Is this what we have to look forward to in the next World of Wacraft expansion: The Mists of Pandaria?

I wanted to jump on this last week but didn’t get a chance so I’m a little late on the ball, but really Blizzard…Pandas? Ugh!

Ok well, I’m sure you can see my view on the next race choice coming up so let’s just move on shall we?

New Talent System – We aren’t 100% sure how this system will work but I have to admit by the looks of it, is it me or does it feel exactly like the opposite of what they claim they are trying to get away from? They don’t want cookie cutter builds anymore, but then only give 6 talent points? I can appreciate the simplification of how it works, but I don’t know guys, it just feels like they took a lot of choices away from me. But I guess I won’t know for sure until I get into the Beta and try it out for myself. So I will withhold to much of an opinion on it until I see it.

Pokewow? – Ok, I know we can all make fun and say it’s the WoW version of Pokemon, but seriously, this new pet battle system I am totally excited about. It just always seems that after a new xpac comes out, we level, grind heroics, grind raids, and then…and then…and then…FUCK what do we do now? This is going to be my play time! I am hard core collecting now so I am ready when it hits! Who’s gonna duel my Murcablo?

Level to 90 – Nothing out of the ordinary here. Another xpac, another 5 levels! All I have to say is…can you imagine how much HP our tanks are going to have after this on? Holy shit! Talk about a meat shield!

Pandas and Monks  – Ok, I guess I can’t really just skip past them…or can I? Street fighter ninja style animations put onto a giant panda, no auto attack and most of them looking fairly similar. Bleh! However, don’t be too down about it because you can still be a ninja without being a panda!

New zone – No matter how much I hate the idea of running a panda as a toon, the new zone of Pandaria is absolutely gorgeous! The detail they put into it, even the music, is just stunning. I’m really looking forward to jumping into this zone!

PVE Scenarios – Now this…I’m excited about! For those of us who may not have the mad skills for world PVP, arenas or even PVP Battlegrounds, these new PVE Style battlegrounds are going to be perfect! Just like in PVP Battlegrounds, you will have objectives to complete such as capturing a tower or killing a certain number of enemies but everything is done with NPC’s instead of other players. I guess you could look at these like they are similar to dungeons, except you don’t have to specify a role when you queue up in the “dungeon finder” or whatever they decide to call it. You may actually enter a dungeon with no tank or healer and still down the final boss!

Overall, I’m sure the next xpac will be new and exciting just like all the past xpac’s but is it just me or does it also convey a very “cute” feeling about wow? I’m definitely going to be playing it, so don’t worry I’m not throwing the whole “I’m quitting wow” pitty party, but I’m really hoping that maybe it’s just all been explained wrong and I will be in for a real shock and Mists of Pandaria will end up being something incredibly epic!