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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe 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 3 of 8)
Pyromelter Mar 29th 2012 1:41PM
Please tell me that someone recorded that and put it youtube.
Pretty please?
Atanae Mar 29th 2012 11:21AM
My friend got in on the first wave and he's not part of the "press corp." However, he's been playing since Day 1 with zero lapse in his subscription regardless as to if he was actually in-game and he signed up for the Annual Pass almost immediately.
Q4tQ - I'm not in beta, but from what I am told, the major tank mechanic for Brewmaster isn't available until 70-ish. How would a fledgling Brewmaster tank lower level dungeons? Bears, I think, get their 400% from the start. Are there other mechanics at play before the Mitigation-over-time "drink" comes into play?
ash.p.liu Mar 29th 2012 11:43AM
I'm not sure what you mean by the "major" tank mechanic, but as far as I know, Stagger (the thing that delays half of all damage from a hit to be taken over the next six seconds) is obtained at level 10 with Stance of the Drunken Ox. It becomes mitigation after you obtain Mastery, which reduces the stagger damage you take.
If you're talking about a threat modifier, I heard that possibly all classes were bugged and did not have threat modifiers in tank stance at the moment. I know for certain that Ox stance was missing its threat modifier before the latest beta patch, but it's supposed to come with the stance.
Twowolves Mar 29th 2012 11:22AM
1. Do beta mobs drop loot? I'm curious about the Cata to MoP stat jump. Although I hate having to wait until 80 to leave Northrend, the Cata gear that becomes available at 77 provide a crazy power and survivability boost.
2. Do we indeed have to wait until 85 to enter Pandaria?
3. Aside from monk, what other class do you think will be a big hit with the panda crowd?
razion Mar 29th 2012 11:30AM
1. Up until now, access into the Pandaria zones was cut off, isolating testing to the Wandering Isle. I expect we'll see more info on this in the near future. If I were to hazard a guess, I would guess end-level gear won't be replaced until you start running into lv90 blues, like we had happen in Cataclysm.
2. Like expansions before it -entering the Dark Portal at 58, and Northrend at 68- I think it's safe to assume you will be able to enter Pandaria as early as 83.
3. I would have initially guessed rogues (my reasoning would be to tie in more actual Ninja themes into the class with armor and weapons and such in the new expansion). However, we've seen a very small amount of rogue activity during the end of Cataclysm, so it's unlikely this will actually happen. I'd suspect they will follow traditional class trends--expect a lot of hunters, expect a number of mages, expect the odd warrior, but to a lesser degree shaman, and then rogues and priests certainly don't seem like they'll be as common.
wow Mar 29th 2012 11:32AM
Here are my assumptions. :) :
1. Don't really know for sure, but I'd expect the same as when Cata came out.
2. Again, I think they may follow the Cata Model at Entering the new zones at level 85.
3. My big guess would be Panda Hunter. I will definitely roll one.
Good questions though. Been in Beta and love it. ;) Actually this is my first WoW, beta. Got an invite for Wrath and Cata, but wasn't able to do the beta at that time, but I am full in love with the stuff I've seen so far and do enjoy the changed talent system. :)
Shinanji
wow Mar 29th 2012 11:44AM
Addendum: I just remembered that the AOE Looting mechanic is in BETA, so the mobs do drop loot, at least as far as Quest Items. I never paid that much attention to like equipment drops, etc.
I am having too much fun trying to break the game, that I don't pay that much attention to drops, unless something funky happens. In the FF XI/STO Beta's funky stuff happened all the time. hehe
Shinanji
Nathanyel Mar 29th 2012 11:51AM
http://mop.wowhead.com/items?filter=qu=2;minle=334;maxle=364;cr=3;crs=1;crv=0#0+2+1
Lowest BoE greens are iLvl 364, but have a level requirement of 85, so no.
dmberreth Mar 29th 2012 12:15PM
1) Current item level on green MoP drops/quest items seems to be about 373 or 374. Loot is broken though, in that if you pick a green off a mob, it loses all stat bonuses and it's suffix.
2) You are required to be level 80 before going into Cata content. I cannot imagine they are going to only let you have to do three levels of that, and then jump into MoP at 83. Expect to be required to be 85 before heading in.
3) Keg totems. I expect a new shaman race to still be popular across the board.
slim1256 Mar 29th 2012 12:18PM
In response to Item 3 - if the racials stay as is... ALL classes will be popular as Pandaren classes. :)
Personally, I'm jonesin' to roll a Gnome monk (seriously - how hilarious is that gonna be?). My Panda will be a Mage, cause I don't have a mage yet and I want one.
After that, the only classes I'll have left to roll are Rogue (blech) and Shaman (gonna roll one after I'm done leveling my Hunter).
Amaxe Mar 29th 2012 12:38PM
"Personally, I'm jonesin' to roll a Gnome monk (seriously - how hilarious is that gonna be?)."
Probably as "hilarious" as a Gnome DK
Maybe less.
Skarn Mar 29th 2012 5:30PM
It is likely that you will need to be 85 to enter Pandaria. Or at least, to receive quests. You would probably be "summonable" by warlocks, but the quests won't be available to you. Since Cata was only 5 levels long and Mists is the same, it's likely they'd prefer you to wait to quest until 85.
One big reason is the power jump. The damage and health levels of mobs jump pretty significantly during the Cata leveling experience and a similar trend is likely to continue in Mists. A level 86 mob in Mists will probably rip apart a level 83 PC simply due to the likely large number difference.
razion Mar 29th 2012 11:22AM
One thing I wish Blizzard would have tried to do to resolve the whole "flying" issue is just make a ground mount speed equal to or greater than flying, making flying a niche mount ability you use to get over really obnoxious terrain in rare occurrences. Need to get to a town on the other side of a mountain? Fly. Otherwise? Mount and run.
Another way they could have dissuaded flying would be to put more deadly threats in the air, such as random wandering dragons or some-such that would dissuade flying in an area that's meant to be traversed on the road or ground.
Of course there's a lot of solutions to the problem, but in the long run I don't think disabling flying at the start of the expansion is precisely the best answer.
Puntable Mar 29th 2012 11:35AM
I think disabling flying is a perfectly fine answer. If they do like Cata, and put a flightpath at every single quest hub, then there will not be any reason to fly.
Aravan Mar 29th 2012 11:39AM
My personal opinion - I don't get why people are acting like this is a new, unexpected thing? It was the same at the beginning of Wrath, you couldn't fly until you got Cold Weather Flying...
razion Mar 29th 2012 11:43AM
@Aravan: I know full well the solution isn't new. I am still remiss that they haven't gone through this line of thinking in response to trying to alleviate the problem of getting players "out into the world" rather than "flying over all of it". If you want players in the world, give them a compelling reason to do so and look around. ie: Make ground mounts faster to give them a reason to use them, and thus a reason to look around to avoid getting stuck all the time. If they don't want to be stuck, they can suffer a slower speed in the air or time a flight path. The "Cold Weather Flying" solution works, it does, but it just feels like they're going about trying to fix the problem in the wrong way, is how I see it.
Puntable Mar 29th 2012 11:53AM
@razion. Making flying slower than riding: This was the TBC model. Players hated flying so slow and they changed it. Putting mobs in the air to slow flying: You spend most of your time at max level and relatively little time leveling. Mobs in the air would slow travel once you are level 90. I don't think you want that.
Shinae Mar 29th 2012 12:03PM
During TBC, ground mounts went faster than the first level of flying. It felt really weird, but it did encourage those (most) of us who couldn't afford the higher flight speed to use ground mounts even when we could fly.
Do I want to go back to that? Not at all. I also don't mind waiting until 90 to fly in Pandaria... at least, not for my first or second play-thru.
icepyro Mar 29th 2012 1:14PM
Well, the nice thing is they have created reasons for this. In Wrath, your dainty flying mount couldn't fly in the cold air of Northrend until you had time and money to train them. In Cata, they couldn't get around it and let everyone fly. In MoP, your mount may be able to handle cold, but it can't handle high winds (this is how I imagine the references to the four winds). In Wrath, and hopefully in MoP, you could get a Tome to pass down the training instructions to your other toons.
I do wish there was more incentive to ride. My default flying mount is a drake and to realize that it's just as useful to mount and fly 6 feet to the next thing as it is to get on my guild mount or hog or whatever seems like overkill. Maybe if they made a NOS for mechanical mounts. Or made flying into a plainstriding thing where your first several flaps are quite slow but then you get to high speeds. I mean, flying is significantly faster than anything else. Even 280 to 310 is noticeable, but flying is 100 (ground) to 160 to 280 to 310 depending on training. It's noticeable just hitting the jump button to get slightly airborne when you train from 160 to 280.
Drakkenfyre Mar 29th 2012 2:23PM
Riding -> Level 40, 100g, 60% speed.
Epic riding -> Level 60, 800g, 100% speed.
Flying -> Level 70, 900g, 60% speed.
Epic flying -> Level 70, 5000g, 280% speed.
That's how it was done at the start of Burning Crusade, and when dailies DIDN'T exist (and high-gold reward quests didn't, either.)
It's been done. People hated how slow the basic flying mount was compared to Epic ground mounts. Blizzard's reasoning was "flying mounts go in a straight line, so they will be faster than ground mounts which have to go around hills and obstacles." And their reasoning was correct. It still didn't help that the basic flying mount felt slow.