Pandaren Join World Of Warcraft In Next Expansion

[Taunta]

I used to play WoW, left at the beginning of Cataclysm because I was pretty much "over" WoW. Am I weird for not being excited by this at all?

No?
You've stopped playing, you've had your fill. The game is going to remain much the same; click button, things die.

I'm curious, is the talent system really in need of another revamp? I've been gone from the game for 6 months, but it seemed to work really well. It's just barely been redone and they're messing with it again.

The idea is that, whilst the idea behind talent trees is a way to customise your character, the reality is you go to ElitistJerks and just pick whatever it tells you is best.
With the new change, you still choose your desired role at lv10 and receive role-defining abilities, and continue to learn your skills as you level.
The new talent trees are essentially perks now, that give you skills for survival, utility, crowd control and the like to choose from. The idea is that they aren't really subject to minmaxing, but one talent might be more viable at any one time than the others.

It sounds like Blizzard is chasing the dragon to me, then. If there is any significant amount of customization available in the talent trees, there will always be an "Optimal Build" for warrior tanking, for example.

Not necessarily. Let me give an example:

Warrior Talents at level 15:

Juggernaut: You can charge every 12 sec instead of every 20 sec

Double Time: You can use charge twice before incurring its cooldown.

Warbringer: Your charge also roots a target for X sec.

All of which are beneficial, but all depend on what your playstyle is. You can only pick one.

 

[Frost27]

I have been saying since release that he game needed a martial arts class... Damnit and I finally quit too.

 

[Holyeskimo]

Seriously, lame. Whats next, Blizz giving into demands for a Unicorn race?

I don't know if i hate you for giving my brain the words it needed to start creating and processing the image of an anthropomorphic unicorn race or my brain for actually doing it

OT. I think this might pull me back in long enough to try it out, i'd be more annoyed by this if the whole faster releasing of expansion thing didn't pretty much state that they'd be doing what is basically just giant frakin patch's. I got one TRH on the next one being about the Emerald Dream.

 

[marurder]

Meh, it was always going to happen, but I am interested to see the Chinese Govts' reaction to all of this. Chinese WOW has always lagged behind everywhere else because of retarded regulation and protectionist policies for Chinese MMORPG's.

 

[Mausthemighty]

Ok. Now it's official. I'm not buying anything from Blizzard until the Heart of the Swarm comes out. It was fun being in Azeroth those few years, but now I'm NEVER returning there... Pandaren kung-fu monks? Come on. That's ridiculous.

 

[Archemetis]

the World of Warcraft Pandaren can be either Horde or Alliance,

So, either they're going to have a gaping continuity hole here with Alliance and Horde Pandarens being unable to understand each other, or will the pandaren language be cross-faction?

I mean, its bad enough with the Forsaken/Common thing they have going on, but at least they have (the admittedly paper-thin) excuse of Gutterspeak and anti-living counterculture.

And also, they're redoing talents again?

And the one thing that just kills me here is that I know they're not going to update the old character models, and Pandaria is really pretty and a dwarf, human or tauren with their lower-poly models, equipment textures mapped to their models in unflattering ways and their textures that are from a style completely different to contemporary WoW will just stand out as looking like they're from a completely different game...

I mean they updated half of Azeroth. Why can't they at least update the hair textures to look more consistent?

/art gamer geek rant

Adding monks and pandas? Blizzard really want their subscribers back. Honestly, I really wish monks came out when I was still playing. My poor Enhancement Shaman alt was always kicking sand in the dps department (this was at some point in Wrath I think) and I love hand-to-hand characters. Unless they do a free trial of the expansion (which I don't think is something they ever do) I'll pass. I've been clean too long and ToR is coming out sooner, which I am praying sucks because I don't have time to play it and I don't want everyone to have a bunch of fun without me

I believe they do do this, actually. And I think they also offer a free week of gameplay for your current expansion to try to get you back. Or at least they used to.

At the open Q&A they said that they're working on new models for old races, it's a delicate issue because if they suddenly just update then about half the serverbase worldwide will be thirsting for the designers blood, they have to make sure everything appealing to everyone, they're not just updating with one new skin and skeletal structure, they're making varying skin tones, different faces, new hair styles it all takes time.

They also said they'd be bumping these models up to Pandaren standard, so it won't be much longer.

 

[Jake the Snake]

Motherfuckin' Pandas? Hell. Yes. I am in full support of this move by Blizzard. Besides, they've painfully needed a martial arts class for a long time. Too bad I hate MMOs.

 

[Coreless]

Ok. Now it's official. I'm not buying anything from Blizzard until the Heart of the Swarm comes out. It was fun being in Azeroth those few years, but now I'm NEVER returning there... Pandaren kung-fu monks? Come on. That's ridiculous.

I'm with you on this, I find the idea of the next WoW expansion an absolute joke and extremely ridiculous. The only blizzard game I have any interest in buying anymore is the Heart of the Swarm, at they still take this story seriously and are willing to make it better not worse. Sorry but pandas?...really? What is the deal with taking the entire idea behind Pokemon and putting it in the game? They aren't even trying to cover up that they can't make up ideas of their own and just blatantly steal it from other games. Sorry but collecting Pokemon vanity pets and playing with pandas was cool when I was 10...not when I'm 27.

 

[hannan4mitch]

If the Monk class gets a "Flurry of Blows"-esque ability, I will lol. Hard.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

They're really PANDARING to their fans, eh?

I'm so funny.

 

[LetalisK]

I used to play WoW, left at the beginning of Cataclysm because I was pretty much "over" WoW. Am I weird for not being excited by this at all?

No?
You've stopped playing, you've had your fill. The game is going to remain much the same; click button, things die.

I'm curious, is the talent system really in need of another revamp? I've been gone from the game for 6 months, but it seemed to work really well. It's just barely been redone and they're messing with it again.

The idea is that, whilst the idea behind talent trees is a way to customise your character, the reality is you go to ElitistJerks and just pick whatever it tells you is best.
With the new change, you still choose your desired role at lv10 and receive role-defining abilities, and continue to learn your skills as you level.
The new talent trees are essentially perks now, that give you skills for survival, utility, crowd control and the like to choose from. The idea is that they aren't really subject to minmaxing, but one talent might be more viable at any one time than the others.

It sounds like Blizzard is chasing the dragon to me, then. If there is any significant amount of customization available in the talent trees, there will always be an "Optimal Build" for warrior tanking, for example.

Not necessarily. Let me give an example:

Warrior Talents at level 15:

Juggernaut: You can charge every 12 sec instead of every 20 sec

Double Time: You can use charge twice before incurring its cooldown.

Warbringer: Your charge also roots a target for X sec.

All of which are beneficial, but all depend on what your playstyle is. You can only pick one.

Huh. That...actually looks like it could work. I was under the impression that you can either have a meaningful system, which means there would end up being one ultimately meaningful build, or a system where everything is arbitrary, and thus all the choices are ultimately pointless. But if the rest of the talents are like that, I can see it working. Now I'm kinda interested again.

 

[Taunta]

I used to play WoW, left at the beginning of Cataclysm because I was pretty much "over" WoW. Am I weird for not being excited by this at all?

No?
You've stopped playing, you've had your fill. The game is going to remain much the same; click button, things die.

I'm curious, is the talent system really in need of another revamp? I've been gone from the game for 6 months, but it seemed to work really well. It's just barely been redone and they're messing with it again.

The idea is that, whilst the idea behind talent trees is a way to customise your character, the reality is you go to ElitistJerks and just pick whatever it tells you is best.
With the new change, you still choose your desired role at lv10 and receive role-defining abilities, and continue to learn your skills as you level.
The new talent trees are essentially perks now, that give you skills for survival, utility, crowd control and the like to choose from. The idea is that they aren't really subject to minmaxing, but one talent might be more viable at any one time than the others.

It sounds like Blizzard is chasing the dragon to me, then. If there is any significant amount of customization available in the talent trees, there will always be an "Optimal Build" for warrior tanking, for example.

Not necessarily. Let me give an example:

Warrior Talents at level 15:

Juggernaut: You can charge every 12 sec instead of every 20 sec

Double Time: You can use charge twice before incurring its cooldown.

Warbringer: Your charge also roots a target for X sec.

All of which are beneficial, but all depend on what your playstyle is. You can only pick one.

Huh. That...actually looks like it could work. I was under the impression that you can either have a meaningful system, which means there would end up being one ultimately meaningful build, or a system where everything is arbitrary, and thus all the choices are ultimately pointless. But if the rest of the talents are like that, I can see it working. Now I'm kinda interested again.

Yeah I watched the presentation and I really think that this is going to work. There's only a couple rows out of all the classes that I think would create a dps difference, but of course everything is subject to change.

Here's another example:

Priest talents at level 60:

Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the caster for 30% of their total health. (Same DP as before)

Angelic Bulwark: Increases the effectiveness of your own shield effects on yourself by 30%.

Final Prayer: Anytime a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 20% of your total health lasting for 20 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.

Again, they all basically serve the same purpose as an OHSHIT button, it just depends on whether you want to take a more active approach, or prefer to not have another button on your toolbar.

 

[Roganzar]

Pandarens joining as a playable race? The new Monk class? WoW-style pokemon battles?

Dammit, I thought I had FINALLY quit WoW. But... I cannot resist this.

Well when they give a release date then I'll know when I will, inevitably, return to Azeroth.
Other than that, eh pokemon battle system minigame and obligitory Level Cap increase.
New Talent System (2:20)intrigues me, I would be interested to see what they do here.

 

[Byere]

So... How do you think it'll take till someone will snap up the name Po for a Pandarian Monk?

 

[crepesack]

I think it's just a way for blizzard to further tap into chinese markets. There's a WHOLE population of upcoming gamers has china becomes wealthier. I think they're just trying to make it more appealing to this generation of new "middle" class of people in asia.

 

[Alssadar]

I don't know whether I am liking this or not :I As much as I find this amusing, it just doesn't seem... right...
It just seems like a giant prank to me, as it doesn't seem to flow- a World in Chaos, opening the Demonic Plane, an Undead Invasion, now the World is collapsing, and then... Pandas...?

How the hell is Warcraft 4 going to turn out?

 

[Loop Stricken]

It just seems like a giant prank to me, as it doesn't seem to flow- a World in Chaos, opening the Demonic Plane, an Undead Invasion, now the World is collapsing, and then... Pandas...?

Well the point is that this expansion is all about the escalating war between the Alliance and Horde, something which people have been moaning for for years.
And when Blizzard does it, they hate them for it.

So basically the Cataclysm clears out the magical mystery mist from Pandaria, which has been hidden for more than ten thousand years.
Alliance and Horde naval battle, they come across the island and like they do in Vashj'ir, start fighting for control of it.

 

[DaJoW]

I used to play WoW, left at the beginning of Cataclysm because I was pretty much "over" WoW. Am I weird for not being excited by this at all?

No?
You've stopped playing, you've had your fill. The game is going to remain much the same; click button, things die.

I'm curious, is the talent system really in need of another revamp? I've been gone from the game for 6 months, but it seemed to work really well. It's just barely been redone and they're messing with it again.

The idea is that, whilst the idea behind talent trees is a way to customise your character, the reality is you go to ElitistJerks and just pick whatever it tells you is best.
With the new change, you still choose your desired role at lv10 and receive role-defining abilities, and continue to learn your skills as you level.
The new talent trees are essentially perks now, that give you skills for survival, utility, crowd control and the like to choose from. The idea is that they aren't really subject to minmaxing, but one talent might be more viable at any one time than the others.

It sounds like Blizzard is chasing the dragon to me, then. If there is any significant amount of customization available in the talent trees, there will always be an "Optimal Build" for warrior tanking, for example.

Not necessarily. Let me give an example:

Warrior Talents at level 15:

Juggernaut: You can charge every 12 sec instead of every 20 sec

Double Time: You can use charge twice before incurring its cooldown.

Warbringer: Your charge also roots a target for X sec.

All of which are beneficial, but all depend on what your playstyle is. You can only pick one.

Huh. That...actually looks like it could work. I was under the impression that you can either have a meaningful system, which means there would end up being one ultimately meaningful build, or a system where everything is arbitrary, and thus all the choices are ultimately pointless. But if the rest of the talents are like that, I can see it working. Now I'm kinda interested again.

Wowhead already has a talent calc [http://www.wowhead.com/mists-of-pandaria-talent-calculator] for preliminary talents, if you want to check things out.

OT: Sounds fun to me, will be interesting to be able to play a new class as it's introduced.