Mists of Pandaria Asian Chinese style expansion

[Rhyder]

First off just stating my opinion so no one feel personally attacked,


I've played a lot of Warcraft 3 in my childhood, a lot, and frozen throne literally was my whole childhood until WoW hit and pandaren weren't really relevant, neither was any Asian theme. The only glimpse we had of pandaren was a neutral mercenary hero brew master. All in all it's just not my taste, and doesn't mesh well with WoW and it's passed expacs.

Unfortunately, my view of WoW isn't everyone's :P

I agree with you mate, this expansion is not Wow at all in terms of art style. Too many pop culture gimmicks as well. It's the main reason I loggin once a week now. Doesn't feel like a wow game at all.
Just holding out for the next expac.

[Deleted]

I don't like how they based on entire continent on Asian/Chinese style, I agree its irritating.

Inb4 Northrend = viking themed, only Howling Ford and Storm Peaks are.

Agree with this. They went way OTT with the theme, which has very little place in wow (as we told you all along blizz).

Go fly around Northrend or Outlands, you'll be a ughhhh sad panda.

[Thelxi]

I like it but I don't love it. Blizzard did a really good job with details and zone design though, kinda bringing back the distinct feel that both BC and wrath had, and cata lacked.

[Deleted]

Are you a fan of Asian style expansion? To me atleast the chines style very irritating. Dont really like to play in Pandaria. Only playing alts and some lvl 90 pvp. The chines are just so not fitting to wow.

Are you some butt-hurt turk or japanese lol?

[Deleted]

I dont see the problem, every expansion has been "based" on a different culture (except Cata, but thats because they didnt focus too much on Gilnean/Goblin tematic more than the starting areas and 1-2 hubs out there)

I like MoP as it is right now, and i can kill Pandaren! :3

[Beefhammer]

Not sure what's especially oriental themed about Karasang, Dread wastes or Kunlai or townlong steppes.

Jade forest and the buildings in Eternal blossoms have an oriental theme but other than that it's not particularly noticeable.

Asia spans something like 49 countries including Russia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, as well as what most people think of when they think Asia, China and Japan. Townlong and Kun Lai are heavily based in ancient Asian cultures.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 12:22 PM ----------

Inb4 - Klaxxi/Zerg/Korean joke.

You listed most of Asia, save for one of the more prominent countries - JAPAN!

Where is the samurai armor? Where are Shinto priests and giant arches?

Not even close. All that was mentioned was western Asia. Primarily the "Oriental" countries.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 12:24 PM ----------

First off just stating my opinion so no one feel personally attacked,


I've played a lot of Warcraft 3 in my childhood, a lot, and frozen throne literally was my whole childhood until WoW hit and pandaren weren't really relevant, neither was any Asian theme. The only glimpse we had of pandaren was a neutral mercenary hero brew master. All in all it's just not my taste, and doesn't mesh well with WoW and it's passed expacs.

Unfortunately, my view of WoW isn't everyone's :P

It may not be your taste but it meshes very well with WoW.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 12:28 PM ----------

except its not...

I know right. There are easily 8 distinct and unique races in Pandaria and each one has their own style and architecture, fashion, and language. If it were all pandas all the time it would be a different story. Pandaria is arguably the most diverse expansion including Vanilla there is.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 12:36 PM ----------

Okay. Prove me wrong. Go to Northrend, and give me pictures of recurring architecture, at least 1 to 2 pictures from each zone (they must all be consistent in style).

Oh you can't? Try Outla... wait what? You can't do that either? How about on EK/KD, surly there must be some.. oh?! There's not? Well I'd never.

1, the Mogu constructed, through Pandaren slaves, pretty much every major structure in Pandaria, so you will see some commonalities. When the Pandaren overthrew the Mogu, and started their own civilizations it would be common for them to use the same style. While similar they are all different based on their cultures.
2, I do not see any other structures of the Jinyu, Hozen, Yaungol, or the god awful "lucky do's". There is a ton of variety you just chose to show off pics to fit your argument.

[Lord Pebbleton]

I extremely dislike it.

The zone.
The Asian theme.
The pandaren race.
The Asian style armor models.
The music.. Oh lord, first time I've put music settings to 0.

Asian theme does NOT fit wow. I can't wait for the next expac, and for wow to go back to its roots.



Edit - One of the few good things I have to say about this expac is it has reimbursed my love for TBC, as I've been in Outland a lot more now since pandaria disgusts me. Hellfire Peninsula is my new haven.

While i've never really liked TBC and i don't hate Pandaria so much, i have to agree with most of your points.

I like this expansion, but i think it would've been better with another central theme.
I don't like Pandaren. Not that i think they are childish, just i don't like them as a race.
Armor is awful. Yay trasmogrify!
I don't like the music either.

[Deleted]

How is it any different from the other styles in the game?

Because the other styles aren't 100% part of the expansion. I mean, it wasn't called Wrath of the Vrykul...

[Deleted]

I like it when different areas are inspired by real-life cultures/lands. I love how Worgen are victorian-era english - because heck, who doesn't like to see their ancestral heritage depicted as badass werewolves? I love how Tauren are native american, I love how Trolls are cuban, and I love how Pandaren and Pandaria are asian-themed. I personally adore the east, so this expansions' announcement was great for me.

"I'll get to play a victorian werewolf in an asian area? MY TWO GREATEST LOVES!"

[Kryos]

Well that's maybe because u are an asian?

I love the asian setting and I'm a German ginger... I think you are just a little bit xenophobic.
And about "this is not fitting".

This is 2003 artwork from Samwise - one year before WoW was released:


So it is part of the Warcraft lore and fits perfect.

[Sivick]

it's a breath of fresh air

[huth]

I agree with you mate, this expansion is not Wow at all in terms of art style. Too many pop culture gimmicks as well. It's the main reason I loggin once a week now. Doesn't feel like a wow game at all.
Just holding out for the next expac.

Uldum has more pop-culture gimmicks than the entirety of MoP. You're just making stuff up.

[Deleted]

I love the asian setting and I'm a German ginger... I think you are just a little bit xenophobic.
And about "this is not fitting".

This is 2003 artwork from Samwise - one year before WoW was released:


So it is part of the Warcraft lore and fits perfect.

Is that a Katana? Is he eating Sushi? Wasn't that around the time Samwise got heat for randomly mashing together unrelated cultures and stopped drawing pandas for a while?

Personally find the whole MoP approach aesthetically is pretty difficult to stomach. There's no Chinese anything, but there's an overbearing and very forced feeling of McChinese, and that rankles a lot. Place feels like a theme park, everything is plastic and would sound hollow if you knocked on it.

[killidan]

You clearly never started a Worgen with the sound on...

Virtually every Gilean has a British accent. The speech Prince Liam gives just before the Battle of Gilneas City is a mildly altered version of one Winston Church. Everything about the country of Gilneas is heavily based off Victorian England. There's a comic that takes it even further telling the background of Gilnean conflict and Worgen outbreak through the eyes of a Sherlock Holmes stand in.

P.S. I recommend the above mentioned comic if you like either sherlockian detective stories or want a good background story about Gilneas.
Link: http://www.wowpedia.org/World_of_War..._of_the_Worgen
P.S.S. Somewhere along the line this thread went off the rails a bit.

I never played a Worgen or Goblin. I raided first tier of Cata on my main and quit the game.

I was only referring to architecture in Gilneas and the looks of Worgen in general.

I assume you are right they have a British accent. I bet they don't have tea parties, marmite recipes, etc and they did not overwhelm the entire Cata expansion and all the zones and the story. Unlike Chinese and pandas in MOP.

[huth]

And you'd be wrong. Pandaren and china don't overwhelm every zone in MoP, either. Unless "are present to some, mostly minor, degree" is the new meaning of "overwhelm".

Each playable race is based on a real world culture, and Blizzard doesn't even pretend it to be otherwise.

Is that a Katana? Is he eating Sushi? Wasn't that around the time Samwise got heat for randomly mashing together unrelated cultures and stopped drawing pandas for a while?

Those are also his personal panda drawings, not Pandaren. That aside, no, that's not a katana, it has a straight blade.

[Anakonda]

I personally never was a big fan of Pandaria expansion - and this comes from a person who loves asian culture.

I dont know, it just doesnt seem to fit the game. And i dont like how they implemented it - the whole pandaria seems just like one giant Nagrand to me.

I absolutely LOVED Northrend. The howling fjord, the grizzly hills, even Icecrown and Storm Peaks - they had something that pandaria lacks severely. Atmosphere.

If i were to put expansions into order purely world design - wise, it would be:

Wrath -> TBC (zangarmarsh had a LOT of atmosphere) -> Vanilla -> Pandaria -> Cataclysm .

[Venziir]

For the 1000th time; MoP is not just China. There's Nepal, Cambodia, Korea, India, Japan and Tibet as well. Sigh.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 04:59 PM ----------

I don't like how they based on entire continent on Asian/Chinese style, I agree its irritating.

Inb4 Northrend = viking themed, only Howling Ford and Storm Peaks are.

Every zone in Northrend has something Viking inspired. Every. Zone.


Besides, dear Moderators, could we please close these threads? We have about 10+ of them every week, and they always end up the same way. 20+ pages of whining, flaming and bad grammar... And no one needs that.

[Deleted]

Pandaria fits perfectly into WoW, I'd say it fits much better than areas like Netherstorm or Borean Tundra/Howling Fjord which I personally find very out of place (the first) and stereotyped Norse stuff (the latter).

[Nekrus]

I never played a Worgen or Goblin. I raided first tier of Cata on my main and quit the game.

I was only referring to architecture in Gilneas and the looks of Worgen in general.

I assume you are right they have a British accent. I bet they don't have tea parties, marmite recipes, etc and they did not overwhelm the entire Cata expansion and all the zones and the story. Unlike Chinese and pandas in MOP.

So you expect to go to another continent devoid of any visitors of differing cultures for a thousand years and expect their architecture to fit in with the rest of Azeroth? That is the point of the expansion, everything is supposed to look dramatically different since there were no orcs or humans on pandaria. And as to the worgen, everyone who has played cata even back to the beta has been able to tell you that worgen are very much modeled after the English. Goblins were modeled after the east coast primarily New York and jersey. If you haven't noticed then you are very xenophobic or ignorant to other cultures.

[killidan]

This is 2003 artwork from Samwise - one year before WoW was released:

So it is part of the Warcraft lore and fits perfect.

With your incredible logic, if a blizzard artist was drawing Hello Kitty or penises one year before WoW was released, then Hello Kitty and penises are part of Warcraft lore and it fits perfect?

I invite you to think before you type and perhaps put more attention into making sense in what you claim.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 04:26 PM ----------

And you'd be wrong. Pandaren and china don't overwhelm every zone in MoP, either. Unless "are present to some, mostly minor, degree" is the new meaning of "overwhelm".

Each playable race is based on a real world culture, and Blizzard doesn't even pretend it to be otherwise.

Pandas do overwhelm, from lore to zones to quests to the names of the continent and even the expansion. An obscure race suddenly comes in and takes over the game for possibly two years is irritating.

Playable races used to be more subtle in their allusion to their real world counterparts, the pandas are more obvious as they come with "whole package", from panda the national animal to Chinese script to Chinese cooking to Chinese architecture to Chinese landscape to Chinese martial arts to Chinese music to Chinese quite a lot. Subtlety is gone because it is always easier to copy than get inspired and re-create and develop something unique.

What's in a name? Pandaria, Mists of Pandaria. No race named a continent or an expansion before. Panda dominance is undeniable and unlike that of any race in any previous expansion.