Well, I got into the Beta on this last wave of a whopping 250k invites.
The only transferred character I've even logged onto is Jarsus, where I was mainly just looking to rearrange my bars a bit. This is probably a bug, but I can't find Guardian of Ancient Kings in my spellbook. Holy Wrath is still there, and Consecration is going back to a real rotational ability, rather than a "gather those adds now!" one. The weirdest thing to get used to so far (on a target dummy) is the 4.5 second cooldown on Crusader Strike/Hammer of the Righteous. When dps'ing, I'm not too worried about a second or two of inaction - you know it's designed that way, and as long as recount's high and you're still alive, you're doing fine. When tanking, though, every moment you aren't doing something, you're panicking that your dps is about to overtake you, or your healer's going to get squashed.
Getting power auras up will help a lot. Because Paladins now have two extra Holy Power to make sure procs and such go unwasted, and a lot of other abilities grant Holy Power, you're actually probably using finishers more - it's just that it's not all coming from CS.
The majority of my time spent in the Beta this evening was leveling two monks up to 10. I leveled a human first, and I've got to be honest, it was hell. But in retrospect, this was much more because a bunch of quests seem to be missing, and perhaps a lot of quest rewards, and I was using the starting handwrap fist weapons until level 9, wearing a bunch of cloth pieces. I went Windwalker (dps) with this one, but basically stopped at level 10.
Then I took a Pandaren through the starting zone, eventually making him a Brewmaster.
First thing: currently, and I'm almost certain this is a bug, you get Jab (which transforms into various other abilities depending on your weapons equipped) at level 1, Roll at level 2, and Tiger Palm as well as Blackout Kick at level 3. Then it's absolutely nothing until you pick your spec at level 10. While this is a decent host of abilities, it would be nice to get them a bit more staggered - perhaps getting Tiger Palm as your most basic Chi-spender, and then Blackout Kick once you get used to the system. Another ability there wouldn't be so bad, like a heal (those murlocs north of Eastvale are just as brutal as I remember them back in Vanilla.)
The Wandering Isle - the Pandaren starting zone - is pretty good. Obviously, it's inundated with players at the moment, though as you go through, it seems enough people give up that by the end you're only competing for kills with a few other people, rather than like a million. The zone is beautiful, and presumably a nice indication of what's to come with the new continent (haven't gone there yet.) Story-wise, though, I find it a bit on the bland side. It's not terrible, and there are some cool enemies you fight (I like the rabbit-like Vermen) but overall it's very much a "kill so many of these guys," "collect so many of these things off those guys," and "pick this stuff off the ground" kind of questing experience. Compared to the intensity of the Worgen starting area or the ridiculousness of the Goblin one, it leaves me a little indifferent. The only really significant thing it sets up is the way that the two competing philosophies and their representatives will divide these Pandaren between Alliance and Horde.
Again, it's not terrible, and there are some moments (such as a baloon-ride near the end) that are really breath-taking, but compared to Catalcysm's new races starting zones, this is a bit of a step back. Interestingly, my favorite piece of the whole Pandaren starting experience was the arrival in Stormwind (yeah, two alliance monks - but I figured I'd have an easier time getting my friend to group with me that way.) Slightly similar to the Death Knight entrance, but much friendlier, Pandaren walk through the city and encounter several citizens of the Alliance - with representatives of each race - who comment on these newcomers. I would assume, of course, that Horde Pandaren have a similar kind of procession.
Regarding Monks, really I think I need to level up a bit more before I can comment intelligently. After all, every class is supposed to be simple at level 12. I am a little concerned about the slow drip-drip of abilities in the early levels, though, and I know this is an issue Blizzard is working on.
Tomorrow I expect I'll be venturing into Pandaria itself, which should let me comment a bit more on stuff like Active Mitigation.
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