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Review: World of Warcraft—Patch expands Pandaria game


World of Warcraft features Pandaren panda bears.
Photo Provided by Blizzard
World of Warcraft features Pandaren panda bears.

The Isle of Thunder in Pandaria  is beckoning players to challenge the Thunder King in patch 5.2.

Patch 5.2, called the Thunder King, unlocks new content for the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Players will have access to a new raid dungeon (Throne of Thunder), new world bosses and a new zone: the Isle of Thunder.

The Mists of Pandaria expansion, which the Thunder King patch 5.2 will support, was itself released September of 2012, so players have had five months to explore its content. This expansion, like all previous expansions for World of Warcraft, provided players with new quests, dungeons, equipment and a higher level cap.

The Mists of Pandaria expansion features a race of panda bears called Pandaren.  Most Pandaren live on the continent of Pandaria surrounded by beautiful scenery and a rich history that unfolds to players as they explore.

The expansion also unlocked the Monk class. Monks are bare fisted martial artists who perform the roles of tanks, damage dealers and healers.

Besides the regular additions expected in these expansions, the Mists of Pandaria also introduced a system change to how World of Warcraft players distribute talent points to their characters.

The new talent point system has been streamlined so players make better talent choices.

Before Mists of Pandaria, if players distributed their points poorly to their characters while choosing characters’ talents, battle performance was affected.

Players now get a reduced number of points, from over 30 down to six, and only one list of talents. The talents players were required to take for their talent builds are instead added as skills and are learned when the player reaches an appropriate level.

Mists of Pandaria also changed World of Warcraft’s vanity pets. They used to only follow the player around and look pretty; now they’ve got an upgrade and fight in pet vs. pet combat.

World of Warcraft players can now battle wild pets and other players’ pets in turn-by-turn mini battles. Pets earn experience from their pet battles and level up. Wild pets can also now be captured during a pet battle if certain conditions are met. Pet battles do not enhance player versus player or player versus environment and are more of a mini game that players can enjoy while waiting for dungeons or raids.

The Mists of Pandaria expansion can be purchased at most retail stores that sell video games. The expansion is also available online at Blizzard’s official website. The patch, when ready, will be installed by World of Warcraft’s patcher automatically.