Pandaren Join World Of Warcraft In Next Expansion

[nezroy]

and even manage to facilitate a baffling reference to Disney's Gummi Bears cartoon via their resistance to falling damage.

That's a reference to Kung-Fu Panda, not Gummi Bears.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

World of Kung Fu Panda

Only if they get jack black to voice all the pandas will it be worth it.

This. I played the game when it was first released for about a year or so, then stopped.
I got back into it at the end of last year for a few months, then stopped again.

But so help me god, if I can play as a kung-fu panda voiced by Jack Black, I will find a way to pay that lifetime subscription fee.

 

[antidonkey]

Grrrr.

I'm quite intrigued but I don't know if it's enough to get me to reactivate my account. I'm tempted to re-up for a month or two but that's how they get you!

After having played this damn game for close to 6 years, I'm glad to finally be done with it.

 

[tmande2nd]

Hey...you got Kung Fu Panda and Pokemon all over my Warcraft!
LAME.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Pokémon... lame?
Sir, you have earned my wrath.

---
I honestly don't understand the mindset of the 'vocal minority' who play WoW. They ask for things to do and ways to progress your character outside of raiding, and a greater focus on the Horde/Alliance war, and when they get given exactly that they whine and *****.

 

[faefrost]

Somehow in all the railing, raving and gnashing of teeth over the 'OMG PANDA'S!!! HOW COULD THEY" we fail to ask the most basic questions that we as gamers should be asking.

Does it look or sound fun? Regardless of whether it is serious or silly or has some pop culture movie reference or whatever. Does the though of a rotund furry Monk throwing out some bare handed kung fu moves sound like something that would be fun or interesting game play in a MMO? Does taking all those collected vanity pets and pitting them against each other in a twisted virtual cockfight sound like it might have some game play merit?

Right now I'm thinking that an ass kicking kung fu monk tooling around a gorgeous looking asian themed panda landscape looks like it might be a blast. And certainly a lot more visually appealing then someplace like Firelands or similar "big bad land".

 

[PunkRex]

I called it! When all the WoW "know-hows" said picking your faction at the end of a Pandaren starting area was stupid, and not even worthy of consdieration, I stood by my suggestion, and I WAS RIGHT! Also, WoW Pokémon battles sounds so fucking rad.

My Singing Sunflowers gonna claim Azeroth as its new overlord. LalalaLa.

 

[A-D.]

So now they are adding Pandaren?..Where's my Naga as playable Race then? Im still waiting.

 

[laggyteabag]

By the time this comes out Guild Wars 2 should have already been released, and Guild Wars 2 is F2P, so why anyone would pick Pandas over F2P i dont know

 

[cefm]

So will Druid Bear tanks now get a minor glyph changing their appearance to look like a panda?

 

[Truniron]

Yay :-D! Pandaren is finally he- wait a second. Only one race? If they still have a race to announce, I hope they will do choose something awesome, cool or interesting. Otherwise, I would love, love, love, LOVE, to see the Naga as a playable race. Been my favorite since Warcaft III the Frozen Throne. Will it be awesome or will it be musty mustard? Will buy and try this before I judge it.

 

[SangRahl]

I'm out... I'm out... I'm never going back...
But, if they make the Monk Class available to more races like, say, Goblins... Oh, I'd be hard pressed to not return for a little while. I mean, I already have the name Thaco taken on my family's server, and I'll have to reroll, anyways. (Yeah, I'm a pretty big 'Goblins' fan.)

Add in Cataclysm changing the world from how I left it, and I think I could keep from getting bored for a good 2-3 months... But, once I did, I'd be back to days of regret and apologetic groveling to my wife, and I really don't want to go through that again.

At least she accepts my PS3 game budget as better than having to deal with a monthly subscrition on top of expansion purchases...

 

[Clonekiller]

As funny and potentially interesting the idea is, anyone who doesn't get the Pandaren warcraft III joke will look at this and say "what the... Kung Fu Pandas in Warcraft?" Seems a little more interesting than a dragon with a superman chin, but still... Oh well.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I'm out... I'm out... I'm never going back...
But, if they make the Monk Class available to more races like, say, Goblins... Oh, I'd be hard pressed to not return for a little while. I mean, I already have the name Thaco taken on my family's server, and I'll have to reroll, anyways. (Yeah, I'm a pretty big 'Goblins' fan.)

Add in Cataclysm changing the world from how I left it, and I think I could keep from getting bored for a good 2-3 months... But, once I did, I'd be back to days of regret and apologetic groveling to my wife, and I really don't want to go through that again.

At least she accepts my PS3 game budget as better than having to deal with a monthly subscrition on top of expansion purchases...

I already posted my two cents... but the Monk is going to be on every Race except for Goblins and Worgen. So, you have nothing to complain about.

 

[LJJ1991]

People are bashing this way too much. The pandaren have been in the lore, before (yes, they were there BEFORE Kung-Fu Panda came out). Sure, they weren't a big part, but they were there. Not to mention, this brings in the Monk class, which is going to be awesome. I've been waiting for WoW to incorporate some eastern civilization aspects, other than the architecture of the Night Elves, and this is going to be a great way to do it. Not only is Blizzard going to be able to explore another WORLD CULTURE in a way that inspires awe (Seriously, have you guys ever looked into how much research they do on cultures, when they base a race off of them? It's a lot.) but Blizzard is going to be able to create another amazing world (look at the screenshots and videos, they're beautiful). I'm looking forward to this, whether I play it or not.

Oh, and about the pet battles... I want to be a Pokepet Master.

 

[jcg]

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 love how people are drawing the line at Pandaren monks. Gnome (who had less lore than pandaren in vanilla WoW) no problem. Cows that walk upright, hey that's normal. Holy cows, well ofcourse. Keal'thas's return, yeah that happens more often. WoW in Space!, yeah sure. Murlocs, Gurlocs and furbolgs are normal too.

Pandaren, OMGWTFBBQ WHAT IS THIS FOR RIDICULOUS STUFF.

I don't play wow atm, but why are Pandaren seen are ridiclous while the rest of the fantasy world of Azeroth is accepted?

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

Pokémon... lame?
Sir, you have earned my wrath.

---
I honestly don't understand the mindset of the 'vocal minority' who play WoW. They ask for things to do and ways to progress your character outside of raiding, and a greater focus on the Horde/Alliance war, and when they get given exactly that they whine and *****.

Well, progression outside of raiding doesn't exist. Everything they've created thus far gives out loot that's vastly inferior to anything you can get in raids. Hell, in BC, I remember being an engineer and crafting those awesome goggles that could last me clear until Black Temple. Ever since Wrath, however, EVERY piece of craftable gear that you didn't have to enter a raid zone to get was typically on par with or worse than the first tier of raid content. Other than that, Archaeology, Factions, Questing, nothing gives you anything of real worth compared to raid gear anymore.

Also, in regard to things to do, what have they really added? PvE Scenarios, which we haven't really seen what rewards they offer, Dungeon "Challenges" which only really entice achievement whores and whoever else is into that sort of thing, and Pokémon...and let's be honest. Would you rather see a Pokémon MMO be realized by Blizzard or by Nintendo? That's what I thought. It aggravates those of us who have wanted a literal Pokémon MMO for so long, only for someone else to launch the idea before Nintendo.

And lastly, WHY do people want to see a greater focus on the Horde/Alliance War??? WHY are these people still fighting? It's like the narrator for this new xpac says. They've braved this world's greatest foes, traveled to another world, stopped an undead legion, and braved the near destruction of their world. WHY DO THEY STILL NEED TO KILL ONE ANOTHER?! Sorry to jump on the hippie peace wagon, but god damn, I have never seen a more senseless war. And honestly, there'd be no point to it if not for the leaders in charge. Varian hates the Horde like the KKK hates black people (I swear, that is ALL I see out of him, just uneducated hate after uneducated hate), NONE of the other Alliance leaders, AFAIK, have really shown any indication that they have any clear hatred towards any Horde race specifically, and from what I've played in the Horde, The Trolls just want their home back, the Blood Elves have their Sunwell back, so they're pretty happy, the Goblins just want to build shit, and Thrall, before he left, and Hamuul, before he died, BOTH wanted peace rather than endless fighting. This whole global-scale war just doesn't have a point, IMHO, other than "because fans apparently want it."

 

[Rolf]

Meh. might be good but im not jumping and screaming with joy just yet.
I still hope that there will be a emerald dream expansion one day.

 

[Tiscolfo]

What's a Pandaren, you ask? Originally, the Pandaren started as something of a gag character. Prior to the release of WarCraft 3, Blizzard issued an April Fool's Day joke claiming the Pandaren would be the game's fifth playable race. Likewise, in 2005, the company announced that "Pandaren Xpress," an in-game food delivery service, would be opening in World of Warcraft. Again, this was an April Fools' Day gag.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Pandaren have always been in the Warcraft lore, way before these april fools jokes. The people getting all uppity about it really don't seem to know their lore that well (hell I don't even know it well, but I knew this).

ninja'd PANDA BREWMASTER >.>

 

[ogrebushi]

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.

Its still going to get min/maxed only even less choices. I miss my old damn big ass tree tat wasnt optimal but big enough i could hide some of the sub optimal stuff by saying FU and showing pretty damn good on the dps meter. I miss my undead spec dk tank.