Yes.

Time travel for everybody!

*waves hand* this is not the continuity you're looking for.

Just get used to it. Cataclysm screwed up the timeline, but it made the new 1-60 quests are a lot more fun, so it was worth it.

Hmmmm someones been rewatching star wars havent they?

Or the long way round (if you havent watched the long way round or the long way down - I highly recommend them).

Either way -
Your pathetic Jedi mind tricks dont work on ME!!!!

I don't know if the first instance of time travel will be happening; as I wasn't at BlizzCon, I don't know precisely the circumstances of the Pandaren starting zone. It's entirely possible that the Horde and Alliance crash into the big turtle during the Cataclysm, and Pandaren who travel forth into the world due to that event are time-appropriate.

Then, yes, they'll travel back in time to Outland, and then less back in time to Northrend, but that's no more silly than everyone else who does so right now. (I still love the subtle nod to this silliness in 4.3, where we have to use the Caverns of Time to travel to the Dragonblight in the present because the Dragonblight is stuck in the past.)

Almost. But I bet the Pandaren starting zone experience is set at the beginning of Cataclysm, in much the same way as the Death Knight starting experience was set at the start of TBC. The 85+ levelling zones will begin after Deathwing's defeat.

I inferred from the announcements that pandas would have a "pre-cata" storyline in their starting area, making it perfectly plausible for them to level through cata content. Sure, it will be a retcon, but they will fit in to the 1-60 content a little bit.

I still think that they should have quests at 58 and 68 that send you to a member of the bronze flight, instructing you to experience what the other heroes have overcome in order to hone your skills in preparation for the current conflicts.

A wizard did it!

@ Teth

You are a genious! What a great idea. It would be a nice way for the older content to fit within the current story.

I have a surprise for the audience today!

Everyone look under your seats! Time travel for you! And you! And you! AND YOU!

Aliens.

When we killed Deathmagic, it caused an extemporaneal draconic metacrisis, reverberating back through the timeways, rewriting and shifting things. As the people closest to the center of the timesplosion, those who killed Deathwing are the most strongly affected, and the people close to them are also affected. The result is that things go just a little bit wrong- over and over again, like the same people in different lives doing nearly the same things that they did before. Death becomes unpermanent, and more so for some, especially the very powerful beings of the world and those adventurers who were closely affected by the timesplosion. Things don't always make sense- people act without motivation, or change their personality suddenly. People move back and forward in time, seemingly at random, but always near the same points in their timeline that those things would have happened before.

TL;DR: Time travel broke continuity and created WoW.
TL;DR:(v. 2) Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff.

So on one hand, you have people complaining about the discontinuity...

... but on the other, you have people complaining about the lack of end-game.

People, there's less end-game because the earlier game got revamped. If Blizz are constantly revamping old content, they won't be able to pour as much effort into end-game.

Tinfoil Hat Theory:
Remembering back to the first quests alliance side heading into Vashj'ir. Before you jump on the ships to ride out to the battle this conversation is had by the troops on the dock:

Stormwind Soldier says: I think I can just make it out from here. Right on the edge of the horizon.
Stormwind Recruit says: Make what out, exactly?
Stormwind Soldier says: The new island - just surfaced after the last earthquakes.
Stormwind Soldier says: It's what we're fighting for. On this front, at least.

Now sure there is a small island out there but I always felt it was kinda lame, nothing going on. But could this small chunk of land be just a small island off the coast of Pandaria? Since it just "surfaced" after the last earthquakes would it be too much of a stretch for it to just have the veil of mists removed from it?

We were heading off to a naval battle maybe some troops fell to the bottom maybe others washed up on the shores of Pandaria. That would make the next expansion run almost concurrently with (or at least shortly after) the Cataclysm. That would help with the whole time travel thing.

Everyone acts like Cataclysm screwed up the timeline not remembering Burning Crusade starting zones and the Death Knight starting zones.

BC starting zones both happened after Vanilla yet after level 20 both Draenei and Blood Elves still go through the Vanilla zones.

DK starting zones happened after BC yet they still go through some Vanilla zones before hitting BC zones.

Save yourself the confusion, don't go by levels to determine the timeline. Go by release dates, it's the most accurate and headache free way to go about it.

Vanilla 1-60 > Draenei/BE 1-20 > Outlands 60-70 > DK 55-58 > Wrath 70-80 > Cata 1-60 > Cata 80-85 > Panda 1-10 > Mists 85-90