Earlier today I was dying to find out information about the new achievements and rewards that were being introduced with Mists of Pandaria. Having found nothing easy to shift through, I decided to collect as much information on this topic as I could in one place, then make it easy to shift through. Here you go!

Reputation

Raiding

Questing

Dungeons

Scenarios

Pets

Mounts

Professions

General

PvP

Exploration

Rewards

Reputation

 60 Exalted Reputations

Attained by: Raise 60 reputations to Exalted
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 70 Exalted Reputations

Attained by: Raise 70 reputations to Exalted
Reward: 10 Achievement points and the title: The Beloved

 Ambassadors

Attained by: Raise 25 reputations to Exalted
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Raiding

 100,000 Valor Points

Attained by: Earn 100,000 Valor Points
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Cleaning Up

Attained by: Defeat the Sha of Doubt in Temple of the Jade Serpent while under the effects of Purified Water
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Cutting Edge: Grand Empress Shek’zeer

Attained by: Defeat Grand empress Shek’zeer in Heart of Fear on Heroic difficulty, with Klaxxi Resonance inactive or disabled
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Cutting Edge: Sha of Fear

Attained by: Defeat the Sha of Fear in Terrace of Endless Spring on Heroic difficulty, with the Ritual of Purification inactive or disabled
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Cutting Edge: Will of the Emperor

Attained by: Defeat the Will of the Emperor in Mogu’shan Vaults of Heroic difficulty, with the Dampening Field inactive or disabled
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Extinction Event

Attained by: Defeat Salyis’s Warband in Valley of the Four Winds
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Face Clutchers

Attained by: Defeat Lei Shi while all members of the raid are afflicted by Parasitic Clutch in Terrace of Endless Spring on Normal or Heroic difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Getting Hot In Here

Attained by: Have the entire raid dance with Subetai the Swift after being hit by Pillage
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Glory of the Pandaria Raider

Attained by: Complete the Pandaria raid achievements listed below
Additional Rewards: 25 Achievement points and the Reins of the Heavenly Crimson Cloud Serpent

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Questing

Questing

Dailies

Questing

 A Taste of History

Attained by: Find a Guo-Lai Vault Key and open an Ancient Guo-Lai Cache
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Ain’t Lost No More

Attained by: Return Old Man Thistle’s lost treasure
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Amber is the color of My Energy

Attained by: Recover the following Klaxxi Paragons
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Champion of Chi-Ji

Attained by: Defeat every challenger at the Cradle of Chi-Ji
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Chapter I: Trial of the Black Prince

Attained by: Prove your worth to Wrathion and aquire a sha-touched gem upgrade
Reward: 25 Achievement points

 Collateral Damage

Attained by: Use a Mogu Satue’s Crushing Slam to kill another opponent
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Defender of Gods

Attained by: Complete the Shado-Pan fanale, “Surprise Attack!”
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Defender of Gods

Attained by: Defeat 10 Shado-Pan Trainees within 10 seconds
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Dread Haste Makes Dread Waste

Attained by: Complete the Dread Wastes storylines listed below
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Eternally in the Vale

Attained by: Complete the follwoing milestones with the Golden Lotus
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Finish Them!

Attained by: Complete the follwoing milestones with the Golden Lotus
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Fire in the Yaung-hole!

Attained by: Kill 15 or more Gai-Cho combatants with a single Highly Explosive Oil Barrel
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Dailies

 A Taste of Things to Come

Attained by: Successfully harvest your first special crop
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 5000 Daily Quests Complete

Attained by: Complete 5000 daily quests
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 10000 Daily Quests Complete

Attained by: Complete 10000 daily quests
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Daily anticipation

Attained by: Complete 150,000 daily quests
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Every Day I’m Pand-a-ren

Attained by: Complete 25 daily quests in Pandaria in a single daily reset period
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Friend on the Farm

Attained by: Become best friends with one of the characters at the Halfhill Market
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Friends on the Farm

Attained by: Become best friends with all of the characters at the Halfhill Market
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Getting Around with the Shado-Pan

Attained by: Complete 15 Shado-Pan daily quests with each of the following Shado-Pan heroes
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Dungeons

 And Stay Dead!

Attained by: Allow High Inquisitor Whitemane to cast Mass Resurrection, defeat all revived Scarlet Judicators, and then defeat Whitemane in Scarlet Monastary on Heroic Difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better…

Attained by: Defeat Feng the Accursed in Normal or Heroic difficulty after mimicking each of the following abilities
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Attention to Detail

Attained by: Defeat Jandice Barov without ever eliminating a false image in Scholomance on Heroic Difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Bomberman

Attained by: Trigger 15 exploasions within 15 seconds during the Sabeteur Kip’tilak encounter in Gate of the Setting Sun on Heroic Difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Burning Man

Attained by: Cause Brother Korloff to light six nearby training dummies on fire, and then defeat him, in Scarlet Monastery on Heroic difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Candle in the Wind

Attained by: Defeat Blade Lord Ta’yak while all four braziers are lit in Heart of Fear on Normal or Heroic difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Challenge Conqueror

Attained by: Complete ever Challenge Mode dungeon
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Challenge Conqueror: Bronze

Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Bronze or better
Reward: 15 Achievement points and the title The Undaunted

 Challenge Conqueror: Silver

Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Silver or better
Reward: 20 Achievement points and the Ancestral Phoenix Mount

 Challenge Conqueror: Gold

Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Gold
Reward: 25 Achievement points and a Full set of class-specific transmogrifiable armor

 Challenge Mode Dungeon Challenges

Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Gold or better while in a guild group
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Conscriptinator

Attained by: Gain three stacks of Resin Residue by defeating Mantid Conscripts in Gate of the Setting Sun on Heroic Difficulty
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Empowered Spiritualist

Attained by: Defeat Thalnos the Soulrender while three Empowered Zombies are alive
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Gate of the Setting Sun Challenger

Attained by: Complete the Gate of the Setting Sun Challenge Mode
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Gate of the Setting Sun: Bronze

Attained by: Complete the Gate of the Setting Sun Challenge Mode with a rating of Bronze or better
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Gate of the Setting Sun: Silver

Attained by: Complete the Gate of the Setting Sun Challenge Mode with a rating of Silver or better
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Gate of the Setting Sun: Gold

Attained by: Complete the Gate of the Setting Sun Challenge Mode with a rating of Gold
Reward: 10 Achievement points and Teleport to the Gate of the Setting Sun

 Glintrok N’ Roll

Attained by: Defeat Gekkan and his Glintrok entourage in Mogu’shan Palace on Heroic difficulty within 5 minutes of being spotted by the Glintrok Scout
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Glory of the Pandaria Hero

Attained by: Complete the Pandaria Heroic dungeon achievements listed below
Reward: 25 Achievement points and the Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent

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Scenarios

 A Brewing Storm

Attained by: Defeat Borokhula the Destroyer in A Brewing Storm
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Arena of Annihilation

Attained by: Complete the Arena of Annihilation scenario
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Beat the Heat

Attained by: Defeat Little Liuyang without anyone taking damage from a Flame Wall in the Arena of Annihilation scenario
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Binan Village All-Star

Attained by: Personally use each of the Brewmoon Festival defenses
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Brewmoon Festival

Attained by: Defeat Warbringer Qobi in the Brewmoon Festival scenario
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Crypt of Forgotten Kings

Attained by: Complete the Crypt of Forgotten Kings scenario
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Don’t Shake the Keg

Attained by: Defeat Brokhula the Destroyer in A Brewing Storm without getting hit by his Swamp Smash
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Fancy Footwork

Attained by: Defeat the Abomination of Anger in the Crypt of Forgotten Kings scenario without anyone taking damage from the red clouds
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 For Display Only

Attained by: Defeat General Zhu without using any of the artifact orbs in the Temple of Kotmogu scenario
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Pets

 A Rare Catch

Attained by: Capture a rare quality battle pet
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 All Growns Up!

Attained by: Raise a pet to level 25.
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 All Pets Allowed

Attained by: Raise a pet of every family to level 25
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 An Uncommon Find

Attained by: Capture an uncommon quality battle pet
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Battle Master

Attained by: Earn 200 pet battle achievement points
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Big City Pet Brawler

Attained by: Complete each of the Big City Pet Brawlin’ achievements listed below
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Big City Pet Brawlin’ – Alliance

Attained by: Win a pet battle in each of the Alliance cities listed below
Reward: 5 Achievement points
Restrictions: Alliance only

 Big City Pet Brawlin’ – Horde

Attained by: Win a pet battle in each of the Horde cities listed below
Reward: 5 Achievement points
Restrictions: Horde only

 Building a Team

Attained by: Capture 25 pets in a pet battle
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Cat Fight!

Attained by: Win 10 pet battles
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Collector’s Edition: Baneling

Attained by: Owner of the Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm Collector’s Edition Baneling
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Collector’s Edition: Lucky Quilen Cub

Attained by: Owner of the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition Lucky Quilen Cub pet
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Continental Tamer

Attained by: Complete all of the pet battle mauler achievements listed below
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Eastern Kingdoms Safari

Attained by: Catch every battle pet in Eastern Kingdoms
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Eastern Kingdoms Tamer

Attained by: Capture a battle pet in each of the Eastern Kingdoms zones listed below
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Experienced Pet Battler

Attained by: Win 50 pet battles
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Experienced Pet Brawler

Attained by: Win 50 PvP pet battles
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Family Reunion

Attained by: Capture a battle pet from each family
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Going to Need More Leashes

Attained by: Collect 250 unique pets
Reward: 10 Achievement points and Feral Vermling pet

 Going to Need More Traps

Attained by: Capture 50 pets in a pet battle
Reward: 5 Achievement points and Strong Pet Trap

 Grand Master Pet Battler

Attained by: Win 1000 pet battles
Reward: 5 Achievement points

 Grand Master Pet Brawler

Attained by: Win 1000 PvP pet battles
Reward: 5 Achievement points

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Mounts

 Collector’s Edition: Imperial Quilen

Attained by: Owner of the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition Imperial Quilen mount
Reward: Feat of Strength

 Grand Expedition Yak

Attained by: Obtain a Grand Expedition Yak from Uncle Bigpocket in Kun-Lai Summit
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Professions

Cooking

Archaeology

Cooking

 Get Some Chopsticks

Attained by: Cook 7,500 Mists of Pandaria cooking recipes
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Archaeology

 Ballad of Liu Lang

Attained by: Discover each of the lore objects in Pandaria that tell the tale of Liu Lang
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Between a Saurok and a Hard Place

Attained by: Discover each of the Saurok lore objects in Pandaria
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Apothecary Tins

Attained by: Restore 5 Apothecary Tins
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Apothecary Tins

Attained by: Restore 20 Apothecary Tins
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Carved Bronze Mirrors

Attained by: Restore 20 Carved Bronze Mirrors
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Carved Bronze Mirrors

Attained by: Restore 5 Carved Bronze Mirrors
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Cracked Mogu Runestones

Attained by: Restore 5 Cracked Mogu Runestones
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Cracked Mogu Runestones

Attained by: Restore 20 Cracked Mogu Runestones
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Edicts of the Thunder King

Attained by: Restore 20 Edicts of the Thunder King
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Edicts of the Thunder King

Attained by: Restore 5 Edicts of the Thunder King
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Empty Kegs of Brewfather Xin Wo Yin

Attained by: Restore 5 EmptyKegs of Brewfather Xin Wo Yin
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Empty Kegs of Brewfather Xin Wo Yin

Attained by: Restore 20 EmptyKegs of Brewfather Xin Wo Yin
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Gold-Inlaid Porcelain Funerary Figurines

Attained by: Restore 20 Gold-Inlaid Porcelain Funerary Figurines
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Gold-Inlaid Porcelain Funerary Figurines

Attained by: Restore 5 Gold-Inlaid Porcelain Funerary Figurines
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Iron Amulets

Attained by: Restore 5  Iron Amulets
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Iron Amulets

Attained by: Restore 20 Iron Amulets
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Manacles of Rebellion

Attained by: Restore 20 Manacles of Rebellion
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Manacles of Rebellion

Attained by: Restore 5  Manacles of Rebellion
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Mogu Coins

Attained by: Restore 5  Mogu Coins
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Mogu Coins

Attained by: Restore 20 Mogu Coins
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pandaren Game Boards

Attained by: Restore 20 Pandaren Game Boards
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pandaren Game Boards

Attained by: Restore 5 Pandaren Game Boards
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pandaren Tea Sets

Attained by: Restore 5 Pandaren Tea Sets
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pandaren Tea Sets

Attained by: Restore 20 Pandaren Tea Sets
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pearls of Yu’lon

Attained by: Restore 5 Pearls of Yu’lon
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Pearls of Yu’lon

Attained by: Restore 20 Pearls of Yu’lon
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Petrified Bone Whips

Attained by: Restore 5 Petrified Bone Whips
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Petrified Bone Whips

Attained by: Restore 20 Petrified Bone Whips
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Standards of Niuzao

Attained by: Restore 5 Standards of Niuzao
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Standards of Niuzao

Attained by: Restore 20 Standards of Niuzao
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Terracotta Arms

Attained by: Restore 5 Terracotta Arms
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Terracotta Arms

Attained by: Restore 20 Terracotta Arms
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Thunder King Insignias

Attained by: Restore 5 Thunder King Insignias
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Thunder King Insignias

Attained by: Restore 20 Thunder King Insignias
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Twin Stein Sets of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo

Attained by: Restore 5 Twin Stein Sets of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Twin Stein Sets of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo

Attained by: Restore 20 Twin Stein Sets of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Walking Canes of Brewfather Ren Yun

Attained by: Restore 5 Walking Cates of Brewfather Ren Yun
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Walking Canes of Brewfather Ren Yun

Attained by: Restore 20 Walking Cates of Brewfather Ren Yun
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Warlord’s Branding Irons

Attained by: Restore 5 Branding Irons
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Warlord’s Branding Irons

Attained by: Restore 20 Branding Irons
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Worn Monument Ledgers

Attained by: Restore 5 Worn Monument Ledgers
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Collector: Worn Monument Ledgers

Attained by: Restore 20 Worn Monument Ledgers
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Documents of a Dark History

Attained by: Discover the following artifacts
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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General

 Double Agent

Attained by: Reach maximum level on both an Alliance and a Horde character
Reward: 25 Achievement points

 Dynamic Duo

Attained by: Reach maximum level with two different classes
Reward: 20 Achievement points

 Got My Mind On My Money

Attained by: Loot 200,000 gold
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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PvP

 Blackout

Attained by: Kill 100 enemies that are holding an Orb of Power
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

Attained by: Kill 100 enemies that are holding an Orb of Power
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 End of the Line

Attained by: Seize control of a mine cart that is controlled by the opposing team within 20 yards of the depot, and then capture it
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Escort Service

Attained by: Capture 100 mine carts in Silvershard Mines
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Five for Five

Attained by: Capture five mine carts in a single Silvershard Mines battle without dying
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Four Square

Attained by: Hold all four Orbs of Power at least once in a single Temple Kotmogu battle
Reward: 10 Achievement points

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Exploration

 A Worthy Opponent

Attained by: Defeat one of the powerful champions of the Pandarian races that wander the continent
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Could We Find More Like That?

Attained by: Defeat one of each type of Pandarian champion
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Dread Wastes

Attained by: Explore Dread Wastes, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Jade Forest

Attained by: Explore Jade Forest, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Krasarang Wilds

Attained by: Explore Krasarang Wilds, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Kun-Lai Summit

Attained by: Explore Kun-Lai Summit, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 ExplorePandaria

Attained by: Explore the regions of Pandaria
Reward: 25 Achievement points

 Explore Townlong Steppes

Attained by: Explore Townlong Steppes, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Vale of Eternal Blossoms

Attained by: Explore Vale of Eternal Blossoms, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Explore Valley of the Four Winds

Attained by: Explore Valley of the four Winds, revealing the covered areas of the world map
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Finders Keepers

Attained by: Find 6 of the lost treasures hidden throughout Pandaria
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Fish Tales

Attained by: Discover each of the Jinyu lore objects in Pandaria
Reward: 10 Achievement points

 Glorious!

Attained by: Hunt down and defeat each and every one of the Pandarian champions
Reward: 30 Acdhievement points

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Rewards

Titles

Other

Mounts

Pets

Titles

 The Beloved

Achievement name: 70 Exalted Reputations
Attained by: Raise 70 reputations to Exalted
Additional Rewards : 10 Achievement points

 The Undaunted

Achievement name: Challenge Conqueror: Bronze
Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Bronze or better
Additional Rewards : 15 Achievement points

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Other

 Full set of class- specific transmogrifiable armor

Achievement name: Challenge Conqueror: Gold
Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Gold
Additional Rewards : 25 Achievement points

 Teleport to the Gate of the Setting Sun

Achievement name: Gate of the Setting Sun: Gold
Attained by: Complete the Gate of the Setting Sun Challenge Mode with a rating of Gold
Additional Rewards: 10 Achievement points and Teleport to the Gate of the Setting Sun

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Mounts

 Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent

Achievement name: Glory of the Pandaria Hero
Attained by: Complete the Pandaria Heroic dungeon achievements listed below
Additional Rewards: 25 Achievement points

 Reins of the Heavenly Crimson Cloud Serpent

Achievement name: Glory of the Pandaria Raider
Attained by: Complete the Pandaria raid achievements listed below
Additional Rewards: 25 Achievement points

 Ancestral Phoenix Mount

Achievement name: Challenge Conqueror: Silver
Attained by: Complete every Challenge Mode dungeon with a rating of Silver
Additional Rewards: 20 Achievement points

 Imperial Quilen mount

Achievement name: Collector’s Edition: Imperial Quilen
Attained by: Owner of the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition Imperial Quilen

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Pets

 Feral Vermling 

Achievement name: Going to Need More Leashes
Attained by: Collect 250 unique pets
Additional Rewards: 10 Achievement points

 Strong Pet Trap

Achievement name: Going to Need More Traps
Attained by: Capture 50 pets in a pet battle
Additional Rewards: 5 Achievement points

 Lucky Quilen Cub pet

Achievement name: Collector’s Edition: Lucky Quilen Cub
Attained by: Owner of the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition Lucky Quilen Cub pet

 Baneling pet

Achievement name: Collector’s Edition: Baneling
Attained by: Owner of the Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm Collector’s Edition Baneling pet

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I figure I know a good thing or three about paladins, having spent the last seven years playing one, so I’m taking the time to write down my thoughts on the new talent tree. Exact numbers haven’t been released yet, but the general gist of the abilities has been out for a while now and beta testers have been screwing around with most of the abilities. I’m still not sure how much I like the new system, but if it really does make balancing easier than I’ll be all for it. Anything to make the days of “Fuck class X and their OP shit, I quit” over and done with.

Tier 1

The first tier opens at level 15 and is a choice between three different speed buffs. Speed of Light is the fastest, a 70% increase for eight seconds on a one minute cool down. Long Arm of the Law is next with a 45% increase for 3 seconds upon a successful Judgement strike. The last is Pursuit of Justice and is similar to the current talent in the Retribution tree, giving a solid 10% movement speed buff at all times and an extra 10% per charge of Holy Power.

Speed of Light looks like it will have the most benefit in PvE situations for Retribution and Holy Paladins. This will get them from point A to point B, maximizing their DPS when changing targets or allowing them to get to dying comrades faster. I can see Protection Paladins also finding this talent selection useful for the same reasons, but the flat 10% movement speed buff at all times will always be the best bet for tanks for positioning during boss fights. Long Arm of the Law will be the choice for Ret and Prot in PvE, allowing incremental speed buffs instead of relying on the one minute cool down to catch up to kiting classes. Holy Paladins should take a closer look at this one for PvP or PvE because we will be continuing to rely upon Judgement to regain mana and will be casting it every time it’s up anyways. Though, since Holy Paladins can create up to five charges of Holy Power, Pursuit of Justice might end up being very over powered.

I will be using Long Arm of the Law in my Ret and Holy specs because I like having a short speed boost available whenever I need it.

Tier 2

The second tier opens at level 30 and allows Paladins to choose between a stun, a CC, and a snare. Fist of Justice replaces Hammer of Justice, lowering the cool down on the six second stun by 30 seconds and increasing the range by ten yards. Repentance remains the same, except has a 1.5 second cast time instead of being instant. It is still only usable on Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Undead and Humanoids, leaving them incapacitated for one minute or until they take damage. The third choice is Burden of Guilt, adding a 50% movement speed debuff to victims of the Paladin’s Judgement for 12 seconds.

In PvE, I don’t see Holy Paladins taking Burden of Guilt and I see most Prot Paladins picking it up. Other than that, there’s no real reason to choose one talent over the other. PvP, on the other hand, will be full of arguments why one is better than the other. I think Holy will stick to Fist of Justice for access to a quick, ranged stun to augment their team, while Prot and Ret will find equal benefits from picking any of the talents in the tier. Again, though, I see Prot having added benefit in picking up Burden of Guilt, especially as the slow will help them flag carry during RBGs while not forcing them to reduce their DPS.

As Ret I will be choosing Burden of Guilt because I don’t like to CC as DPS and as Holy I will take Fist of Justice. The stun is useful on bosses with adds as well as during trash to help reduce damage on tanks, or to keep mobs off of me.

Tier 3

Tier three opens up at level 45 and gives Paladins, regardless of spec, a choice between three different heals. Selfless Healer places a buff on the Paladin (stacking up to two) every time a Judgement hits successfully which reduces the cast time of Flash of Light and it’s effectiveness by 50% per stack. Eternal Flame consumes all available Holy Power to place a HoT on a friendly target that lasts for 30 seconds, the strength of which is determined by how much Holy Power was used. Sacred Shield is the third option, brought back from the end of WotLK, which places a shield on a friend target, absorbing an amount of damage every 6 seconds and increasing the critical strike chance of Word of Glory by 30%.

In PvP, all paladins will be choosing Selfless Healer, though. An instant cast Flash of Light every 16 seconds at 100% effectiveness is just too good to pass up. This tier bothers me for PvE because it doesn’t benefit Ret Paladins in any way. They can pick any one and it just plain doesn’t matter. Prot Paladins will pick Sacred Shield for the absorb and the increased self-heal with Word of Glory. The real benefit of this tier is for Holy Paladins who will have a real reason to change between talents depending on each boss fight, how many other paladins there are in the raid, and what class the tanks are. Unfortunately, this also means Paladin healers will be required to carry stacks of the dust that allows them to change their talents wherever they go.

Tier 4

The fourth tier in the Paladin’s talent tree opens at level 60 and offers the class a choice of three cool downs. Hand of Purity has a one minute cool down, can be placed on a friendly target and reduces the damage of periodic effects by 70% for six seconds on that target. Unbreakable Spirit reduces the cool down of Divine Protection, Divine Shield, and Lay on Hands by 1% per Holy Power spent, up to a 50% reduction. Clemency is an instant cast spell with a five-minute cool down which instantly ends the cool down of Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice, Hand of Salvation, and Hand of Freedom. The cool down on this one seems a little long and I imagine it will be nerfed to one or two minutes as none of these Hands are game breaking and easily removed.

In PvP, there are benefits to all of these talents, but I think Unbreakable Spirit and Hand of Purity will be the top two used by Holy and Prot, while Ret will mostly use Clemency for the extra Hand of Freedom. Paladins interested in PvE will be split between Hand of Purity and Unbreakable Spirit. The raid utility of the later is inarguable, whether you’re DPS, heals or tank spec’d, while the former allows quick access to Paladin “Oh shit” buttons and how we love our “Oh shit” buttons.

I will be using Hand of Purity in my PvE Holy spec, Unbreakable Spirit in my PvP Holy spec, and Hand of Purity in my Ret spec.

Tier 5

Tier five gives Paladins the choice between three enhancements to existing cool downs. Holy Avenger improves Guardian of Ancient Kings so that the Paladin casts the next five abilities that require Holy Power as if three Holy Power were consumed without using any Holy Power. Sanctified Wrath improves Righteous Fury depending on the Paladin’s spec. For the duration of the Righteous Fury buff: Holy Paladins no longer have a cool down on Holy Shock, Prot looses the cool down on Judgement, and Ret doe not have a cool down on Hammer of Wrath. Divine Purpose, if chosen, gives Paladins a 15% chance when casting any Holy spell to have the next ability that would require Holy Power cast without consuming any Holy Power and with a strength of three.

This is another tier where the benefits of each ability could be argued, though I think the weakest ability is Holy Avenger no matter what spec you are using, whether in PvP or PvE. Ret paladins will probably see the most DPS increase from Sanctified Wrath, but Divine Purpose is an ability they use now that allows a huge burst of occasional damage. Holy Paladins could have a very decent cool down to save a tank in Sanctified Wrath, but Divine Purpose could again give that additional burst to healing that makes it essential. Prot Paladins will get the short end of the stick as I protect all will need to take Divine Purpose as it gives them the most bang for their talent slot.

Tier 6

The final tier opens up at level 90 and gives paladins access to three abilities. Holy Prism has a 20 second cool down and sends a beam of light towards a target, turning them into a prism for Holy energy. If the target is an enemy, the spell deals damage to the target and heals the five nearest allies within ten yards. If the target is friendly, the target is healed and then heals the five nearest allies within ten yards. Light’s Hammer has a one minute cool down and hurls a Light-infused hammer to the ground where it blasts a 10-yard radius for 15 seconds, healing allies and damaging enemies standing within it. Execution Sentence has a hammer slowly fall from the sky on to the designated target over ten seconds, causing increased Holy damage on enemy targets and healing on friendly targets with a final burst at the end.

There will be many arguments for while certain spells should be used or shouldn’t used, but these will all be situational. If there is a lot of AoE damage, healers will want to choose between Light’s Hammer and Holy Prism, while if there isn’t they’ll want to use Execution Sentence. In PvP this choice will be based on 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 and what position you will be playing during the RBG. DPS and Prot Paladins will be forced to choose along the same lines, but instead if there’s a lot of adds, they’ll choose between Light’s Hammer and Holy Prism, and if it’s a single target fight they’ll use Execution Sentence. In PvP, the same will apply so you will know a good paladin from a bad one by how often they switch out this talent for another.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the talent tree for Paladins. What I’m not happy about is the lack of Divine Sacrifice! I miss this spell as much for its utility as for all the mishaps it caused when I clicked it on accident and killed myself during a fight. Come on Blizzard, gimme my DI back!

The Krasarang Wilds is one of the two new zones added between the Mists press event and Blizzcon 2011. Originally part of the Valley of the Four Winds, it has been vastly expanded so that it is now an entire zone of its own. As can be seen in the video, it is a large jungle, but dark and mysterious as opposed to the bright jungles like Sholazar Basin and Stranglethorn that we’re used to.

A level 86-88 questing zone, the Wilds will also contain one of the new raids (The Terrace of the Endless Spring) and will be the staging ground for future patches. Supposedly over the course of this expansion, the zone will change to reflect the fighting between the Horde and Alliance. At the moment, Blizzard describes it thus:

The Krasarang Wilds along Pandaria’s southern coast conceal many ancient secrets of a lost dynasty that have drawn the attention of prophecy-seekers among the Alliance and Horde. The Wilds are also home to the vicious, domineering Mogu, and a more insidious danger still: the Sha of Despair is believed to have escaped from its bindings in the Temple of the Red Crane, and stifling gloom has begun to blanket the land in its path

Krasarang Wilds in-game map

Lore

Mogu skins

In the Wilds, the Mogu are staging their first attempt at a return to power over all of Pandaria. Since the Wilds are dotted with Mogu ruins, I assume they’re searching for some “long lost” power which will help them re-conquer the continent. 12,000 years ago, they ruled over Pandaria and enslaved the existing races while creating many new ones. Of course, they didn’t call it that, they had a might makes right philosophy and the Mogu just happened to always be the strongest. The Pandarens lead the revolt that removed them from power, so you can imagine they’re high on the Mogu shit list.

In an effort to reclaim the Wilds, the Mogu try to re-employ their creations, the Saurok, to removed the Jinyu, Pandarens, and Horde/Alliance. These lizard-men aren’t having it, though. Designed to be smart enough to use weapons, they are refusing to cooperate and posing a threat to both the Jinyu and the Mogu.

Chi Ji, the Red Crane August Celestial, watches over the zone (as well as the Valley of the Four Winds) and his temple is located here. In times past, the Sha of Despair was imprisoned here, but has escaped. Whether this is due to the Mogu (I doubt it) or the Alliance and Horde meddling has yet to be seen. We’ve had a theme going so far for the rest of the zones, so I’m putting my money on it being the player factions’ fault.

Raid(s)

The Terrace of the Endless Spring

The Terrace of the Endless Spring is a Sha themed instance. So far, people have found four bosses in the players handbook and these fights look like they’re going to be a lot of fun – assuming they’re not super easy. The following is what I gleaned from the spells listed and could change/not reflect the actual fight at all.

Boss 1: Protectors of the Endless

Described in the Players Handbook as a “Fish full of Sha,” it is a council boss fight against three Jinyu Elders. Elder Regail, Elder Kaolan, Elder Asani are probably possessed, but that won’t stop players from kicking their asses. One uses nature spells, one water, while the third uses shadow. At the moment, they summon adds and have a lot of fear spells.

Boss 2: Sha of Fear

Described in the Players Handbook:

• Face your fears in up to 3 epic battles!
• Become the Champion of the Light!
• Waffles not included

I think this fight will be the most fun. A beam of light stands somewhere in the raid and one player standing in it is the “Champion of the Light.” This is the player automatically holds boss aggro, so it is possible to have anyone tank or pick up aggro. When a player is standing in this, a Wall of Light protects the rest of the raid from the bosses attacks. During the encounter, the boss will send adds and use both single target and AoE spells, while also teleporting players to deal with other threats, alla Lich King and Yogg’Saron. I add Yogg’Saron, because what those players are doing helps the rest of the raid by giving them buffs when they leave which prevent the fear abilities of the boss from working.

There’s also some kind of heart, possibly like XT, but attacking one version does damage to the players, while attacking the other does extra damage to the Sha.

Boss 2: Sha of Anger

“He’s really angry” is his description in the Players Hand book. I love his model, though the fight seems like it will be fairly simple. It is a two phase fight with lots of AoE damage and the second phase being a “unleash rage” phase, alla Council of the Fourwinds where players just take an ass load of damage.

The only interesting bit of this fight is the new mindcontrol mechanic. The boss places a debuff on random targets where, after a certain time, they will be mind controlled along with five people around them. As much as “pay the fuck attention” mechanics frustrate me as a raid leader, as a player they have always made fights more fun.

Boss 4: Salyis’ Warband

“What if we just put cannons on everything?” is the tag for her in the Players Handbook, but nothing else is known about this boss. I’m hoping for a great fight like Flame Leviathan in Ulduar, but I imagine this could go south like Occulus.

Quests

So far what we know about this the quests in the Krasarang Wilds is from MMO Champion. It is a level 86-88 questing zone with several daily quests for an as yet unknown faction. Supposedly, the Alliance and Horde venture into this zone seeking something mystical so perhaps it is for them, but the objectives make it sound like what I’d expect from the Shado-Pan reputation dailies they promised us. Perhaps a faction based around the raid? Any faction based in the Wilds has yet to be announced, so only time will tell.

Wrap Up

This raid looks like it’s going to be so much fun! I can’t wait to get in there and down some bosses. As to the zone itself, I love the lay out. From dark jungles with spots of bright color, to gorgeous, sandy islands surrounded by clear blue water, this is going to be my favorite zone just from a visual standpoint.

The zone, questing wise, is up in the air with so much left unknown about it. I think it’s going to be good based on the lore we know so far. After all, this is where we’ll meet the Mogu and the Saurok for the first time and both races appear to have a lot of story based around them. Not to mention, the Jinyu are back and these guys look ready to kick some Saurok ass!

Click to zoom in; it's worth it.

Next up on the Zone Wrap Up is the Jade Forest, picked because it is the only zone on the new continent that has been opened in beta so far. That is also why there are two videos this time. The first is of an Alliance character running from the starting area, all the way to the Horde starting area. It gives a good idea of how huge the zone is, shows how areas transition and change, but it’s rather boring. The second is the Blizzard video from the press release, which is much prettier, engaging, but doesn’t show as much.

The Jade Forest is located on the far eastern edge of the new Pandaren continent and is the starting zone for both Horde and Alliance 85s. The August Celestial Yu’Lon, the Jade Serpent, resides here, along with the Jinyu and the Hozon. The Temple of the Jade Serpent dungeon is here (thanks to the August Celestial), the Order of the Cloud Serpent (those guys who help you raise/train your own personal Cloud Serpent mount). Blizard describes the zone thus:

“After a naval battle between the Horde and the Alliance leaves the survivors stranded on the beaches of Pandaria, rescue parties of those factions’ elite soldiers set out explore the mysterious, fog-shrouded island. You are among them.

As one of the first explorers to set foot on Pandaria, you’ll begin your investigation in the midst of the emerald bamboo and coastal marsh of the Jade Forest, where two of Pandaria’s most prominent races make their homes. The monkey-like Hozen and the Jinyu fish-people thrive near the rivers of the Jade Forest, and your first encounters with them are likely to be hostile. Yet, ultimately, your lack of allies and guidance in this unfamiliar land will make befriending the natives your only option”

The Jade Forest map

Lore

The Jade Forest will be where the Horde and Alliance crash their ships and then proceed to meddle in forces they don’t understand. Eventually, they’ll screw up so bad they’ll release the Sha of Doubt and have to go into the Temple of the Jade Serpent to fix all of their mistakes. That dungeon is only part of it, though, and the repercussions will be felt throughout all of Pandaria. So all the denizens of the continent are clamoring to be our friends of course.

Besides the Pandarens themselves, the enemy races of the Mogu and the Mantid, the Hozen and the Jinyu races live in Pandaria and will become allies of the player factions. Because Blizzard has an idiotic sense of humor this time around, the Jinyu will assist the Alliance and the Hozen will assist the Horde. I’m going to try to spoil as little as possible about the questing in these areas, but consider this your spoiler alert. If that kind of thing gets your knickers in a twist, skip to the Dungeon section.

Jinyu

The Jinyu are an amphibious (not fish) race that live in and around the streams in the Jade Forest. They have altered the forest in which they live with their elemental magic, creating small streams for their own uses. Regularly damming rivers to create their homes and breeding pools, the towns and camps that extend beneath the water are regularly in conflict with other races whose water resources they’ve diverted.

Jinyu Concept Art

Their society is caste-based with individuals chosen for their life-long roles at a young age and final say in all communal decisions is granted to the elder Jinyu in a tribe. These elders can speak and listen to the waters that flow through Pandaria. This makes them “wise and powerful” as Blizzard seems to be pushing a very serious Alliance to the childish, fun Horde.

The Jinyu have been at war with the Hozen for a long time because a thousand years ago, when the Pearlfin Tribe ruled Pandaria the Hozen somehow caused a waning of the Jinyu’s numbers and influence. After this “betrayal,” Pearlfin Village became all that was left of these people and the Jinyu have been at war with the Hozen ever since.

The Jinyu become allies of the Alliance by meeting a “man” named Bold Karasshi and getting him to help free Admiral Taylor from a Hozen prison. The Alliance and Jinyu prisoners that you rescue then hideout in Pearlfin Village. Shortly afterwards, the Alliance discover the Hozen have joined the Horde and attempt to recruit the Pearlfin Tribe. Instead of saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the spirits have to be consulted and eventually the amphibians agree join the Alliance in exchange for training in military knowledge and armaments.

Hozen

Hozen Village - Camp Nooka Nooka

Unfortunately for the Horde, the Hozen are not as flushed out as the Jinyu. Instead of being plane laziness on the part of Blizzard (the usual cause) they are actually extremely short-lived (the oldest barely reaching twenty years of age). This means their society lacks roots, with little history remembered by each tribe. Since they are tribal, they do all live (and fight) together until their tribes eventually fall apart. Foragers and hunters, they live in the treetops and mountains of Pandaria.

The Hozen hunting grounds should be avoided, as the race is notoriously short tempered and a lack of food commonly pushes entire clans to ravage food sources outside of their territory. This always results in enough food being gathered or enough Hozen dead ensure the rest will survive. Of course, because Blizzard thinks the Horde need more children, this race of 14-year old boys is equipped with grenades and machine guns in an effort to stamp out the Alliance presence in the forest.

Dungeon(s)

Jade Serpent Temple

So I did a huge write up on my opinions with images and screenshots and instructions on how to complete this instance, and then Word Press inexplicably lost it. I am annoyed and really don’t want to spend another hour trying to recreate it so please just go visit WoW Insider as Ann Stickney did a good enough job at saying the same things I was trying to say…except she’s a lot more excited about this extraordinarily easy dungeon than I am.

Quests

For a good run down of the Horde quests in the Jade Forest, check out Cymre’s blog: Bubbles of Mischief. I have not found a good blog detailing any Alliance quests, but I keep hearing that they’re much more engaging and fun than the Horde ones when it comes to story. (If you know of one, please put a link to it in the comments below) This is ruined, of course, when the Alliance discover that Anduin Wrynn has been captured by Garrosh. And it’s captured, people, not kidnapped. This is a war, remember?

The other quest of note is, of course, the questline to get your hands on your very own Cloud Serpent flying mount. Players start by being given an egg that can be hatched in a series of quests followed by dailies. The daily quests allow players to feed and train their newly hatched cloud serpent until the day it can learn to fly. After that, they have to prove themselves on the racetracks and skyways that belong to the Order of the Cloud Serpent. Blizzard says this should take 20 days or so.

Wrap Up

My opinion of the Jade Forest is iffy. I think it was a terrible idea to give only one starting zone for both the Horde and Alliance and will make leveling for the first two months a pain in the ass. While the zone is absolutely gorgeous, it has little color in it to liven up all the green and stone textures. Eventually it turns into a green and beige blur with occasional buildings and watery areas to break it up (the lakes and streams are amazing, though).

The quests are interesting and engaging, similar throughout to Cata questing. The themes, though, feel over done, reminiscent of Sholazar Basin and Twilight Highlands. The dungeon is a blast to play through, but it’s easy, too easy. Only one boss made me work hard and the rest was a breeze the very first time any of us had ever seen the place. All the mechanics are old combinations instead of twists on old moves. It needs a lot of work before the official release comes out for me to be happy with it.

Oh, yeah, I said it – Warlock tanking. I was let into the Mists of Pandaria Beta this last Saturday and picked my warlock as the first class I wanted to explore. Picking the Demonology tree first as I wanted to see the new demons in action, I discovered the tanking glyph. It’s not even a talent that lets you tank, but a glyph.

Alright, I thought, let’s try this out and see how it works. Filling out my talents, gems, enchants and glyphs with everything else that would assist me the best when tanking, I ran around the Jade Forest and killed stuff, hoping I’d run into an elite mob and could test how well I really was doing as a tank. I found shit. Apparently there are few elite mobs in the first part of the starting zone.

Really needing an accurate test, I hopped into an instance and talked the tank and healer into letting me be be the tank. For whatever reason they agreed and we took on Jade Serpent Temple together. Even though I wasn’t entirely sure what the hell I was doing, I was a successful tank. Not the best tank, since I couldn’t get my hands on how best to fill my fury bar and work AoE tanking down until the end, but I did my job and the only people who died stood in shit they shouldn’t have. Fire’s bad, mmkay? (and so is water now)

Coming out of the instance I was psyched! I ran around kicking random mob ass and telling everyone I could how great warlock tanking was. There was only one thing left to do: tell all of you about it too.

So how does Warlock tanking work? Well, once you have your Glyph of Demon Hunting you morph into your new Threatening Presence which looks exactly like Metamorphasis, except it’s blue:

Threatening Presence (now known as Tank Form)

Metamorphosis (now known as DPS form)

Now, besides wishing that the forms looked different, most of your spells and abilities have morphed into new spells that require Demonic Fury instead of mana or generate Demonic Fury when cast on an enemy.  For instance, your curses turn into temporary auras, Soulshatter turns into a taunt, and Fear turns into Sleep which works like Succubus Charm.

Abilities work similar to other tanks with several cool downs (listed on the right) which prevent damage, restore health, and just in general save your ass when it’s getting kicked by a boss or multiple mobs. Only one of these abilities changes when you shift forms (Fury Ward) and the rest are talents that any warlock can pick up if they choose.

This is why I believe warlocks are going to be over powered in PvP. My tank did a descent amount of damage (enough to make any Blood Deathknight proud) and just wouldn’t die. A hunter stumbled upon me taking all the screen shots for this blog and attempted to kill me. As I was busy, he got my health down to 15% before I was able to retaliate. After popping all my cool downs, I took him down from 100% to zero while my own health remained at 10%. Simply put, it’s broken, but for once I have to say there’s not much that can be done about if Blizzard actually wants to make Warlocks viable tanks they won’t be able to fix this without making it so the Glyph of Demon Hunting is disabled in Rated Battle Grounds. In my opinion, balance would be easy to maintain if the abilities/glyphs/talents that were disabled for rated PvP matches was expanded, but that’s a whole other topic for a whole other blog.

Back to explaining how Warlock tanking works. So now that you have all your cooldowns, you need to hold threat. You do this with the Demonic Fury bar which is the same in either the DPS or tanking forms. The difference between the two is how it’s used. In tanking form it’s static like a rage bar, going up as you use certain abilities and going down when you use others. Unlike a Warrior’s fury bar, it doesn’t increase via damage done and it doesn’t decay when not in combat. In DPS form, it decays a static amount every six seconds.

Most abilities require Fury and do not generate it, so Warlocks do have some trouble with initial threat. Fortunately, they do have a taunt button and the DPS cooldown that summons imps to attack your target has the fireballs the imps cast increase you Demonic Fury very quickly. So with an initial ranged pull with Bane of Doom, followed by a taunt, then the imps, any boss will be a synch to keep a hole of, even with those idiotic hunters who like to keep threat abilities on their pets.

AoE tanking is another story, or so I thought until I logged on today to get a better look at all my spells. When talented into Shadowfury, warlock tanks have two abilities that do not cost anything to cast, one that costs a little Fury, and one that costs a lot. Shadowfury and Hand of Gul’dan are free to cast, the restrictions on the spells being a long cooldown on the first and regenerating charges on the second. Both spells are cast on a circular area and give beneficial effects that will make then essential for tanking. Shadowfury is still an AoE stun and Hand of Gul’dan increases Fury when used on mobs that do not have the Hand of Gul’dan debuff.

The other two spells are Shadowflame and Hellfire. Shadowflame is the same, putting on a DOT and costs a little bit of Fury. I put it in my main rotation to help hold threat. Hellfire is very, very expensive but it does a ton of damage to any mobs in an area around you. This is a great spell to pick up quick threat on mobs (unlike with Paladins and Warriors), but it has a down side leaving you with a minimum of only half Fury.

I, for one, am very, very psyched about getting a new use for Warlocks, but I will play my own devil’s advocate and point out three reasons I can’t disagree with for why Warlocks should not be tanks, even though I love this idea. First off, there are already many tanks in the game and this just adds another when raids only need two and, occasionally, three. Secondly, this doesn’t fit the lore. While it does if warlocks were Demon Hunters, they are not Demon Hunters so it doesn’t make any sense. It would if Blizzard released a mini story discussing how the Warlocks have evolved their magic over the years, but the lore so far does not support this or even Metamorphosis at all. The final reason is that frankly this class is over powered as fuck and that’s just self explanitory.

Even still, I simply had fun tanking as a Warlock which is something I never experienced when I was tanking back in 4.1 on my Paladin. Of course, I have heard a lot of people who are very upset about this addition to World of Warcraft. For those who are against Warlock tanking, I ask you to ask yourself these questions:

1) How is this hurting the Warlock class? DPS as a Demonology Warlock is still viable.

2) How is this hurting the tanking classes? The other classes still exist and they are still just as viable.

3) Lastly, what’s wrong with it? I hear a lot of people saying “I don’t like it” without being able to say why. Holding an opinion without a reason makes no sense to me and suggests you need to think a bit deeper.

The second zone in my Zone Wrap Up is the Valley of the Four Winds. It is located on the southern edge of the new Pandaren continent and seems to be just a questing zone. The Tillers farm will be located here along with at least one Brewmaster scenario and the new Stormstout Brewery dungeon. Unfortunately, the only screen captures so far are from the video above, so I’ll leave you with just the video.

Blizzard has described it as:

A tranquil plain of lush farmland, bordered by dense mysterious jungles along the south and impassible mountains to the north. The valley is considered the “breadbasket” of Pandaria, but the year’s harvest is in jeopardy and a terrible malaise has overcome the Pandaren that live along the coast. The valley is also the home of the legendary Stormstout Brewery, where Chen Stormstout and his niece Li Li hope to journey to discover the whereabouts of their long-lost ancestors.

Unlike the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, this Valley looks exactly like I wanted the entire zone to look. Green, flowers, animals, growing things; I am more than pleased. This zone appears to be a cross between the Wetlands with water, cliffs and trees and Nagrand with its bright colors, multitude of animals, and plenty of growing things. I am loving it.

Lore

Chen Stormstout standing on dwarves

The Valley of the Four Winds, is what Westfall used to be to Stormwind. They supply all their food, a task made easier by the magic waters that flow out of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. These waters make the fruits and veggies grow to huge proportions and the Pandarens have long taken advantage of this.

Chen Stormstout in Warcraft 3

This fertile zone is also the ancestral home of Chen Stormstout, the wandering Brewmaster introduced in Warcraft 3. His families brewery is still located in the Valley, though he left Pandaria searching for exotic ingredients for his recipes. Apparently this is something all Brewmasters do, except this Brewmaster went all the way to Kalimdor to do it!

Along the way, he met the Orc Rexxar of the Mok’Nathal clan and paused his journey to travel with the Beastmaster for a time. They went to Theramore and met Jaina Proudmore, saw the horrible things her daddy was doing and this had him choose to protect Thrall and Durotar from more Kul Tiras incursions. Basically, he did a bunch of good shit for the Horde and makes a fucking strong beer.

Chen isn’t the only important person in the Valley, though. Chi’Ji, the Red Crane August Celestial also dwells here. For those who don’t know the The August Celestials are four “powerful ancestor spirits” that watch over the lands of the Pandaren. They are Yu’lon the Jade Serpent, Xuen the White Tiger, Chi’Ji the Red Crane, and Niuzao the Black Ox. I believe there will be another dungeon announced here for Chi’Ji’s temple, a questline that takes place in it, or a scenario that you’ll get to play in since Blizzard has said we will be “servicing” all four temples.

Raid(s)

None, zip, zero, nada, zilch. We got nothing. This zone seems to be purely light hearted and fun, not for them hard-core, angry raiding crowd. So set down those legendaries, kick off your plate boots, and come relax, save the beer, farm the land, find a new pet or five. Relax before you go kick someone’s teeth in later.

Dungeon(s)

The Stormstout Brewery

The great thing about the new dungeons, in my opinion, are that full-sized out in the world. Yes, it is instanced, but you can eventually fly around it and really see the full scale instead of just guessing about it because the entire dungeon is right there in the Valley. Players will be heading inside with Chen to discover why there’s no more beer.

And why is there no beer, you ask? Because of drunk monkeys, giant evil rabbits and oh, let’s not forget, the beer has gone so bad, it’s become alive and wants to kill us all. This instance makes zero sense, so it had better be funny as all hell.

Unfortunately, there are no images of the “alementals” yet, but the evil giant bunnies (also known as Verming) have a couple shots and I dredged up the map from Blizzcon. And don’t be fooled, that evil bunny is holding a lit barrel of explosives in his mouth. They’re not just evil, they’re stupid!

Quests

The only confirmed questing is the Daily quests we will be doing for the Tillers and the scenario for the Brewmasters. They are both “artisan” factions like the Lorewalkers, but the Tillers seem the most flushed out. There’s even a reason they’re sending you to clean up their local problems instead of doing it themselves: They’re too busy trying to feed the rest of the continent! Okay, I can buy that for once.

Though, if there’s a giant evil bunny in my pumpkin/radish field, I think I’d hit it with a large shovel instead of sending out the next adventurer to walk by in my place. And look at those weeds! Come on, you’re telling me you’re so busy you can’t weed or deal with the giant evil bunny? Fine! Give me my own farm and I’ll do your chores and my own!

And they do, give you your own farm I mean. This with be a phased area that you will perform different daily quests for to make it bigger, increase your reputation with the Tillers, grow herbs, pets, and cooking materials. My friend Nika Davies from the Twisting Nether server had a great opinion on these things and I tossed it up as a blog you should check out if you want to know more.

The other artisan faction found in the Valley of the Four Winds is the Brewmasters that Blizzard is using to create most of the first scenarios they’re putting out. So, presumably, you will find an encounter out here (or two) that goes along this lines:

…The lightning lager scenario that you can encounter by finding one of the Brewmasters out in the world. And the idea here is that you’re helping the Brewmaster create her Lightning Lager that can only be brewed while it’s raining and in the middle of a thunderstorm. The problem is that she’s being sieged by saurok, so she’s got a saurok problem to deal with. So you’ll have to help her defend the brewery from the saurok while putting out fires.

Whatever the heck a saurok is. There’s speculation that it’s this:

Well, go kill a bunch of those things in a lightning storm then! Sounds like a great idea. Just don’t lift your sword/mace/whatever up too high.

Wrap Up

All in all, I think this is going to be one of my favorite zones. I like the idea of having a relaxed, fun place to make my own little farm even if the entire Stormstout Brewery makes me angry with its idiotic concept and ridiculous mobs. Now if I can just bring other people onto my farm, I’ll be a happy camper.

Screen shot from the Vale of Eternal Blossoms

To help keep things simple, I’m going to try to dilute the information coming out of the Beta and Press Release for the new content by tackling each zone on its own, including the instances and raids that are (as of the time of writing) going to be there.

Vale of Eternal Blossoms World Map

To start off, we’re going to learn about the Vale of Eternal Blossoms because the Alliance and Horde hubs will be located here. It is located in the central part of Pandaria along with the Mogu’Shan Vaults raid, two dungeons, Mogu’Shan Palace and the Gate of the Setting Sun, and the Temple of Power battleground. It is a level 90 zone that Blizzard describes as:

The ancient seat of the pandaren empire has been hidden for generations, shrouded in mists and walled-off by impassible mountains.  The waters of the Vale are believed to have mystical powers… which has attracted the attention of ancient enemies as well as power-hungry factions within the Alliance and Horde. What secrets lie buried below this mystical font of power?

I’m really hoping this legendary Valley isn’t going to be as brown as the Barrens like the map makes it look. Not to mention the screen shots. I demand color, Blizzard! Pink, purple, blue! Where are the FLOWERS?! Ahem, moving on…

Lore

In came screen shot of a Mogu

The Vale of Eternal Blossoms was the original seat of the Mogu Empire where the Mogu harnessed the power of the Vale’s magical waters. This power they used to rule the continent until the Pandaren overthrew them. They then walled up the Vale to prevent its power from being abused.

With the Mogu returned, the Vale is in more danger than ever, and the Order of the Golden Lotus (the Pandaren chosen by the Celestials themselves toprotect the Vale) are looking to the players to keep it safe. That’s why the Order sets up hubs for the factions on either side of the Vale, apparently because the Horde and Alliance can’t get along for two fucking seconds. I’m starting to think that whole Dalaran and Shattrath thing was a fluke.

The Lorewalkers, the faction of scholars who keep track of all the lore of Pandaria, have set up their archive in the Vale. After players bring them artifacts, they’ll tell stories about the objects which are supposedly repeatable. Personally, I think this was a cop-out for more hunt and gather, but the quality of the lore presented will be the only way to know for sure.

Raid(s)

Mogu’shan Vaults is a six boss raid and that’s about all we know about it right now. I think it looks gorgeous and it’s not as purple and red as I expected. It was originally called the Mogu’shan Palace, but that is a five man dungeon now. Below are some screen shots to give some additional information about the raid.

Mogu'shan Vault screen shot

Mogu'Shan Vault map

Dungeon(s)

Mogu’shan Palace

Because of the name change, I have been unable to find anything on this dungeon except it’s a level 85-90 dungeon. Well no shit. Thanks to the person who actually was dumb enough to write that. News flash, obvious information is not useful information.

The Gate of the Setting Sun

Players will be dispatched to meet up with the Shado-pan clan who were sent to the gate of the Great Pandaren Wall to contain the Mantid expansion before they can launch a full-scale attack. I predict we will be battling waves of Mantid as they tried to cross the wall and into the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. As gauntlet dungeons are my favorite, I’m expecting great things (which means I’ll probably be let down again).

The Gate of the Setting Sun screen shot

Battleground(s)

Apparently this temple looks just like the Uldum temples? I don’t understand this, but sure okay, why not. Hopefully the images are just placeholders and this battle ground won’t be more reused skins.

The Temple of Power is set in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Why are the Horde and Alliance fighting over it? Well, supposedly it contains an artifact that could turn the tide of war (but since this is a battleground, no one will ever get their hands on it). This artifact sits in the center of the map. Whoever claims the artifact must hold onto it as long as possible the opposing faction trys to kill you and the artifact is trying to kill you by increasing the amount of damage it deals the longer you hold it.

Yes, this is Murder Ball from Warhammer Online and Black Garden from Rift. The rules are exactly the same except artifact carriers earn more points when they hold the artifact in the center of the map than if they carry it around the outer rim. This busts up the tactics from War and Rift where the artifact was held by your spawn place for quick reinforcements. Of course, we can still do this, but points will accumulate much more slowly.

I didn’t see any word as to whether this would also be an RBG, nor how many people would be playing against each other, but I still think this battleground will be a lot of fun. Black Garden in Rift was my favorite and I’m excited by the new twist in the rules. Bring it Horde!

Quests

All that we know so far is that this entire zone will be a level 90 daily quest hub to gain reputation with the Order of the Golden Lotus. Whether there will be other quests, is unknown and I honestly hope there won’t be. The idea of a zone dedicated solely to endgame questing is something I’m excited to try out and the concept so far has potential.

Everyday, the Mogu will be attacking different parts of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and players will be sent to defend it depending on their reputation level with the Order of the Golden Lotus. If you are Neutral or Friendly with them, you will not be sent to the front lines (I would think that if they don’t like you, they would send you there, but hey that’s just me), but will instead take less important missions around the zone. These daily quests will change every time you increase in reputation, with a supposed wrap-up quest once you become Exalted.

If the story is good enough, I am more than willing to take on the Mogu day after day until I’m Exalted, especially if I get a “story end” along with my reputation rewards. One consistent gripe of mine in WoW has been how the stories just don’t end. Westfall and the Defias went on for three expansions before it changed in Cata (and who wants to be there’s no wrap up in MoP?) and that’s just the tip of the ice berg. I could go on and on about how this frustrates me. But I won’t because this could be a solution finally.

Wrap Up

There’s some highs and lows for the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. It has potential and it could be shit, but for now I’m looking forward to getting in here. It could be more colorful, but perhaps Blizzard thought the other zones made up for the color and wanted a more Autumn theme going on. Only they know, and they’re not saying and I’ll admit I’m a sucker for bright colors.

The highlight has to be the new battleground which is a fresh breath of air to the old battleground rulesets. More than anything I want to dive in here and beat up some Hordies, but that’s just my violent tendencies getting the better of me. The biggest question I have is how World PvP is going to fair in a main Daily quest zone where the Alliance and Horde hubs also have a place. This could be epic scale PvP, reminiscent of our lost Southshore and I for one, am all for it.

Come at me bro!

The Mists of Pandaria Press event happened today with plenty of stupid reveals and great things to come. I scoured the interviews, blogs and press releases to put together the things I thought were the best, the worst, or just rather noteworthy about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.

The obvious things we know about MoP are, of course, discussed in the press release. The Jade Temple, the Stormstout Brewery, new Scholomance, new Scarlet Monestary, Pet Battle system, Pandarians, monk class, etc. I’m not going to touch on those at all if they don’t discuss something new – and for the most part, they don’t. Luckily there is plenty of new information being given out that I’ve combed through to find the most interesting, infuriating, and just noteworthy news that’s been given out today.

We’ll start with the shit that just plain pissed me off:

Fuck you Blizzard

To start things off, I’d like to point out that there is still no release date for MoP. It also sounded to me like they have a lot of work to do before we can even get a Beta opening date. Right now, only time will tell how soon this expansion will be coming out.

Once again, there will be no additional bank slots and no new character models. Void storage is getting more space though and Blizzard/Activision made the mountains prettier! Really?!  They’ve also chosen to keep the demon models the same, no male succubus, no new voidwalker models, but fuck, we get some damn purdy mountains. Where are my freaking hair cuts you promised me a year ago!?

In another stroke of genius, Blizzard/Activision has chosen to remove the Have Group, Will Travel guild perk even though it was popular “because it is one more thing that shrinks the world and allows players to avoid being out in the world.” No, it was because we like to be able to summon our raids/groups without a warlock you dipshits. In another effort to get us out in the world and out of Orgrimmar and Stormwind, the major city for the Alliance and Horde on the new continent will not have Ethereal vendors or Class Trainers. Feel the sarcasm.

They will be changing the LFR loot system. Personally, I think they’re going to seriously fuck it up:

…one of the big changes we’re going to make with Mists is the introduction of a per-player loot system. So that will be just for LFR, but essentially every person will get to roll individually on the items that are on that boss. So if you win that roll, then it will look at the loot table on that boss, and if there’s an item for you, then you’ll get that item instead of just having it be everyone can roll, and if you win you guarantee get it. Instead you’ll roll individually and if your roll actually comes up as a win, if there’s an item that works for you, like say if you’re a druid, and there’s a druid item, you would get that item. That doesn’t mean you’re always going to get a guaranteed thing when you win your roll, because there might not be an item on that boss for you to begin with. What it does mean is when you do win, you’re always going to get something that is right for you and it fits your class and feels specific. I think that’s really going to help with people feeling like they are running it constantly and “I never get my weapon” or “I never get my item”. That’s something that if it works there, we could definitely open it up to more parts of the game but that’s where we feel is a good place to start.

So essentially, if it’s a druid healing item, your tank could get it. Or if it’s better for cat dps, your healer could get it. If it’s a plate dps piece, your healing paladin could get it. This sounds like a terrible idea Blizzard! Sure, it fixes some problems, but it seems to create a whole mess more. I do like the idea that if two rogues win a roll, they’d both get the mace that dropped, so if they can take class specs into account, I’ll change my mind.

I think the biggest let down of all the press release information was when Chris Metzen decided to tell us how Mists of Pandaria is going to end:

The final patch of Mists of Pandaria will be the Siege of Orgrimmar! Both factions, for various reasons, lay siege to the city to bring Garrosh down and end his reign of Warchief.

So they want to give us a whole new continent, then tell us to go play someplace we’ve been for a previous expansion? Not to mention spoiling the ending for us. Oh, and that’s not the end of the spoilers for the entire MoP expansion:

In one of the patches, the Alliance and Horde will roll up onto the beach along with their fleet, armor, tanks, and this is where the Horde will build a fortress on the island. The world will change over the course of the patches, especially this area. In Patch 5.1 the beach on Krasarang Wilds will erupt into a battlezone. You will see Pandaria evolve a little bit as the story evolves. The Horde and Alliance will assault different parts of the beach and there will be awesome fighting.

On the one hand this is great, we’re getting an evolving storyline that will be continually changing throughout the expansion. On the other hand, now I know what’s going to happen. They could have drawn this out, hyped the faction battles, really pumped the WoW players. Instead, we now know that Garrosh is going to die to Varien and that’s the end of the story. Anyone else hate reading the last page of a book first?

The only good thing about this is I actually think they might put out timely content during Mists instead of shitty, half-assed, non-content that they did for 4.1 or the Ruby Sanctum. Then again, maybe I’m just being naive, so let’s move on to what I think they’re doing well.

Right on!

Some simple things: There will be 11 character slots instead of the current 10, so you won’t have to delete a character if you want to roll a Monk. The Alliance and Horde will be getting a major city in the new continent that will have an Auction House and Bank. And finally, we’re returning to having World Bosses! There will be two, though I couldn’t find any information beyond that.

It is official that your entire pet collection will be made account wide “that way you don’t actually have to go and change out characters every time you want to level up a specific pet, or have to level a pet for each one of your characters, or anything really annoying and grindy like that.” Thank you Blizzard! Now I can get my Legendary Staff dragon pet on my shaman and get credit for it on my paladin. This pleases me immensely.

There are 9 new dungeons, not five (thank God). The new ones are Gate of the Setting Sun, Mogu’Shan Palace, an unnamed Mantid dungeon, and two others yet to be revealed. Scholomance has been almost completely redone, looking like it received more effort than the Dead Mines and SFK remakes (and unfortunately the Scarlet Monastery remake). Mists will be released with two new battlegrounds, The Silver Shard mines and The Temple of ???. New rules and new maps without siege engines!

Blizzard/Activision is still refining the Monk energy system, going with mana for healers and energy for tanks/dps along with a Light Energy system they’re calling Chi. Monk Chi resource sounds like it’s going to be really fun:

So you have these four orbs that you’re building up towards, and you choose how to spend them. Some abilities cost 3, some cost 2, some cost 1, and then hopefully the depth of the rotation comes from mixing those up. So you might do a 3 force ability, then 1 force ability, then a 2 force, then a 1 force, then a 2 force, and we hope that chaining is going to help deliver that kind of street fighter, button mashing, feel that players are expecting in a martial arts based character.

The Monks have brand new animations for each and every move, nothing recycled from previous classes and abilities. They’re also doing a large revamping of Warlock resources.Warlocks are going to be bad-ass with their new specs and resource systems.

Destruction is trying to build up this fiery force. They basically start catching on fire, their hands catch on fire, and then their whole body catches on fire. Then they can unleash Conflagrate, their really powerful damaging spell. Demonology similarly has a bar they fill up, but this bar drives how long they can stay in demon form. So rather than their Metamorphosis just being a cooldown that lasts for a few seconds, they can try to game it to stay in demon form for a fairly long amount of time. They decide when that happens and how that happens.

I am finding it harder and harder to decide which toon I want to play first. The three new warlock pets are also unlockable in the talent tree. I want the Sheeba one pretty bad.

There will be new mounts as well. The one I’m interested in is the Cloud Serpent mount which is attainable to anyone willing to do a 20 day quest chain. This is similar to how you get the achievement pets right now. This is great! Grindy, but not 120 day grind. I’m only disappointed you don’t get to keep the Cloud Serpent pet as well.

One thing they did promise us was an easier way to level up Archeology and on this, at least, they deliver. After finishing a Dig Site for Archeology, you get to teleport to a new dig site. No more flying all over the God damned place. They will also be adding Archeology dailies that are similar to the Fishing/Cooking ones.

Another Daily quest their adding is the Tillers Daily Quest and rep grind which is going to be different. They will be giving you a farm and new quests daily to improve it. You will be able to grow Herbalism nodes, cooking ingredients, a pet, and gifts for NPCs that up your rep. Unfortunately this will probably be phased so you can’t take people in to see how you’ve decorated your own farm, but I still think this is wicked awesome.

Last, but certainly not least, “by accomplishing some of the outdoor PvP quests and objectives you can actually raise your weekly Conquest cap.” FUCK YES! No longer will we be stuck with just ratings to get our Conquest cap up. This pleases me immensely and now that you’ve stuck with me this far, we’re almost done:

Other shit

All this is neither good, nor bad, it just kind of is so I’ll toss it out as bullet points:

• No guarantee that Achievements will become account wide and no mention of mounts being the same.
• AoE looting will be implemented
• No “item squish” so we will continue to see giant numbers in the charts.
• Hunters get an ability to release their entire stable of pets at once on a target. Ouch.
• Minor glyphs will be changed to do fun and interesting things, like a Mage glyph that teleports you to Old Dalaran – then lets you fall out of the sky far above it.
• There is a Great Pandarian Wall.
• There is now a lizard man race.
• Supposedly the new raids will have a new and unique look, more than anything they’ve done before (I predict more red, black and purple)
• Companion Pets will also have mini talent trees.
• Event for MoP release: Chen shows up, Theramore burns, players get stuff.
• Horde allies are the Hozon, a race of monkey people who are given machine guns and rocket launchers by the Horde.
• Alliance allies are the fish-man race the Jinyu who can listen to the river speak.
• Beer elementals – yes, there are Beer elementals
• The Scenarios sound identical to the Skirmishes in LOTRO. This is not a bad thing because the Skirmishes in LOTRO are a blast.
• There will be NPC pet battles out in the zones.
• Proving Grounds: “They’re like lored-up solo instances that make trying out my rotations a lot more fun since I can chase achievements.” (Sounds awesome)
• Seven new zones instead of five
• New Factions:
  • The Shado-Pan: The bravest and most disciplined of pandaren fighters, the Shado-Pan were established by the last Pandaren emperor to act as guardians against the negative Sha energy that permeates the continent. Part of their duties also involves manning the mighty wall that protects the pandaren homeland from the dangerous mantid race. They welcome the assistance of any who have the bravery and skill to aid them in their sacred charge.
  • The August Celestials: Four powerful ancestor spirits have always watched over the lands of the pandaren: Yu’lon the Jade Serpent, Xuen the White Tiger, Chi Ji the Red Crane, and Niuzao the Black Ox. Each of their four temples will call on the service of bold adventurers.
  • The Golden Lotus: Nestled in the center of Pandaria is the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, an ancient place of great power that’s been around since the time of the Titans. The Vale and its magical waters were once used as a weapon by the Mogu, and after their overthrow it was decided to seal off the vale from any intruders. The Golden Lotus is an order of pandaren priests and fighters who defend and maintain this sacred land. Members are specifically chosen at a young age by one of the four August Celestials.
  • The Klaxxi: Keepers of the mantid culture, these stoic mantid lords have determined that their own queen has been corrupted and must be destroyed. Although wary of outsiders, it may be possible to earn the trust of the Klaxxi, gaining access to their unique arms and armor.
  • Order of the Cloud Serpent: This order of flying warriors was founded long ago, during the Zandalari wars. Gain their favor, and they’ll reveal the secrets of training a cloud serpent to become a loyal mount.
  • The Lorewalkers: This peaceful faction has been charged with safeguarding pandaren history and culture. Intrepid explorers can win their favor by collecting historical artifacts from around the world.
  • Artisans: Many Brewmasters have wandered the world in search of exotic ingredients to expand their craft, while the Tillers and Anglers are simple farmer and fisher folk, respectively. These three factions are the backbone of civilian life on Pandaria, and offering assistance to these artisans will reap great rewards.
• New Zones:
  • The Jade Forest: High-level adventurers will make landfall in the lush Jade Forest, where they’ll meet some of Pandaria’s indigenous races, such as the fish-like jinyu and monkey-like hozen.
  • Valley of the Four Winds: Featuring rolling green hills and lush pandaren farmland, the Valley of the Four Winds is where travelers will find the legendary Stormstout Brewery.
  • Kun-Lai Summit: Amid this treacherous, icy mountain terrain, players will encounter the Shado-Pan, a clandestine sect charged with keeping one of Pandaria’s darkest secrets.
  • Townlong Steppes: Here, a tremendous wall separates Pandaria’s verdant forests and plains from the desolate wasteland left in the wake of the ravenous, all-consuming mantid.
  • Krasarang Wilds: A dense strand of jungle occupying Pandaria’s southernmost shore, the Krasarang Wilds are home to lost ruins and a chain of dangerous islands.
  • Dread Wastes: The mantid homeland, now overrun by the Sha of Fear, has been corrupted into a horrifying wasteland of swamps and scorched earth. Players will have to fight their way into the lair of the mantid queen herself to rout out the source of the corruption.
  • Vale of Eternal Blossoms: This lush valley in the center of Pandaria hosts a secret power dating back to the time of the Titans. The city complex at its heart will be players’ home away from home, but max-level players will need to defend it against constantly changing daily threats.
  • The Wandering Isle: Pandaren adventurers looking to explore the world outside Pandaria begin their journey here, on a mysterious island that never seems to settle in the same place for too long.

If you’re curious, there are also many new YouTube videos. I’ve linked them here for your viewing pleasure:

No, it’s no joke. 6 dps blood DKs, 3 DK blood tanks and a frost DK went into Heroic Firelands and took out Ragnaros all by their lonesome. No healers. Hey, Blizzard I think you finally fixed the Deathknight class, but maybe you could’ve toned it down a notch.

I don’t mean to disrespect Raegwyn or the other 9 players who spent hours working on this, but it is still absolutely rediculous. This content isn’t that old, but because of the T13 4-piece bonus and the insane amount of self healing (Sorry DKs, Vampiric Blood and Rune Tap do count as self healing) these guys were able to make a third of the Holy Trinity of MMOs obsolete. Who needs healers? Everyone roll a Deathknight!

This is what happens when the devs ignore half of their player base and only balance one aspect of the game. PvP players have been ranting about how over powered the Blood spec has been since Cata released, but they have received no nerfs and worse have been repeatedly buffed. In June of last year a Dev said the following:

Death knights are a somewhat different style of tank compared to the others. They take significantly more damage than other tanks, but then heal/shield that extra damage back instead (and sometimes more). Due to taking more damage, and that damage coming in spikes, they’re also the most likely to die to unexpected burst (such as when they don’t have runes up to Death Strike, have no cooldowns available, and fail to dodge or parry a few attacks in a row. They also have more personal impact on their own survivability and mitigation than any other tank, by tying much of their performance to Death Strike (and especially optimally timing their Death Strikes). So in the hands of a really skilled player, they can do some amazing things, but not usually much better than the other tanks. We’d actually like to head more in that direction with the other tanks (making them tie more of their defensive performance to their ability usage), in the future.

The very next patch, 2v2 Arenas were full of Blood DKs surviving and healing more than anything many teams could put out. Was the PvP crowd listened to now? Of course not. Forum players are usually too busy insisting the game is a PvE only game and PvPers need to accept how the wind blows. Sure, balancing every time one side or the other cries foul would screw all game balance, but maybe after the third season someone should have listened to us.

Too late now! Congratulations to Raegwyn and the other DKs, but I see a large, shiney nerf bat in your future. And hey Frost Mages, you’re next. >=D