I Predict A Riot

The Excitement of a new expansion is very tangible, I can almost smell the excitement in the blogging community. At last we can say goodbye to the least popular WoW expansion and move out of the confines of Stormwind or Ogrimmar (assuming that is where Horde hang out). Shattrath was lag central and Dalaran was a big improvement but forcing us to share only 1 major city was a bad plan. A larger percentage of people used to do their trading in Ironforge if memory serves me right and it was located in a far more central position than Stormwind, Darnassus or the Exodar.

I can safely say that I have no idea where the new city hub is going to located in Pandaria, but it is safe to conclude that the Alliance and Horde are not going to be sharing a Neutral City. Now if it sounds like I have no idea about Pandaria, then this would be quite correct. I might have owned a beta key but this was only to sample the delights of the Panda race and the Monk class. The new cinematic only hints at the rivalry of Human Vs Orcs (read in Alliance Vs Horde) and  Klepsacovic hit the nail on the head by suggesting that the enemy is really the Panda who is more than capable of mincing our derrieres. This is the point where the Americans will cheat and napalm the whole of the Jade Forest.

Having taken a 2 week Olympics Holiday I have finally caught up with all my reading, and to be quite honest, I have no idea what is going on. I understand that there is expansion coming out 25th September and that the customary pre-expansion launches 28th August (29th for Europe so they can iron out all the bugs on the 28th for the real release in Europe -  poor North America being Europe's guinea pigs). The big news yesterday was that we can play all races with the exception of Pandas with patch 5.0.4. Now I thought that was the case right now so maybe it wasn't such big news. Perhaps in tomorrows breaking news Hunters can use Pets in patch 5.0.4.

Every expansion has dropped without me having the faintest idea what to expect. I remember walking through the Dark Portal several weeks after everybody else and then saying, what next? At least I was warned not to run head first into the Burning Legion battling on the steps of the Dark Portal. I had heard enough to run down and to the left to get the first Gryphon out of town.

WotLK dropped and I was ready with everybody else to hop onto a boat to Northrend. I was also aware that there was 2 starter zones for both factions. I simply followed the masses and caught the boat in Stormwind Harbour with 300 other people crammed onto the decks.

Cataclysm was just there, with new expansion we all knew to start out in Stormwind and Ogrimmar. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that a new expansion should be based on a new continent with all the fun of being able to freely explore the new interlocking zones without cut scenes, lengthy flight times and portals.

The new expansion brings a host of new features, lands to explore, new races to discover, a new class to play, and new class mechanics. I understand the game philosophy and the contents, but none of the specifics. At level 70 I didn't need to know what happened in Grizzly Hills, this to me is the joy of the new expansion and I am looking forward to it with great anticipation.

I know we have Pet Battles, and Farmville to waste a great deal of time. Likewise with hundreds of new dailies to fill in the time when not raiding or waiting for LFR. Alts will become a genuine play style with shared pets, mounts and achievements. The rest I gloss over at the moment and await the chance to discover in my own time.

12 more days to the pre-expansion I can't wait. I predict a riot.