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WoW has never been about comical relief.
sayuri2006
Member Posts: 161
There will be people that disagree but my whole take on this "panda" thing is that people are coming in defense and saying that the "panda" race has existed in WoW lore and have been part of WoW history. Where? I have never seen actually in game any references to the Pandaren race; no NPCs, no traders, no martial art references, no quests, not even any lands that have a trace of Pandaren influence. Abit like the Draenai, they will suddenly just pop out of the sky so to speak but the difference is, and this is what people don't get, they will be the main focus of the future of WoW. Why? Draenai have integrated but have never been the outright focus, and people saying that purple spacegoats look as funny as pandas is just laughable.
WoW has never been about comical relief. Sure there are gnomes, references to Paris Hilton, motorbikes etc but gnomes were here from the start and I'm sorry to say the Pandaren race does look more like a comical relief than something even slightly fightable. I certainly wouldn't want to fight any, more like share a cup of tea with. They are cute bottom line. Blizzard say they are swaying away from the dark and gloomy environment, but this is going abit over the top. What, so all our struggles against Rag, illidan, Lich King, Deathwing and now we get to chill out with a bunch a fat smiling pandas while they are supposed to teach us the fate of ourselves and Azeroth? What kind of future is that? No thank-you, we survived some serious business before, we don't need to turn our fights and struggles in the past into something comical.
Comments
While I dont really like the idea of a Panda race. Warcraft lore spans more than just WoW. Did you see any Draenai before BC launched? Nope not until about a month or two before. The pandarian were mentioned in WC3 though. So its not an issue of lore.
I think its funny though, WoW has never really been dark nor gloomy.
And yet, from your sig, you are looking forward to TERA. Another game with a cute panda-like race.
Like the zone Uldum, one long Indiana Jones parody. It's so serious I have to put on a suit and tie when I lvl through that zone!
Or the Goblin starter zone, with jersey shore references galore.
Or maybe it's the quests which have me collecting poop. My favorite being the Grizzly Hills one. Where I had to use the outhouse, could hear my character grunting as he dookied, and then had to dig through my own feces to retrieve some seeds which I then put "back in the bucket!", so someone else could eat them.
WoW is serious bizness!
First bare with me, I'm half asleep and will be passing out cold after this. ;-p
Though a bit of googling will answer your questions, Pandaren have been a part of Warcraft lore (heck Chen played a role in Rexxar's travels) and there are traces of them in World of Warcraft.
Pandaren: http://www.wowwiki.com/Pandaren
In World of Warcraft there were little hints of Chen's travels the most popular being the brewmaster questline before Cata: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=821/chens-empty-keg
Heck Bliz even went as far as providing fans with a statue figure of the race in their stores: http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000802
The short of is this Samwise originally created them in Warcraft as a joke because his nick name is Panda. However the fans loved it and so the Pandaren were offically brought into the lore with Warcraft 3. Basically they are older then the Turen when it comes to warcraft, as they showed up as easter eggs here and there but became official later on. Now they have one of the deepest lore of the races in Warcraft. So no they are not a joke (though they first picture Samwise made of himself as a Panda was) they are a race in the world of warcraft and some of us are excited that they are finally in the game outside of random quests relating to Chen.
So it's not that Bliz just pull this out their rear and decided to create a race that never existed, they took one of the races they has more of a underground cult following and brought them fully in to WoW where they belong like it or not.
The only reason they were not in WoW from the start was because lore wise it would not make any sense as they were blocked off from the world and known only in stories about those heroes in Azeroth. This is why originally they were going to be introduced in Cata because it allowed for the race to be accessed. Instead though Bliz held off and decided to release whole expansion around them.
As for WoW not being about comical relief, yeah I'll just say I disagree. Warcraft from day one has always been about serious story with comical elements and that has carried on in WoW.
Because flying a Minmatar ship is like going down a flight of stairs on an office chair while firing an Uzi.
OP couldn't be more wrong in what he states as the Subject of the thread.
Blizzard has injected humour at just about every turn in the game. I believe comic relief is one of the core design aspects of the game and it's quests/stories. Spending 10 minutes doing quests would have told you that.
Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.
This 100%. I personally enjoy the comic relief, but everyone is a critic. Why everyone is so up in arms over panda people is beyond me, I thought most people liked pandas? I couldn't care less either way, but I know for a fact that people have been asking for the pandaren for ever, so good for them that they are getting what they want I say. If it bothers you that much just don't play the game. I don't see how it's so out of line what with being able to play gnomes, elves, cows, space-goat-alien-things, etc. Sheesh!
I'm more intrigued by the monk class personally, but a little worried that in the end it will feel like all the other classes after a while. Only time shall tell!
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It depends, there have always been comical references here and there , that's for sure. But compare DK's with Panda's... The DK starting area was dark, their lore is dark, they look dark (heck even a dk gnome can look "dark" thanks to the eyes and voice). Cataclysm... well i guess the world shattering isn't "dark"? The thing is that, in my opinion and apparently many others, while there was comical relief here and there for every one of them you had a dozen of serious or dark things , whether it be quests, zones, mobs, etc. Panda's simply put the whole WoW universe too much in the comical relief area in some people's opinion.
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
So if the pandas weren't pandas and instead some other species or made up race they'd be ok?
That 'one thing' is throwing off 'a dozen other serious or dark things' coming with the expansion?
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
For me it would. I just can't stand the sight of such a ridiculous looking race walking everywhere.
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
OP I hope you were being sarcastic.
Humor has always been a part of Warcraft since the original... click on the peons for proof.
In WoW Chen's Missing Keg which is a whole quest line regarding a traveling Pandaren Lore Master, it has always been stated that Azeroth has missing lands and other islands unknown to the Alliance and Horde.
The Scarlet Crusade has had martial arts style monks as members since Vanilla... check out the monks in Scarlet Monestary... they are kung fu monks not Friar Tuck monks.
So... yeeeeah you are wrong.
Help support an artist and gamer who has lost his tools to create and play: http://www.gofundme.com/u63nzcgk
I can't remember seeing Pandas in any of the original warcraft games.. correct me if i'm wrong of course. Also, as for never being comic relief? Maybe i'm odd but I used to laugh a lot playing the warcraft series, and then I laughed when I saw world of warcraft and never took it as a serious game.
"STOP POKEING MEEEEEEEE!!!"
hehehehe
Though I think the point you should be making is that WOW doesn't have lore, it has a bit of history, but as it's a completely new world, so as to speak, there are clearly limitless things that can be done to expand it and the "It's not in the lore" arguement doesn't stand up.
It's not as if it's EQ with over 12 years of established history or Ultima with over 25 years of history. Conan and Dungeons and Dragons (world dependant) with histories more or less set in stone (or paper so as to speak).
And I quote another thread...
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
And it's not the entire future of wow, it's an expansion pack. There will be a new focus in the next one for folks to shit on...lol. I for one am excited!
People complain about too much. People also want changes.
Vanilla WoW: Fantasy world with a Warcraft setting
BC: spacy
WotLK: frosty/dark
Cataclysm: apocalyptic
MoP: Relaxed / Funny
So what? Things change. Ain't that what people want?
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
"STOP POKEING MEEEEEEEE!!!"
hehehehe
Though I think the point you should be making is that WOW doesn't have lore, it has a bit of history, but as it's a completely new world, so as to speak, there are clearly limitless things that can be done to expand it and the "It's not in the lore" arguement doesn't stand up.
It's not as if it's EQ with over 12 years of established history or Ultima with over 25 years of history. Conan and Dungeons and Dragons (world dependant) with histories more or less set in stone (or paper so as to speak).
Um... Not sure you're correct here..l Warcraft has been around since 1994.... That's 17 years ma friend....I find certain arguments really desperate.
Yes people want change. But change =/= change. I know let's add flying kittens who can shoot deathlasers and spit little hearts. It's change so it must be good?
Secondly that argument about "spacegoats, cows, blablabla" is moot as well. I have never spontanously lol'ed at seeing them , never. Only exception were melee gnomes and god i hated them. The tauren don't look ridiculous, the spacegoats look weird but not ridiculous, etc. Now sure it's a matter of opinion. Some may find them quite ludicrous but i don't and i think many who are now facepalming at the mere thought of pandaren didn't either, or at least they considered them much less ludicrous.
On top of that, if a certain amount of silliness excuses an other i guess we can add spongebob squarepants as well, or add a new island called duckburg populated by walking ducks and one who owns a giant moneybin. Afterall, the game was silly already so this shouldn't be an issue?
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
No!
I want my $0.10 coffee and to sit on my porch yelling at kids to get off my lawn whle I reminisce about how things used to be better in the good old days!
Yeh, I don't really see this as an issue.
Pandas were involved in Warcraft all ready, and it's only individual perception that presently is painting them as this extremely funny and irreverent thing. People expect this will be like Kung Fu Panda because they're panda monks when it could very well be an honest take on things with some tomfollery tossed in based on the concept.
To illustrate. People expect this.
Even though there's no reason they shouldn't also expect this.
EDIT: And to contrast. I thought the WoW draenei were a bloody abomination and affront to Warcraft lore and design.
Though that was mostly because they were fundamentally breaking their lore and the very reason Warcraft even was rolling along...
It's hard to top 'We just destroyed the center reason for this entire game series existing' in my mind.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
A horde quest : chen's empty keg (Chen Stormstout )
in wow vanilla in barrens, it was repetable chain quest.
Well, to be fair what works in one game dosent necessarily work in another, or please another's player base.
Saying that though, I don't play WoW so I don't expect my opinion to matter too much but, as an outsider looking in... I have to lol.
Seems an effort to sell itself more to the Asain market imo.
Why, do you hope it will be a yawn.Because it's WoW?
Best I can do to make a scary or go-getter face for that game is yawning any more.
Though on a serious note, it's more because I didn't wanna post the other ones where there's blood on the panda's face.
EDIT: Besides. The art for pandarens has always been a mix of serious with quirks any ways.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
Its fun to talk about things over the internet we have no idea about right?!!?!?! bwahahahaa
http://www.wowwiki.com/Pandaren
From Warcraft 2 and forward the Warcraft universe have had a good solid mix of satire, popculture jokes and potty humor mixed in with it's fantasy... This goes for WoW too and i am sorry to say you missed the boat.
Me i welcome our pandarian overlords.
This have been a good conversation
I like Panda bears and wanna play one. Smileyface.
So F.U. world!