Blizzard's Official expansion news:IN GAME PANDARIAN PIC

[midorihime]

Well since by the time everyone reads this the expansion will have been shown, I felt I should start a new thread to post info.

These are some scans of the latest issue of CGW, this can supplement the videos and other info that will be shown today.

Edit one- Blizzard has posted up their new website for the expansion which can be seen here

The Burning Crusade (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/)

EDIT TWO: IGN has a really good preview with alot of information that wasn't in the CGW article.
IGN's Article (http://pc.ign.com/articles/662/662143p1.html)

EDIT THREE- Posted a Picture of a Panderian that looks very real.

[midorihime]

The next two pages

[midorihime]

I posted these pages before I read them, now that I have... Wow, just plain Wow lore wise. Things I was hoping for, I.E Khadgar's return, and knowing he has been fighting the Burning Crusade have been things I have hoped would be proved to be true. Going to other worlds as well, "gigidity gigidity" to quote a famous man.


Pandas more Pandas!

[Serenity]

How about the ability for level 70 players to get a flying mount? (You'll be able to fly only in Outland, which is being built with player flight in mind-the original world would break with flying mounts.)


The caverns of time sound hot! I can't wait.

[allicanta]

Illidan's been wreaking havoc on Azeroth for over 10,000 years.

*sigh* Nothing like being portrayed in a reasonable light. :(

[Arious]

the designers are delighted to also point out that the relative "truce" between them all (factions) will have no place on Outland.


Get your PvP hats ladies and gentlemen. It's on!

[Serenity]

Oh nice! That's wonderful news!

[Nicosha]

Should be pretty interesting. The alliance's race will have to be pretty cool to compete with the blood elves.

[Serenity]

I'm so sick of Elves.

[Asmo]

i <3 elveish b00bz

[Bret]

its official, the new alliance race will be tarutarus

[Nicosha]

its official, the new alliance race will be tarutarus

damnit!

[Sagerix]

I hope the Alliance race doesn't come close to competing. I hope the new Alliance race is a shoebox with a rock tied to it. We need more Horde.

[Serenity]

Is it a shiney rock? :P

[Sagerix]

OMG shoebox boobz!

[Jaesty]

Shoebox > Gnomes

[Asmo]

rofl True

[Balthor]

This expansion is looking hot! Maybe those mobs in outland will actually put up a fight. Leveling up in Final Fantasy XI was too hard, and lvling in Warcraft was too easy, hopefully they can find a happy medium with the expansion. Well, I guess since the whole place will be pvp enabled even on our server, that certainly adds some significant difficulty. At least with our epic gear we'll get a head start on it. And lets hope to god that you can add sockets to non-socketed items like you could in Diablo, my Nightslayer Breastplate needs some diamonds and rubies booya!

[Phegan]

Socket items sounds pretty nice, can anyone say Rune Words ala D2? I wonder what gems can be placed in and do what? Or they could pull an EQ and add sockets exactly like they did. Every item had a socket of a various type, and there were new items placed in the game also with a type. To insert a augmentation(as they were called) into an item the types have to match.

[midorihime]

It said that Jewelcrafting would be a big part of the sockets, so I think different jewels will take up different slots, and they can be mixed and matched like how enchants can be now, it would be neat if they worked like mini enchants that could be interchanged freely.

[Balthor]

I'm guessing that jewelsmiths will be able to carve up a jade or somthing so it adds like +5 agility to whatever item you stick it in. Basically fashioning your own custom gear. Can't imagine that the gems would be re-usable, but hopefully they can be replaced once added.

[midorihime]

-Updated the OP and added a link to IGN's story


Last but not least, Blizzard is introducing socketing items, like in Diablo II. They're still hammering out the details (can gems be removed, what would be the penalty, etc.), but there will be the Jewel Crafting profession, which will allow players to make necklaces and rings in addition to socket jewels

So Blizzard doesn't even know yet about the jewelcrafting

[Mirax]

All I know is I'll be dropping engineering for Jewelcrafting =D

[Fenblade]

If it directly competes with enchanting on gear, Imma cry :(

[ashla]

lets hope they dont take their previous experience in making proffessions into account when they make jewelcrafting, because some proffessions *cough*Swordsmith*cough* are pretty much worthless

[Miro]

whatever ashla, make me a damn frostguard!

[midorihime]

Added a screen shot of what looks like a Panderan...

[Paloma]

please dear lord do not let the alliance class be fat humanoid pandas...

maybe I am just not that hardcore and havent read any of the warcraft lore but my god the thought of having a panda for a character sickens me. Its almost as bad as the thought of using a troll...

[Telar]

Why on earth would I want to play as a panda?

[Phegan]

Not even just sword smith, i mean weaponsmith as a whole is fairly worthless, minus the demand for arcanite reapers and dawn's edge.

[Psyche]

GameSpy says its not pandas...

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/world-of-warcraft-expansion/662576p2.html

Next guess: Naga

Maybe the Draenei

[Fenblade]

I wanna be a dragonkin. Preferrably red.

[midorihime]

The one thing about that gamespy article is that blizzard actually doesn't say either way if pandarians are the choice, the writer just put that in () and is his own opinion on the matter, so its still a valid choice, but worrying about it and whatnot till they announce what race it is, doesn't do much good.
Whatever race it will be, will have to meet at least soe criteria.

A: they will have a starting area in the current world. Two, the starting area will connect to Either Auberdine or Mentheis Harbor by boat.

B: They will have an established foothold in Azeroth, with a Capital City, since the Blood elves will. Each side is balanced when it comes to cities and starting areas, and I don't see that changing now.

C: They will be humanoid enough to wear current armor in game.

D: They are an already established race according to Chris Metzen.

E: They would have to fit in the Alliance.

F:They would have to have a reason for joining the Alliance, in order to help them go to the Outlands, but then again that might not be the case.

G: They won't be so alien that it would turn off people from creating a character of that race, but then again they will look vastly different from any current Alliance race. Alliance races currently are the most humanoid and bland. It will be a race that looks different enough but then again won't be too alien to alienate people.

H: They are going for balance and blood elf makes it so Horde has 3 races that can be priest, mage, warlock. I think blood elf will be Rogue since Tauren can't be, and not hunter since Horde already has 3 races that can be that class.

I think the new Alliance Race will be able to be Warrior,Hunter,Mage,Warlock,(Palladin, maybe since Horde has 3 races who can be Shaman but thats a big iffy).

[Affinity]

The Alliance race being able to chose to be a Paladin doesn't fit into the lore.

[Mod]

Pandaren were pretty much a joke in WC3: FT. A neutral Hero who got a fan club after Blizzard used them as a Chinese food joke. I will be supremely disappointed if Pandaren are playable. They can have a cameo, but playable, no thanks.

[Serenity]

How could you not want to play as a panda!?


You guys are sick. I for one will be rerolling! Panda tank!

[Kernall]

After listening to Chris Metzen talk, I'm pretty sure it's NOT Pandaren. He did however hint that they may be seen in game at some point.

As to the Alliance race, the only info we could get, was from Chris Metzen, and he essentially said it would blow people away, and be really awesome.

[Serenity]

Merlocs!

[Sosuke]

As to the Alliance race, the only info we could get, was from Chris Metzen, and he essentially said it would blow people away, and be really awesome.

Taru Taru!!!
or
WOOKIES???

Wookie Pally FTW!!!

[Kare]

I don't know warcraft lore but just wondering if the new race could be blood elves for both factions? Maybe have the same starting city but then the main cities be horde/alliance? Would that fit into the lore or no? Just thinking that it's odd that we've seen so much about the horde race but nothing about the alliance one. I also didn't read this entire thread so maybe someone else already proved it couldn't be :P

[Nicosha]

Naga shaman!

[Sagerix]

Draenei makes sense. They're ugly, they're in the game already, they tie into the new content.

[Nicosha]

Draenei makes sense. They're ugly, they're in the game already, they tie into the new content.

As for blowing people away and being really awesome, the draenei in their current, unknown form do not fit that bill.

Goblins however, if they allied with the alliance to establish trade routes into the outlands, that would be pretty cool. (larger faction = more protection = safer trade = more money)

[midorihime]

I said it was a big big iffy on the palladin thing. There is nothing to base it on lore for any other race, but its only through game balance that I even brought that up.

Dranei would work very well if they wre to introduce ones that weren't twisted by the Dark Portal and other demonic energies. Garona is half Dranei and half Orc (she is kinda the ultimate rogue in warcraft lore), yet she looks pretty much like a green human. The Dranei all looked like this before Draneor was ripped apart. I think they will go with an easy to make and animate race. Blood elvs in many respects at least from what I've read are heavy mods of the night elf models.

Goblins are the easy way out if they want to make a new race with the least amount of work involved, and Undermine is supposed to be coming one day.

Goblins currently don't believe in travel to other worlds such as the Outlands, but many other races have said, if the goblins were able to set up a trading post and make a profit there, the Trade Princes would order their minions to believe in it.

[Mirax]

Garona is half human, and one day I'll show her who the better rogue is!

[midorihime]

No she is Half Dranei, she was the first person to meet Mediv after traveling through the Dark portal, She was an assassin sent by the Shadow council and was Gul'dan's personal assassin and body guard. She was part of the war party that attacked Mediv right after the portal was opened, and was the only survivor.

Eventually she did work for the Alliance with Lothar and Llane, but betrayed Llane and killed him.

Caydiem was the one that officially said she was half Dranei and in that same post said that the Dranei were horribly mutated and thats why she doesn't bare much look to them.

Half Orc, Half Humans actually look more orcish, they have milder Orcish facial features and are smaller in stature then regualr Orcs.

[Kare]

I have it on fairly good authority that it will not be goblins. At least the way it was put to me is that the original plan was to make the new alliance race goblins. But since then they've said they had to change what their original plans were. So it makes sense that it won't be goblins

[midorihime]

I think blizzard just has no idea what it wants yet. I really think they played around with Goblins(the german wow website had a blurb on Undermine that got taken down a few months ago) and Pandereans hence the picture, but scrapped it and haven't decided on what they want yet, and have started anew. I just hope it's not a half assed job on whatever they decide on.

[Sagerix]

Well, this guy was pretty much on with his expansion info and claims to have friends in Blizzard who have been feeding him info for 4 years on WoW. So take it with a grain of salt, I guess, but his story would explain the Pandaeran screenshot.

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2005/10/rumor_control_w_1.php

[Psyche]

From the above linked "Rumor Control"
...At best you might be seeing non-killable Pandaren NPCs in the game... But considering the charged political reasons surrounding this issue I do not believe that Blizzard will change their mind on this decision.

Panda's are an endangered species and maybe some idiot convinced Blizzard they could be held liable if someone decided to go kill a panda IRL because some Panderan Paladin kept corpse camping them.

Midorihime, I agree with most of your points about race requirements, but I think they are a little restrictive? Why do they have to be mostly humanoid? Maybe Blizzard is only 33% done with this expansion because they are busy reworking armor models. With as little work done on the Blood Elves they can probably spend a little more time on... Naga ;-)

Draenei are probably a safe bet, and SpyBot's mostly bogus notes pointed that direction. But as you said... Who knows?

[Mod]

I could see why Pandaren are not going to be playable/killable. It's not that big of a deal over here, but in China and Asian countries, killing what is to some considered to be the national symbol of China is politically insensitive. Granted playing as them would draw more girly girls into the game, but that's another debate. I am glad pandaren were scrapped. They are pretty lame.

[Asmo]

i eat panda meat... mmmm bamboo

[Jaesty]

I could see why Pandaren are not going to be playable/killable. It's not that big of a deal over here, but in China and Asian countries, killing what is to some considered to be the national symbol of China is politically insensitive.

Gryphon heads look a lot like bald eagles to me, and they're killable by horde. Though asian culture is much different that ours, so maybe they'd react differently.

[Sagerix]

Well, that and the fact that Blizzard will probably be more than happy to tiptoe around billions of potential subscribers.

[midorihime]

as much as I'd like to see Naga, well they kinda hate the Night elves, kinda blame them for them losing the war of the ancients. Naga are a playable race in the rpg game, and they do have an interesting dynamic, being that male naga have different traits then female naga(males make better warriors,females spell casters).

I think thye scrapped the whole pandarian race, due to them already having a bad rep in China for people playing for hours upon hours and forcing laws to be created to curb extended game time.

If anyone can create or do a really awesome job on a new race, it is Chris Metzen.

[Mod]

I want this race to be NEW. The night Elves were created in WC3. They can do it again.

[Haeze]

I would rather see those half-spider things as the alliance race.

[Serenity]

New alliance race:

http://www.jaestudio.com/Drider.jpg

[Psyche]

I'm pretty sure we're not going to get nerubians on the Alliance side... what with them being heavily involved with the Scourge. Just a guess.

As to whether it is a brand spanking new race... My impressions are still that it is an already established race. That doesn't mean they already have a city in WoW. Just that as of now in WoW we know about their race. Satyrs maybe ;-) No no no... OGRES! And by the way, the female ogre model is already in game. They are just kinda like the dwarves in D&D. You can't tell the difference unless you're one of them o.O

[Haeze]

Those are the ones

[Psyche]

Anyone see the rumors about wargen? Anyone think there is any chance of that?

[Pradash]

Wow, that'd be sweet!

http://wow.ogaming.com/gallery/albums/Renders/wargen.jpg

[Shikaku]

Enjoy (http://elftwist.ytmnd.com/)

[midorihime]

Worgen, really are only in lore as warriors, and can't speak common. Granted if they were to expand the lore they would fit in easily as any other race. There is a rumor that if it was them, they would start out in Gillianas. I just really think the alliance race will start in Kalimdor. Blizzard likes to keep things balanced. Right now, Horde has 3 races in Kalimdor that start out, and one in the Eastern Kingdoms. Alliance is the opposite, and I think the new alliance race will be in Kalimdor. Worgen are in Kalimdor they were first summoned there by the Scythe of Elune from another plane to help a Night Elf try to fight back the Taint that started to spread with the fel moss.

[Psyche]

The starter area will likely be in an area which is currently unmarked on the current continent maps. By this I mean that if you look at the continent maps, there are several zones which are clearly visible right now which don't have a name when you hover over them. The majority of these zones are in Eastern Kingdoms.

Having another race to play early levels in Kalimdor would be nice. Starting over there as a NE sucked rocks. No paladins, no warlocks, no mages.

[Phegan]

Blizzard could potentially rite the lore as it happens here. Thats why I think it's open to anything. The Worgen would be amazing, and they could be brought back by the nightelfs, and start anywhere, even the same area as the night elves. I am not ruling anything out here based on lore, since blizzard wrote it, it could be changed, obviously there are things we will never see happen aka Orcs go alliance, but in terms of non-playable races currently in the game, we could see alot of things happen.