A theory as to the Pandaren expansion for WoW.

[Mr Thin]

...

Now I feel really stupid.

The idea is sound; I'm sure there are other races they could've based a new expansion on, but chose not to (I think? I'm not terribly familiar with WoW lore, mostly just WC3 lore). In any case, I'm sure they are hoping that the Chinese inspired design will prove popular in the Chinese market. It must have come up during discussions.

What I want to know is why this Pandaren expansion can't simply be just that; an expansion. It seems a strange place for WoW fans to draw the line and start calling bullshit.

I mean, cow-people, lizard-people, wolf-people, horse-people, bird-people, frog-people, etc.; these are all perfectly reasonable, but somehow panda-people is too far? Ridiculous.

 

[Amnestic]

People keep pointing to the Orc champaign as proof it was meant to be taken serious forgetting that you only get him to join you from of a bonus sidemission and he wouldn't be joining you the next chapter.

Patently incorrect. Chen Stormstout accompanies Rexxar from the first chapter up to the concluding battle on Theramore Isle at the end of the campaign. Fucking source'd [http://www.wowwiki.com/A_Blaze_of_Glory].

 

[MuroKhan]

There is no theory, there is only fan demand.

that is all

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

WoW has jumped the shark. That is all.

Yeah, they have run out of Gods for the players to slaughter so now they are petering out all the crap players have been bawling for since day one.

 

[Hamish Durie]

Edit: I have forgotten this race has appeared in Warcraft Lore before, and now I think I sound like pretentious dick

I apologize.

*takes deep breath to tell him with insuffrable smugness that pandarians have been out before king fu panda 1 and 2*
*reads* well I geuss ill just got have a wank now >.<

 

[ShasOMiKael]

I don't know is someone already said this but I shall for now: I dread the coming of the furry hentai...

There, I said it!

 

[Rack]

I don't know if the Pandaren used to be martial artists or not, if they were then call it serendipity, if not then call it a rip-off but don't call it coincidence. Blizzard coincide a major China themed MMO with a push into China? That has to be deliberate.

 

[weker]

They are a good idea in terms of content, but the art style has made it look like 90% of all the Japanese mmorpg, this has only reinforced my feeling of not wanting to go back, tho I am missing out on the social side of MMO atm . I miss the feeling of having an online family.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

It's for China.

Not possible, in China, it is a crime to depict the death of a Panda. Unless the Pendaren are somehow invincible, this expansion won't even make it into the country.

My theory is simply that it was an april fool's joke, and then after seeing the massive fan boners popping up they realized they could make a ton of money off of the concept.

That is actually an urban myth, in Chinese law on censorship, Pandas are not even mentioned. Again, Kung Fu Panda 2 broke the record for the highest grossing animated film in Chinese history ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jun/06/kung-fu-panda-2-china ), which would of been impossible if the image of a panda (or it in danger) was banned in the nation.

The reason that the Pandaren in Warcraft 3 was banned was because they were running around in JAPANESE armor, so it was more insulting to the culture the it was the panda itself.

 

[ntw3001]

A more plausible reason: Blizzard decided the 'whole new continent' model was what they wanted to go with for this expansion, and picked a continent that's somewhat established in lore. I guess they decided they didn't want to go with the Emerald Dream, Undermine or any such thing because those places have been fairly heavily-played recently (well okay, Undermine hasn't actually been visited but a Goblin expansion directly after Cataclysm probably wasn't considered an option). The best alternatives are either:

a) Pandaria, or

b) Hey guys, did you know the Furbolgs/Faerie Dragons/Centaurs actually come from their own whole separate continent that we never mentioned before? They do!

 

[Plinglebob]

My theory is they're using MoP as the MMO equivalent of a Breather Episode [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreatherEpisode] (or to put it another way, I don't care the world is ending, I'm off to Hawaii). So far in WoW we've had "Save the world from the Black Dragons and the Eldritch abomination and his insect Hordes", "Save another world from a crazed demon hunter and his wacky mates", "Save the world from the Undead King and his zombie minions" & "Save the world from the BIG Black Dragon and his suicidle followers" and tbh I'm fed up with saving the world. An expansion focusing on something new along with Alliance/Horde relations stops the threats becoming too big too soon as well as giving us a break from cleaning up.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'll probably never go back to WoW.

Played long enough and just grew tired of it.

But if they ever give me playable Murlocs i'll be back like a shot ... LIKE A SHOT.

Panda's, yeah they look like fun but Murlocs rule supreme.

 

[iseeyouthere]

I'm still trying to figure out how you tell a Horde panda from an Alliance Panda...

Is one black fur with white patches and the other white fur with black patches?

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

It's nothing new - EverQuest II introduced a race of Panda Monks a while back... In the Sentinel's Fate expansion if memory serves.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

That, may have been true, if not for the fact that the idea of the pandaren existed before the movie kung fu panda even came out.

But now Blizzard are in a position to market the character. Just because the Pandaren came before Kung Fu Panda doesnt mean that it has nothing to do with that movie, or China.

 

[Michael Hirst]

I also have a theory, WoW Subscriptions are dropping rapidly and Blizzard want to beat the dead horse for a bit longer and a new expansion is the way to go. I think the game still has some time left but it's pinnacle was crossed ages aog and now they're in the decline area.

 

[Raddra]

Why are people so obsessed with calling the Pandaren a joke? They've been an established part of WoW lore for longer than some of the complainers have been born.

Are they stuck in a mental rut of 'pandas must be for kids'? It makes no sense. There's nothing immature or overly comedic about them. I guess their brains must be stuck in the mentality of the last panda portrayal they remember, being kung fu panda.

Here is a devs words on the matter.

This is something I want to touch on a bit more. People seem to think that Pandaren were a joke, a throw away easter egg that we never fully intended as a playable race.

I will direct you to recall the Warcraft RPG (pen and paper) manuals released in 2003. While much of it hasn't been canon for quite some time, the Pandaren occupy a greater amount of pages and space within the manuals to establish their lore and story than pretty much every other creature on Azeroth. To give it some context, they occupy the same number of pages as Trolls in the Monster Manual, and share the same amount space in the Alliance and Horde Compendium with Orcs or Humans, and just like them ... you guessed it... Pandaren were a playable race.

(there's also an awesome sketch Metzen did of a Pandaren, Dwarf, Furbolg, and Gnome hanging out all friendly-like)

As I said a lot of this was pre-World of Warcraft, and by whatever stroke of fate, Trolls and Forsaken became playable races and Pandaren, Naga, and Furbolgs did not. Some other mix could have just as easily been true, and no one would have questioned it. Worgen didn't even exist back then, of course, they were a new creation for World of Warcraft.

It would simply be inaccurate to state that Pandaren were a throw away. Our intent, going back to Warcraft III, when the vast majority of the world lore and story was established for the franchise, was always to have a deep and rich history for a race known as the Pandaren.