Isn't this expansion fake?
Blizzard has trademarked the name themselves, they do this before every Blizzcon. It takes a few months for the actual process to be done which is why they always have trademarked expansion names before. Since they haven't trademarked anything else this is it. Some people may be wary of it because of the expansion name and believing in some Pandaren rumours listed below.
Source(The trademarking site, note the current status says “New application will be assigned to an examining attorney approximately 3 months after filing date.” Which the filing date is 3 months before Blizzcon.:
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=85384110
But weren't Pandarens a joke race?
Once yes, after the April fools where Blizzard showed them the demand for them to be in the game was so great that they added them into Frozen Throne. Then Pandaren were made official. Chen Stormstout is also mentioned again in Brann Bronzebeard's journal again in the latest Warcraft magazine.
Isn't Pandas getting hurt anger the Chinese government?
A myth. In Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne beta they were depicted as Samurai's in Japenese clothing, which was offensive to the Chinese so they then changed it so they wear chinese cultural clothing. They are now fine with Pandaren. If the myth was even true you would not have even seen pandaren in Frozen throne or a movie like Kung-Fu Panda.
What is known about the expansion itself?
It was mentioned in an interview after Cataclysm that the next expanson will be on a continent. Note the South Seas content is mostly islands and no continent.
Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/279290/wow-expansion-4-new-continent-likely-blizzard/
Don't we already have Furbolgs as the bear race?
It turns out that Pandas are actually more closely related to raccoon family than bears.
What is confirmed about Pandarens?
The magazine says that they are older than the Night elves and Furbolgs and come from a distant land. Chen Stormstout existed and helped Rexxar and talked to Brann Bronzebeard.
Ew, a whole continent about Pandaren?
Who said Pandaria all about Pandarens? Is Kalimdor all about Kaldorei? Well <_< sure there's a lot but compared to the whole continent, not really. We don't know what's actually there.
If they've been around so long how come we haven't seen any around Kalimdor or Eastern Kingdoms?
In the new legendary quest chain in 4.2 it is revealed that there is another huge space on the other side of Azeroth. In the Veiled Sea- why was it even called that again? It could be possible that is where the Mists of Pandaria expansion will take place.
Picture here (Note the mists are already everywhere on the planet. It is from something different involving the quest- the point of the picture is to show that there is a vast sea on the other side of Azeroth):
Couldn't it just be a card game or a singleplayer game or something?
I can guarantee you it's the expansion, the expansion is almost over with 4.3 being the being the last raid tier and they will announce the next one this Blizzcon. They haven't trademarked anything else. It takes months for the filing to finish these days, there really is no other choice. There is no time. The trademarks used are also the same they used for the other expansions and indicate it to be an online game/expansion.
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer game software; computer game discs; computer game software and related instruction manuals and guides sold together as a unit; downloadable computer game software; computer game software downloadable from a global computer network; downloadable electronic games via the internet and wireless devices; interactive multimedia computer game program; mousepads
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line computer games; providing computer games that may be accessed via a global computer network; providing online news and information in the field of computer games; entertainment services, namely, conducting contests online and providing a website for organizing, planning and executing events between computer game players and interest groups
What has Blizzard said on this?
From the interview with Tom Chilton he had this to say "Chilton said the speculation was, "wildly overhyped." He added, "if you look at traditionally how we've handled that race it's been in those secondary products because we haven't realized it in the world. Most of the time when we do anything panda-related it's going to be a comic book or a figurine or something like that."
Note he says the speculation specifically was overhyped and when mentioning them to be used in secondary products he says that is only traditionally and they have not realize how to put them into the world....yet. He also says most of the time it's a comic book or figurine, key word most.
Speculation time!
Pandaria, on the other side of Azeroth
Have you ever been to the Forbidden sea east of Eastern Kingdoms or the Veiled sea west of Kalimdor? If Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms are truly so close to each other there then why do the seas have different names? It's because there is another continent between them. There is more than enough room for one as the picture above shows.
Why not in the South Seas?
There is no room in the South Seas if you think about it. Sure the map looks bare now but what about after islands are added? Think about what we currently have and the zones that can be added.
Currently: Lost isles, Kezan, The Maelstrom and Vashj'ir takes up a chunk of the sea
Potentially: Tel'Abim, Plunder Isle, Zandalar, Broken Isles, The rest of Undermine, Kul Tiras, Nazjatar
Just from that and zones that they can't make up like Twilight highlands, doesn't it seem like there's already enough content for the South Seas? There is simply no room to shove the continent of Pandaria there. Also remember that they are happy with the ending of the Throne of the Tides and cancelled the 2nd Abyssal maw instance as well as not showing Azshara as a Major character as she was first supposed to be in Cataclysm.
What will Mists of Pandaria contain?:
Obviously the continent of Pandaria but I believe the emerald dream will finally make it's entrance fully with this expansion. Many Pandaren artwork Samwise has done shows them with a claw mark similar to mark of the wild (A blessing of Cenarius) and green glowing eyes/weaponry. As well as a stag mount that has said marking. Plus if this expansion is Pandaria/Emerald dream(85-90), the next would be South Seas(90-95) and then after that we probably go to Argus or Xoroth(95-100). Maybe they will stop making expansions at that point and just release content patches? Who knows. It's possible.
Among other things in Samwise's artwork, it shows a lot of mist. Look closely at the following pictures, the mountain appearing multiple times and the clash of fire and ice creating mist.
The artworks show the Pandyr of Pandaria. Their capital city- and the crest shown earlier is of Mistgarde which matches the name Mists of Pandaria perfectly. They likely have a giant snowy mountain in the middle of their continent bigger than any we've seen on Azeroth to date. The Pandyr prefer to use polearms, shields and claw weaponary in combat.
Race or Hero class?
There will most likely be a hero class. They said that the strain to make races and hero classes take too much on their teams. Since they have done races they will likely do another Hero class, which is due. In the Cataclysm FAQ they did mention they will still be making hero classes in the future and the only mistake they made with Death Knights were trying to balance 3 tanking and 3 damage dealing specs at the same time. The next hero class will be much more easier for them to balance as lon as they don't do that again.
Possible Hero Classes?
Considering the theme of the expansion there are many possibilities. The class usually ties heavily with the expansion but since we don't know much we can only guess. Some classes could be Runemaster, Dragonsworn, Monk, Brewmaster and others.
Well to finish off this post, there is also this artwork that was shown alongside other Warcraft Imagery last year in a tour of Blizzcon. At the end of the tour they showed a slideshow with a Pandaren and feigned surprise that they should not have done that and quickly removed the slide. Note what appears to be Chinese dragons in the background as well as the rice fields that give a Chinese theme.
