World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta preview

WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pandaren Artifacts

Logging in for the first time, I was greeted with this array of Pandaren artifacts in Orgrimmar's Valley of Honor.  Later, I learned this is the destination for the portals in the Jade Forest (which you'll see in later slides).  I don't know whether those portals will exist once the game goes live.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Portal Panda

Another change to Orgrimmar is the addition of Ka Pao, the Portal Panda.  He most certainly is a Beta-only feature, as he instantly transports you to your choice of one of three locations within the Jade Forest.  I assume the initial transport to the Jade Forest would be through some action similar to the zepplin ride to the Twilight Highlands in the Cataclysm expansion.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Zepplin crash

This zepplin crash, which serves as the initial quest hub for the Horde in the Jade Forest, is my primary feeling for the transition sequence that has not been implemented yet.  Around this crash site, we meet the Hozen for the first time and help rescue our comrades who survived the crash.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Hellscream's Hope

It's a little unclear in the storyline, but I'm assuming Hellscream's Hope was the destination of the zepplin that crashed.  It serves as the first major base for Horde players and is home to the first of two portals back to Orgrimmar.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Nook of Konk

One of the lead Hozen in this area is named Konk.  This is his cave: the Nook of Konk.  Another player had just lured Konk out and killed him as I arrived, so Konk is not present at the moment.  What you do see is about 3/4 of a Pandaren statue, although you can't tell what species the statue is because the head is missing.  From the character's point of view, I like how they subtly introduce you to the continent's primary race throughout these initial questlines.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: World of Linecraft

The quest all of these players are lined up for (Wisdom of the Ages) is one where, for a while in early beta, only one player at a time could perform; otherwise, all players would be locked out of this quest until the server rebooted.  Blizzard has since fixed this bug, but I included it as an example of one of humanity's finer achievements: the ability for dozens of people to participate fairly by standing in line - for hours - instead of cutting in.  I did the quest by signing on early in the morning before work when no one else was around.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Meditation

The task everyone was waiting for in the last slide: meditating in front of this shrine.  You have to use the left and right arrows, which act as a relaxation and focus action, to keep the blue bar as close to halfway as possible.  I'm not sure whether the requirement was exactly 50% or for a certain amount of time, but it seemed to take forever.  I guess that added to the extent of the waiting line.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Giant Bugs

One of Pandaria's native fauna: giant bugs.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Chief Kah Kah

Chief Kah Kah is the chief of the Hozen race.  Through your ingenuity, you manage to convice the Hozen that the Horde is not a threat and that you should be trusted.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: The Jade Witch

You and a group of three or four Horde members, as well as a Hozen escort, are tasked with performing a few jobs during which you meet the Jade Witch, who is the first living Pandaren seen on Pandaria.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Anduin Wrynn captured

During the campaign with your team, you capture a young human who turns out to be Prince Anduin Wrynn, son of the King of Stormwind.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Escort through camp

Near the end of the campaign, you help infiltrate the Alliance camps by providing cover sniper fire.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Riko helps

Riko, your Hozen escort who runs away in fear during the campaign, comes back in the nick of time to help save Shadowmaster Kiryn.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Hozen Dookers

While the Hozen speak a broken language that is understandable by the Horde races, they have many words that are not translated.  Terms include Wikket (which seems to mean someone non-Hozen), Slicky (which is the fish they eat), and Dooker (which is the task given to this line of Hozen).  Your Goblin friend Rivett is turning their waste into bombs.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Dawn's Blossom

Finally, we arrive at Dawn's Blossom and meet the Pandaren really for the first time (the Jade Witch was hardly a good example).  Dawn's Blossom serves as the central city in this zone, both geographically and as a matter of flow.  This is the first neutral quest area, so this is the first encounter with Alliance players, except for the whole sniper part a while back.  The bright area in the center of town contains a Pandaren relic - the first of several you are required to read to get an achievement.  In front of that are the portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Mogu'Shan Palace Teleporter

Another Beta-only NPC, I'm sure, the Mogu'Shan Palace Teleporter allows groups of players to jump to this instanced dungeon before it's otherwise reachable.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: The Arboretum

Nearby Dawn's Blossom is the Arboretum, a place for the artistic Pandaren to hone their craft in a beautiful surrounding.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pandriarchs

An obvious amalgamation of "Panda" and "Patriarch" is the word Pandriarch.  You have to help a couple of loverbird Pandaren seek the approval of this Pandaren spirit and his two compatriots so that they can marry.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Artwork

Another task you're given is to help a group of Pandaren restore this mural to its former glory.  One panel has been cleaned up here.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Kite Taxi

Taxi flights from Pandaren-held bases are provided by kites instead of the more common windriders (Horde) and gryphons (Alliance).

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Jade Serpent Statue

Your Pandaren hosts are busily building this gigantic jade statue of their Serpent God.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Smashing Bookworms

Inferious is busily smashing bookworms in this slide in order to help clean up this library.  Another task here is to kill the moths flying around, like the one in the back of the scene.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Jade Serpent

This is the Jade Serpent that the statue is erected in honor of.  She is also able to assume a... less-imposing form.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Jade Temple

This is the Jade Temple, dedicated in honor of the Jade Serpent Inferious is currently hitching a ride from.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Dragon Ride

I can't remember the exact quest, but late in the zone you get to hitch a ride on this smaller (than the Jade Serpent, anyway) purple dragon.  I believe she also escorts you to the next zone (the Valley of the Four Winds) once you're finished in the Jade Forest.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Sha

This is a Sha, a being of shadow.  (Blizzard has not yet released a full bestiary page yet.)  Below it was where that jade serpent statue once stood.  So much for all that work.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Jade Forest Map

This is the Jade Forest map, fully explored.  A new feature in Mists of Pandaria is the yellow exclamation point on the map showing you where there are quests that do not fit in the zone's progression.  I need to go back and do those.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Starting a Pandaren

This is where the adventure of a young Pandaren begins on a hill on the Wandering Isle.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pandaren Starting Map

The map screen doesn't give you much information about the island's true nature at the beginning.  Since it is revealed through the questline, I won't ruin it here.  (If you clicked the link in the last slide, you've already learned it.)

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Burn the Scroll

An early quest in the Pandaren starting zone requires you to burn a scroll that appears on this object.  Early in the beta, you had to be standing back in the doorway to be able to click on the scroll to complete the quest.  Depending on the time of day, there could be dozens or hundreds of Pandaren crowding around it trying to get close enough to click it, not knowing that further back is better.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Starting Area from Nearby

This is a shot of the starting area from the bottom of the hill.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Starting Area from Farther Away

And another shot of the starting area from even farther away.  I love the architecture of the Pandaren.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Nearby Town

This is the "level 5" town of the Pandaren starting zone.  Compare it to Brill, Razor Hill, Goldshire, or Kharanos.  The difference here is it's being attacked by Hozen.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Temple

In the center of the island is a temple, the Temple of Five Dawns.  This statue may or may not hold a hint to the island's true nature.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Stand on Poles

Young Pandaren, whether they're Monks or not, are required to learn practices like balancing on poles.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Vegetables

No island-based community would be complete without a vast farmland to raise some core crops.  Watch out for the Virmen.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Hozen and Fireworks

A band of Hozen have stolen the fireworks.  You have to take them back.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Rope Walking

Another balancing art every young Pandaren must learn is the ability walk across rope stretched between poles.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Balloon Launching Pad

It becomes clear about 3/4 of the way through the zone that something is harming the island.  You and a pair of friends must take this balloon to determine what is causing the trouble.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Turtle Head

Finally, the true nature of the island is revealed: It's a giant turtle!  (I know, you already knew that due to the press coverage but pretend you're a level 9 or so Pandaren.)  The turtle, Shen-zin Su, tells you there is a thorn in its side that it cannot remove itself.  What kind of a thorn would cause pain to a giant turtle?

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Island Mountain Range

As we travel further, we follow a mountain range growing right out of the turtle's shell.  Still no thorn...

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Thorn

Ah, here's the thorn: an Alliance ship.  Figures.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Horde Survivors

After you land the balloon, you're sent to investigate.  You first come across some Orcs and Tauren who, as you learn by talking to them, are escapees from the crashed Alliance ship.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Horde Survivors, image 2

The first band of survivors directs you to another group, which includes a goblin this time, to provide further assistance.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Alliance Survivors

Through a quest I cannot remember, you encounter the Alliance survivors, who need help rescuing their comrades from invaders to their crashed ship.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Blow Up the Ship

After everyone has been rescued, it's determined that the only way to remove the "thorn" is to destroy the ship by blowing it up.  The bomb has been set, and my two comrades are running to the edge -- I guess I had better join them.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Heal the Scar

So, now the ship is gone, but there is a gigantic, bloody scar left behind.  Healers have come to help, but you have to defend them against attackers.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Scar Healed

Now the scar is healed, and trees and grasses are beginning to grow.  Judging by the speed of the growth, there must have been druids in the mix of healers.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Final Map

After exploring the entire map, it's obvious that this is a turtle, what with the flippers on all four corners and what could be the base of the neck on the western edge.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Garrosh

At the end of the questline (around level 12), each Pandaren realizes that life on the back of a turtle isn't for them and asks to leave.  Each is given a choice: join the Alliance or the Horde.  Those choosing Horde appear (after a cut-sequence that hadn't been implemented yet) outside of Orgrimmar again with their two comrades, which suggest that you should go meet the warchief.  Garrosh, in all of his bluster, stomps around Grommash Hold, introducing you to each of the Horde races and warning you of the consequences of contact with your brethren who choose to side with the Alliance.  I assume King Varian Wrynn does a similar sequence for those who choose Alliance.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Female Pandaren

This is a shot of a female Pandaren who just arrived at Orgrimmar from the Wandering Isle.

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WoW Mists of Pandaria Beta: Male Pandaren

And a male Pandaren, at the same point in his adventure.

I'm not positive on the lore, but I believe the Alliance and Horde encounter the Pandaren on the Wandering Isle some time before they discover Pandaria, probably even before the Cataclysm.  Two things point me to that conclusion: 1) The Pandaren Monk non-combat companion that has been available to players for some time, and 2) How else would Pandaren players reach the appropriate level 85 to begin exploring Pandaria with their Alliance and Horde comrades?

There are many more new features to the beta, including Challenge Modes and the Pet Battle System, as well as several more zones for higher-level players.  With 53 slides just covering the Wandering Isle and the Jade Forest, I thought it best to stop here - for now, at least.

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