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New WoW Expansion “Mists of Pandaria?”

It’s no surprise that Blizzard is coming out with another WoW expansion. They’ve shot for a new expansion about every 18 months, but this game-plan might have changed after Cataclysm.

The third expansion may have added more content to the game, and may have sold a lot of copies, but Cataclysm didn’t really expand the already massive subscription base for WoW. The folks at Blizzard took kind notice to this, so expect a more frequent release schedule on expansions, but with less content.

With that said, something interesting was spotted by MMO-Champion, a site that’s always been on the cusp of breaking WoW information. A patent form was discovered by the site detailing the name “Mists of Pandora.”

What infers that this is indeed the next expansion, and not a tabletop game or TV series, is that the patent is filed for “computer game software.”

So if we are indeed getting an expansion called “Mists of Pandaria,” what does that entail? The Pandaren, taken from the root of their name, are, well, panda-like humanoids. They have been an elusive race within WoW’s lore, and it comes as quite the surprise that they would be the focus of WoW’s next expansion.

Reading up on their place within WoW’s lore makes it even more intriguing as to why they would be the center of the new expansion. Usual WoW is known for having some big jerk-face who wants to raise hell on the cover of their new expansions. It’s all about who can be worthy enough to conquer The Lich King, or Illidan Stormrage, but the Pandaren are a very peaceful race. They have a great love for nature, and their philosophy believes in the harmony that exists between opposites.

Now this is a document that hasn’t been confirmed as completely official, nor does this hypothetical patent ensure that the next expansion will bare this title, but it’s all just too obscure to not hypothesize.

I’ll let you know when more information surfaces.