Next Expansion " Mists of Pandoria"

[Khatovar]

I wish they would update the older races models. They look like minecraft characters compared to the newer races models.

They plan to, but who knows when that will be


http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...4612?page=5#86

Art Director Chris Robinson spoke on this just moments ago at the BlizzCon Open Q&A panel. It was in reply to an attendee who brought up that, in the art panel, it was explained that the pandaren model has 10 times the bone structures of the classic races, allowing for many more facial animations.

To paraphrase his statement -- which isn't too different from what I've said here on the forums before -- we absolutely plan on updating the existing models. As Chris mentioned, we want to make sure we preserve the look and feel of the original models players have come to know and love, while vastly improving their model and animation quality to be more in-line with the newer races.

We're not going to hide behind the statement that too many players will get mad if we tamper with their models, but it's a concern -- not a concern that's going to stop us from doing it, however. I want to stress as well that it's a massive undertaking to go back and do this. And to a lot of people it's something that won't be considered shiny new content. But not only do we hear the masses of players calling for this update, we really feel it's time to bring them up to par with newer models as well.

The game continues to age, but as we have no plans of slowing down on development any time in the near future, we want to keep updating and polishing it to stand the test of time (again, without sacrificing the look and feel which has brought players in over the years).

[Tonuss]

Until now my point of view has been that the Pandaren are influenced, at least to some degree, by the Dreamworks movie. But now I am not so sure. MMO-Champion has links to a topic where a blue posted this:

This is something I want to touch on a bit more. People seem to think that Pandaren were a joke, a throw away easter egg that we never fully intended as a playable race.

I will direct you to recall the Warcraft RPG (pen and paper) manuals released in 2003. While much of it hasn't been canon for quite some time, the Pandaren occupy a greater amount of pages and space within the manuals to establish their lore and story than pretty much every other creature on Azeroth. To give it some context, they occupy the same number of pages as Trolls in the Monster Manual, and share the same amount space in the Alliance and Horde Compendium with Orcs or Humans, and just like them ... you guessed it... Pandaren were a playable race.

[...]

It would simply be inaccurate to state that Pandaren were a throw away. Our intent, going back to Warcraft III, when the vast majority of the world lore and story was established for the franchise, was always to have a deep and rich history for a race known as the Pandaren.

And then someone linked to this 2003 drawing by Chris Metzen. The Pandaren in that drawing looks a heck of a lot like the main character in the movie... except that the drawing pre-dates the film by about five years.

[jstanthr]

The way i see it, i have too much invested to just quit. With 9 accounts I have kinda reached the point of no return.

[Lyonheart]

Until now my point of view has been that the Pandaren are influenced, at least to some degree, by the Dreamworks movie. But now I am not so sure. MMO-Champion has links to a topic where a blue posted this:

And then someone linked to this 2003 drawing by Chris Metzen. The Pandaren in that drawing looks a heck of a lot like the main character in the movie... except that the drawing pre-dates the film by about five years.

I was just about to post this as well. Pandas were always meant to be!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I think the hubbub around pandas is really about people being so used to Blizzard ripping off pop culture and putting it in WoW that the perception was "Kung Fu Panda LOL," whether or not Blizzard had the idea in game before the movie was made.

[Mosg2]

/shrug

I think the hubbub was more about how ridiculous pandaren are as a race within the WoW universe.

[Lyonheart]

/shrug

I think the hubbub was more about how ridiculous pandaren are as a race within the WoW universe.

So certain species are "off limits" or "out of place" in a "Fantasy" setting.. that make a whole lot of sense lol

But i understand what you mean. They do not fit into YOUR idea of WoW!

[Zub]

So certain species are "off limits" or "out of place" in a "Fantasy" setting.. that make a whole lot of sense lol

But i understand what you mean. They do not fit into YOUR idea of WoW!

To be honest they don't fit too well in *my* idea of WoW either... yet. I'll probably get used to them i guess.
Just like I had a hard time with all the engineering vehicles for example. I hated the choppers and trikes, as they didn't fit well in my fantasy mind that is based on works from Tolkien, Jordan, Eddings etc.
I got used to seeing them around, but not some mount i'll ever want to have.

If we find out that the pandaren race mount happens to be enormous pink fluffy poneys with long rainbow braids, who am I to say that it does or does not fit in the wow universe? it is fantasy after all >.< Just not my kind


I guess for many the pandaren in themselves are not the problem. It's just an accumulation of things and the pandaren being the latest.


On a side note, if someone is looking for a good fantasy read, try the "Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. I thought it was an awesome read.

[Lyonheart]

Yea..i didn't mean to sound like a smart ass.. its just the whole idea of Fantasy is... .whatever you can imagine.. it can come alive in a book..film or game. WOW has never been a Tolkenesk Fantasy.. the have added races and themes of their own creation ( Space Goats anyone? ) For me its all about how it "feels" when you play it.. and I have enjoyed most the stuff they come up with. I'm more excited about the Monk class than the new race.. but I'm fine with the race as well. I think they will be a lot of fun to play.

[Mosg2]

I see what you're saying Lyon but there's a lot of nuance in fantasy. Compare say, the world of Xanth as written by Piers Anthony to Middle Earth by Tolkien. There's a huge gap in the tone and feeling of the two worlds. I absolutely love both of these fictional universes, but that doesn't mean I want them to mix with each other. Xanth's goblins or dragons would feel totally out of sync in Middle Earth and vice versa. Neither setting is bad, they're just unique.

With that in mind, Pandaren don't fit with World of Warcraft in my mind. They don't jibe with what I've experienced playing games based on this universe since the original Warcraft when I was a kid. Sure, they were in WC3. Sure, they have backstory and lore and all the moving parts necessary to be introduced into the game--But that doesn't make them actually *work*. It doesn't make them less ridiculous.

I know a lot of people disagree with me and that's fine. I respect that others feel like they fit. To me, it feels like... Well, like someone took a really good cartoon I enjoyed as a child and remade it 20 years later--But gutted its soul. It feels like that South Park episode where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas go around violating all their old movies.

Anyways--Talents=Amazing. Monks=Pretty good. Story of a hidden island magically appearing=Terribad. Pandaren= ...Oh well.