Next month, lucky members of the press will get a sneak peek at Mists of Pandaria. The upcoming WoW expansion pack is set to bring a glut of new raids, bosses, armor sets, quests, trinkets and enough WoW gold to sate even the most ardent adventurer’s hunger.

According to Blizzard:

“Since the announcement of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria at BlizzCon 2011, we’ve been hard at work on all of the new game features, environments, dungeons, and other content that awaits adventurers. Today, we’re inviting members of the press worldwide to get an updated sneak peek and some hands-on time with the latest version of World of Warcraft’s fourth expansion at an event taking place March 13 – 15.”

For three days those lucky press peepz will get to test out, drool over and get their greasy gamer hands all over Pandaria. I’d trade my left arm (ok, maybe just a pinkie) and a sack-full of cheap WoW gold to get in on that action!

Sidenote: Am I the only one who thinks the names are kinda hokey? The new continent, Pandaria is home to a new playable race, the Pandarens, which are, gosh, pandas! It’s like Harry’s school being called “Wizardia” instead of Hogwarts; it’s obvious and dare I say it, kind of lazy and unimaginative. Having said all that, I wish I wish I wish I were invited to that press event. (No really, that sack of cheap WoW gold is yours, Blizz, for an invite!

In other WoW news, Patch 4.3.2 is now live on all realms, with some pleasantly unexpected fixes. An unintended consequence of Patch 4.3 prevented druids leaving flight form from performing their trademark graceful arcs over mountainsides. Instead, they dropped straight down as soon as they left flight form, hitting the earth like a ton of WoW gold falling from the sky. But now patch 4.3.2 has corrected that and druids can go back to enjoying the aerodynamics of Newtonian physics. All’s well that ends well.

More news soon. In the meantime, keep your friends close and your WoW gold closer.

In sci-fi and fantasies that are geared towards a wide audience, pandering to the lowest common denominator in terms of cuteness often backfires (*cough* Jar Jar Binks *cough*). So hats off to Blizzard for dodging that fate (and the ire of fans) by summarily expunging the too-cute companion pets from Diablo III:

In both cases [Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging] these are features we felt were underdeveloped and just not quite good enough for the game in their current state. The companion pets felt like they were mandatory to maximize play efficiency and some of the pets were too cutesy for the gritty, dark world of Sanctuary. Neither of those are issues we felt like we could solve without a lot of additional work, and we’re trying to close in on a solid release date for the game, not move further away. When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release.

We think we can make companion pets into a much cooler system (both mechanically and visually), and evolve the reforging scrolls into a more meaningful system at some point in the future. For the time being, they will not be in the initial release of the game.

While we’re on the topic of excessive cuteness, check out these adorable critters from World of WarCrafts (Hey, I can appreciate cuteness, just not in such proximity to my toons!). World of WarCrafts is a hub for the more artistically minded WoW players to display their talents. They are currently accepting submissions for all WoW-related arts and crafts, including fan art, food, music, fan fiction.

Druid kitties by a WoW player with even more extra time than your average WoW player

In less cute news, the bastion of pure loony goodness that is the Family Research Council has decided to wage open war on BioWare for allowing gay relationships in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Needless to say, we are opposed to such intolerance and stand with BioWare for equality, acceptance and awesome gaming fun.

Speaking of gaming fun,improve your crew skills and level up with cheap SWTOR credits!

This year’s first World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch is now available! … for the Public Test Realms.  Yes, although it’s been on the PTR since January 3, it won’t go live until… well, we’re not sure, soon, we hope. Here’s the latest.

While 4.3.2  is not a content patch, it will enable the much-vaunted cross realms raids. There’s a caveat, though:

Please note, you will not yet be able to run normal or Heroic Dragon Soul with cross-real Read ID raids.

The patch will also contain updates for some features and fix some bugs. AND it adds the new 64-bit client (about time, too)! Also worth noting: Vengeance is no longer triggered by receiving damage from other players.

And oh yeah: players can no longer receive two of same item at same time when winning loot from Raid Finder boss

While we wait for this patch to make it out of the test realms, here’s some other news of note:

No BlizzCon 2012

For the remaining two of you who haven’t heard, there will be no Blizzcon this year. To say it’s a major bummer would be a major understatement. Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth:

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We’re also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

Ascended Weddings in RIFT

Congratulations and best wishes to the nuptial-minded Ascended! RIFT weddings will now be official.  To celebrate, they’ll attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most virtual weddings in 24-hour period.

Imagine the wedding invites: “In lieu of wedding gifts, we would greatly appreciate RIFT platinum to start our life of wedded bliss.” Maybe married life ain’t so bad.

SWTOR Designer Speaks on Faction Imbalance, etc.

And finally, here’s an interview with SWTOR lead designer Gabe Amantangelo in which he talks about what BioWare is doing regarding faction imbalance, and other good stuff.

With the launch of Patch 4.3, World of Warcraft players got a hold of a Raid Finder feature but it will screen out players who do not meet a minimum item level 372.

This means that level 85 toons will most likely have to run the new endgame 5-mans to gear up and earn WoW Gold to push their gear power to the required minimum.

“Raid Finder is below normal and Heroic modes in terms of rewards and difficulty, but the new tier of five-player dungeons should still be stepping stones into the raid,” said Blizzard community manager Zarhym in response to concerns that the item level 372 is “a little excessive” as an entry barrier.

Zarhym also shot down the notion that it will hard for casual players to gear up for the Raid Finder version of Dragon Soul, the only one available content for the said feature as of Patch 4.3.

“It shouldn’t take the average player ‘hundreds of hours,’” he said.

For those who expect to reach the milestone item level soon and begin attempting Deathwing raids in this easier difficulty, you can start browsing through the Raid Finder Q&A to get familiar with the calibrated Need Before Greed loot system and the more lenient boss lockout rules.

The conclusion to the Deathwing saga begins tomorrow with the official launch of World of Warcraft Patch 4.3.

The regular Tuesday maintenance on November 29 will signal the release of the content-heavy update, said Blizzard community manager Bashiok in a confirmation blog post. He also has a few reminders when downloading the patch tomorrow:

• Realms will be unavailable from 3:00 a.m. PST until approximately 11:00 a.m. PST.
• If your launcher states “World of Warcraft is up to date. Downloading data for the next update” please allow the Background Downloader to continue downloading the 4.3 data.
• If your launcher only states “World of Warcraft is up to date” then you’ve already obtained the 4.3 pre-download data and will only need a small update before logging in.

Rumored to be the final major content update for the Cataclysm expansion, Patch 4.3 ushers in:

• New Darkmoon Faire Island
• Three endgame 5-mans
• Dragon soul raids
• Raid Finder
• Transmogrification
• Void Storage

These bucket list features should prove popular despite their WoW Gold cost.

Some fans predicted Blizzard to use Patch 4.3 as a buffer against Star Wars: the Old Republic, but it seems Blizzard blinked first and decided to steer clear of what is setting up to be the biggest MMO launch in recent memory. Our SWTOR Credits is on the success of the mega beta test over the weekend, which confirmed the immense popularity of the sci-fi game.

How about it, Tooners – will you be playing Patch 4.3 or are you holding out for SWTOR coming in a few weeks?

Almost a whole week of doing nothing but eating and playing your favorite MMOs – it’s no wonder Thanksgiving is one of gamers’ most favorite holidays.

But it gets doubly fun with the incredible deals, events and perks that crop up during this long, free play weekend. Here’s our yearly round-up that makes it slightly easier for you to decide where to spend your Thanksgiving in-game.

AION

Deals:

• Cuts the price on a game box to just $4.99. From November 23 to 28 at the Aion Store.

Events & Perks:

• Shugo Event showcase features Double XP on Weekends, Daru Days fur costumes and free gifts for logging in.

Buy Aion Kinah

EVERQUEST II

Deals:

• Loads of discounted Marketplace items “most of them at half-price or more.” Only on November 25 at the EQII Marketplace.

Events & Perks:

• Double XP Weekend for AA, tradeskill and adventure XP from November 24 to 27.

Buy EQII Plat

RIFT

Deals:

• Free game boxes for everyone, but no complimentary game time. The Ashes of History edition which comes with a Spindrel mount, personal banker and faction tabard is also down to $10. Available until further notice at RIFT trial upgrade page.

Events & Perks:

• Fae Yule world event as part of Patch 1.6
• 30% weekend bonuses, including XP, Favor, Prestige, dungeon currency and planarite.

Buy RIFT Platinum

RUNESCAPE

Deals:

• Purchase a 90-day RuneScape Membership card from Target ($22.50 in US) and GAME (£12.99 in UK) to receive a non-tradable turkey hat. Redemption must be from between November 18 to December 8.

Buy Runescape Gold

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Deals:

• World of Warcraft per se has no sale, but its sister franchise StarCraft II is slashing its box price by half to $30. Until November 28 at Blizzard Store.

Events & Perks:

• Pilgrim’s Bounty is in full swing, bringing free food, buffs and holiday quests to players. Runs from November 20 to 26.

Buy WoW Gold

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

Events & Perks:

• Mega beta test weekend is coming up from November 25 to 28 and will be the playtest equivalent of turkey stuffing, packed tight and irresistibly good!

Buy SWTOR Credits Soon

You will notice that a few of our favorite titles skipped the Thanksgiving bash, with many like FINAL FANTASY XI, FINAL FANTASY XIV and DC UNIVERSE ONLINE focusing on new patches and content instead.

In the end, it shouldn’t matter which MMO you end up spending the next week or two in. What should matter more is if you have fun and be with virtual friends you can be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, tooners!

Star Wars: the Old Republic pre-orders are building up like a Death Star that will annihilate all other records in the MMO galaxy.

Industry sales tracker VGChartz, in its latest weekly update, has so far tallied 865,669 pre-orders for the sci-fi MMO due out on December 20.

The game is now number 1 on the VGChartz pre-order chart, beating out big console titles like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

While VGChartz only tracks digital pre-orders in the Americas, we find the number to be extremely impressive. SWTOR pre-orders have already beaten those recorded by VGChartz for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which only reached around 500,000.

SWTOR is gaining roughly 60,000 pre-orders a week, and with six weeks to go before it launches worldwide, it’s all but assured to breach the 1 million mark on VGChartz. Add in the expected brisk sales on Origin.com and countless retail stores, then that 1 million number could easily balloon to multi-million box sales.

We keep rooting for SWTOR because we feel too many MMOs are either closing down or going the free-to-play route, which isn’t a bad thing, but also not a good thing.

Plus we are hearing quite positive things about SWTOR — from the class storyline quests to voice-acted SWTOR credits missions – which make it familiar like World of Warcraft, but better. Do you agree? Our Facebook and Twitter fan pages are always open for Jedi roundtable discussions.

The Guardian Cub, the first tradable pet and supposed harbinger of Blizzard-sanctioned gold selling, is available now for adoption at the Blizzard Store for $10 each.

We’ve already explained why the cute flier will be an ineffective mule for WoW Gold trading, but we have absolutely no qualms about its appeal as a collectible.

For one thing, the Guardian Cub counts towards the pet count achievements like Plethora of Pets and Lil’ Game Hunter. Plus it’s quite adorable! Be careful though of looking too coordinated when whipping it out while riding its related pay-to-own cousin, the Winged Guardian mount. (Available separately here for $25 each.)

Guardian Cub traders and owners should also keep these in mind:

• 24-hour BoP restriction. You’ll need to wait a day before the bind-on-pickup wears off, and you can put it up for auction.

• No refunds. You can’t sell it back to Blizzard if and when you can’t sell the pet for much WoW Gold, so check the AH prices first before getting one for trading purposes.

• One-time use. Once the pet is unboxed, it permanently binds to the character and cannot be traded anymore. Add this caveat when gifting the pet, so they know whether to keep it or encash it.

Do you plan to get a Guardian Cub? Will you buy one straight from the Blizzard Store? List it down on your Christmas wish list? Or will you wait for it to drop in price and snatch one at a bargain at the AH?

With all the talk of sailing to the mystical land of Pandaria, World of Warcraft fans have been wondering: Where exactly is this long-lost continent?

Blizzard put on their cartographer hats and pointed to the only cardinal direction with no big land mass yet: The South.

“Pandaria is located on the south side of Azeroth,” confirmed lead content designer Cory Stockton during the Mists of Pandaria live developer Q&A during BlizzCon 2011, the full transcript of which was posted over the weekend.

“Think the exact opposite of Northrend. Come to think of it, we should have named it Southrend.”

The Northrend continent was added to the game during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, to the north of the existing western Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, and became the leveling destination from 68 to 80.

In the same way, the Pandaria continent will draw in high-level players, hosting Horde and Alliance players eager to complete WoW Gold quests and hit the new cap of 90. Blizzard has also unveiled a working map of Pandaria, consisting of five major zones and smattering of Mists of Pandaria dungeons.

Look it over and tell us which one you’re most excited to explore. (Ours is the scenic-sounding Vale of Eternal Blossoms.)

Your death grip of a wait is over, Death Knight fans.

MMO-Champion dug up the Tier 13 armor set for our hero class, rounding out the raiding gear previews for World of Warcraft Patch 4.3.

Mind you, these Model Viewer grabs aren’t official official. Blizzard should be posting a definitive version soon, complete with a WoW Gold-worthy explanation on the set’s inspiration. (Like they did with the other nine classes here and here.)

But from these early grabs, the Death Knight Tier 13 armor seems inspired by exoskeleton and continues the devil horn trend seen in previous sets. The helm itself is underwhelming – maybe Blizzard will explain why it looks so cat-like – but the lack of facial ghastliness is made up for by ghoulish green accents on the shoulders, head, chest, belt and even knee caps.