AsWorld of Warcraft Classichas slowly been making its way through the expansions, many players have been interested in seeing what could happen to one of the most beloved of expansions,Mists of Pandaria. That wait is over, withWoW: Mists of Pandaria Classicreleasing today. As the Alliance and Horde crash onto a mysterious new continent in Azeroth, players get to experience the new Monk class and playable Pandaren race while exploring this new world. Of course, allWoW Classicexpansions get updated with #SomeChanges, and Pandaria is no different.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Classiclauncheson July 07, 2025, as part of theWoW Classicexperience, which means anyone with an activeWorld of Warcraftsubscription can jump in and experienceMoPClassic. Prior to this launch,ScreenRanthad the opportunity to chat with Senior Software Engineer Claire Cullen and Associate Production Director Clayton Stoneabout what went into recreating the magic ofMists of Pandaria.
Bringing Fan-Favorite Pandaria To Classic Was A Lot Of Work
Like many players,World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandariahas been my personal favorite inWoWhistory, and it sounds as though several of the people on the dev team felt the same level of excitement while thinking of bringing it to theClassicexperience. As Claire said, “Everyone was so excited about it, so bringing it in was something that was really fun.” Of course, that doesn’t mean working on this project came easily, withthe team facing several unexpected challenges during the process.
Claire added, “One of the big things that we did was the Veil of Eternal Blossoms. At the last patch of theoriginal launch ofMists of Pandaria, the entire zone gets corrupted and kind of destroyed.We really wanted to preserve exactly how it was right in that first patch. So, surprisingly, there was actually a lot of engineering work that had to go into getting it back in that kind of pristine condition.”
Clayton explained that, “every time we develop one of theseClassicexpansions, we typically start from that final patch, as Claire mentioned, and kind of work our way backwards to put everything in the right state that it’s supposed to be. But the complexity of each of these expansions has increased exponentially since we started and released the 2019 version.
So much so, that to account for all the amazing systems and class changes and, of course, all the content, like the raids and the dungeons and the zones, looking back at the original launch and not at the end of the expansion or the way that that content currently looks in modern was a substantial undertaking for us, and easily the biggest challenge put before our team so far. But in my opinion,we did it gracefully and even better than I could have imagined, and I’m so excited for that to be delivered to players.”
The zones weren’t the only things that needed to be tweaked, with a few changes also happening for classes.
Classes Have Been Balanced A Bit, But PvP Still Should Feel Excellent
PvP Structure Is Changed Slightly, But Not Too Much
All the classes have received the new, revamped talent system and UI, including some class tuning and balancingthat the team has been working on. To do this, they looked at how the balancing was originally done and tried to make things feel right for howMists of Pandariawas originally, but still allowing for some tweaks to make things even better. It’s a fine balance for the team to keep things feeling authentic while also adding little improvements for the quality-of-life.
We have been much more hands-on with getting the classes inMists of PandariaClassicjust right from the start. - Clayton Stone
I asked how the team handles balancing changes against keeping things authentic to the original experience, and it turns out that inMists of Pandariathere were even more unexpected surprises that they faced. Clayton said, “We have been much more hands-on with getting the classes inMists of PandariaClassicjust right from the start… and that was done hand in hand with the community.”
He later explained, “All the class changes that we’re making were found around that time period when the game was out, and how we saw those classes progress through to the end.
Although, I will note that the way that the original team developed the classes actually left them in a state, in the 5.4.8 patch, just beforeWarlords of Draenorcame out where they knew that theWarlords of Draenorpatch was coming so soon, thatthey actually left some of the class work unfinished and didn’t finish it until the very start ofWarlords of Draenor, because it was such a short amount of time.
But that meant that if we used that 5.4 patch and the class balance and the class design associated with it, we would have had the classes in basically that state where we didn’t want to launch with them in. So, there are actually changes made to the classes that didn’t come until the very beginning ofWarlords of Draenor, which I think is also the only time that we’ve done that.”
Meanwhile, PvP has been said to have been at its best state duringMists of Pandaria, so changing much of that system could cause some frustrations in theWoWcommunity. Clayton said, “players look back so fondly on the PvP in the originalMists of Pandariaand the class balance that’s associated with it. That was one area where we wanted to stay very much hands-off.The player base knows what to expect, and they view it as being almost perfect, if not perfect, and that’s one area we didn’t want to mess with.”
One of the only changes that were made to PvP included bringing back gladiator and rank one titles to 2v2s and 5v5s. Previously, these rewards were only in 3v3s. Additionally, PvE items have been capped for the way they will operate in PvP instances so that PvP players won’t feel that they are being forced to hunt down PvE items.
Celestial Dungeons Are A New Type Of Dungeon Content
Loot Will Be Looking For Raid Gear
Celestial dungeons are a new type of dungeon coming toMists of Pandaria Classic. Claire describes them this way, “Pandariais actually going to get something new that we’re calling Celestial Dungeons, which are very cool. They are much in the same vein as what the community calls our Heroic Plus kind of dungeons, and you’ll be able to get a blessing from the celestials and get certain abilities that you wouldn’t normally have. And a really cool piece of it is thatyou’ll actually be able to practice some raid boss mechanics with the actual raid boss in these dungeons.”
It kind of fills the gap and creates a natural progression path for players to get into that content. - Clayton Stone
Speaking of the loot in these dungeons, Clayton explained, “The gear that will be coming from Celestial Dungeons is the ‘looking for raid’ gear. That’s what the item level is set at.” Later adding, “That LFR gear provides a stepping stone in addition to the mechanics that players are encountering to want to then try to join up with a guild or a group and attempt some of the raid content, if not at a heroic level, then certainly at a normal level. It kind of fills the gap and creates a natural progression path for players to get into that content.”
New Mounts May Include “Some Surprises”
Rumors Of Unused Content Are True, And We Get To See It
Rumors have been circulating on the internet that theWoW Classicdev teams had uncovered some mounts that weren’t put out with the firstMists of Pandaria. Though they wouldn’t provide any specifics, choosing instead to leave it as a surprise for the players, Clayton did confirm that “this was a unique situation wherewe did find some unused content, and we were able to potentially bring it to light in a new way and make it available for players.” So, curious players will have to see for themselves what theseWoWmountscould be.
Leveling Alts Will Be Much Easier, And Farming And Cooking Remains
But The Overall Expansion Is Still True To The Original
Finally, another of the big #SomeChangescoming toWoW Mists of Pandaria Classicis the new system of alt progression. Players, like me, who enjoy trying out different classes and have several alt characters will enjoyhaving an easier experience in leveling.
Claire said, “We want to make sure that no matter what point you come in at the game, you don’t feel like you’re behind. So, some of the things that we’re doing is that once your main reaches max level, level 90, you’ll unlock flying for that character and for every other character on your account. We’re also going to be doing commendations for reputation so that reputation is a little bit easier, exactly twice as much easier, after the first time you do it. And then also we’re going to have rolling caps for valor and conquest.”
Even thePandariaexperience of farming and cooking is still there, adding what Claire calls a “richness and depth to just running around the world.” Overall,Mists of Pandariahas always been a favorite expansion for manyWorld of Warcraftplayers, and although the experience of bringing this fresh experience toWoW Classicwas a challenge for devs, it could prove to be even better than originally seen.
