Those who have an Annual Pass will be invited to join gradually

Mar 22, 2012 13:09 GMT  ·  By

Video game developer Blizzard has announced that it is close to launching the beta stage for Mists of Pandaria, the upcoming expansion for the World of Warcaft MMO, inviting all those who are interested in signing up to opt in via the official forum of the game.

Those World of Warcraft players who have bought an Annual Pass will be automatically invited to the open beta phase, but Blizzard says that not all invitations will go out at the same time and invites gamers to be patient and check Battle.net in order to see when they are included.

The beta phase for Mists of Pandaria means that Blizzard wants to see how the World of Warcraft community reacts to the new content and mechanics and a launch date could be soon announced.

The expansion will include a new race, the first neutral one, a new continent and a new monk class, alongside changes to a number of mechanics and older areas.