Author: Pete Haas



World of Warcraft players, check your inbox or Battle.net account. Blizzard says that they're sending out an additional 100,000 invites to the Mists of Pandaria beta today.

This latest wave of beta keys was sent exclusively to Annual Pass members. The Annual Pass is a twelve-month commitment to WoW that guarantees you access to the Pandaria beta. It also entitles you to a free copy of D3. You have until May 1st to sign up for the Pass.

"We appreciate that everyone who signed up for the Annual Pass is genuinely excited about seeing the new content and helping us test it for release," said Blizzard. We definitely want to get all Annual Pass holders into the beta test as soon as humanly (and technologically) possible."

The beta started last week. Some Annual Pass holders were unhappy that they didn't get in right away. However, Blizzard says that staggered invites were necessary in order to make the beta servers run smoothly.

"To do so, we need to make sure that our new systems remain stable as we add players. If we let everyone in at the exact same time, we risk damaging the stability of the service, and then no one would be able to play. We can’t let everyone in at the same time; however, all Annual Pass holders will be invited before any opt-ins."

Mists of Pandaria, the fourth expansion for WoW, will raise the level cap to 90 and introduce a new continent for players to explore. It also adds a new Pandaren race and Monk class available to both factions. Blizzard expects to release the expansion later this year.