why people hate asian references in wow?

[Drakesong]

It's not true, the only thing that is true is that you are apparently blind and/or ignorant. Just because you claim something to be easy to miss doesn't mean it is. Chen was a fan favourite character in TFT, and his keg quest was famous in Vanilla, mostly because it was bugged for ages and required some rather stupid reagents.
And yes, Pandaria is as such was easy to miss, because it was still a mythological land prior to MoP. The Pandaren were creatues of myth, if they had put them in the game from the start, that would utterly ruin it.

Yeah, let's make and entire expansion based on a joke Neutral Hero, who played a part in one campaing of the expansion of warcraft 3 and appeard in a human missionof the same expansion. Oh, and there are some of his kegs left in the barrens...

Very good idea of a expansion! Much better than continuing the sotyr of the emerald dream and the Nagas, that players have been asking for ages...

[Grocalis]

No, I claim it is easy to miss cause it is easy to miss. It was off the path to find in TFT and you didn't even need it to play or finish the game. It's was an optional path with an optional vender.

Even using the argument that you could "miss" Chen, it's pretty hard to miss the Pandaren Brewmaster Hero in multiplayer. You would have to avoid the game entirely to never see a Pandaren in TFT.

Very good idea of a expansion! Much better than continuing the sotyr of the emerald dream and the Nagas, that players have been asking for ages...

Way more people wanted Pandaren as a playable race then people that even give a crap about the Naga.

[Venziir]

You think MOP is better than Arthus' or Illidans storyline?...

Right.

Yes, I do. I always found Arthas' story to be cliché beyond all reason, and Illidan was a weakling fool. Oh, and that's actually not what I said, I wrote "WoW" games, by this I mean Vanilla, TBC, Wotlk and Cata. And I must admit that I personally count most of Arthas' story to be from Warcraft 3 and TFT, and most of Illidans story happened in the books.

---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 08:03 PM ----------

Yeah, let's make and entire expansion based on a joke Neutral Hero, who played a part in one campaing of the expansion of warcraft 3 and appeard in a human missionof the same expansion. Oh, and there are some of his kegs left in the barrens...

Very good idea of a expansion! Much better than continuing the sotyr of the emerald dream and the Nagas, that players have been asking for ages...

Players got the story of the Emerald Dream in a bad book, and sure Naga might be a fan favourite, but most people whined so hard about Vashj'ir, so yeah, blame yourselves for that. Oh and Chen was never a joke hero.

[Venziir]

I dont think ive actually seen anyone openly prefer MoP to Arthus, thats an unusual opinion you have (from my perspective at least).

ArthAs please. And eh, whiny human prince who becomes generic Dark Lord with a generic evil army. Yawn.

While MoP certainly isn't the most unique or special thing ever, it feels fresh. And right now, I really want some freshness in my Warcraft, especially after how they royally massacared any awesome leftover from Warcraft 2 in Cataclysm. And the fact that all this freshness servers as the outer layer of the Horde vs Alliance conflict - which has always been my favourite element of warcraft, only makes it so much better.

Also, the usual Arthas and Illidan fans that I come across are people who only played like 30min of Wc3 and then went straight on to either Wotlk or TBC - and I *hate* those people. They bring the perfect horrid mix of nostalgia and ignorance.

[nyc81991]

I think a lot of people aren't very familiar with Asian cultur and since it is quite different than American / European cultur they don't understand or like it.

[Vantricular]

because chinese gold farmers ruin the game and asian references make me think of them

[Thallidomaniac]

Players got the story of the Emerald Dream in a bad book, and sure Naga might be a fan favourite, but most people whined so hard about Vashj'ir, so yeah, blame yourselves for that. Oh and Chen was never a joke hero.

They probably would have whined whether they made that zone infuriating to level in or not, saying that we only get Nagas because of their role in TBC.

[Drilnos]

I've been infatuated with Warcraft since I got my hands on the second installment. Since then i've played every game, and read many of the books.

On this 18+ year journey I have:
Slain dragons

Cloud serpents. Elegon. The great onyx one that breathes lightning at the end of the Shado Pan questline.

Slaughtered demons

No demons, true.

Traversed foreign worlds

This one's pretty darn foreign. The subject of the thread, in fact.

Explored other planes of existence

No other planes of existence, true.

Battled mad and ancients evils

The insane emanations of a dead god corrupt and twist the land. And we battle them.

Witnessed the rise and fall of kings

The return of the mad, Titan-powered king of an ancient, unspeakably brutal empire is upon us. And we'll make him fall.

The birth and death of gods

The aforementioned dead god. The imprisoned, mutilated Lord of Storms. The rebirth of Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent, interrupted by war.

brother slaying brother

The streets of Dalaran are stained red with the blood of high elves and blood elves alike. Pandaren fight Pandaren.

While old enemies forge uneasy alliances

The Klaxxi and the Pandaren assist each other in attacking their common foe. The Horde and the Alliance unite to besiege the very gates of Orgrimmar itself.

betrayal, strife, war

Fresh battlefields picked over by hyenas and carrion birds. Children slaughtered in the Dread Wastes. The fall of Theramore. The purge of Dalaran. The yaungol and the mantid grind entire villages under their advance, enslaving all those they don't kill.

Broken hearts and shattered bonds

Chen wept over the grave of Evie Stormstout. Sunwalker Dezco's wife died in childbirth, right in front of you, as he frantically chain-cast Flash of Light in vain.

I've seen the righteous fall and the damned redeemed.

Taran Zhu, warden of the Sha, corrupted into their slave. Garrosh Hellscream, hope of the new Horde, reduced to paranoia and mad powerlust. The Alliance and the Horde, painfully throwing off the shackles of mutual hatred.

and some how all of this turned into help a panda kill monkies and bunnies so he can reclaim his brewery and make the perfect beer!

It has that too.

[Zanito44]

You think MOP is better than Arthus' or Illidans storyline?...

Right.

Dr. Claw syndrome made Arthas a joke.

[Venziir]

Dr. Claw syndrome made Arthas a joke.

He was a joke prior to that, granted it didn't help.

[Deleted]

Or, you know, a giagantic, barbaric, nordic savage with a horned helmet and a 10mile long beard... Yeah, that's a stereotype too, and last time I went to Northrend, I saw plenty of those.

So you're going to tell me the vikings were peaceful and not savage? Tell that to their neighbours. Although some were, they were most reknowned for their murdering and pillaging. I think this counts as savage very much.

Yes, the horned helmets part is a historical fault as real vikings didn't really use horned helmets much. And not all had beards.

That said, in Northrend there were things to move you away. For example, as much norse Northrend was, I can't call taunka norse by any aspect. Here's the deal, Northrend had more balance between more cultures featured across multiple continents.
MoP has mostly stuff from eastern Asia.

And before you invoke the Horde-Alliance war, colonization of Asia. If you look at it, it all boils to this: invaders came and the cultures either adapted (japanese) throwing age old traditions (samurai and stuff) or their cultures faltered and all but went extinct (north korean).

[Venziir]

So you're going to tell me the vikings were peaceful and not savage? Tell that to their neighbours. Although some were, they were most reknowned for their murdering and pillaging. I think this counts as savage very much.

Yes, the horned helmets part is a historical fault as real vikings didn't really use horned helmets much. And not all had beards.

That said, in Northrend there were things to move you away. For example, as much norse Northrend was, I can't call taunka norse by any aspect. Here's the deal, Northrend had more balance between more cultures featured across multiple continents.
MoP has mostly stuff from eastern Asia.

And before you invoke the Horde-Alliance war, colonization of Asia. If you look at it, it all boils to this: invaders came and the cultures either adapted (japanese) throwing age old traditions (samurai and stuff) or their cultures faltered and all but went extinct (north korean).

The vikings weren't really that savage, but that wasn't my point. My point is that it's as much a racial stereotype as the next. And sure, the Taunka aren't Norse as such, as they are visually inspired by buffalos, but we still have stuff like the Tuskarr, who are basically eskimos, and while that isn't a Norse thing, it's a Northern thing, which is basically the whole Wotlk team - "Northern and Scandinavian countries".

---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 08:54 PM ----------

You could argue this point even more, half the zones had nothing or little to do with the norse culture.

Borean Tundra, based upon Tundra climates - Has Vrykuls pillaging eskimo-inspired walrus people.
Howling Fjord - Sweden with Vrykuls.
Grizzly Hills - A mix between Canada, Norway and Sweden, has dwarves, vrykul, speaks of the corruption of Loken (Loki) and even has a World Tree (Yggdrasil)
Dragonblight - A cold, frozen wasteland with ice giants (one of the realms of Norse Mythology) and Jormungar (a serpent from Norse mythology)
Crystalsong Forest - Nothing here really, but that's pretty general of the zone, other than it *kinda* looks like certain parts of Norway and Sweden.
Storm Peaks - A mountain zone filled with vikings fighting to earn the honor of joining an elite guard with the sole task of aiding Thorim (Thor) fight the Frost Giants, also we have all the other guardians who are all inspired by Norse gods.
Sholazar - Not a lot, other than the avatar of Freya.
Icecrown - Oh dear, here we have another Vrykul/Viking stronghold, and some of the places are even named directly after specific places from norse mythology.

Please try again.

[Drilnos]

So you're going to tell me the vikings were peaceful and not savage? Tell that to their neighbours. Although some were, they were most reknowned for their murdering and pillaging. I think this counts as savage very much.

Yes, the horned helmets part is a historical fault as real vikings didn't really use horned helmets much. And not all had beards.

That said, in Northrend there were things to move you away. For example, as much norse Northrend was, I can't call taunka norse by any aspect. Here's the deal, Northrend had more balance between more cultures featured across multiple continents.
MoP has mostly stuff from eastern Asia.

Viking means "raider." Most norsemen were merchants or farmers. Their entire economy didn't revolve around pillaging. The Vrykul economy, however, does.

[Volitar]

I don't like any of the lore that goes along with Pandaland or the NPCS but the scenery and artwork are amazing.

[Venziir]

Viking means "raider." Most norsemen were merchants or farmers. Their entire economy didn't revolve around pillaging. The Vrykul economy, however, does.

Yeah, they only started raiding when the people they traded with got tired of their pelts, amber and somewhat simplistic trade goods.

[Beefhammer]

My problem is a full expension base on one cultures, this is like a full continent about one culture thats bugs me. (with the exeption of Dread waste)

Lets say, one zone like Uldum, it's fine, but I don't want to see a full expension base around egyptian/babylonian mythology

Except you have many many Asian influences. You have Chinese, Japanese, Mongol, Tibetan, even some Indonesian/Malaysian with the Jynu. I find it extraordinary and a breath of fresh air from the stale old Euro centric fantasy settings, minus NEs which have some Japanese flair.

[Cthulhu 2020]

People have been kind of burned on the asian culture by weeaboos and otakus.^_^ ^o^ ><

I personally like it because I choose to selectively ignore the crazy weeaboos and otakus.

People can argue that it doesn't fit... doesn't mean they're right, but they can argue that. Tons of other cultures that don't fit into traditional fantasy settings are within WoW as well. In fact, asian themed fantasy is more main stream than a lot of the fantasy lore that existed before pandaland.

---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 04:14 PM ----------

Except you have many many Asian influences. You have Chinese, Japanese, Mongol, Tibetan, even some Indonesian/Malaysian with the Jynu. I find it extraordinary and a breath of fresh air from the stale old Euro centric fantasy settings, minus NEs which have some Japanese flair.

I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the lore books, they said that night elves, being the most ancient race, had some run-ins with Pandarens way back before the sundering, and the Padaren taught them a lot, thus their architecture was influenced by Pandaren architecture and culture.

[Deleted]

So you're going to tell me the vikings were peaceful and not savage? Tell that to their neighbours. Although some were, they were most reknowned for their murdering and pillaging. I think this counts as savage very much.

Yes, the horned helmets part is a historical fault as real vikings didn't really use horned helmets much. And not all had beards.

That said, in Northrend there were things to move you away. For example, as much norse Northrend was, I can't call taunka norse by any aspect. Here's the deal, Northrend had more balance between more cultures featured across multiple continents.
MoP has mostly stuff from eastern Asia.

And before you invoke the Horde-Alliance war, colonization of Asia. If you look at it, it all boils to this: invaders came and the cultures either adapted (japanese) throwing age old traditions (samurai and stuff) or their cultures faltered and all but went extinct (north korean).

Korea never went extinct, Japanese culture never adapted.
I don't think the Hozen, Yaungol, Grummles and Mantid have anything to do with Asia.

[DeadmanWalking]

I find the Pandaren setting to be a nice change from the usual red desert, green forests, swamps and fields. The atmosphere is a nice break from the usual and I find it to be a nice breath of fresh air. If your complaint is that it borrows too heavily from something that already exists in the real world then I counter with the fact that we as a people don't really come up with many original story ideals, we usually take something that already exists and spin it very very slightly. There are no original works anymore.

[Venziir]

People have been kind of burned on the asian culture by weeaboos and otakus.^_^ ^o^ ><

I personally like it because I choose to selectively ignore the crazy weeaboos and otakus.

People can argue that it doesn't fit... doesn't mean they're right, but they can argue that. Tons of other cultures that don't fit into traditional fantasy settings are within WoW as well. In fact, asian themed fantasy is more main stream than a lot of the fantasy lore that existed before pandaland.

---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 04:14 PM ----------



I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the lore books, they said that night elves, being the most ancient race, had some run-ins with Pandarens way back before the sundering, and the Padaren taught them a lot, thus their architecture was influenced by Pandaren architecture and culture.

Yeah, but that became non-canon.

---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 10:28 PM ----------

Korea never went extinct, Japanese culture never adapted.
I don't think the Hozen, Yaungol, Grummles and Mantid have anything to do with Asia.

Yaungol are Mongol-inspired Tauren. Grummles are inspired by Sherpa and Mantid... Well they aren't directly Asian inspired, but they constantly besiege the Great Wall, something the Mongols did as well. Hozen are, eh I don't know really, but it means Monkey Clan in chinese so....