Help me understand

[chstens]

READ THIS FIRST!
So it's been announced that the Pandaren will show up as a playable race in WoW, and it've recieved a lot of mixed reactions. Personally, I think everything they've announced about Mists of Pandaria (MoP form here on out) sounds awesome. But some people says that "Panda people is going to far" or "Pokémon in WoW? They must be desperate". Now, the Pandaren haven been a part of Warcraft for a long time, it's only natural that they would show up in WoW sooner or later, and let's face it, how are anthropomorphic pandas "too far" in a world with magical space goats, talking bovines and flesh-and-bone species who're evolved from machines or statues? And the pet battle system just sounds like a great idea, it will give people more to do when they're not raiding, questing or PvPing, how are in-game pokémon battles not awesome?

The reason why I come to you with this is that you are at the very least one step up from the Youtube community, and there are alot of smart folks that wander these roads, so please, help me understand the hate, I want to know why people think they way they do about MoP, not so I can tell people that they are wrong, I just want to know peoples opinion on the matter.

TL;DR What do you think of Mists of Pandaria, and why?

EDIT: Quick recap to avoid further "lol kung fu panda" comments: The Pandaren were announced as a faction for Warcraft 3 as an april's fools joke, the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive that they gave them a cameo in the game. When Frozen Throne came out, there was a mini campaign where you play as Rexxar, helping the Horde to settle down in Durotar, there Rexxar encounters the Pandaren Brewmaster, Chen Stormstout, who says he is from the hidden land of Pandaria, travelling the world in search for exotic ingredients to brew with. The Ancient Chinese Pandaren have been a part of Warcraft Lore since WC3, and has nothing to do with Kung Fu Panda.

Pandaren Lore: The Pandaren used to live side by side with the ancient Night Elves and Tauren before The Sundering, the event that tore Azeroth apart and created the two continents, as well as the Maelstrom, but eventually, all the political infighting within the Night Elf Empire becasme too much for the Pandaren, they packed their bags and left what would later become Kalimdor, never to be heard from again, except the odd traveller.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

People hate change. Simple as that. They could say they're going to add a system where by you actually get paid real money to play the game. And people would complain that it would attract loads of noobs to the game or something.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I think this is the beginning of the end for WoW. All the other races were accepted as part of the Lore of Warcraft.

I agree with the whole Pokemon in WoW comment, and it makes me glad to no longer be a part of that game. There are lots for people to do that have nothing to do with raiding or PVPing. I can't say much about questing because of the daily quests. But there is ARchaeology which I found fun, but at the end of the day and the 'plot so far' there is Raiding... and Daily Quests.

WoW will need to change a whole lot to even tempt me to go back to it.

 

[Shirastro]

Answer is simple, haters gonna hate no matter what.

It doesn't matter if it was pandas, giant space robots or T-rexes, there will always be someone claiming how that is going too far and true WoW died x-number of years ago (when they were playing it).

My personal opinion is that they made pandas and Pandaria (which is basically WoWs version of China) only to sell better in China.

I stopped playing wow about a year ago, simply cause i played it for way to long.....i still think it's a great game though.

 

[Shirastro]

I think this is the beginning of the end for WoW.

Oh boy, if you only knew how many time this has been stated.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I think this is the beginning of the end for WoW.

Oh boy, if you only knew how many time this has been stated.

While WoW does borrow from other MMOs, but the Pokemon games don't exactly fit that particular mold and essentially the game goes my virtual character can beat your virtual character to, my pet and beat up yours.

I know people have stated that 'this is what will kill WoW' and most of the time I have laughed because they were being innovative in their changes, but Pokemon, really?

There are over 600 of the damn things in the games which do not require a monthly subscription fee and are generally cheaper as well with a much gentler fan-base than the PvPers, the raiders, and the gankers.

So I do wish the people who will stay with WoW the best of luck, and I do not mean to be sarcastic or condescending.

 

[Shirastro]

I think this is the beginning of the end for WoW.

Oh boy, if you only knew how many time this has been stated.

While WoW does borrow from other MMOs, but the Pokemon games don't exactly fit that particular mold and essentially the game goes my virtual character can beat your virtual character to, my pet and beat up yours.

I know people have stated that 'this is what will kill WoW' and most of the time I have laughed because they were being innovative in their changes, but Pokemon, really?

There are over 600 of the damn things in the games which do not require a monthly subscription fee and are generally cheaper as well with a much gentler fan-base than the PvPers, the raiders, and the gankers.

So I do wish the people who will stay with WoW the best of luck, and I do not mean to be sarcastic or condescending.

You actually fit the mold of the "this will kill wow" crowd perfectly.
In other words you think wow will die just because they did something you personally dislike, without even a hint of objective thought.

Pandas are no more Pokemon than Tauren or Dreinai in my eyes, and other cheaper, and according to you, better games existed before and after WoW came out, and yet WoW remained dominant this whole time.

I'm willing to bet my favorite kidney this WILL raise the sales again, when all the newly empowered Chinese kids rush to buy a game where you can play kung fu panda!

 

[chstens]

Answer is simple, haters gonna hate no matter what.

It doesn't matter if it was pandas, giant space robots or T-rexes, there will always be someone claiming how that is going too far and true WoW died x-number of years ago (when they were playing it).

My personal opinion is that they made pandas and Pandaria (which is basically WoWs version of China) only to sell better in China.

I stopped playing wow about a year ago, simply cause i played it for way to long.....i still think it's a great game though.

Pandaren were originally an aprils fools joke for WC3, but after surprisignly positive fan reaction, they integrated them into the lore and gave them a cameo in WC3 and made Chen Stormstout in Frozen Throne, it had nothing to do with selling better in China.

I agree with the whole Pokemon in WoW comment, and it makes me glad to no longer be a part of that game.

See, I've heard a lot of people say this, but no-one have explained WHY, this whole thread is about WHY people say what they do, personally, I am all for the in-game pokémon battles, I really wish you could elaborate on your point of view.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I think this is the beginning of the end for WoW.

Oh boy, if you only knew how many time this has been stated.

While WoW does borrow from other MMOs, but the Pokemon games don't exactly fit that particular mold and essentially the game goes my virtual character can beat your virtual character to, my pet and beat up yours.

I know people have stated that 'this is what will kill WoW' and most of the time I have laughed because they were being innovative in their changes, but Pokemon, really?

There are over 600 of the damn things in the games which do not require a monthly subscription fee and are generally cheaper as well with a much gentler fan-base than the PvPers, the raiders, and the gankers.

So I do wish the people who will stay with WoW the best of luck, and I do not mean to be sarcastic or condescending.

You actually fit the mold of the "this will kill wow" crowd perfectly.
In other words you think wow will die just because they did something you personally dislike, without even a hint of objective thought.

Pandas are no more Pokemon than Tauren or Dreinai in my eyes, and other cheaper, and according to you, better games existed before and after WoW came out, and yet WoW remained dominant this whole time.

I'm willing to bet my favorite kidney this WILL raise the sales again, when all the newly empowered Chinese kids rush to buy a game where you can play kung fu panda!

I feel kind of embarrassed that I can fit a 'mold'. I never said anything about disliking Pokemon, I have played most of them, up to and including Pokemon White.

I am pretty sure that worrying that Blizzard is putting their version of Pokemon can be defined as a thought of my own. It maybe common, but I did have that concern.

And you actually think that the WoW has outsold Pokemon, in the years that both franchises have been out.

You are right in that it will raise sales, I have no doubt about that. I got back into WoW with the Cataclysm expansion, heck I still have the Collectors Edition box set. While I do wish WoW players the best of luck, I do not think that many of these 'newly empowered Chinese kids' would enjoy WoW that much. I try to avoid stereotyping, but I do slip into that pre-judgement.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Answer is simple, haters gonna hate no matter what.

It doesn't matter if it was pandas, giant space robots or T-rexes, there will always be someone claiming how that is going too far and true WoW died x-number of years ago (when they were playing it).

My personal opinion is that they made pandas and Pandaria (which is basically WoWs version of China) only to sell better in China.

I stopped playing wow about a year ago, simply cause i played it for way to long.....i still think it's a great game though.

Pandaren were originally an aprils fools joke for WC3, but after surprisignly positive fan reaction, they integrated them into the lore and gave them a cameo in WC3 and made Chen Stormstout in Frozen Throne, it had nothing to do with selling better in China.

I agree with the whole Pokemon in WoW comment, and it makes me glad to no longer be a part of that game.

See, I've heard a lot of people say this, but no-one have explained WHY, this whole thread is about WHY people say what they do, personally, I am all for the in-game pokémon battles, I really wish you could elaborate on your point of view.

In regards to the whole Pokemon thing, it is just a quick sales grab at the younger generations, but as I have previously stated I do not think that the people who want to play Pokemon would enjoy the pet battles as much as you can easily buy or download the games.

 

[ramboondiea]

so they are adding pandas to a game with cow people and elves and people are bitching? fair enough,cant really say i get the whole wow thing. are they karate pandas or alchoholic like in dofus?

 

[nukethetuna]

I don't really see the Pandaren as the big problem. Well, not for the reason that they're giant Pandas in World of Warcraft. Tauren have always been giant cows, and while they've had their jokes, they fit in quite well. Fact is, the Warcraft world, despite some of its mature storylines, is pretty cartoony, so I dunno why people are hating on the poor Pandaren.

The reason -I- would be tentative about them (if I were still playing) is that they are something that has always been asked for by the WoW community. I know Blizzard is still going strong, but last I heard WoW was dropping subscribers (even though they're still number one by a longshot), and introducing the Pandaren just feels like a safe way to keep people around and draw others back in.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it if they've thought it out and do it well, but if it's more of the same game, only with Pandas on top, they'll have wasted a lot of potential.

About China, they might be in a bit of a pickle. Last I heard Pandas were pretty important there, and while WoW is crazy popular in China, I'm dubious it will get past whatever the Chinese equivalent is of censors if Pandas aren't treated with tons of respect. If done sloppily it would be the equivalent of making a really crappy bald eagle or something, which isn't a big deal to me, but you know there are people in America that would find that to be antagonistic to the American spirit.

 

[retyopy]

Ahem...

It's a panda. PAN-DA. as in, p-a-n-d-a. Also known as ADORABLE.

Spoiler: for size

 

[Vault Citizen]

I read in the article that they can be either alliance or horde, I think it will be interesting to have a neutral race in the game and would like to see more.

 

[MrCalypso]

I think a part of the problem is that a somewhat larger number of people don't know that the Panderen were originally a joke. Some friends of mine who still play WOW were pissed when they saw the trailer. They however had no idea about the Panderen origins....so I had to explain it to them lol. Anyway I personally think that may be part of it but soon everyone will hear the exact history and realize that its not something Blizzard just pulled out of their arse.

On the other side though I agree that some people are just haters and will complain about any little change Blizzard makes to their game so theres also that.

 

[Buffoon]

I, too, don't understand how people can accept all the other fantasy tropes of anthropomorphic cows, fish, wolves, bears, walruses (uh, walri?) etc and still be absolutely opposed to the pandas. I don't mind them. Personally, I've never cared much about WoW lore anyway.

For those people saying this was done to pander (ha, see what I did there? Uh... sorry...) to Chinese audiences... I honestly can't see it. Surely it's way too stereotyped to actually appeal to Chinese people. I'm Australian. If the next expansion featured all the cliches of the 'outback', kangaroos, dingos, boomerangs, what have you, that would most definitely not be appealing.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

so they are adding pandas to a game with cow people and elves and people are bitching? fair enough,cant really say i get the whole wow thing. are they karate pandas or alchoholic like in dofus?

Um, sad to say they're actually kinda both. The Hero Unit that was referred to earlier, Chen Stormstout, was a Panderian Brewmaster. He even had skills related to drunken boxing and whatnot. Hell, before they ripped the Barrens apart the Horde had a quest that involved finding a lost Keg of Stormstout's and making a few of his recipes for drinks.

The Pet Battle thing, as well as the 'PvE Scenario' business I think is actually a change for the better. The way I understand it is that their new philosophy is that you should be able to advance no matter what you do, and frankly I agree with that. They're flexing their creative muscles a bit and trying to give us stuff to do outside of Raiding and PvP.

I don't think this is particularly the END for WoW, but Blizzard is going to have to give some serious thought on what they're going to do from here on in. They lost ALOT of subscriptions, including myself, when they listened to the hardcore raiding crowd for Cataclysm. I know of many people who were just too frustrated that they couldn't do like they did in Wrath and just see what they could see and have the means to do that. Okay so they didn't do Heroic Arthas. They just wanted to defeat REGULAR Arthas. Heck, I wanted to. But my group and I just couldn't get the job done. But we slogged through everything else, and while there were some struggles, all and all we had a blast doing it.

The key, and I think the thing they're shooting for, is for everyone to have something they can do that they enjoy. However to that end I think they need to put out some more Endgame activities for people who AREN'T big-time raiders or PvPers to enjoy. If they can do that, I think they can last at least a little bit more. But who knows? Everquest is still around, so is Dark Age of Camelot. EQ was big in it's time and I'm sure some people said it would have ended, so maybe WoW will have the same fate. Old Republic may steal the spotlight, but I suspect WoW will live on.

 

[RatRace123]

Well, I don't play WoW, but having the option to play as a giant panda man is A-OK in my book! And the pet battle system sounds interesting, it's not like you have to play it if you don't like it.

 

[TheDarkestDerp]

I've never really given a Rat's Ass about WoW, just never had the time to make for it, too much else to do to even think about trying to get into it. I've spent a few nights working on tattoo flash while my roomie grinded and grinded for the whole damn night on that game, beyond my ability to understand the appeal...

But this is neat. This is really the first thing I've heard in this game that has actually gotten an eyebrow to arc and my lip to curl up a bit. Up until now, even in passing, I've seen WoW as "blah blah blah... elves... humans... goblins.. Oo, werewolves, big fat hairy deal..." But 'panda-people'? That's at least something a bit new, different...

Just from an outsider's perspective any... fuck the lot of you, I'm not saying 'hate', it's irritation at best... anyways, any ill-feelings people would have towards this new addition just seem laughable. Dragons, talking wolf-men, Cow-men, some walrus-guy, a snake woman, all this is okay, but panda-people is too far? *shrugs* Sounds a bit ridiculous a thing to be upset about to me.