Poll: Mists of Pandaria - Why all the hate?

[Spectre4802]

I'm seeing a lot of people hating on WoW's new expansion, Mists of Pandaria.

Can't understand it, myself.

I've watched Blizzcon via a virtual ticket, and what I've seen of MoP so far is AWESOME. Super pumped about it.

I've seen most of the arguments both for and against Mists of Pandaria, and as much as I respect Blizzard and am excited about MoP, I can see where the haters are coming from. Sort of.

I just wanted to very quickly run through the biggest complaints I've seen thus far, and my counter-argument:

Spoiler

- PANDAS? Are you serious? This will ruin WoW.
+ I think Blizzard messed up when they announced (did they? I'm not a 100% sure) Pandaren as a joke race in the new expansion. That was a bad move, especially if they were planning on releasing it at a later stage. But as for the concept of anthropomorphic pandas, is that were we draw the line? Tauren and Worgen didn't seem to get much hate (as far as I'm aware, Tauren don't get any hate at all), so what's the problem with Pandaren?

Spoiler

- The new talent system is going to ruin WoW!
+ Seriously? The new talent system looks fucking kick-ass! What would you rather be - a Arms Warrior, a Fury Warrior, a Protection Warrior... or your own damn Warrior? Would you rather be fitted into a 'mold' and go online to check for the best build, or would you rather choose what you give your character to fit your playstyle? I know which one I want.

Spoiler

- POKEMON IN WoW? OMG, THIS-
+ Gonna stop you right there. I have to point out that the Pet Battle System (that's it's name, right?) if just like, say, the Love Is In The Air quests - it's there for people who want to do it, but if you don't want to, it's cool, you don't have to. WoW won't force players to do the whole Pet Battle System thing, just like the game doesn't force you to do the Love Is In The Air quests. I can see the "It's insulting that they would put something like this into my game" argument, but then again, they have fishing. Fishing, for christ sake - you sit there, waiting for your bobber to... bob, and then you maybe get a fish. And nobody has a problem with that, as far as I know.

Aaand... that's it? Those seem to be the big three.

This post asks a two part question; 1, How do you feel overall about MoP, and 2, Do you want to elaborate on the previous point, or say what you personally like/dislike about MoP?

I don't want the general WoW haters, you aren't welcome - this is for the players and enthusiasts, the people who recently left and those who are still going strong, NOT the people who never liked WoW in the first place.

 

[Zhukov]

Apparently the addition of anthropomorphic panda bears will ruin the serious, interesting and original setting of Warcra...

*snrrk*

WOAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaaaa.... ahhhh. Oh man, I almost managed to say that with a straight face.

Considering the stuff that is already in WoW, I find it hard to see why people would get upset about pandas. Tribal fish people? Awesome! Martial arts pandas? Ruined forever!

 

[klausaidon]

I have no problems with it. Not generally excited about it either. The way I see it, this expansion is somewhat a joke. Even Blizzard isn't all that serious about it. I think they know the game is coming to the end of the life, and rather slowly die out, they are releasing a expansion that is kinda a joke. I'm willing to bet, that the quests of Pandaria are gonna be REALLY funny, however will probably not be that deep, story wise. I'll probably get it, play it for a month or two to enjoy the new quest lines, maybe get my character up to the new max level, and move on. I don't see myself getting into any raids for it. I think I'll be to busy with Old Republic, which I think is probably gonna replace WoW, along with Blizzard's own Diablo III.

 

[RatRace123]

Apparently the addition of anthropomorphic panda bears will ruin the serious, interesting and original setting of Warcra...

*snrrk*

WOAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaaaa.... ahhhh. Oh man, I almost managed to say that with a straight face.

Considering the stuff that is already in WoW, I find it hard to see why people would get upset about pandas. Tribal fish people? Awesome! Martial arts pandas? Ruined forever!

Yeah, this my feeling. It's amazing to see where people will draw the line, cow people are fine, panda people... WHOA that I have trouble accepting.
Why are people so Pandacist?

I'm speaking as someone who doesn't play WoW though, so maybe giant pandas really do ruin the Warcraft mythology, I dunno.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Actually considering getting WoW because of it among other things.
Anyway most people are hating it because WoW is a very successful game and people are going to hate it because of that. Look at CoD.

 

[Hammartroll]

I think any fanboy's arguement is invalid because the Pandas, I bet, are ment to cater to the rather large female player base of WoW, because chicks love pandas.

EDIT- I agree with RatRace123, no one cares about cow people so what's wrong with panda people? I'd have to say that they're too cute and cuddly, but I dare you to find me one woman who hates the idea of having pandas in the game.

 

[The Madman]

A generic Asian themed MMO expansion where a kung-fu/ninja/samurai class is introduced is a mandatory part of every MMO's life-cycle, and it's pretty much always considered a low-point or part of a steady decline.

Frankly there are just so many more interesting things they could have done, places they could have explored much more integral to the games setting and story. In my mind it's just kinda stupid that *this* of all things is what they went with but whatever, I haven't seriously played WOW in years and really don't intend to come back anyway so it's no loss from Blizzard from me.

Still they might have gotten me back if they did something interesting. They aren't, and as a result I really don't much care.

 

[FeralDynasty]

I think the people who complain about the Pandaren are the same people who never played any Warcraft game with out World in the name. They think it comes entirely out of left field when in reality they are an old favorite (of mine and everyone I've talked to at least) that has finally returned. I'm tentatively excited, but I still need to get a job before I can start playing again so I'm not TOO pumped.

 

[NickCaligo42]

Oh for the love of--do I really have to pull this one out again, so soon?


Christ. If I see another "why all the hate" thread...

OT: Don't really care, but from what I understand people aren't so up in arms about the pandas as they are about changes that Blizzard has been making to the core gameplay since Cataclysm--generally for the worse. You know how there was all that buzz about the content, quest, and dungeon design taking a huge jump in quality? Well, as much better as that got, the basic systems design actually got that much worse. A lot of decision-making got taken out. Where you had to make effort at a spec and could try to make a build a little unique before, the game actually rigidly enforces a spec now. My understanding is that Mists of Pandaria threatens to make it even worse.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

I just wanted to be able to play the Tuskarr.

Oh, well, I'm ok with pandas. Seriously, though, this changes nothing in my opinion about WOW.

 

[xyrafhoan]

I think the problem is, Panderia would be pretty cool... if it wasn't going to be expansion that will at least shape the direction of WoW for a whole year. At LEAST. Unless the expansion has top notch execution all the way through (hint: it won't, because WoW players are never happy), people are going to be sick of the environment halfway through. Just how much content can you really hope to squeeze out of a bunch of drunken Panda monks?

This also marks an expansion that doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the major villains of Warcraft, though who knows.

No opinion on the new talent tree. It's impossible to judge until we see exactly how skills have been changed.

I don't know why anyone would really be upset about the pet thing. It at least gives pets a use outside of cosmetics, and it's not going to impact the important content at all.

 

[Wuggy]

Well, I don't play WoW anymore, and I don't plan to start, so in that regard I'm just sort of indifferent about it. However I do find it funny how people claim Blizzard jumped the shark when they bring out the Pandaren. I mean, seriously? Let me put it this way:

Dryad - Horse Deer Tree Man
Taunka - Ox Man
Tauren - Cow Man
Worgen - Wolf Man
Tuskarr - Walrus Man
Draenei - Space Goat Man
Magnataur - Horse Elephant Man
Furbolg - Bear Man
Murloc - Fish Man
Arakkoa - Bird Man... thing
Kobold - Candle loving rat man

And now people have a problem with the "Panda Man"? Yeah, 'cause that obviously doesn't belong in there.

 

[Mourning_Star]

The talent system would be so awesome, if it wasn't so fucking boring. One talent every FIFTEEN levels? You can't be "your own damn Warrior" if all you have is a total of six talents each from a group of three.

Spoiler

Plus, you also still would be an Arms/Protection/Fury Warrior, you just would get those six talents to choose from.

Blizzard has been continually making WoW more and more boring, getting rid of hybrid classes was a terrible move, and so will this new talent system.

 

[R Man]

I think part of the problem is that Pandaren were essentially a joke race, included as an easter egg. Which means that an entire expansion is based on a joke.

Its not just that of course. There is the problem of oversaturation. Granted there are other 'beast' races. But at a certain point these things become over saturated. The same can be said of the 'World' too. Worlds begin tight and focused but begin to expand. This has many good things to it, but an unpleasant side effect is it dilutes the focus of the series. When focus is lost people forget what they are doing and move on.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

They are so desperate that they have totally abandoned any trace of seriousness and credibility that WoW's lore had. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, just adding new classes, races and other cheap additions (that will all totally screw up game balance, as the addition of DKs did in Lich King) and have offered nothing with any kind of original idea. It's an obviously desperate attempt to win back some of the quickly disappearing subscribers with a tacky joke race and not much else.

The whole thing is a total farce.

 

[gideonkain]

They are so desperate that they have totally abandoned any trace of seriousness and credibility that WoW's lore had. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, just adding new classes, races and other cheap additions (that will all totally screw up game balance, as the addition of DKs did in Lich King) and have offered nothing with any kind of original idea. It's an obviously desperate attempt to win back some of the quickly disappearing subscribers with a tacky joke race and not much else.

The whole thing is a total farce.

This.

WoW is being redesigned each iteration to only appeal to younger and younger players.

It started all Tolkenesque, now were at Kung Fu Panda and Pokemon? Really?