People are individuals. Your character could absolutely have a pandaren teacher who has faith in your character to do the right thing.
But this is what I mean is
For example, some Zandalari lean towards cruelty and malice. Many of those gathered in Zul’s followings but they are unlikely to be alone. Such a troll would surely not be considered.
If you are going to do this, consider: What kind of Zandalari would abandon his own people’s ways for those of his ancestral foes? What kind of Zandalari would be accepted? If all you desire is power to crush your enemies, the pandaren are unlikely to approve - Burdens of Shaohao comes to mind as an example.
Carefully craft your character to work in as plausible a manner as possible.
And the other is a draenei, who have canonically been practicing the arts since TBC.
I can understand the mag’har not making a whole lot of sense (unless it’s an MU mag’har, I don’t recall at this moment), but declaring it non-applicable for RP doesn’t jazz with me. It’s there, it’s canon, rationalize it as you will.
It’d be Mary Sueing if the setting was supposed to resemble real life. It’s not though, and in a world where you can literally shout angrily at people to hurt them, learning to punch things really well doesn’t rank on my top ten of suspensions of disbelief.
Different folks different strokes.
For a Pandaren teacher, I’d suggest reading up on the Huojin lore. It dives into their general philosophy and approach to things.
If everyone could master everything in a month, why isn’t everyone all classes at once?
The setting breaks down if we apply those ‘special cases’ consistently.
The truth is that Blizzard make up things as they go along. Consistency not tying the hands of the creators and all that. But the thing is, that doesn’t make for a very good story if you pay attention to anything but the uppermost surface. And few dive deep into the lore as much as we RPers do.
Uh. Draenei? Practicing the arts of the MONKS since TBC?
I’m not sure, I am pretty sure those arts were discovered with MoP.
I do not declare it non-applicable. I just find it in my opinion, odd that a Mag’har reach a such level of mastery so quickly.
Or perhaps, it is a MU Mag’har. Which is highly possible and more likely to reach a higher level of mastery. Sorry if you misinterpreted my words.
There is a sort of time bubble on Azuremyst, because Blizzard added a monk trainer there in MoP who apparently witnessed the crash but who wasn’t there in TBC.
It’s weird.
Judging from the quotes it’s an AU Mag’har (references to Lightbound, etc). Another ‘it’s weird’ situation.
Then, if I understand correctly.
There was secretly a Pandaren Monk wandering on the isle without being spotted, anytime. Not at all. Without asking a question. Meeting anyone in years?
There is a Pandaren monk trainer in their starting zone who came by upon hearing the Exodar crash. It was an MoP retcon.
Then I did misunderstand you, my bad!
Let’s dispense with the hyperbole, I did not suggest top-tier mastery taking that short an amount of time. Reality is that we have tangible cases of accomplished monks (that aren’t Pandaren) in the world now, which makes a strong case for their arts being relatively easy to advance, especially if compared to the real world schools of martial arts. But it’s a high fantasy setting, it’s to be expected.
I approve wholeheartedly of starting from scratch and building a character (and their skill set) from the ground up. What I do not consider reasonable, especially when the lore shows us otherwise, is expect for a Monk RPer to only be somewhat capable several years down the line.
And yes, Blizzard is as consistent with their lore as humanly possible. I think that’s just a concession we all make by still playing in their setting.
That’s exactly what happened with Ma’ra Grimfang, though. She became a raid boss level monk, arguably the most powerful monk on Azeroth (even Taran Zhu only got to be a dungeon boss, and he is badass af - maybe the draenei was her equal), in less than half a year.
It’s the kind of mary sue stuff I don’t enjoy in my RP very much. See teenage archmages etc.
Happens. But I just find it… unlikely. I mean.
It is RP. People should do what they want. As long as it is logic and such, who am I to judge? Have fun, that’s why we are here. Ain’t it?
You said the… cursed word. RETCON! But my point is standing, in a sense. Still. I find it VERY odd. But, alas - it is the lore. I suppose some Draenei then had the time to train… Well, since TBC! Perhaps a sort of ‘secret’ group? As in “No one is saying anything, please! I need to remain secret!” Otherwise… the whole Alliance would have hear about this strange race and arts?
I think I’m overthinking it.
As Dave Kosak said about the Death Knights: YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary.)
But yeah in conclusion OP. If you want to RP a Zandalari monk, go ahead. You can play what you want, no one can tell you otherwise.
It’s a good idea to start thinking about the how and the why before you get started - how did the character get where they are, and why? What is their overall motivation, and why did they choose to pursue a monk’s path? Who is their master, and what was their thoughts in taking a Zandalari apprentice? What was their life like, before?
Just to add to the conversation: the Pandaren monk in question who was in Azuremyst during the crash, and taught the Draenei in the ways of a monk was Mojo Stormstout (not to be confused with Chen). He was also mentioned/was canon author of Warcraft III Manual, if i recall correctly.
Comparing the strength of classes in this way is a bit difficult. Do you compare the average member of each class? If so, DKs win with ease (in my opinion). Do you compare the most powerful members of each class? If so, once you get to Titanslayer levels, I imagine it could actually be pretty even.
I compare them by how powerful they -can- be. For example, a Warlock is likely the most powerful class in terms of just ungodly amounts of power if played well.
A generic frost DK can likely destroy any melee class.
But then some classes have direct counters as well.