Blizzard trademarks “Mists of Pandaria”

MMO-Champion reported that Blizzard has trademarked “Mists of Pandaria” — homeland of the cunning Pandaren race of the WarCraft series.

For those unfamiliar with the Pandaren, they are a race of elite martial artists, famous for their unmatched battle prowess and their strong ale. And as the name implies, they are pandas.

The race was first seen in WarCraft III and was initially meant to be a joke, but fans responded so strongly to the kung-fu panda warriors that they were written in as canon.In the past, Blizzard had used the Pandaren as April Fool’s jokes for World of WarCraft. Additionally, the race was rumored to have been playable for the Burning Crusade expansion, but Blizzard opted for the Draenei instead.

With the Pandaren’s homeland now officially trademarked by Blizzard, could World of WarCraft finally see the panda-monium it’s been waiting years for?