World of Warcraft Expansion - Mists of Pandaria

Will the next World of Warcraft expansion bring us a playable Pandaren race? Will there be a new playable Monk class? The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation and we’re loving it!

At 2:30 Tuesday August 3rd Blizzard secured the rights from USPTO for “MISTS OF PANDARIA” (although filing date appears to have been 7/28/2011). Most avid fans of the intricate and far reaching lore of the Warcraft franchise will recognize ‘Pandaria’ as the distant island nation and home to the Pandaren empire.

World of Warcraft PandarenPandarens first appeared to WoW players as part of an April Fools joke back in 2005 – but quickly found their way into the hearts and minds of WoW players everywhere, eventually becoming part of the games rich lore.

Since then it’s been speculated about, pondered upon and discussed – bottom line, a lot of WoW fans think a playable Pandaren character would be totally awesome. Blizzard has flirted with the Pandaren theme, even went so far as to add a Pandaren Monk as a purchasable non-combat companion/pet.

Has the Pandaren fan base voice been heard? Will this lead to a Pandaren-centric expansion? While none of this can be determined from this vague registration information we do know a few things based on the hard evidence.

  • These trademark registration types (class 009 and 041) is directly related to computer game software, and online computer game/entertainment services not printed material (IE comics, books, trading card game etc)
  • This is the exact same method of registration that Blizzard went through for the Cataclysm expansion

None of this ‘proves’ anything, but that doesn’t stop us from our rampant speculation! Join us in the comments – what do YOU think is going on? Would you be stoked for playable Pandaren Monks? Would you be face-palmingly annoyed by a Pandaren-centric expansion?

* I made the main post image from various elements found online including Kung Fu Panda game concept art, Blizzard & WoW logos and he character model for the Pandaren companion/pet. All copyrights belong to the respective owners of the various elements