Tom Chilton suggests Mists of Pandaria "wildly overhyped"
by Anne Stickney 
Aug 31st 2011 at 4:00PM
Maybe Mists of Pandaria isn't quite as likely as we all thought. IGN PC had a chat with Game Director Tom Chilton about the rumors of the upcoming expansion, as well as the upcoming patch 4.3 and the possibility of WoW moving to a free-to-play model.
Chiming in on the subject of transmogrification was Art Director Chris Robinson, who explained a little about the details behind the feature and its restrictions. Robinson clarified that protecting class integrity was an important factor in both armor design and the upcoming transmogrification feature: "When you see those demon wings you know 'Okay that's a warlock,' you know you can apply that to his tier twenty-one armor but it's still a warlock."
So what about free-to-play? Chilton confirms that it's "definitely a possibility," but for those of you looking for an immediate free-to-play version of WoW, you're going to have to wait. Chilton clarified that the change would be a dramatic departure from Blizzard's current business model, and it would take quite a bit of convincing to switch models.
As to the subject of Pandaren ...
Speculation swirled recently regarding Blizzard's decision to trademark "Mists of Pandaria," as many thought it may indicate the name of the next World of Warcraft expansion. Pandaria, in Warcraft lore, refers to the home of the Pandaren, basically humanoid war pandas you may remember making an appearance as neutral heroes in Warcraft III. Chilton said the speculation was, "wildly overhyped." He added, "if you look at traditionally how we've handled that race it's been in those secondary products because we haven't realized it in the world. Most of the time when we do anything panda-related it's going to be a comic book or a figurine or something like that."
Comic books, figurines, or a new expansion? Time and undoubtedly BlizzCon will tell. Check out the full article over at IGN PC.
Chiming in on the subject of transmogrification was Art Director Chris Robinson, who explained a little about the details behind the feature and its restrictions. Robinson clarified that protecting class integrity was an important factor in both armor design and the upcoming transmogrification feature: "When you see those demon wings you know 'Okay that's a warlock,' you know you can apply that to his tier twenty-one armor but it's still a warlock."
So what about free-to-play? Chilton confirms that it's "definitely a possibility," but for those of you looking for an immediate free-to-play version of WoW, you're going to have to wait. Chilton clarified that the change would be a dramatic departure from Blizzard's current business model, and it would take quite a bit of convincing to switch models.
As to the subject of Pandaren ...
Speculation swirled recently regarding Blizzard's decision to trademark "Mists of Pandaria," as many thought it may indicate the name of the next World of Warcraft expansion. Pandaria, in Warcraft lore, refers to the home of the Pandaren, basically humanoid war pandas you may remember making an appearance as neutral heroes in Warcraft III. Chilton said the speculation was, "wildly overhyped." He added, "if you look at traditionally how we've handled that race it's been in those secondary products because we haven't realized it in the world. Most of the time when we do anything panda-related it's going to be a comic book or a figurine or something like that."
Comic books, figurines, or a new expansion? Time and undoubtedly BlizzCon will tell. Check out the full article over at IGN PC.
Filed under: News items, Rumors
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Imnick Aug 31st 2011 4:02PM
Most of the time doesn't mean all of the time, if anything this just makes me even more curious as to what Mists of Pandaria is.
Alexran Aug 31st 2011 5:04PM
I'm really curious too, especially since the patent application listed it (MoP) as a computer game, and not as anything related to a tangible TGC or book. Perhaps they are going to do what Magic TCG did, and create a digital/computer game where you can play the TGC?
durandal Aug 31st 2011 6:27PM
I'm still quite convinced it's a WoW edition for children. It just sounds like it. Not so much about killing, but more picking flowers, exploring, learning, generally doing loveable kiddy stuff. It's a new target group for Blizz but economically very interesting, especially when their parents already play, too.
Ryan Sep 1st 2011 3:29AM
Agreed, I am inclined it is wow-related product rather than an expansion.
Possibly even targetting mobile devices? Blizzard have been slowly making inroads into that market.
Phaelan Aug 31st 2011 4:05PM
sounds like Tom is trying to throw the community off from any speculation on the new expack.
Kunikenwad! Aug 31st 2011 4:10PM
Agreed. Sounds like he's trying to plant the idea that MoP is a red herring. I don't think it'll work.
Scooter Aug 31st 2011 4:28PM
It was. They timed it exactly when the most outrage over the real-money auction-house for Diablo 3 settled in. Suddenly all the news sites switched from WTF Blizzard to OMFG PANDAS!!!!!
incoming00 Aug 31st 2011 4:33PM
thats what i see too, and it reminds me of the big debate/rumor about twisted metal on PS3 with David Jaffe repeatedly denying and insisting that his new company was not working on twisted metal for ps3, which eventually lead to e3 2010 with the announcement of twisted metal on PS3 lead by David Jaffe lol.......
Noyou Aug 31st 2011 4:35PM
Yeah, "Most of the time". He had an absolute slam dunk if he wanted to say no. Either they want the hype or it is in fact going to be pandas.
"Because we haven't realized it in the world..." Hello Dark moon faire or world event. Can you imagine how effing bonkers people would be going if pandas invaded the capital cities??
Like it or not people would go bonkers!! If you hate them you get to kill them. If you love them you get to help them! I can't think of anything better than that at this point. All it takes is one innocent pandaren to be at the Dark Moon Faire (or island) and the speculation will be ramped up a few notches.
IvanZephyr Aug 31st 2011 5:28PM
Except it's illegal to file frivolous trademarks.
Pyromelter Aug 31st 2011 5:40PM
Looks like he hit his dodge trinket... and it failed. lol.
kaminari Aug 31st 2011 6:23PM
@ scooter: except now if there are no pandas everyone will go WTF!! NO PANDAS!!1!
ghost crawler promised me a kung fu panda and a moose
snarkygoldfish Aug 31st 2011 7:36PM
I think he really needs to consult a hunter on how to Misdirect a bit better. :P
Calaana Aug 31st 2011 7:48PM
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a setting worth exploring instead of every furries favourite wet dream land, but damn if it isn't an amazing working title. So much hype when the real name gets released.
Possum Aug 31st 2011 10:37PM
Remember when the goblin and worgen masks were datamined and they quickly did up a set of masks for murlocs etc. to try and pretend those *weren't* the new races? I'm not saying he's lying, but..yeah.
Snuzzle Sep 1st 2011 12:12AM
@Possum
And those were so transparent, too. The male and female murlocs were just pink and purple skins. The quality of them all was super low (vanilla) compared to the brand new Cata models. I don't think anyone was fooled into thinking, "Wellp, they are just making generic 'monster' masks for halloween this year."
The fact is, even if it's not a WOW expansion, it's still going to be digital media of some type. A standalone game? Not likely. We'd have heard about it in one form or another by now. Titan? Not likely, it's a bit too early to be trademarking a title for that, plus they said Titan wouldn't have anything to do with the Warcraft universe. A minigame inside WOW? That's kind of a frivolous thing to trademark.
No, this is either a possibility we haven't thought of yet, or an expansion. I can't see what else it could be. Nothing else fits.
It might be "wildly overhyped" but nowhere did he say "It's not the next expansion." Oh Chilton, you wily word devil you.
Suzaku Sep 1st 2011 7:41AM
"...if you look at traditionally how we've handled that race..."
Note that he's specifically referring to how they handled the race in the past, not the present.
"...because we haven't realized it in the world."
You can just about hear him adding, "... yet."
I seem to recall that they've tried to throw us about expansions and other leaks in the past. The PTR patch immediately after the worgen and goblin halloween masks were discovered on the PTR, they put out a new build with murloc, ogre, naga, and vrykul masks. Obviously trying to play it off like they were just part of a haloween update.
krislen Aug 31st 2011 4:06PM
if it wasnt for the fact that the mist of pandaria copyright was a computer game title copyright i would be more inclined to give him credence here
Kia Aug 31st 2011 4:13PM
This, exactly. He completely ignored it.
rhorle Aug 31st 2011 4:17PM
There exists a lot more to "computer game" outside of a WoW expansion. Mist of pandera could easily be a facebook or a smart phone (iDevice or android) game.
Not to mention the copyright wasn't just for "computer game" but for anything related to video/computer game and related materials. The category of that copyright is very broad in definition.