BlizzCon is in full swing now and they have started off strong with a trailer for the new World of Warcraft expansion: Mists of Pandaria.

You probably didn’t see it here first, but we have it anyway.

So the highlights:

  • New level cap: 90
  • New Talent System
  • New Race: Pandaren
  • New Class: Monk
As far as faction goes, the choice as to whether you’re Alliance or Horde doesn’t happen at character creation, though. The choice will come after you’ve played through the introductory quest chain for your character. Once the stage has been set and you see where the lines of war have been drawn, you will choose which faction represents your interests best. Exciting? Oh yes.
Pandaren Racials:
  • Bouncy: reduces fall damage by half.
  • Inner peace: double rested XP.
  • Gourmond: +15 to cooking.
  • Epicurean: double stats to food buffs.
  • Quaking Palm (from the live stream): Puts a target to sleep for three seconds.
  • Source
More info on pet battles:
  • The companion pets can attack wild pets and capture them to add to your collection.
  • The battles will be turn-based.
  • You will be able to customize your pets with names, items and builds.
  • There will be Masters that you can fight and gain a Master Ability for your pet.
  • As you collect pets, you can form them into teams to take into battle.
  • Pets will be account-wide, including levels and customizations.
  • Pets will be tradeable. You will be able to put them on the AH or give as gifts. So you can build up to high-level pets and sell them for high prices.
  • All players will be able to access pet battles.
  • You will be able to use almost all pets.
  • Source

New Talent System

Another interesting bit is the new Talent System that they’ll be launching with the xpac. It completely revamps the talent system (again) and makes it much more streamlined. Rather than each class having three separate trees, one for each specialization, players will now choose talents from individual sets which are awarded every 15 levels. Sounds awesome but I’m going to miss being able to drop in a new talent point every other level and watch it in action – either in bigger hits or in new abilities. Check out a preview of what it’ll be like below (click for larger image).

In total, there will be six talent sets, with players unlocking a new set every 15 levels (because of the new level 90 cap). This means that there will be fewer talents overall, but each talent you choose has the potential to have a much more dramatic effect on your gameplay. Another big change being made is how talents are selected. Instead of “purchasing” talents with a predetermined number of points (earned as you level), talent selection will be toggle-based. For each set of three talents players unlock, they will get to choose one talent to activate, for a total of six active talents at level 90. (Talent ranks have been completely removed.)

For a much more detailed explanation (I skimmed and highlighted the important parts here) check out the official WoW Blog post.