Is SL the first WoW expansion not hanging on WC2 & 3's coattails?

[Electryon]

WoW hasn't been riding on Warcraft 2 and 3's coattails since Arthas fell at the Frozen Throne. It's ridiculous to say otherwise. Claiming Tides of Darkness or Beyond the Dark Portal ever provided anything other than names is just stupidity, and would indicate you haven't really played those games.

[SirBeef]

Vanilla WoW had the largest amount of new lore not tied to the RTS games. Zones, cities, factions, planes of existence, dungeons, raids, races, and clashes were created to fully flesh out an entire world from tiny snippets innthe RTS games.

MoP would be next. Sure Chennwas in a bonus Prelude mission that, IIRC, you didn't need to even play. Not that it doesn't count or anything, just all we got from it was Chen and Pandaria.

SL would be the next one since none that existed when the RTSs were being made. SL may be the most original WoW expansion as pretty much nothing about it ties directly to the RTS, sure Sylvanas is why we are going there, but the theme has nothing to do with the RTS. At a bare minimum, Pandaria was mentioned in WC3, is there any SL or SL peoples, locations, or anything else mentioned at all in any WC game besides WoW?

If so them maybe it's not. I don't remember every line from every quest or every game manual story. But I'm pretty sure nothing ties into SL.

[Frostyfire14]

I am no lore buff so correct me if i'm wrong but wouldn't MOP be that?

Pandas existed in Vanilla wow. Lore wise.

[SirBeef]

Shows how much work and diverse inspiration went into designing Pandaria as a whole.
"Just China" just proves that certain people has a tendency to lump everyone and everything into one bunch with little thought.

Thanks for the summary btw, I had my suspicions about certain design elements but when you mention it it becomes obvious.

The just China people were misinformed then and just plain ignorant now. Just like this that say MoP is for kids. Some of the most mature stuff that happened in WoW happened in MoP. But all people got was Kung Fu Panda because they didn't pay attention.

[Pakheth]

The just China people were misinformed then and just plain ignorant now. Just like this that say MoP is for kids. Some of the most mature stuff that happened in WoW happened in MoP. But all people got was Kung Fu Panda because they didn't pay attention.

Pretty much, even when Pandaren predates Kung Fu Panda by quite a few years too. And not like the Pandaren are any more fluffy or silly than Tauren or Gnomes.

[Protean]

The just China people were misinformed then and just plain ignorant now. Just like this that say MoP is for kids. Some of the most mature stuff that happened in WoW happened in MoP. But all people got was Kung Fu Panda because they didn't pay attention.

Imagine living another 8 years from MoP release and still having the same perspective as back then.

These people are actively trying to stay ignorant just so they can stay hateful.

[ntlntl]

China eh? The yaungul were based on the mongol hordes, Krasarang was based around Cambodia, Kun-Lai was inspired by Nepal and Tibet. The Mantid vs Shado-Pan conflict was a spin on the White Walkers vs The Night's Watch from A Game of Thrones. The history of monk combat (slaves not being allowed weaponry) was based upon the origin of capoeira and finally there's Ra'den who is based upon a Japanese Thunder God.... So no, it's nost just "ChInA!".

wow, you know much.

[Amaterasu65]

I am no lore buff so correct me if i'm wrong but wouldn't MOP be that?

You stand correct. Though Chen and Pandaren in general were not a new concept, the whole lore of Pandaria (Pandaren, Mogu, Mantid and so on) was originally featured and expanded in MoP.

Shadowlands is the second expansion to feature original lore, at least from what we're getting piece by piece in the Alpha builds.