That was the basis for the Pandaren race. As this panda character, this Brewmaster who travels the world sampling fine ales. Once you made the decision to go with Pandarens, how did you flesh out how they would work and feel?ĭarren Williams: In Warcraft 3 this character Chen Stormstout was established. We always want to be working on what excites us as game players. It was very easy for us to get excited about. Everyone was super excited about that because we were like oh, we can do all these crazy martial arts things. Once we decided Pandarens, Monks was a very easy choice afterwards. Our team was very excited about working with Asian influences in a new land. When we had very early discussions about what the next expansion would be it came up. It's something we've always been excited about doing. There was the Pandaren Brewmaster back in Warcraft 3. Scott Mercer: They've been part of Warcraft lore for a long time. And, the pair hope the new level 90 content will keep fans busy for months - something previous expansions have struggled to do. No-one is talking about Mists of Pandaria saving World of Warcraft, but Blizzard will hope its new mechanics, increased level cap and high level gameplay will convince some of those lapsed fans to return to Warcraft's huge virtual world, and its Asian influence is surely an attempt to boost the game's popularity in China.Īccording to senior game designer Scott Mercer and senior software engineer Darren Williams, who Eurogamer chatted with this morning at a hotel in rainy London, Mists of Pandaria, with its reworked talent system and new zones, will rekindle the sense of exploration and experimentation those who were there when World of Warcraft launched still remember so fondly. But WoW remains the biggest subscription MMO in the world, and the millions it rakes in every month still mean a great deal to Activision Blizzard's bottom line.

The rise of free-to-play and the release of new games such as League of Legends and Blizzard's own Diablo 3 have taken their toll. With subscriptions down to nine million from a lifetime peak of over 12 million, it's clear WoW's immense popularity has suffered in recent years. Blizzard launches Mists of Pandaria, the fourth expansion for World of Warcraft, at midnight tonight at perhaps the most crucial time in the gargantuan fantasy MMO's seven year history.

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