Tuesday Morning Post: Non-answers edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Sep 6th 2011 at 7:00AM
Whether you think we're headed to Pandaria for the next expansion or not, there's plenty of new for you to peruse in this week's roundup. While this morning's downtime consists primarily of rolling restarts, a small handful of servers will have some extra downtime from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you'll have at least some time to get caught up. Stay tuned as well for more patch 4.3 news. When it breaks, we'll have it here.
Hot news and features
- Ghostcrawler posted a Dev Watercooler on the future of tanking, the active mitigation model, and patch 4.3 death knight tanking changes.
- Patch 4.3 will bring with it a couple of new Worgen racial mounts.
- Blizzard is remaining optimistic about WoW's subscriber numbers.
- WoW Archivist looks back at the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest line.
- World of Wardrobe helps you bring home tier 2.
- This time, Rossi's out to destroy you, pure DPS.
Class news and guides
- The Light and How to Swing It begins a guide on retribution in Firelands and a discussion of the future of paladin tanks in the era of active mitigation. We also have a guide to leveling a holy paladin.
- Scattered Shots digs into the mailbag to answer your hunter questions.
- Shifting Perspectives has a guide to balance PVP. We also analyze feral cat raid DPS in patch 4.2.
- The Care and Feeding of Warriors discusses fury PVP.
- Lichborne has a look at patch 4.2 raid DPS gear.
- Totem Talk has more history of the restoration shaman. We also help you figure out what race to choose for your Horde elemental shaman.
- Encrypted Text offers some tips for leveling your rogue in Cataclysm.
- Spiritual Guidance offers a shadow priest's view of transmogrification.
- Raid Rx discusses reforging for raid healers.
- Arcane Brilliance looks at the effects of the threat hotfixes on mages.
Dungeons, items, professions, PVP, and more
- WoW Rookie helps you understand item levels and how they affect gearing choices.
- Ready Check offers advice for dealing with a weak healer.
- Blood Sport helps you develop successful arena strategies.
- Addon Spotlight spotlights the Errormonster.
Odds and ends
- Know Your Lore discusses the Brotherhood of the Horse. We also answer some of your lore questions this week.
- About the Bloggers continues with everyone's favorite dog-owning movie guru, Michael Gray.
- 15 Minutes of Fame takes a trip to the AFK Tavern.
- The Guild Season 5, Episode 6 is available for your viewing pleasure.
- World of Warcrafts features the work of WoW cosplayer Svetlana Quindt.
- The Lawbringer discusses the issues and pitfalls of gambling in WoW.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back! Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Noyou Sep 6th 2011 7:16AM
Pandaria = Pizzaria. Pandaren = Panera. No clue but I'm hungry.
DancePuppets Sep 6th 2011 7:44AM
To me it sounds like "Mists of Pandaria" is coming, but that it's probably not what we're expecting. Whether that means it is the expansion, but with an entirely new approach to making expansions or an entirely new property; however, is something I'm still unsure about.
Sqtsquish Sep 6th 2011 10:29AM
regardless I hate pandas, but a brewmaster class would be fun and lighthearted- so I could stomach dealing with.........pandas....in order to spew flaming everclear on my enemies.
Noyou Sep 6th 2011 3:44PM
The brewmaster/monk I think would very much suit my playstyle. It would be like Oliver Platt's Character in the remake of the 3 musketeers (Sorry I can never remember who was who). An outlaw drunk who kicks a lot of ass in the name of the king, yeah. The racials would be interesting. I don't think it is coming this expansion but it would be so cool. I think mists of pandaria will be testing the waters. Maybe everyone will get a token leading up to the world event that will transform you into a panda for 30 min like the Gnome and Troll ones.
Thereone Sep 6th 2011 8:39AM
Pandaren are brewmasters. Could it be that the "Mists of Pandaria" refers to a line of energy drinks (alcoholic drinks would be cool, but not every WoW player is of legal age) that Blizzard is bringing out, sort of like the Master Chief Mountain Dew thing?
Ecthalar Sep 6th 2011 10:08AM
Is the next expansion, whatever it's called, only going to raise the level cap to 90? Has this been confirmed somewhere and I just missed it?
Also, there will never be an official WoW-themed alcoholic drink.
Shinae Sep 6th 2011 10:31AM
It's just speculation. Nothing about the next expansion has been confirmed, and very likely nothing will be confirmed until Blizzcon.
I think the comment about WoW-themed alcohol was a joke. At least, i hope it was.
Gemini Sep 6th 2011 11:13AM
It's just speculation, but it's based on a very intelligent guess. Blizzard made Cataclysm only go from 80 to 85 because they wanted to slow down the rate of level inflation and make it take longer to get to level 100. Keep in mind that we still got a massive amount of quests in a decent amount of areas from 80 to 85, and since the next xpac doesn't have to overhaul the 1-60 experience, they can add even more areas and quests for the 85-90 grind if they want, and they can make the xp needed for each level whatever they want to set the pace.
justinbragg911 Sep 6th 2011 10:41AM
Is Frostheim even trying anymore, or is he just phoning it in? Seriously, it seems like his last few articles have just been him grabbing at straws and not even attempting to write an article that is relevant to current hunters. Oh well, at least we're not ret pallies.
Bluemain Sep 6th 2011 11:15AM
I`m a frirm beleiver that Mists of pandaria will be something else, maybee an android game or simillar.
Blizzard love speculation, if the rumour keeps going round the mill, then people are talking about it, stuff gets read and interest grows outside of the normal WoW comunity.
Either that or if Blizzzard outright say no, thats not what the new exp is, then it leaves the question, what is it?. Thats when the data miners keep pushing to spoil the suprise.
Either way we shall find out soon enough.
MattG Sep 6th 2011 4:15PM
I really don't want playable pandas, it's just getting stupid now. I think we have more than enough races as it is, we don't need any more, especially not something silly like pandas.