Chen Stormstout is a Badass

The above video is the official opening cinematic that players will see when they first install and play World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.

If there's anything I immediately miss about WoW, it's the fully-rendered cinematics. The fine animators over at Blizzard are incredible with their work on these, and they never cease to amaze everyone under the sun and then some. I honestly wonder how much time is spent making just one of these cutscenes, let alone the six that are in Diablo 3. If you do some real digging, there are even cutscenes with this sort of quality from Blizzard games from ten or more years ago as well! How do they do it?

This cinematic does seem to focus more on the "Alliance vs. Horde" conflict, and the part that the Pandaren are playing in it in sort of a "big picture" kind of way. Some may choose sides, but overall, the two factions must learn to fight for their common purpose and understand why their petty war is pointless (at least to me it is).

I had quit World of Warcraft because of the boredom that rose within me from raiding and finding nothing new. With waning subscribers at the moment, this expansion might just be an important crossroads in the game's history, solely judging by the trailer and it's premise. While I do not plan on returning to World of Warcraft in the immediate future, things like this trailer will always fill me with a sense of nostalgia...and maybe, I admit, a single, tiny, unfortunate drop of regret.