"Pandaria Thus Far..."

[killidan]

Good post, but I'm sure there's plenty of players who will never accept Pandaren as warcraft worthy race.
Blizzard realises that too, otherwise they wouldn't be trying to justify their existence so much.

I think the best Blizzard can do it bring the burning crusade and let them destroy Pandaria and all the pandas. Or let the pandas be left behind and forgotten ASAP.

[Zenko]

I can be selective too.

What about the very idea of recruiting a monkey army?
What about the big enemy of a zone being farm rodents?
What about helping Pandas brew beer?
What about tending a farm?
What about.... Pandas making jokes all the time. Have you seen their animations and language?

And this game is somehow not kiddy?

It's hard to get to the core story when the large majority is mundane tasks like tending a farm and brewing beer.

Beer and food is for kids? What separates monkeys and rodents from anything else that would otherwise rip your eyes from your sockets?

You people are simply delusional. Sounds like you quit playing at lvl87.

You're too dense/jaded to appreciate anything that WoW has to offer you. If you dont like something then just say that you don't like it instead of trying to pass it off as "immature."

[caninepawprints]

I love how they wrapped that up!

[Khaza-R]

I can be selective too.

What about the very idea of recruiting a monkey army?
What about the big enemy of a zone being farm rodents?
What about helping Pandas brew beer?
What about tending a farm?
What about.... Pandas making jokes all the time. Have you seen their animations and language?

And this game is somehow not kiddy?

It's hard to get to the core story when the large majority is mundane tasks like tending a farm and brewing beer.

How are Hozen childish? They have death-pits filled with Tigers that the toss live Jinyu in...
Farmlands being infested by legions of rodent-men. I don't see how that is childish either...
Because children drink beer...or even have the slightest clue what hops and barley are. Its clearly geared towards them.
Tillers are no more childish to me than fishing, or cooking. But to each their own.
A lot of races have a lot of comic relief woven into their dialogues. You must think Dwarfs are incredibly "kiddy" as well.

Finding something childish in things that are inherently meant to be light-hearted and fun reeks of insecurity, not being selective. But again, to each their own.

[Servasus]

I can be selective too.

What about the very idea of recruiting a monkey army?
What about the big enemy of a zone being farm rodents?
What about helping Pandas brew beer?
What about tending a farm?
What about.... Pandas making jokes all the time. Have you seen their animations and language?

And this game is somehow not kiddy?

It's hard to get to the core story when the large majority is mundane tasks like tending a farm and brewing beer.

What's childish about an army of wild, ravaging primates?
What's childish about rabid, foam-at-the mouth, rodent mutations that infest the very source of food Pandaria relies on?
What's childish about brewing beer? (No, really, are you retarded or what?)
What's childish about a race of beings cultivating the land to grow their own food source in order to survive in the world?
What's childish about jokes? (As far as I know, even people well into their 90s have a sense of humor)

The only thing childish here, is your attitude and the way you judge things.

Anything can be made childish if you want it to be. The truth is, Pandaria delivers nothing more than what it IS. It doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. It's light and it's dark. That's REAL life. Real life isn't just "srs bsns" all the time. It's not just murder and blood and sex all the time. Life is whatever the fuck you want to make of it. There is humor and fun and silliness all around the dark and dirty stuff. That's what makes life awesome.

If you had control over WoW's content, I wouldn't play it. A game that is literally only filled with dark, depressing and bloody isn't going to hold many people's attentions for too long. There's gotta be some fun and silliness in it too. After all, you are playing a GAME. But maybe you've forgotten that over the years. That is this a game. As in, a GAME.

[stumpy]

well said.

I don't know why the childishness of the game is denied constantly by the very players who like the game. Are they embarrassed that they like a childish game? I think they should come out and say MOP is childish and I still like it ot even I like it because it is so childish. That would be honest.

Sorry to break it to you, but I haven't seen a remotely "childish" quest since Valley of the Four Winds, which was five zones ago.

But if you'd like, we can talk about "more cowbell" jokes and quests to release people who've accidentally locked themselves in outhouses.

[Destil]

Sorry to break it to you, but I haven't seen a remotely "childish" quest since Valley of the Four Winds, which was five zones ago.

But if you'd like, we can talk about "more cowbell" jokes and quests to release people who've accidentally locked themselves in outhouses.

I found as you progressed through each zone, the lighter side of Pandaria fell into darkness, culminating in the Dread Wastes which, obviously, is the center of the darkness consuming Pandaria in 5.0.

That was the theme I really liked for the story as we levelled.

[Decklan]

Too bad the story is buried so deep in the cheezeball pandas and monkey army that's it's really hard to get into. Rescuing Taylor doesn't seem as dramatic when you have to fight monkey throwing crap at you. WoW has always had it's "funny" moments but in this particular expansion it seems to be main theme that overrides the dark story beneath.

I suppose to some people, something that "seems" funny and childish will always be funny and childish to them, no matter how mature it proves itself to be. Oh well, their loss. If you consider monkeys funny no matter what, then that's your perogative, but that's your opinion and all it will ever be.

[Chickat]

Very nice read.

[stumpy]

I found as you progressed through each zone, the lighter side of Pandaria fell into darkness, culminating in the Dread Wastes which, obviously, is the center of the darkness consuming Pandaria in 5.0.

That was the theme I really liked for the story as we levelled.

I think I actually found the Townlong Steppes to be a more somber zone overall, what with the Fire Camp Osul/Suna Silentstrike storyline and the hopeless defense of the wall.

Of course, that only lasts until the all-powerful hero shows up to save the day. I really think Blizzard needs to let the player "lose" more often during the story (like in Vashj'ir), but I suppose then the playerbase would start bickering about how one faction or the other lost worse and it wasn't fair, rabble rabble rabble.

[Arewn]

Panda's aren't for kids.
The explicit image of Kung fu pandas within North American (and presumably European) society ARE images associated with and appealing towards kids though.

The problem with the pandas is and has always been a problem with how the game is being marketed and presented to its audience. Its a clear throw out by Blizzard to appeal to a younger audience (and to the Asian market).

It's real nice that the underlying plot is deep and dark, but that's not what's being refereed to with "MoP is 4 kidz and farmville and kung fu pandaz are for 12 year olds. "

[Destil]

I think I actually found the Townlong Steppes to be a more somber zone overall, what with the Fire Camp Osul/Suna Silentstrike storyline and the hopeless defense of the wall.

Of course, that only lasts until the all-powerful hero shows up to save the day. I really think Blizzard needs to let the player "lose" more often during the story (like in Vashj'ir), but I suppose then the playerbase would start bickering about how one faction or the other lost worse and it wasn't fair, rabble rabble rabble.

This war is entirely about that, but I do tend to write stories where the Hero loses, yet wins from that loss.

Happens in a lot of my own stories.

I find loss to be greater than actual victory.

[Shampro]

I cant belive trolls still use ''the lols pandas are for kidszz roflzz'' thing, even after months the xpac has been out. Its like they actually dont pay attention to what is goin on around them, well what can you expect from these people.

[Destil]

I cant belive trolls still use ''the lols pandas are for kidszz roflzz'' thing, even after months the xpac has been out. Its like they actually dont pay attention to what is goin on around them, well what can you expect from these people.

I don't even think they're trolls at this point.

I think Blizzard just literally killed their puppy and thus they hate them for it. No matter what they do, they can't please them.

[Mechazod]

What about the very idea of recruiting a monkey army?

We battled enraged monkeys on the Lost Isles and the goblins (unless I am mistaken) even "recruited" some of them to work their mines.

What about the big enemy of a zone being farm rodents?

What about the kobolds and snobolds? Heck if we want to get older what about the Bunny men from Warcraft 3? The virmen are pretty much in the same niche as the murlocs/gorlocs/wolvar/pygmys/gilgoblins anyway. Besides the virmen are only the main threat for the first section of the valley. Once you reach Halfhill you really don't encounter them unless you are doing dailies there.

What about helping Pandas brew beer?

What about helping out in Nesingwary Base Camp in Sholazar to make booze? What about the entire culture of the dwarven people in general? What about all the countless references to beer through quests/items/dialogue from previous content? Also unless I am mistaken there was a quest in the old pre-cata Westfall that had you helping a dwarf gather materials to make some beer, in fact it may of been a small chain of quests. Also: BREWFEST

What about tending a farm?

A small optional set of dailies that takes less then five minuets to do and lets you own a farm and grow items is out of place? How is that anymore kiddy then having your big hulking bad ass of a character go to a barbershop or perform all of the ridiculous holiday event quests?

What about.... Pandas making jokes all the time. Have you seen their animations and language?

What about every race ever having quests, dances, jokes and other silly elements added to them?
You have some pandaren who make some small jokes in their text or quest info, but then on the flip side you have races like the gnomes and goblins that have actual entire quest chains and even areas that are pretty much made to be big jokes. Closest thing to a real joke outside of text (that I can remember) was the Yak-Wash in Kun-Lai, and really that's rather tame compared to some of the other joke areas the other races have. Anything else besides that (like the hozen crap grenades) has already been done before in a quest or is really minor compared to past stuff.


Also take this into consideration:

This is the only time in an expansion that we were able to really explore a new land without needing to hunt down a major threat right away.
-Burning Crusade: Demons attack, we need to push them back into Outland and stop them there.
-Wrath: The Scourge has tried to unleash a zombie plague across the world, we need to go to Northrend and kill the Lich King once and for all.
-Cata: Deathwing has burst out of the core of the planet and destroyed large portions of it. We need to travel to these now ravaged lands and eventually find a way to prevent the end of the world.

Now for MoP we don't have a major threat right away, we discover the entire continent by accident. The first couple areas is just us exploring a new land, getting to understand its inhabitants and slowly learn about what new threats are contained there. Then by the time you reach the end game areas most of that sense of just wandering around is over and its back to serious business as usual fighting off the new threats, and along with that most of the light hearted elements vanish as well in those areas. Next patch we get back into the full swing of things and need to battle a real threat that we have now learned about.