WoW Mists of Pandaria - why I'm convinced it's a joke.

Sansha

There's a principle in business
Nov 16, 2008
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1. The trailer is unusually slapdash.
Using old footage from classic, BC, Wrath and Cataclysm, plus a little new stuff stapled on, I feel like this trailer was put together as a convincing part of the joke of MoP expac. The new stuff isn't even that well done, compared to Cataclysm's reveal trailer two years ago.

2. The way the trailer was played.
Epic battle after epic battle. Classic's Blackwing and Ragnaros, BC's Illidan and KJ, Wrath's Lich King and Cata's Deathwing, then it cuts to... pandas. I can't take this seriously.

3. Blizzard's trademark of 'Mists of Pandaria'.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/warcraft3reignofchaos/news/6326987/blizzard-trademarks-mists-of-pandaria
Not long ago, someone pointed out that Blizzard trademarked the expac title - which, as someone else pointed out, they've never done before. This seems like something they did to add kindling to the fire.

4. Pandaren 'lore'.
"The pandaren started as a creation of the Blizzard artist Samwise Didier and an April Fool's joke, but they got a massive response from Warcraft fans. In the first BlizzCast episode launched on Jan. 10, 2008, Samwise recalled the process to the creation of the Pandaren April Fool's page: "But so we put that up in there and everyone was like ?Oh my God! A PANDA RACE? That?s kind of cool!? And I?m like ?Are you kidding me, really? You want to see pandas in Warcraft III or whatever??" Soon, they were included in the Warcraft III expansion and Chris Metzen began to write them into the game lore. Due to this popularity, pandaren were rumored to be the new playable Alliance race to be introduced in the Burning Crusade expansion."

tl;dr - Pandaren was an April Fool's joke WC fanboys took way too seriously, they got a small role in WC3, then Chris started writing about them in response to their fandom.
All Warcraft lore is made up, but the Pandaren stuff is just fished out of the ether in response to fandom.

5. It's too stupid.
Referring to 2., I really can't take the expansion seriously. Pandas, a race spawned by a bad joke that people took way too seriously, either our of raging fandom or irony, fighting off mantis-men on an island near Kalimdor that's never been discovered before, with their denizens and culture having no real place in WoW lore before.

I can put up with Deathwing and Garrosh's appallingly written characters, and Metzen's author-insert fanfiction with Thrall, but this is too much. I'm holding off my rage and subscription cancellation until I can be presented with evidence that this is something other than an elaborate prank.
I suspect something will happen at Blizzcon with N'zoth appearing and devouring the Pandas or something like that, so we turn our attention to him.

That'd actually be a pretty epic twist. Do that.
 

Fieldy409_v1legacy

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Oct 9, 2008
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But its not april. Also blizzards used those sorts of trailers made from just in game content before.

edit: heres the original cata announcement. not that pretty cgi thing with deathwing flying around.

 

OldRat

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Dec 9, 2009
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Well, sadly you being convinced won't really change the fact that it's an official, big-profile announcement. You might think it's stupid (like many, including me), and you might not be able to take it seriously, but that's not going to change anything. People calling something stupid or retarded or what have you has never managed to magically turn an announced game into a joke. Otherwise no game in the world would ever actually get released, what with internet flame was and suchlike.
 

Nimcha

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Dec 6, 2010
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Blizzard could've announced that all characters would become unplayable and people would only be able to control their pets and 10 million people would still play it.

*shrug* I'm beyond caring really, I just hope Blizzard keeps catering to their target audience, so my niche has a raison d'être.
 

TJ rock 101

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May 20, 2008
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It is too bad they seem to want to destroy class balance and all that...
Druids are supposed to be getting a fourth talent tree and everybody is gaining stuff that seems stupidly broken, all classes are gaining combat pets too. It seems like they have just given up and gone to work on the Titan project thing.
 

Erana

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Feb 28, 2008
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No matter what you feel about Pandarens, this has been an inevitability.

So why don't we just stop and enjoy what we get? I mean, they managed to make Worgen work well lore-wise, and I didn't think that was possible.
 

ZeoAssassin

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Sep 16, 2009
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If you want something more i got this...

In all honestly WoW has always been a little silly. and with what the last 3 expansions had there is nothing wrong with a little bit of light-hearted-ness. Its still fantasy after all so anything goes. Not to say there isn't some issues but i am just saying, just cause its a fan-favorite doesn't mean its stupid
 

Craorach

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Jan 17, 2011
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I'm looking foward to it, probably more than any expansion thus far, and I've been playing since release pretty much.

At last, not only war between the Horde and Alliance.. but also an expac that isn't just dark and gloomy, where both factions might actually learn that conflict isn't the way to solve all their problems with each other.
 

LetalisK

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May 5, 2010
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Usually at this point whatever Blizzard says they're going to do ends up only being a half-truth. A lot of stuff will gets changed, removed, and added before the expansion is released.

Not that it matter to me, I stopped playing a couple months after Cataclysm was released. Don't get me wrong, I think the expansion was executed really well....but I just didn't care anymore. I care even less looking at what this new expansion might have to offer.
 

Corven

Forever Gonzo
Sep 10, 2008
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Well like smart people on the internet have said before, the only thing that is going to kill wow is wow; This is only more evidence to that fact. I just hope wow cannibalizes itself sooner rather than later so other mmo's will have a chance to flourish.
 

MrCalypso

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Jul 14, 2010
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Here's the thing that bothers me about the trailer. It just says new race, not horde race or alliance race jut new race. So unless they bring out yet another race it may just mean there's Pandas running around that you am interact with right?
 

BlackJak007

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Apr 6, 2010
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MrCalypso said:
Here's the thing that bothers me about the trailer. It just says new race, not horde race or alliance race jut new race. So unless they bring out yet another race it may just mean there's Pandas running around that you am interact with right?
Not sure if I read your question properly, but both Horde and Alliance can play as the Pandaren. They start off neutral until level 10, then you choose which side you want to be on.
 

Xanthious

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Dec 25, 2008
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DracusHawktalon said:
Even if they release the Pandas, they won't be playable or in any way hostile because of China.
That could have well been true had they not already announced them as the next playable race for both horde and alliance. Unless of course you believe Blizzard would use this massive announcement at Blizzcon as nothing more than an elaborate prank. I find that possibility rather doubtful.

The bottom line is with the new expansion is this, Blizz tried catering to the hardcore raiding crowd that thrives on the difficulty of the Vanilla/BC days and people left like rats leaving a sinking ship because the game ceased being fun and there were few options for advancement other than raiding. This new expansion looks to be a massive apology for the failed experiment that was Cataclysm and looks to actually bring back some fun to WoW. I say the faster this new expansion gets here and we can forget about Cataclysm the better.
 

Ascarus

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Feb 5, 2010
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who cares? i played Cata for a few months to see the new material after taking a 2 year hiatus and i cannot see myself returning for a (supposedly) new race, class and pokemon.

the last is just downright baffling to me. and of the two i would hope IT was the joke being played.
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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Considering how WoW has been running out of ideas since after Burning Crusade, I'm willing to bet this is real and the definite Jump The Shark moment for the game.
 

Rawne1980

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Jul 29, 2011
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TJ rock 101 said:
It seems like they have just given up and gone to work on the Titan project thing.
Can't be bothered just yet but in a bit i'll fish out an interview some game magazine did with on Blizz's execs.

It's about them shifting all the "experienced" guys over to Titan and left the guys they had been training up on WoW. But not to worry they are a great team and know what they are doing.

Although I think anyone with half a brain knows that WoW is just Blizzards cash bag and no matter what they do will still have around 10 million subs.

People love it no matter what. They piss and moan over changes but continue throwing money at it.

People started hailing the doom of WoW earlier this year when it dropped from 12 million to 10 million subs but it didn't drop any lower.

It's like my bloody gran. No matter how old they get they won't just roll over and die.