At the Gamasutra-attended BlizzCon 2011 in Anaheim, CA, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed rumors that the fourth expansion to its hit MMORPG
World of Warcraft is
Mists of Pandaria.
Rumors had been circulating as of late following a trademark filing by Blizzard that has turned out to be the name of the expansion.
Blizzard SVP of creative development Chris Metzen revealed that
Mists of Pandaria, which stars the new playable anthropomorphic panda class, the Pandaren, will up the level cap to 90, introduce a new monk class, the new Pandaria continent, dungeons challenge mode, PVE scenarios, a pet battle system and a new talent system.
The martial-arts practicing Pandaren race originally appeared in Blizzard's 2002 real-time strategy game,
Warcraft III. The "Pandaren Monk" also has been featured in
WoW as a virtual pet.
In a press statement, Blizzard CEO Michael Morhaime said, "In addition to the new playable race and class, Mists of Pandaria contains a huge amount of new content."
Blizzard did not reveal further details, such as a release date for the expansion. Prior expansions for
WoW include
The Burning Crusade,
Wrath of the Lich King and
Cataclysm -- all of which set sales records, selling multiple millions in their first 24 hours of availability.
Gamasutra will have more coverage of BlizzCon Friday and Saturday.
