The Queue: Pandaria is open on the beta
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 29th 2012 at 11:00AM
Fun times on the beta after last night's patch. Pandaria, which is the level 85-to-90 zones, is open for play (well, at least the Jade Forest is, which is all I can directly confirm). I have to say it was quite fun to run around and kill some boars while learning the new warlock mechanics.
I love being able to be in demon form a bunch. That's going to make a helluva interesting raid mechanic.
Logan asked:
How do you start the new level 85 content in the Mists beta?
Eventually, there'll be a ship or something to take you out there. For now, talk to the pandaren near the main bank and AH in your capital city. They'll teleport you over.
Laim asked:
Do we know, lore wise, how or why the mists around Pandaria have gone away?
We don't, exactly. As Pyromelter pointed out from the March Press Tour FAQ:
Nick asked:Sometime in the wake of the Cataclysm, the mists abruptly vanished. Alliance and Horde naval fleets, engaged in skirmishes around the world thanks to the new Warchief's aggression, suddenly found a new continent where once charts showed open seas. With both factions escalating their feud into a global conflict, the war for Azeroth shifts in a new direction.
Why did the mists collapse at this crucial moment in world history? The answers revolve around the will of the last emperor, and lie at the heart of this strange new continent...
is there any way to change your pose on the armory? mine looks horrendous!
There used to be controls to do that on the armory page, but Blizzard took them away for one reason or another. We've been told they're bringing them back, but no ETA.
Mark asked:
Doesn't this beta feel like an extension of tbe press release? I have yet to hear of anyone else in beta but the fansites. Not even friends and family.
There are more than just press and fan sites in it. I know several people who are unaffiliated players who have gotten beta invites. That said, the first wave was very, very small -- and you're right, a lot of press and fan sites did get in, but by no means are we alone.
If I had to guess, I'd wager the next waves will be happening soon, so just hold tight and everyone will eventually get in.
Datgrl asked:
Based on your past experience, how does this beta compare to BC or Wrath? Does it feel more finished? Are there fewer glitches? What is better about how this beta was handled than in the past? What do you think Blizz could do to improve it? Are beta testers given a method to provide feedback or is it just a topic in the official forums?
I had the chance to play through some of the Jade Forest this morning, and it all feels pretty well done. There are some noticeable issues with almost all the classes still, but that's to be expected in any beta environment. The world itself, though, seems remarkably complete.
I have to add, running around on the ground instead of flying really brings you into the world more. There's much more of a connection to what you're going to do and how you're going to do it, rather than just plopping down and killing whatever boars you need to.
Feedback can be provided in-game or on the forums. We'll have a Beta Testing 101 up on that aspect soon.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Nina Katarina Mar 29th 2012 11:06AM
Are there more than one entry point for each faction in Pandaria, or are we all going to be clustered over one poor questgiver who's hidden by an ass on a Traveller's Tundra Mammoth again?
Nina Katarina Mar 29th 2012 11:08AM
(note to self - start doing the Dalaran cooking daily again to stock up on Baby Spice, just to be safe)
laudickj Mar 29th 2012 11:17AM
I'll be that guy on my Mammoth while under the effects of giant feast that camps on the quest giver, its so much fun getting tons of whispers and it always makes for a good laugh.
/run before the wave of down votes hit.
laudickj Mar 29th 2012 11:17AM
I forgot to add that I am pretty good at canceling the effects of baby spice before i get too small. I wonder if i could just make a /cancelaura macro.
mwahahaha
Cheb Mar 29th 2012 11:22AM
Wowcrendor and Jesse Cox released a video earlier today of them doing the first few horde quests - long story short, it looks like everyone better start stocking up on baby spice. I know somewhere Blizz said they wanted to make the zones less linear than in Cata, but it looks like to start horde and alliance will be crammed into the same small areas fighting over the same 4 spawns of x item to pick up and y beast to kill. They only did the first few quests, so it could open up once you complete the intro segment. I hope so, or I will be a sad panda... er, space goat.
Nina Katarina Mar 29th 2012 11:25AM
Actually, now that I recall, there's a way around that that someone here told us about, before Cata hit.
Say Varian is the questgiver.
Create a keybind that binds "interact with target" to a keypress. I've got mine on '?'
Get near enough to Varian to get the quest.
Type /tar varian
Hit ?
Turn in quest and /rude the mammoth-sitter.
BlazingSky Mar 29th 2012 11:40AM
Or just skip the whole thing and turn on friendly nameplates. Your giant ass on the tundra mount doesn't mean shit when I have NAME RAY VISION!
devilsei Mar 29th 2012 11:41AM
Or, you can just Ctrl+V (or just V, it's either of those), to pop up the npc nameplates. All you have to do then is click on the plate to interact with the NPC.
There's also nothing sad little basement dwellers like laudickj can do to stop it. Hey, if you want to claim to be one of those types of people, you gotta take on all of what that entails, cheeto dust and all.
shatnerstorm2 Mar 29th 2012 11:43AM
The other way that works is just toggle friendly nameplates on (default is Shift-V) and click on the questgiver's nameplate.
Quad Mar 29th 2012 12:10PM
@laudickj
I'll be the guy who reported you and the guy who will post in your rage post on the forums when you get a temp ban for it.
slim1256 Mar 29th 2012 12:14PM
I'm just curious what the "lau" and the "j" mean in his name... clearly, I already understand the "dick" part.
Cheb Mar 29th 2012 12:19PM
Is there a way to get the nameplates to not move all over the place? I use the interact with target keybind, since a ton of people standing on top of a quest giver usually means a ton of shifting nameplates as people move around, making it hard to click on the one I want.
Jaq Mar 29th 2012 12:34PM
Reminds me of the night Cata launched. Two hours before it went live, in Org, there were 20 trade trolls on top of the flight trainer, being jerkfaces.
What they didn't realize was ANY flight trainer sold Old World flying, and absolutely none of them were in Dalaran.
I enjoyed telling everyone online in my guild and on my friends list that.
Pyromelter Mar 29th 2012 12:41PM
You can also use raid target icons (without needing to be in a party) to get close to the quest giver if someone is really huge, if you're not in range to use the "react with" keybind.
vocenoctum Mar 29th 2012 12:49PM
It WAS one of the most hilarious parts of the Justice vendor, with the little invisible wall in front of him.
Watching all the players like mime's, smacking into the invisible wall and keep running.
They should have added a "smash into wall and fall down" animation to that area somehow, to increase my amusement.
Katherine Mar 29th 2012 2:38PM
Or Ctrl-tab to tab through friendly targets nearby, eventually you'll get the questgiver.
Vort Mar 30th 2012 8:05AM
Another way to get around the funsuckers that I've used is to zoom your camera all the way in to first person view, then just walk up to the NPC. Everyone blocking him just disappears from your screen as if they're not even there. You can interact with them as normal then.
Necromann Mar 29th 2012 11:07AM
Is anyone else having a problem with "show all enemy debuffs" being the new mature language filter? Most of the time it is defalted to off when I log into a character. It is just a minor annoyance and I always forget until I only see my own debuffs in group content. When I first experienced it, I thought I was grouped with a 'lock that didnt use any dots at all.
Draelan Mar 29th 2012 1:55PM
Yes, this has been an issue for a little while now, and in certain circumstances it can be quite frustrating. More than once I've been a tank waiting for CC to pull, only to realize that the mobs WERE CC'd, it just wasn't showing me the debuffs, or I've CC'd a target that was already Sapped/Repentanced.
Then there's all the times I've gone to apply a debuff and thought I was missing or the button wasn't going off, only to realize that someone ELSE was applying their version of the debuff, which was overriding mine.
Fuzzl Mar 29th 2012 11:08AM
Does Ka Pao the Portal Panda mean Captain Placeholder is probably never going to come back? :(