You've read our in-depth analysis of Mists of Pandaria, but how does the new monk class actually play? Contributor Billy Berghammer has the full report.

Want an extended look at Mists of Pandaria's other new features? Click here to check out the complete breakdown by World of Warcraft superfan Julian Rignall.

Perhaps not the biggest surprise of BlizzCon, was the announcement of the new expansion to World of Warcraft. Currently the Pandaren can play as a mage, shaman, priest, rogue, hunter, warrior, or the new monk class, so I opted to give the new class a go. Since my main character that I currently play as is a mage, this experience was quite different. The Pandarens open section doesn't take place on Pandaria, but just off the coast on the back of giant sea turtle, and I got to play through its entirety.

First and foremost, one of the new differences to the Monk class is the fact that there's no auto attack. This offensive class will keep players constantly hitting attacks after locking on to an adversary. In the starting zone, my Monk began with a simple jab and tiger palm attack, but as I leveled up, new attacks such as a blackout kick, tiger palm, and eventually a spinning crane kick (think Chun Li) were moves added to my arsenal.

Beer stealing? I can definitely get behind that. These are the types of quests I really hope Blizzard leans on instead of the kill 4 of these, gather 5 of these types of quests – because I did plenty of those fetch quests too."
Moves are powered by chi, and to gain chi you need to use an opening attack such as a jab to build up both light and dark force. Once the meters are powered up, you can then pull of more advanced moves. In essence it makes switching up attacks in these encounters feel more like combos in fights, where you jab, then tiger palm, then jab again, and finish with a blackout kick or something else.

Monks do have a new dive roll that can be used to either evade attacks or travel a little quicker on foot. Considering the fact that the Monk is such an offensive based class, diving into an enemy, spinning around, targeting and then letting off a flurry of attacks was quite satisfying, even though the early enemies I encountered were fairly low-level. Needless to say I dive rolled enough to earn the Panda Express achievement (roll 100 times at BlizzCon). It's fun, what can I say?

Since I really enjoyed more of the action type quests introduced in Lich King and Cataclysm, I was hoping to see more in this starting zone. Since this is such a different type of class, the first few levels were based on training and learning the ways of the Monk. And while there were action quests in the opening section, it needed more. One early action quest example had my Monk climb on top of posts that were in a lake, ring a bell, and then later leap from post to post and kick and knock off other monks as one of the training exercises. There was also a quest to stop enemies from stealing beer.

Beer stealing? I can definitely get behind that. These are the types of quests I really hope Blizzard leans on instead of the kill 4 of these, gather 5 of these types of quests – because I did plenty of those fetch quests too.

Although the trailer shows a fairly cute Pandaren doing martial arts, don't think that Blizzard has dipped into the world of Kung-Fu Panda too much. While this area wasn't quite as dark as some of the areas visited in the last few expansions, I really enjoyed the Asian influences I saw. From bamboo tree, ponds, and farms, to temples, shrines, and beautiful tapestries, it oozes in an interesting combination of cultures that I found intriguing. It's a refreshing change of pace from Knights, Orcs, Dwarves and Elves.

This whole opening zone took me about 2 hours to complete, which saw my monk reach level 10 quickly. Obviously, this was a BlizzCon demo and that time length could grow a bit, but I don't see it growing exponentially. A bit after hitting level 10 and finishing the quests on the turtle, you choose which faction you want to join. Since I was quite in love with this new world and enjoyed my time in the starting zone, I was ready to jet off to Pandaria and continue in this excellent new land. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do some grinding first, because Pandaria is reserved for level 85-90 questing and raiding.

The Pandaren is a fun new race, and I'm enamored with the new world, but I'm not sure if it will be enough for me to start yet another alt. The road from 1-85 is a long one, but it's going to be interesting to see what Blizzard adds to the mix in the coming months to get new players and old to do it all again.

Source: Daily News from GamePro.com

date Monday, October 24, 2011

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