Mists of Pandaria Asian Chinese style expansion

[lostdrewid]

You know what I love about Pandaria?

It's all of Asia. We've got tibetans (Grummles), mongolians (Yaungol), Buddhists (Jinyu), Ancient China (Mogu), and modern china (Pandaren). We've even got the Klaxxi which are strange sort of Alien+Druid+Insectoid race that is unlike any of the previously encountered insectoid races. And then there are the Hozen who are... I guess an entire race of Frat Boys... But there's the Sha... emotion-manifest. Yeah it's probably old god stuff again, but it's nothing we've encountered before.

Standing around in the Shrines... just listening to the music, admiring the murals on the walls... this is without a doubt the richest and most detailed continent in the game.

Well stated. Although being very much not fond of the Jinyu I cringe at the thought of them being the Buddhists. I just could never get over that godawful voice filter. But the Hozen are worse, so there is that. *shrugs* Honestly it's a matter of taste, but so is every expansion. There's always somebody bitching. BC was derided as being too Sci-Fi for WoW. Blizzard can't win everybody over, but they sure did a decent job of winning me over. I was literally ready to not even buy the expansion until I played in the beta.

[Wayne25uk]

right
Night elves=Asian inspired
Tauren= Naitive American Inspired
Worgens=British inspired
Human=american(they are..)
the list goes on.
Wrath of the Lich king=scandinavian based.

you don't like it, go play SWTOR...and really IT's a fantasy, you see that FANTASY MMO RPG!

I did a list similar to this recently this was my idea.

Night elves = Asian with welsh druid theme
Tauren = Native American
Worgens = English
Orcs = American (Lets face it everything they touch gets destroyed)
Gnomes = Irish
Dwarfs = Scottish
Undead = Nazi Germany
Blood Elves = Swedish (Blonde thing)
Human = America/GB i suppose
Goblin = Pakistani/Indian (they seem to own everything and are always rich)
Draenie = Spanish
Pandaren = Chinese
Troll = Jamaican

Just the way i see things.

[Deleted]

I disagree

[Shampro]

I like how people are still beating the dead horse with this topic, freaking hilarious. You wont change anyones mind here, people who hate it will still hate it (along with everything Blizzard does), people who love it will keep loveing it.

When I log on and play this game I dont go well, ''im gonna go to Pandaria becuase I wanna go to china!'', who even thinks shit like that? I dont even think about that I just look around and watch the beautiful and detail in places, along with other places in this game. When I go to a Worgen area, I dont go'' hey im in europe''! Who the freaking hell actually thinks about irl when you are playing a FANTASY game? I just simply dont understand this topic, its incredibly pointless. What are you people trying to prove?

[ashblond]

I absolutely hate it. It's disgusting to look at and that combined with the perpetual rape of warcraft lore in MoP made me quit. I could actually forgive the homogenization, the unending casualisation of the game, the dumbing down, the crappy easy mechanics, but when they took the lore, the design and world I loved and repeatedly raped it I had enough.

The asian theme is disgusting. And to people saying "how is it different from anything else based on the real world", don't be stupid, not 1 expansion in WoW ever depicted actual landmarks from the real world and certainly did not dedicate its entire design to a poor cartoon parody of one select country. It's disgusting, and has nothing to do with fantasy. Shame, SHAME.

I can only say, you got problems. LOL

Playing a game to this extent... you are right to quit.

[Kathranis]

I did a list similar to this recently this was my idea.

Night elves = Asian with welsh druid theme
Tauren = Native American
Worgens = English
Orcs = American (Lets face it everything they touch gets destroyed)
Gnomes = Irish
Dwarfs = Scottish
Undead = Nazi Germany
Blood Elves = Swedish (Blonde thing)
Human = America/GB i suppose
Goblin = Pakistani/Indian (they seem to own everything and are always rich)
Draenie = Spanish
Pandaren = Chinese
Troll = Jamaican

Just the way i see things.

Night elves are a mixture of Asian and Norse, with some European paganism and druidism thrown in. There's also some Greek in their architecture. They also draw on the typical "wood elf" fantasy trope, usually juxtaposed with high elves.

Worgen are based on Victorian England, period.

Orcs have Mongolian and Japanese inspiration, and also have a little bit of non-specific inspiration from various tribal, shamanic societies in the Americas and Africa.

Gnomes are not based on any specific culture. Rather, they're inspired by the general interpretation of gnomes as tinkers, inventors, and creators of clockwork contraptions (particularily in Everquest). Some heavy steam punk was thrown in.

Dwarves are strongly inspired by Gaelic and Celtic culture, as has become the Fantasy standard.

Undead are simply undead humans, with bit of pop culture monster stuff thrown in. Some of their new architecture does have a Gothic flair, with flying butresses and equilateral arch‎es.

Blood elves mainly draw on the standard "high elf" trope (as opposed to "wood elf"). Their architecture is actually Arabic (minarets, throw pillows and hookahs, curtains instead of doors) with a bit of high fantasy thrown in (floating buildings, magic crystals).

Humans are general medieval fantasy with European buildings.

Goblins are non-specific, but inspired mostly by organized crime in pop culture. Kezan was inspired by Grand Theft Auto, their accents were inspired by the Sopranos and Jersey Shore, etc. Also some steam punk and deisel punk in there.

Draenei are very loosely inspired by the Romani people (gypsies) though it doesn't extend far beyond being nomads with Eastern European accents. In general, they're an exercise in high fantasy (dimensional fortress, giant crystals, sci-fi elements).

Pandaren are Han Dynsaty Chinese.

Trolls are based on assorted Carribean cultures, including Jaimaican.


Bonus round: Naga are Greek and Indian/Hindu. Ethereals are Arabic. Qiraji and nerubians are Egyptian. Tuskarr are Inuit. Vrykul are Norse. Centaur and yaungol are Mongolian. Mogu are Qin Dynasty Chinese. Titans are virtually the entire Pantheon of human mythology, including (at least) Norse, Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese deities.

[killidan]

A highland area filled with dwarves who are basically miniature scottish people? Yeah surely no one saw that connection.

This is where you lost me for good.

You have proven that just to disagree with me, you would say anything.

Like there were not highlands everywhere.

I regret having take you seriously at some point. You are a lost cause.

[Deleted]

i really like this expansion, i love the ammount of details they put into it.

[Enosh]

I like how people are still beating the dead horse with this topic, freaking hilarious. You wont change anyones mind here, people who hate it will still hate it (along with everything Blizzard does), people who love it will keep loveing it.

bullshit
I like the gameplay, I like the classes, I like what they did with the talents and I really enjoyed the boss fights so far

but i also still hate the shitty settings, the pandas, the whole valley of four winds "lets help chase of rats" bullshit, the completely meaningless enemies, that are basically a race no one gave a shit about for the past thousands years, some tauren 2.0 that didn't do shit so far and insect race v3.0
stealth edit: oh yes sha, christ I completely forgot about those fuckers, I think that says enough

and then blizzard wants me to care about that. moving the alliance vs horde conflict there was pointless, we are fighting over a piece of land that 2 days ago no one in the horde or alliance knew even existed, when we are not chasing vermin of farms that is
the biggest lore thing so far that happened had nothing to do with any of this and took place in a city that everyone knew about hence why the players cared

just because people dislike an aspect of the game doesn't mean that hate everything blizzard does

[shadowmouse]

Chen was in where in WoW? Wrath? Cata?

As has been noted in several posts, if you played Horde in Vanilla you discovered Chen's lost kegs in the Barrens. Your failure to notice does not mean they weren't. You seem a bit thick, so let me repeat that in terms that might make a dent on you ... IN VANILLA!

As for the "how does it play in China" question, I've already addressed that. No, it wasn't an easy rep boost. China has plenty of MMOs that play much better to Chinese esthetics and culture. Other parts of Asia, Korea and Taiwan for example, don't get along particularly well with China either. These are high context cultures, where symbolism tends to be read into everything, and so every reference to anything Asian is a lightning rod for trouble. WotLK nearly killed WoW in China, because the whole undead thing walked face first into an issue that was fairly well known (off the top of my head, MtG had issues with it too) -- the portrayal of death and bones. One mistake and MoP wouldn't have released in China, at least without major revisions. No, it would have been much safer for them to do a non-Asian theme. As it is, it seems to have gone over fairly well here, but that was far from a sure thing.

[Tragopan]

China has my favorite aesthetics out of any place in the world. I was very happy for the expansion and very happy it was more Chinese than Japanese. It has been my favorite rendition of WoW.. minus the casual non-friendliness.

[Servasus]

Best thing that has ever happened to WoW. Demons, undead and dragons can only take you so far. The game NEEDED something new and fresh.

I love the legion, and the scourge and all that fun stuff, but we really needed a vacation away from that. The game feels like it has more depth and character than ever before, and unless this next expansion blows my brains out with how awesome it is, I will probably severely miss Pandaria as current content.

[Wildmoon]

As I said before, this is the problem of people not the game.

[Deleted]

Chinese style in a fantasy game... well... it IS a little bit meh. It lacks the mystic and ancient feeling that European style fantasy has: medieval times are long gone in the West, while in the rest of the world they practically continued to the 20th century. Without mentioning most of the Arab world which is still stuck in biblical lifestyle. To put it short, it stops being a good fantasy when some people are kind of still living in that kind of world, arcaic beliefs included.

But that's not the biggest problem of MoP. It sucks as a whole, and basing half of the expansion on idiotic and tiresome beer jokes isn't helping. After leveling and clearing raids you are left with a "this was it?" feeling. As opponents both the Mogu and the Mantid are only annoying, not interesting at all. Makes you wish the expansion would be over already.

[Florena]

Chinese style in a fantasy game... well... it IS a little bit meh. It lacks the mystic and ancient feeling that European style fantasy has: medieval times are long gone in the West, while in the rest of the world they practically continued to the 20th century. Without mentioning most of the Arab world which is still stuck in biblical lifestyle. To put it short, it stops being a good fantasy when some people are kind of still living in that kind of world, arcaic beliefs included.

But that's not the biggest problem of MoP. It sucks as a whole, and basing half of the expansion on idiotic and tiresome beer jokes isn't helping. After leveling and clearing raids you are left with a "this was it?" feeling. As opponents both the Mogu and the Mantid are only annoying, not interesting at all. Makes you wish the expansion would be over already.

Well you're free to not like it but I find the expansion, mogu and mantid to be interesting, and Pandaria still has that feeling of mystery for me. If it's not your cup of tea that's fair, but many do like it, including most of my guild.

[Julian Rayne]

Try finding a pagoda in India, Mongolia or Asia Minor.

I agree with your main point but actually there are pagodas in India. And mosques and churches and Arabian courtyards and Victorian gardens and Russian train stations.

[Conscious]

Here's something that'll make you grab your tinfoil hats..

Most subs are being lost in the Asian market.

Blizzard releases an entirely Asian themed expansion.

[Mawnix]

Here's something that'll make you grab your tinfoil hats..

Most subs are being lost in the Asian market.

Blizzard releases an entirely Asian themed expansion.

Which is actually really fucking funny.

[Phasma]

The theme is fine. The lack of creative elements being applied to the theme is what is lacking. Anybody can recreate an Asian theme in a video game. It takes true talent to spin that theme into something great. MoP is pretty barren.

[Deleted]

How did you like it when there was a Viking-style expansion. Or in Cataclysm when we spend time in ancient Egypt?