Mists of Pandaria to cover Azeroth or what is next WoW expansion.

Hey, gamer readers. Day of gossips today. You know, many popular games and their sequels are surrounded in rumors. They also take a couple of years for development and plot division. That's why trademarks are registered long before release. This week Blizzard, creator of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series, registered a trademark under "software" status. What should we expect?



"Mists of Pandaria" is to be a computer game, played via Internet. Release date unknown. Check image for legal info.

Now time for rumors. So what is "Mists of Pandaria"? It, definitely, has nothing to do with any series but Warcraft. Pandaria and its people appeared in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. You can play special class - Brewmaster - in bonus campaign. This cute drunk panda is a tough caster and strong support for young Horde government. BTW, fat Kung-Fu Panda appeared long after Pandareans and there is Brewmaster model in WotLK.

So what to expect? Warcraft series seam to be shut in favor of much more profitable World of Warcraft. WoW is updated with new add-ons every 2 years. Cataclysm trademark was registered in summer 2009. Understood? There gonna be new expansion in 2013 and its name is "Mists of Pandaria"!

What else to expect in simple question-answer form:

• New playable races? - Most likely, no. They already introduced 4 new races, 2 of which came in even numbered expansions  not odd. Universe of Warcraft also is running out of content, that includes races with long and spectacular history. 
• New classes? -  Probably new hero class. Doubtfully new normal class. Why so? For normal peasants and citizens don't do anything more than already introduced. 
• What hero class to expect? -  Brewmaster is doubtful cuz his abilities are too tough and limited in number. Quite possible is Necromancer. This class is well developed in Diablo II and suits WoW's plot nicely. Other possible classes are blademaster (similar to orc hero in Warcraft III), "ninja" (since Asian thematics are being introduced), demonhunter or witcher.
• What new professions to expect? - Most likely brewing will be added as main profession and be kind of symbiosis of  alchemy and goblin engineering. Using either alchemy and drops as resource profession or some special new gathering proff. 
• Anything else new to wait for? - Definitely - client for portable devices. In two years tablets and smartphones should develop to ability of running games such as WoW, networks will get better too (all this LTE and WiMax stuff)  so, I'm sure, fully or almost fully featured client for tablets will see the world. Retail WoW already has iPhone app for chat and auctioning, that's a sign of possible development in direction of WoWing on the go.

Pandaria, according to look-and-feel of Warcraft III hero, is Asian themed. I don't expect it be devoted to one culture exclusively. Most likely zone will look as south-eastern China - with high mountains and cliffs covered in bamboo+pine tree forests. Characters and architecture yet might represent bits of all countries: Japanese paper homes, south-eastern temples, Mongolean equipment, Korean instant noodles as in picture, etc.
Location of Pandaria is hard to think of. Azeroth is almost fully explored in Cataclysm, still some zones are left empty. Kalimdor and seas are filled but there are a couple empty spaces in Eastern Kingdoms. Very small though but they might be expanded into seas or in depth (made multileveled). Click image on the left for bigger version to check out. What do you think of a city appearing from nowhere just between Stormwind and Dun Morogh?
Other possibility is new planet added to World of Warcraft. Blizzard needs to add some really nice and innovative content to keep existing and lure new players. Whole new planet, filled with possibly new gameplay is very likely strategy. Getting there might happen through one of portals, scattered around Azeroth. One might not lead to Emerald Dream. Or spaceships might become new fanciest technology. Don't let Draenei drive though.
Most likely, though Pandaria will be a new continent at South pole, just like Northerend takes northern spot.
UPDATE:
Most likely Pandaria will be on a separate continent.Questionable is where: in South or Blizzard will dare to explore Forbidden Sea? Latter is quite logical. Sea is huge and none of Ally/Horde ever gone there so Pandarean civilization could bloom in a hideaway.

This is it for now. Can't find any additional info or think of other possibilities yet. Please leave your comment or post at FB page with your expectations and rumors you might have heard of.