instance I recall people calling the stuff too bright and vivid (or child-like as some described it) when its stuff like this that the inspirational draw is from:

Spoiler:

See, that sort of stuff just doesn't translate into the whole 'mature' artstyle attributed to Wrath or Cata when you realize that artstyle is taking more of a drab color palette, and honestly is just a spin on a different subject matter entirely. Sure the design may look a bit different but y'know, the whole idea of the orient themed thing is to appear exotic. I think it's pretty well done, from the screenshots I've seen.

I'm a big lover of the artistic take on the expansions, and I -really- like this one's. So that's probably just that much talking on that note, heh.

[CappnRob]

I abhor people who go DURRHURR TOO CARTOONY. MoP has the best art direction I've seen in WoW, it is colorful and vibrant, but also centrally themed (unlike TBC) while still being varied (unlike WotLK). Babies gonna bawwww.

[Psycho]

@ CappnRob. I have to agree... Though you did put it in a rather obnoxious way yourself, if I do dare say.

The expansion looks amazing, in my opinion. A direction long needed for Blizzard. Rather then the grey bleakness of WoTLK, TBC, and now Cataclysm, this is a great addition. Vibrant, alive, and frankly, sheer eye-candy. I could stare at the level design for hours. *Glee.*

[Dae]

I abhor people who go DURRHURR TOO CARTOONY. MoP has the best art direction I've seen in WoW, it is colorful and vibrant, but also centrally themed (unlike TBC) while still being varied (unlike WotLK). Babies gonna bawwww.

The one thing that does kill me here is that they haven't updated the old models for the Player Characters. In addition to them being a bit lower on the polycount than contemporary models, their textures and hair are very inconsistent to the current style, and in general, they've just learned so much in how to make things for WoW over the years, I feel like they should apply themselves here.
Just look at how much more accurate and stretch-free armor textures are on Worgen and Goblins compared to Vanilla models.

I mean, they remodeled the face of Azeroth in a way that fits their current look- with this entire new and foreign environment, they're going to look like they're from a different game.


But on the expansion itself, Pandarens were an inevitability. No one should be suprised.

[hiddengecko]

I'm tired, so I will put my thoughts on this expansion as efficiently and concisely as I can:
Oh God, yes.

[Xigo]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz2YGpDwf7c[/youtube]

[Bovel]

Is this for real? Are they adding a third gnomish race to the game?

[BountyHunter]

Is this for real? Are they adding a third gnomish race to the game?

Pandaren are more Tauren-ish than Gnome-ish, as far as I know from Warcraft 3.

On another note! Am I the only one who's very excited for the new clothing that will be coming out? The Eastern-esque designs I know we're going to see are going to be great to see!

[Hawk]

... DO WANT.

Honestly, I can't wait for this. It looks amazing.

[ghaskan]

Pandarens? A zone inspired on China? I'm sold. Cataclysm bored me to death, for the lack of adventure (yes, the quests were more diverse than in Vanilla, but you barely needed to travel and you leveled way too quickly even without heirlooms) and the ridiculous amount of apocalyptic content, so I hope that, while adding some more features, they don't forget to put the adventure back in. I couldn't care less for the war... there's already enough "war" in the community (one of the main reasons I left. The constant "HURRY UP FFS" in dungeons was so annoying!).

[Wuvvums]

I'm curious what the female pandaren are like. I want them to be as chubby and rolley poley as the males :3

[Beltharean]

They're pretty far behind on the female Pandaren models...

Spoiler:

Here I am on Musha, speaking with a current 'female' Pandaren. :P

Oh, and Bovel, the closest race to the Pandaren are in all actuality the Furbolg, albeit the Pandaren are for more civilized. They typically stand at around 5-6 feet in height, and weigh up to 300 pounds.

---

I found an image of the Sha on wowpedia!

Spoiler: