Mists of Pandaria Opening Cinematic At Gamescom 2012

Written by: Mike Schaffnit (@MikeSchaffnit) | June 29, 2012 4:30 pm

52 Comments

We’ve all heard our friends say “We will be close to the release of Mists of Pandaria when we see an opening cinematic.” Well the time has come!

As we prepare ourselves for the largest game convention on Earth, Blizzard entertainment is excited to announce they will be in attendance.

While there, visitors will be treated with the world premiere of the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic at the Blizzard booth on Thursday, August 16th! Blizzard will also be showcasing Mists of Pandaria itself, as well as Diablo III, and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. To visit the booth, be sure to head over to Halle 6.1 (B21) at the Koelnmesse in Cologne.

So what is in store for us in this upcoming cinematic? Obviously we are going to see a pretty epic reveal as a panda’s shadow walks out from the mists.

Blizzard has always treated us well with these openings so hopefully we get something fitting for a new intro for Legendary!

Mists of Pandaria Opening Cinematic At Gamescom 2012

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http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

MOP – just pandas. Been in beta – seen it…. not worth it.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Dular is team Mogu. I do wish the Horde could align with the Mogu instead of the pandas. But, I’m really going to enjoy killing Alliance Pandas in World PVP, Battlegrounds and Arenas.
  - http://twitter.com/QuietNine Quiet
    
    id be surprised if there are any pvp’ers left at all in wow by MOP. wow hasnt had solid pvp since vanilla, between resilience and huge gear gaps keeping pvp inaccessible and zero legit open world (open world, even on pvp servers, has disappeared as servers polarize to one faction dominating the other and the opposing faction leaving), wow is still a great pve game, but most pvp’rs shouldve moved on to better games by now.
    - http://twitter.com/Critzkreig Cody Moody
      
      PvP, and class balance in general, is better than vanilla. LOL@you if you think rogues one-shotting you and Windfury crits are balanced, you’re crazy and out of touch.
- http://twitter.com/Critzkreig Cody Moody
  
  Just Pandas, Challenge Modes, Raids, Pet Battles, New Zones, New Class, Scenarios, New Talent System, New Faction Mechanics, Farmville. You know, like an expansion pack or something.
http://www.facebook.com/jason.jenkins.73 Jason Jenkins

what we’ll see is easy to tell, first nice misty field with some oriental style music playing then BAM panda jumps outta the mist and shouts “I bring pandamonium!!!” and starts fighting with another pandaran that has a horde tabard on while a vast battlefield opens up around them revealing a battle between the horde and alliance going on. then fade we see garrosh sitting on his throne in orgimmar then BAM again old god tenticals pop up outta the ground and kill all the korkon guard while garrosh just sits there smiling. fade to black, mop logo, then everyone in the audience starts screaming like little girls and begin throwing money at the stage like the trained monkeys we all are

5 bucks on the real money auction house says it’ll happen
- http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon
  
  Defenetly the little girls screams and money throwing – ye
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Sorry all the GW2 pre-purchasers have already sent their money to Anet. I was just pleased to see we have a release date and only have one more BWE.
- Kagitaar
  
  That wouldn’t be bad.
- http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
  
  In CGI that would look amazing, but how are people trained monkeys if they pay for something they love.
http://www.facebook.com/craig.gafoor Craig Gafoor

the WOW opening cinematic looks like Guild Wars 2 in GAME footage!! roll on Aug 28th the next generation of MMO gaming is almost here!
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  I hope not, the GW2 PVE in game footage looks terrible. You have melee players falling over dead after being hit by non-stop boss AOE attacks. You have events that are so buggy that players cannot complete the objectives even if Anet extends the game time by an hour.
  
  Only thing worth showing is the player actually rezing a fallen comrade in battle. You don’t get that type of carebear activity in WoW very often.
  
  Now if you want to show sPVP and WvW footage, that is a different story. Darkhaven WvW rocks, we dominated the map again during the stress test.
  
  You really are joking when you call it the next generation of MMO?
  - Brimstar
    
    You must be referring to that extension of a hour from the beta stress test. It was meant to be a stress test and no real completion of the game. So your basis off that already makes me question your reasoning. Regardless if this will be a next generation of MMO or not, Arenanet still holds a complete new landscape of new game philosophies/implementation. You have to give credit where its due and them trying something new and refreshing instead of making yet another Everquest/WoW clone.
    - http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
      
      Well if any game does dethrone WoW I hope its GW2, cause atleast the game is good and not trash like the other MMOs out there that failed after 2 months.
  - Old Ben
    
    The “end-of-beta” events are made by a couple of guys in their spare time, just for fun. While they might be used to test some concepts for “real” game events, they don’t undergo nearly as much testing or polishing.
    
    Oh, and in this last event players were _supposed_ to “drop dead” (to discover their “corrupted form” and new abilities).
- Old Ben
  
  WoW itself might have a prehistoric engine, and its gameplay and player base civility might be down in the gutter, but Blizzard has one of the most impressive CG animation teams on the planet. They completely wipe the floor with 95% of the industry, and could probably even teach the guys at ILM, Weta, etc., a trick or two.
  
  True, they can afford to spend a couple of years working on a 30-second movie, but they still pull off stuff that makes pro animators feel tired just from looking at it. I’m sure the MoP trailer will be no exception.
  - Damir Miric
    
    I really liked GW2 trailer. Did you see it. Very nice.
Joshua Valentin

free 30 day…triaaaaaaalllllllllll…
Sharuko

Love the timing by Blizzard. Blizzard marketing is so underrated, they really know how to crush their so-called competition.
- Spammerbam
  
  Yeah, Blizzard crushed Tera pretty badly. It didn’t even get a chance to step up.
  - Brosaxon
    
    Now that’s no really fair, Blizzard didn’t even lift a finger to crush Tera.
    
    Tera crashed all on its own, don’t take Tera’s accomlishments from it, they worked really hard to suck that bad.
    - http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
      
      The same happened to SWTOR & Rift they collapsed on there own and there now stuck with that small community.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson
  
  I agree. TERA and The Secret World will flop pretty hard.
- Damir Miric
  
  I think sharuko is reffering to GW2.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn
  
  Definitively agreed Sharuko, Both Tera and The Secret World failed pretty hard.
- http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
  
  Sharuko is right, Blizzard does know how to crush other MMOs without even touching them, We all know what game i’m talking about (It aint GW2), and there Marketing is great and it knows how to bring in that green.
  - Old Ben
    
    They even know how to crush their own MMOs. Very good at crushing, those lads.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      The only publisher that can bring WoW down is blizzard.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

I figure the opening cinematic will cover the destruction of Theramore and the Alliance counter attack where the horde is driven off in the Goblin Zeppelins. The Alliance Airships will pursue to the Goblin Zeppelins into massive storms at sea, which results in piercing the mists and crashing on the continent of Pandaria.

I do suspect the big reveal of the pandas at the end will bring unintended giggles.

Personally, I would have preferred the horde align with the Mogu, the ancient warrior emperors of Pandara. A much better fit that the pandas.
- Kagitaar
  
  Except, you know, the mogu are bent on world domination and think all other races exist only to be slaves.
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Could go with a faction of Mogu warriors and mages seeking a break from the old Emperors.
Krzysztof Kotarba

nothing will beat classic cinematic…
- Joseph Gabrielli
  
  more like the Warcraft3 cinematic’s …
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson
  
  Wrath of The Lich King has, hands down, the best cinematic.
  - http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
    
    Agreed, Wrath was amazing and Cataclysm was amazing too.
jgelling

Is this game footage supposed to look new or modern or exciting? I see panda and a dated graphics engine.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Well it is an old game engine they are pushing way past its max.
http://www.MasterRenny.com/ Thomas Renshaw

The reason way theyre holding back on releasing this cinematic is because they have nothing to show at gamescon

I wouldnt say i look forwards to them, but they do always make a fricking good job of em, other then Cata….honestly Cata is so crap -.-
- http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
  
  I thought the cinematic was the best part of Cataclysm
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Leveling from 1 to 60 was the best part of Cataclysm. Leveling from 60-80 was a kick in the head. Leveling from 80 to 85 was okay, just a little fast. It was just sad dungeons and raids were so all over the place.
  - jayremy
    
    Well considering how bad it was sure…
    
    Thing is Blizzard has done very epic cinematics, ever since their early RTS days despite crappy graphical capabilities of then. They were phenomenal with Warcraft 3 and Frozen Throne, very good with SC2 and WoW had at least 3-4 comparable to to those games. Honestly though, WoW cinematics are extremely few and far between, especially for how much money that game makes (they can afford much more). On top of the rest being just “good” not all since have felt quite 100% old Blizzard.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BQQ2X5UH45CFFB47VL2SAVIDVI Johnathon

Honestly, I don’t a huge focus on paning the camera across a Pandarian landscape in the cinematic.

What I personally see, is Wrathion doing the heavy lifting. Fades in to a short pan into the inn where he is found, and Wrathion is welcoming you, offers you a seat and a drink. Then, offers to tell you a story. Talking a little about the past, then jerking into the present. The Alliance and Horde’s conflict comming onto Pandaria, inciting the rise of the Sha, how it will only get worse until it gets better. Then ending with a forboding fade of “All this, the War, the Sha…everything, pales to what comes next…”
- Kagitaar
  
  That sounds great too.
http://www.facebook.com/oneniisama Bear Powell

I expect the Mists of Pandaria cinematic to start out with Jack Black doing a film noir narrative about ancient martial arts and pandas, then he’ll get killed by Garrosh who is raging from a fit of boredom. After Casualclysm I have no expectations of anything good from WoW. The MoP beta has been incredibly uninspiring, but at least my sub runs out in November so I can simply not care then and put both WoW and Diablo 3 on the shelf. August 25th is the day I tell Blizzard to piss off anyways.
http://www.facebook.com/toph1980 Christopher Fischer

Close to GW2 release date. All I’m saying…
- http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
  
  But Gamescon is always in August and Blizzard has been there the last 2 years, Honestly i don’t see how this is connected to GW2 at all.
http://twitter.com/SilverTaurusPL SilverTaurus

Hope for some darker tones showing of Sha
http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

I like GW2, but the in-game graphics didn’t look that amazing, they looked good, just I don’t like how companies are looking at Graphics > Gameplay. It should be Gameplay > Graphics. I think craig is exaggerating alittle to much there as WoW CGI cinematic are absolutly amazing just like Warhammer Online and its cinematic
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hamad-Ali-Al-Jalahma/512893526 Hamad Ali Al-Jalahma

Hope the cinematic focuses on the “War” much like Classic’s Cinematic.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Lets hope so, I’m concerned that Blizzard will focus on look, Pandaria is so pretty and it has pandas and not the massive amount of dead Horde and Alliance players in the PVP questing hubs.
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

Wait you said that like it’s easy to get into MoP beta. Is it now?
Thomas Donald

IT’S THE GREAT PANDA CHARLIE BROWN

Mists of Pandaria Opening Cinematic At Gamescom 2012

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