World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment's enormously influential massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, released in 2012. It opens the previously hidden, mist-shrouded continent of Pandaria, a region inspired by East Asian aesthetics and home to the panda-like Pandaren race, who joined the game as a new playable people able to align with either the Alliance or the Horde. The expansion raised the level cap, introduced the Monk class, and added a wealth of new zones, dungeons, raids and systems, including the popular Pokemon-style 'Pet Battles' minigame, challenge modes and farmable 'Scenarios', alongside an account-wide reputation and a renewed focus on the simmering conflict between the Alliance and Horde that builds toward the fall of Warchief Garrosh Hellscream. Initially met with skepticism over its lighter, more whimsical theme, Mists of Pandaria came to be reappraised by many players and critics as one of the more polished and content-rich expansions, praised for its beautiful zones, strong questing, refined endgame and storytelling. POCG covered its launch. As part of the long-running juggernaut that dominated the MMORPG landscape for over a decade, it represents a creatively ambitious chapter in World of Warcraft's storied history.