Pretty sure it was Samwise’s idea. Guy loves anthro pandas. Seriously. He’s written entire books featuring characters that are all anthro pandas, and he along with Metzen were the ones who defined WoW’s art style in the first place. Warcraft 3 had anthro panda easter eggs all over it. He was a very senior person. And besides, it didn’t work. WoW’s playercount did not go up in China over MoP, though it seems they enjoyed it from what I can tell. Taiwanese did at least, if the YouTube channel is to be believed.
Here’s the earliest reference to Chen and LiLi:
That’s right - 1999. They’re not even in Warcraft yet but you can see they even have the same number of digits on hands and toes. These are definitely Pandaren.
Pandaren were supposed to be the alliance race in tBC, too.
Don’t get me wrong I enjoy MoP. The lore was mature at least and it had a dark side with all the stuff happening.
I just felt it was kinda out of place for warcraft.
Eh, dunno.
Pandaren have been known since the Warcraft III games.
And to be honest, the entirety of MoP was, and still is beautiful.
I was honestly taken away by seeing the landscape again after doing the blue dragon flight quests.
Given all other themes and zones we have, Pandaria doesn’t feel out of place at all.
I sort of agree. I don’t think the east asian tones are the problem though - I mean if native americans and egyptians and and whatnot fits in, why not? But it’s that, when the expansion opened it was just so idyllic, but turns out the war comes from us and we burn the whole darn thing to the ground. Tragic story.
There are just moments though - the darkness that lurks. Zhu’s Watch, The Tavern in the Mists, Shado’pan monestary, Shan’ze Dao, The Serpent’s Spine. Epic places.
I think the reason MoP worked, [edit: vs DF] because compared to itself, it could delivered what it promised. As you mentioned, it got a good mixture of sad-happy, tragic-goofy parts, epic places, events, and it could connet itself to the general lore without unnceccesary retcons and dumbing down the presentation. A good example the Shado-pan, who are frienfly to us, but they watch, and if they see us as threats, they will take us out, or the Paragons, who clearly say, that they will side with the old gods if they return, so no pink cloud of friendship and family there too. Or the tragic scenes, where the NE father sacrifice himself to save his daughter, or when Chen finds the panda girl entombed in amber, and so on.
It is not even about dark topics. For example: Vyranoth. She betrayed Fyrakk and joined us. I would expect a healthy amount of suspicion in her direction from the leadership and a background check to make this reunion interesting. Then I would have something to look forward to: will she betray us? Will she remain true to her word? We could get one of Shaw’s SI:7 busy, even without Alexstrasza’s knowledge and approval, which could also breed conflict if she really trusted Vyranoth. But no.
I personally will close the whole shebang in my story with having a void infused fanatic lunatic trying to rule over everyone, collecting cosmic realm souls like Thanos the little stones, then standing over the imprisoned Azeroth to infuse their will upon her when my MC says “F it”, smashes the button in Algalon’s bedroom to not to destroy all the living upon the lands, but to release the soul from the prison.
Azeroth, just as the Ten-Tails (google Naruto) inhales all the realms and thus the entity that ruled the world in the beginning of times is reborn to create a new reality. The end.
