Dwarves - serious? or comic relief?

[Elegiac]

Of course you can pull out counter-examples. Thrall knows, we can do the same back and forth the other way around with all the other races. We could even name "the poop quest" for each expansion as there's been quite a few. My point was, as you unfortunately are helping me prove, is that people come to the game with the mindset that Pandaren have to be a joke and thus completely ruins the immersion for the serious parts.

Can you and I at least agree that as far as being taken seriously goes, they're far better off than Gnomes?

Only because Blizzard put a ridiculous amount of effort into making them semi-serious, given that they were in fact a joke race.

I still have a hard time taking Pandaren RPers seriously.

---------- Post added 2013-01-13 at 10:37 AM ----------

than orcs and shamans are also ridiculous, because there's a poop quest in nagrand's throne of the elements.

the pandaren were not designed to be a joke. they were designed by samwise didier to represent his family, as a personal project. someone at blizzard (maybe him) decided it could be funny to add some to the game and see the playerbase reaction (the pandaren relaxation area easter egg, for instance). people got curious about it, and on april fools, they decided to announce that the pandaren would be a new WC3 playable army.

that was the joke. they said the pandaren would get their own playable team for players to choose, when they actually wouldn't. but the pandaren themselves were never a joke.

Adding something because it is deemed humorous meets the definition of a joke.

[checking facts]

Adding something because it is deemed humorous meets the definition of a joke.

you said they were designed as a joke. they were not designed as a joke. they were added in WC3 as a joke that ended up gaining popularity, but they were designed seriously by an artist to his family.

in WoW, they were added as serious content (as far as WoW can be serious. even their army of zombies is quite humorous. putricide made me lol)

[Golden Yak]

In general there are elements of humour in fantasy setting dwarves. They're usually portrayed as gruff and grumbling to the point of being just a little bit funny. Only when they're taken in some unique direction ( to the point where they're depicted as creatures you wouldn't immediately recognize as 'fantasy dwarf') do they really shed that perception.

[mvaliz]

Watch the movie "The Hobbit".

Your answer is simple... they can be both.

[Tenjen]

elements of both. moving along.

hope they do something with a certain final remaining heir fellow to the throne of All-King over the dwarves.

[Deleted]

Dunno but if I had to roll alliance, I'd be a dorf.

[Aeula]

I think they're more comic relief, but then so are most races in WoW, it's very rare for races to be serious, although it's somewhat changed in MoP, Oh and i hate brann too...and his explorers legue.

Personally tho the only race i can't take seriously are gnomes...

[Alfryd]

You could argue it's the curse of every non-main race. Every race that is not a Human or Orc will eventually succumb to some sort of degrading depiction.

Night Elves have become 'woe is me' and fail at almost everything they try, Gnomes have become a running joke, Draenei were actually made canonly so nice that the other Alliance races thought they were neutral. Horde side, Trolls are the canon fodder of Azeroth (srs, I want ONE expansion where I don't end up personally butchering an entire Troll nation or tribe), Goblins are literally a race devoted to comic relief on the Horde side, Blood Elves are seen as effeminate and lacking moral fiber (something I've never understood) etc...

There comes a point where you have to take Blizzard with a pinch of salt and acknowledge their short comings. They will never be able to write a balanced story in an MMO setting, so remember what Dwarves used to be in previous depictions and go from there.

To answer your question, despite our leaders failings, I do believe Dwarf offer players a choice of playing a serious race. Far more serious that Gnome/Goblin, anywho.

[Al Gorefiend]

You could argue it's the curse of every non-main race. Every race that is not a Human or Orc will eventually succumb to some sort of degrading depiction.

Night Elves have become 'woe is me' and fail at almost everything they try, Gnomes have become a running joke, Draenei were actually made canonly so nice that the other Alliance races thought they were neutral. Horde side, Trolls are the canon fodder of Azeroth (srs, I want ONE expansion where I don't end up personally butchering an entire Troll nation or tribe), Goblins are literally a race devoted to comic relief on the Horde side, Blood Elves are seen as effeminate and lacking moral fiber (something I've never understood) etc...

There comes a point where you have to take Blizzard with a pinch of salt and acknowledge their short comings. They will never be able to write a balanced story in an MMO setting, so remember what Dwarves used to be in previous depictions and go from there.

To answer your question, despite our leaders failings, I do believe Dwarf offer players a choice of playing a serious race. Far more serious that Gnome/Goblin, anywho.

I know some races have it worse, much worse :/ I think Blizzard just likes to throw punches at short & tiny races simply because people think midgets are just hilarious.