This week AusGamers was invited to chat with World of Warcraft's Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak on their latest 5.2 patch: The Thunder King. Having been released only a day ago, many World of Warcraft players both old and new have been eagerly chipping away at the latest content which includes an assault on the Isle of Thunder between the last emperor of the mogu, Lei Shen, the Zandalari, and those who would stop them – the Shado-pan and the heroes of Azeroth.

Discussing how the content is being delivered, where the team are at with Mists of Pandaria story and just what to expect from the new area, Kosak gives a great guide on just what to expect from the latest patch which includes the brand new Thunder King raid.

Click here for our full interview.

Blizzard has revealed the latest trailer for upcoming Patch 5.2: The Thunder King for their latest expansion to popular MMO World of Warcraft. The new patch will bring various amounts of content including the Throne of Thunder raid, a new area to quest in, a new world boss and of course the various bug fixes and changes to classes.

Lei Shen, the ancient mogu Thunder King, once loomed over the continent of Pandaria, uniting the mogu clans under his rule. Were it not for his downfall, the pandaren, jinyu, hozen and more might still serve the mogu – and they may again. Now awakened from his tomb by his old allies, Lei Shen has returned, promising to reclaim his ancient empire.

The Thunder King recently reemerged on the isle that served as his seat of power, surrounding himself with allies among the mogu and Zandalari trolls. Lei Shen’s great palace is home to more than the rubble of his past battles; it is a mighty war larder, a museum of mogu armaments that were once used to squeeze all Pandaria in an iron grip. In the hands of the mogu, these powerful weapons mean unchecked destruction. They would be put to far better use by the Alliance and Horde.

Beside the heroes of the Shado-Pan and the champions of your faction, you’ll assault Lei Shen’s island to prevent the returned Thunder King from using his destructive powers against Pandaria, and claim his ancient engines of war – quickly – before the enemy’s faction can turn them on you.

Blizzard has also revealed a new landing page for those looking to gather as much information before journeying to the new lands, which you can find over here. You can also check out the latest PTR patch notes for a look at what to expect in the Thunder King patch, which is available here.

Blizzard has revealed that the next chapter in their latest expansion for World of Warcraft has gone live, giving players more content to complete in their quest for glory. Those still enjoying the Mists of Pandaria expansion will find a new Horde vs Alliance storyline to complete that includes a new set of dailies, more Pandaren lore and of course bloodshed between the two factions.

The update also includes two new factions, Operation: Shieldwall for Alliance and Dominance Offensive for Horde, with both offering new rewards. Other additions include new scenarios, Pet Battle system upgrades, Brawler's Guild, legendary quest line continued and changes to raids.

The Pandaren Campaign begins!

The conflict between the Horde and the Alliance has ignited a new series of daily quests along the shore of the Krasarang Wilds.

Players can visit their faction strongholds in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to begin the quest to summon their war fleets to the continent of Pandaria.

Players will both valiantly defend their faction’s outpost and assault the opposing faction's headquarters.

Two new Reputations have been added: Alliance players can earn reputation with Operation: Shieldwall, while Horde players will curry favor with the Dominance Offensive.

Players can follow the story of the Pandaren Campaign through a series of special quests tied to their reputation with the landing forces. Heroes assisting with the war effort will join key characters and faction leaders as the growing conflagration spreads across Pandaria... as well as other locations around Azeroth.

For the full patch notes, check out the Battle.net post over here.

Reviewing an MMO is always tough, but we're lucky here at AusGamers that we happen to have not only a handful of guys on our review roster who eat the genre for breakfast, but also longtime AusGamers/QGL users whose views in the space are authoritative and trusted.

This was the case with our Mists of Pandaria review where old-schooler, Khel, not only took on review duties, but did so until he was sure he had the skinny on everything Blizzard is offering this time around in what is arguably the most controversial expansion they've done since inception.

Click here for his massively in-depth review.

Blizzard has today revealed their first week of launch sales for the recent expansion to the popular MMO World of Warcraft. The Mists of Pandaria expansion has seen the sale of more than 2.7 million copies worldwide, not including China's release on October 2nd.

The press release also reveals that the subscription number that we recently saw drop below 10 million to 9.1 million has now risen back pass 10 million, however no definitive number has been given.

“With Mists of Pandaria, we set out to expand on the sense of fun and discovery that’s always been at the heart of World of Warcraft -- in addition to adding a huge variety of new content and features to the game,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “It’s been gratifying to see the results of all of the work we put into this expansion and to hear all of the positive feedback from players so far.”

The World of Warcraft development team is already hard at work on the first major post-launch content update. Further details, including features and release timing, will be provided in the weeks ahead.

The Mists of Pandaria expansion adds a whole new race to the familiar lands, the Pandarian. Along with the new race comes the new continent, new dungeons, new raids and a whole new talent tree plus more. You can check out the full list of features over on the official website.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below on how you're enjoying the new expansion.

Thanks to the fine folk at Blizzard and Steelseries, AusGamers has been given a huge chunk of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria loot to in turn give away to you, our loyal readers.

We've come up with another 50 words or less entry mechanic, and this one can't fail given we pulled it directly from the typewriters of a thousand monkeys locked in a room. Among the treasure of goodies we have to give away is a Collector's Edition of the game along with a talking bottle-opener and two very stylish steins (plus heaps more).

Click here for more details and to enter!

World of Warcraft's newest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, is now live for everyone to play. The global lockdown has been lifted and you can find yourself within the game's new continent amidst its new, mysterious denizens, the Pandaren.

We've done some extensive coverage of the game since it was announced, but more recently caught up Blizzard's Ion Hazzikostas (lead encounter designer) to talk about a many number of things. You can read that interview here.

Otherwise we have Khel on board for review duties, but ahead of any actual scoring or final say on the game, he'll be supplying us with a weekly diary of his endeavours, so stay tuned for that.

We had a chance to speak with Blizzard ahead of the official release of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, and sacrificed our resident WoW expert, Khel, to the lead encounter god, Ion Hazzikostas, for clarification on a number of hot topics among the MMO elite.

On 25-man raids, Khel asked what the process was moving forward as they tend to be thinning out.

"One small step that we’re taking in 5.0 is that 25 player raids, on both heroic and normal, will drop six pieces of loot per boss instead of five like they used to," Hazzikostas explains.

"So there’s a slightly better ratio of loot per person, getting six for 25 versus two for 10, when you go for the larger sized raid, so that’s one thing."

As for crafting an entirely new race from scratch, while bolstering existing lore, Hazzikostas reveals that it's not as easy as it looks

"I think that’s one of the great challenges, but also one of the great opportunities of this expansion, since we had something of a blank slate when it came to the continent of Pandaria itself," Hazzikostas says.

"Really I mean, I think what we’ve done there is try to weave together themes of exploration and discovery with the more familiar Warcraft material of Horde and Alliance and the conflict there."

Click here for the full interview which covers everything from Challenge Modes to luring players back to the world of Azeroth and much more.

Supposedly answering the simple question of "What is Blizzard even doing for Mists of Pandaria", Blizzard have released a new trailer for their imminent World of Warcraft expansion, offering seven minutes of flythrough footage of many of the new environments, locales and battlegrounds.

We've been hard at work preparing one of the biggest content updates World of Warcraft has seen, giving you more options in Mists of Pandaria for how to spend your time playing than ever before. See for yourself what the latest expansion has to offer in this overview showcasing eight zones, seven scenarios, nine dungeons, three raids, two battlegrounds, one arena, three hundred daily quests, monks, pirate monkeys, and so much more!

Watch the video embedded below, or click here for the HD option.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria officially kicks off tomorrow, Setember 25th 2012. For specific details on Australian/New Zealand launch times, swing by this post.

For those not too busy with the recent Torchlight 2 and Borderlands 2 releases, Blizzard has announced new details regarding Oceanic release times for their upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft, the panda filled Mists of Pandaria. The launch times seem to be coinciding with the North American release, however luckily for us it will be at a more manageable time.

While heroic adventurers hailing from Australia and New Zealand can purchase a copy of Mists of Pandaria directly from www.warcraft.com, they can also pick up the game at their favourite retailer on Tuesday, September 25th beginning at 9 AM local time. (9 AM NZST/9 AM AEST/9 AM ACST/9 AM AWST)

For a handy reference, the game servers will go live at:

New Zealand Standard Time: 7:00 PM
Australian Eastern Standard Time: 5:00 PM
Australian Central Standard Time: 4:30 PM
Australian Western Standard Time: 3:00 PM

Currently there are no plans for any local party launches like the last few expansion releases, however this might prove to be a more cosier launch for many not having to worry about the dreaded midnight times.

For more info on Mists of Pandaria, check out our game page where we have a range of interviews, trailers and more.

Courtesy of the legends in the .au branch of Blizzard, we've got a bunch of beta keys for Mists of Pandaria, the looming expansion for a little game you might have heard of called World of Warcraft.

Steve got the low down several months ago from the mouth of game director Tom Chilton himself and since then there's been a stack of new media and info released - culminating in today's release of the stunning cinematic trailer.

But now you've got the chance to take the game for a test spin before the final version of the game lands by getting your hands on your own beta key! As usual first dibs go to the regular members and contributors to our community, so if you don't have the necessary achievements - don't panic, we'll be giving a few more batches away.

Grab your key now and get into the game!

While the quality and integrity of Blizzards games themselves is often a hotly debated topic, most tend to agree that theirlovingly crafted CG cinematics rarely fail to impress, and the opening video for the upcoming World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion that debuted at GamesCom 2012 over night looks to be no exception.

You've ended Deathwing's destructive rampage and saved the dragonflights from extinction. Now you must unlock the mysteries of the lost continent and discover the dark secrets of Pandaria's past. Explore ancient kingdoms hidden since before the Sundering, plunder vast treasures from the depths of the forgotten vaults, and rise to defend Pandaria from the shadow of a long buried evil - before it's too late.

"Whether you’re Horde or Alliance, there is one question we all must consider: Why do we fight?” Watch the clip embedded below, or here in our HD video library to draw your own conclusions.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is due on September 25th 2012 for PC and Mac.

Blizzard has confirmed the official release date for Mists of Pandaria the next expansion for World of Warcraft has been locked in, now just two months away, on September 25th 2012.

“Mists of Pandaria contains the biggest variety of new content we’ve ever created for a World of Warcraft expansion, with features that will appeal to new players, veterans, and everyone in between,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’ve received a lot of great feedback from players during our most extensive beta test yet, and we hope they enjoy exploring everything Pandaria has to offer when the expansion comes out in September.”

Digital pre-orders are now available directly from worldofwarcraft.com. For more details on the game, check out our interview with blizzard's Dave Kosak, and Steve's preview of levels 1-10.

Promoted/edited forum item

Continuing our panda love throughout this week, we have another interview for you from our time out at Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California, this time with Mists of Pandaria lead quest designer, Dave Kosak.

The questions within this interview transcript were pulled from the ones we asked during a round-table discussion, so they're all AusGamers, and even feature a few from our core community guys.

Dave talks to us about building compelling quests with an untapped race, mini-games such as pet-battles, challenges in crafting the Challenge Scenarios and much, much more.

Click here for the full interview.

A new blog post has appeared on the official World of Warcraft website, stating that the next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, is "very close" to beta testing stages, giving players of the huge MMO that little bit of anticipation.

We’re very close to beginning beta testing for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria! Over the course of the beta test, we’ll be inviting Annual Pass holders, press, fansites, friends and family, and opt-in beta testers to participate.

As there’s no NDA for this test, you’re likely to start seeing lots of screenshots and new video around the web. Please keep in mind that the game is still in development, and what you’ll see during the beta test is not necessarily representative of the final game.

Rumours are flying around that invites have already been sent out, and that the beta might even start as early as tonight. Excitement is definitely on the high, as this latest expansion is bringing about a new continent, the Monk class, and the Pandaren race as well a huge list of features.

There is a FAQ along with the official post that gives insight into the invite process of the beta, letting players that haven't signed up to the Annual Pass promotion that they can opt-in to the beta in hope of a invitation. With there being no NDA, you can expect a whole lot of information flowing through, so if your wanting to keep everything secret, it's probably best to unplug your internet for a few weeks.

You can check out AusGamers recent interview with Tom Chilton as well as a hands-on preview with the level 1-10 area of the Pandaren that we were lucky enough to try. As always you can check out our game page which has all the latest news, trailers and screenshots.

On top of being able to chat with game director, Tom Chilton, we also had a chance get our hands-on the starting zone for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, and tracked our entire journey from one to ten for you.

This is a preview that more outlines the experience as you get to that all important level 10 ding, but should hopefully give naysayers or old-school WoWers an idea of just how much the team have matured in terms of delivering compelling content from a starting out perspective. We also have more coming throughout the week from our preview event, including another interview and a deeper breakdown of what was revealed to us during our presentation.

In the meantime though, click here for our hands-on impressions.

As you know, AusGamers had a chance to head out to this year's BlizzCon, and while we threw up a host of news at the event and featured an extensive breakdown of the Mists of Pandaria expansion (thanks a bunch again for that Khel), we also had a chance to speak with Greg Street, the man behind the mist.

This interview has a lot of great information, including the genesis of the Pandaren, that what they were working on before this is still likely in the works and just why they crafted the pet-battling system, among much, much more. He also broaches a handful of our community's questions, so you'll definitely want to check it out.

"We’re all big gamers and there are a lot of games out there that have played off of this idea of raising your pet," he told AusGamers. "Teaching it new skills and having to go out into the wild and fight other pets. And the combination of those three, we were like “this seems like a really smart feature for us”.

Click here for the full video interview feature.

(PS I didn't actually get a chance to find Greg later on to expand on the question of culling features)

Among most things, the one thing BlizzCon stands out most as is an information overload beast. There are a host of games - each as in-depth as the last; announcements galore, equally in-depth panel and Q&A sessions, interviews, hands-on opportunities and lots and lots of costumes. So many costumes.

AusGamers was on the ground, as you probably know, but we're not always free to write stuff in absolution due to the body of work in front of us. Thankfully this year, our very own Khel, a name you should all know as a senior member of our community, took the time out to inject his WoW knowledge in a write-up outlining the major changes and additions coming to Mists of Pandaria, and was gracious enough to let us feature it for him as a main-site preview.

I also hope you like at least one of the screens I added to his piece, which you can check out right here.

AusGamers is currently walking the massive halls of BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, where the publisher-developer finally revealed the next expansion for World of Warcraft, Mists of Pandaria.

We're about to catch the panel for the game live, so check back shortly for a more detailed run-down of what to expect, but primarily at the moment, what we know is that an all-new realm is being introduced long with a new race, the Pandaren. There's also a new Monk class, a new level cap of 90, a new Dungeon Challenge Mode and Pet Battle Mode.

Click here for a look at new screens and official details ahead of our BlizzCon preview.