Oh how i wish expansions where per battle.net account, not per wow account...

[Khatovar]

I've got this from the press tour

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ria-Press-Tour

The Pre Mists of Pandaria Patch will be roughly two weeks before launch and bring simple rewards. It might involve a scenario with Theramore and the Alliance vs Horde theme. Chen Stormstout might also come to the local cities and get players excited about what is coming.

But, that's pretty old and there's a who lot of wiggle-room in that quote with the "might's" and "roughly". They're probably only talking about the pre-launch event. The content patch with the new talent systems and such usually comes a few weeks prior to the event.

Running with the info MiRai posted -


The Burning Crusade Content Patch 2.0.1 - 5 December 2006 // Retail - 16 January 2007 (~5 Weeks) - World Event Patch 2.0.3 - January 9, 2007 = 5 weeks after Content Patch/1 week prior to Retail

Wrath of the Lich King Content Patch 3.0.2 - 14 October 2008 // Retail - 13 November 2008 (~4 Weeks) - No Patch, event triggered Midnight, October 23, 2008 = 1 week and 2 days after the Content Patch/3 weeks prior to Retail.


Cataclysm Content Patch 4.0.1 - 12 October 2010 // Retail - 7 December 2010 (~7 Weeks) - Again, no specific patch, event triggered in stages, starting with Phase 1 {discounting the earthquakes} on November 1st, 2010. = 2 weeks and 6 days after Content Patch/5 weeks and 1 day prior to retail.