Blizzard sends new wave of 250,000 Mists of Pandaria beta invites

Beta for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the newest expansion for the long-running MMORPG, is about to grow by another 250,000 testers.  Blizzard announced today that they have sent out another wave of beta invitations as they expand the beta to include Annual Pass members, press, fansites, and friends and family.

"A few moments ago, we initialized a new wave of 250,000 invitations to the Mists of Pandaria beta test. These are all invitations for World of Warcraft Annual Pass subscribers, and it should be a few hours before the e-mail notifications for all recipients have been sent," Blizzard said.

As always, be cautious of fake beta invite emails from hackers.  The best way to check if you have received an invite is to check your games list in Battle.net Account Services.

Blizzard began open testing of Mists of Pandaria last month.  This latest wave of invitations should bring the beta's population up to around 850,000 testers.  Once all Annual Pass players have access, Blizzard will start inviting other subscribers.  The Annual Pass is a year-long commitment to World of Warcraft; signing up also grants you an in-game mount as well as a free digital copy of Diablo III.  Fans have until May 1st to sign up for the Pass.

Mists of Pandaria doesn't yet have a release date.  It will introduce a new playable Pandaren race for both factions as well as a Monk class.