Monks and culture melding in azeroth

[Trassk]

This is something I find, given thought, a bit of a oddity on blizzards part when concerning the lore, the races and the introduction of monks into the game.

Now take every race in wow and think about there history, backstory. Things like how orcs lived on draenor and had shamans as spiritual advisors and leaders, and how warlocks came into there culture by the legions influence and gul'dan's manipulation.
Think about how paladins came into being in the alliance first, how they were once priests who became warriors of light to fight against the horde, and then later how blood elves took the power of a narru and turned it into something they use to fight with, or even the tauren who discover another form of druidism in sunwalkers.
Or take the reason why all forsaken and there classes lorewise will also have a sinister edge to it, like shadow priests and warlocks, and how the they can't be paladins because of the holy light burning them up.

And then.. take monks. This is where the lore takes an unusual direction. With no cultural reason and no background other then what the pandaren did, all races (except worgen and goblins for some silly reason) suddenly just adopt monk-hood like its always been part of there culture, with no real story to back it up, and thats just acceptable?

Even deathknights have a proper reason why all could be them, whatever someone was before becomes meaningless when Arthas raised them as undead warriors.

Perhaps I find it, slightly gimmicky when all it has to back it, is a travelling pandaren showing up in starting zones saying 'hey, you want to be a monk?'. Its even more weird when a pandaren just happened to be wandering around an uncharted island on his own when he see's the exodar crash there and then invites drarenei to learn his ways.

Pandaren are the only ones who make sense in this, since starting on the wandering isle there culture is based upon monk teachings.

[Korrah]

I also think it's a huge miss :/
Even tho my monk was orginally a Draenei ( because I wanted to be an auchindoun monk, lol) but changed to human because gear looks better on them. (Female, both of them.)
And then there is the scarlet monks.
But other then that, they just feel ... forgotten

[Reyzzz]

Draenei DK makes perfect sense I agree.

/sarcasm off

[Kilpi]

Draenei DK makes perfect sense I agree.

/sarcasm off

I don't see why it doesn't. They can't be resurrected with necromantic powers? I know they are awesome, but come on...

[Bitehattori]

Draenei DK makes perfect sense I agree.

/sarcasm off

Draenei DKs and normal DKs have similar eyes, so you could say Draenei DKs are battlemages...with out the ghoul.

[Skytotem]

It was dumb, Draenei had monks at Auchinodon, there were human monks ages ago, orcs likely had some kind of martial order, same with trolls...

They didn't need to graft 'pandaren' onto all of them, they could've just had one talent tree be the 'pandaren' stuff (Brewmaster) and then we could have the other two blend various other races practices.

[Florena]

While most races can be monks, I don't see it as really impacting their cultures much. Sure, there are SOME non pandaren monks, but lore wise they seem to be almost exclusively Pandaren. There are a few non pandaren masters at the Peak of Serenity, we don't see much beyond say the Scarlet Monestary.

Monk trainers? All pandaren. Monk npc heroes? All pandaren. The only non pandaren monk npcs I've even seen in the game are a few individual people at the Peak of Serenity. To say that pandaren monks have had a huge impact on human, dwarf, orc or night elf culture I think would be false. It's just select individuals choosing to pursue that path.

The way I see it is individual people finding themselves drawn to the monk way of life for various reasons, rather than it really affecting their home cultures.

---------- Post added 2013-02-12 at 02:01 PM ----------

Draenei DK makes perfect sense I agree.

/sarcasm off

What, just because someone is a draenei they can't be killed by the Scourge in the plaguelands and raised to serve as a death knight by the lich king? The only DK races that make no sense are worgen/goblins and that's only because they raise timeline inconsistencies.

EDIT: The only exception is the scarlet monestary monks, but they're a pretty minor and isolated example, cut off from the cultures of the alliance and horde, and even then only a small amount of them were learning monkdom from their master there.

I'll also grant that there are some timeline issues, especially in the BC zones, but that would be the case with any new class really unless they revamped the old zones yet again. I've just grown to accept these timeline issues as a neccisary evil of the MMO genre.

[iscalio]

The only DK races that make no sense are worgen/goblins and that's only because they raise timeline inconsistencies.

No they don't. Death knight goblins are Steamwheedle goblins, death knight worgen used to be servants of Arugal. The starting zone is very clear about that. They only end up joining the Horde/Alliance because they offer them a home.

[Florena]

No they don't. Death knight goblins are Steamwheedle goblins, death knight worgen used to be servants of Arugal. The starting zone is very clear about that. They only end up joining the Horde/Alliance because they offer them a home.

The issue comes from the fact that the DK starting zone takes place in a very specific point in time, unlike some other starting zones that have a more vague feel, and at the end you're sent to join the Horde and Alliance... at a time when there WERE no goblins or worgen in the horde/alliance, and you're still treated as a fallen hero of the horde/alliance. It's the same thing as pandaren in the draenei starting zone, which also is set in a fairly specific point of time, where it's 'lol they were here all along!' It's largely best to just overlook these inconsistencies, but it doesn't mean they're not there.

[SilentSneakz]

I think they look nice in shadow pan hats.

[Fohawkz]

Although I do agree that it does seem a bit forced - it isn't any more forced than Tauren Paladins. The lore tying the monk teachings into each race is "scotch-tapped" on for gameplay purposes, and yet I just accepted it as it was by filling in some of the unspoken gaps with my own perceptions of how it played out.

DK's had a bit of a different introduction as a new "hero" class, and because they were technically dead heroes that were brought back and trained in the ways of a deathknight, it made sense that they started at level 55.

Monks, on the other hand, all start at level 1, regardless of race. In MoP, a lot of events happen over a relatively short period of time. Monks of the Wandering Isle have landed on Azeroth, and part of them lending their strength to the Alliance and Horde respectively, is to teach the races the ways of the monk and how to harness their inner chi.

It doesn't seem too far fetched that as part of their agreement to join either faction, the leaders asked representatives of both the Huojin and Tuishi styles to go to the "starting areas" of each race, and to offer new, fresh recruits (aka level 1's) if they would like to learn the ways of the monk. Each race starts at level 1, so their training continues as they journey through Azeroth.

I admit, the timeline of questing has been disrupted since the revamped zones. You essentially are leveling through the present time line, and then go back in time for Outlands, and Northrend (Lich King pops up and taunts you while questing even though he's dead). But the only races that START within their own isolated time bubble are Goblins and Worgen. When you start the game as a Worgen, the gate that blocks Gilneas from the rest of Azeroth is still up, and therefore it would make no sense for a Pandaren to appear behind the gate and offering to teach you the ways of the monk....heck, you're just getting the hang of controlling your inner beast at that point.

Regardless of my rant, OP, I understand what your concerns are, and though I partially agree with you, I have come to accept that it doesn't seem all too farfetched - if you put a little creative spin to it