BLIZZCON 2011: SWARMS OF DIABOLIC PANDAS

So BlizzCon just wrapped up its opening ceremonies.

Quick highlights because my battery is dying:
- World of WarCraft: Mists of Pandaria announced. Level cap to 90, PvE Scenarios, Pet Battle System, talent system revamp. New race Pandaren, new class Monk. Looks pretty amazing, to be honest.
- They showed an awesome hype trailer for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm with a bitchy Kerrigan and awesome looking new units for every race.
- The Blizz cinematic team continues its march deep into the Uncanny Valley with a goddamn CREEPILY-REALISTIC looking Diablo III cinematic. Seriously, THERE WERE WRINKLES ON THE CHARACTERS' EYEBROWS.
- Oh, and one more thing: anybody with a WoW account in good standing before today can sign up for an annual pass, billed monthly, to WoW, and in return get Diablo III, guaranteed access to the Mists beta, AND an exclusive in-game mount for WoW. WHAT THE EFF

Mists of Pandaria trailer:


Blizzard DOTA teaser:


Heart of the Swarm teaser:
Invalid YouTube URLhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SG_3R9BoVvg

Diablo III "Black Soulstone" cinematic (Note: blizzard "edited for content", i.e. shouldn't be too spoilery. WATCH THIS.)

In summary: TAKE ALL MY MONEY BLIZZARD HOLY FUCK

edit: by "good standing" blizzard apparently means "not banned", so you don't have to have an active subscription, you just have to have bought WoW and linked it to a battle.net account prior to today.

Watching the intro panel. The pet combat system is literally pokemon.

author=LockeZ
Wait, so I switch my WoW account from monthly to yearly billing and they give me Diablo 3 for free? Am I reading that right? Or does "annual pass" mean something else I have to pay for in addition to my WoW account?

Sort of. My reading of it is that you basically go into a contract that you will continue to play WoW for a year, no matter what your current subscription method. So i.e. if you want to annual pass and pay monthly, you can do so, or if you're using the 3-month or 6-month bulk options you can do that too. You just have to be on the hook for however many payments there are in a year.

Here's Blizzard's FAQ on the subject.

edit: additionally, the D3 is obviously a digital copy, not that that should be an issue.