World of warcraft.....Now with Panda power!

[Trepie]

O noes, Kung fu panda comes to WoW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyeZ8khSEC0)

I don't play WoW anymore and after seeing this I never intend to go back. This was so bad I though it was an absolute honest to god joke when I first saw it. It turns out it's not =/ You can almost hear people cancelling their subscriptions.

[Talon87]

Is the race idea silly? Sure, but I guess it's been hinted at since before WoW even existed, so whatever.

Is the expansion unimpressive? Sure, but I've never been one to pay-'n'-play WoW.

What kills me about this trailer isn't the Pandaren, the Monk class, or the "a whole new chapter" schtick ... it's the presentation. That has to be one of the worst WoW trailers I have ever seen, hands down. When I first saw the opening to Wrath of the Lich King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95vcgv-pK_4) which, at the time, served as the trailer for the expansion itself, I was blown away. I downloaded a high-definition copy of that intro and must have watched it at least a dozen times the first night alone. I've probably seen it over fifty times since. It's one of the most beautiful trailers I've seen for any video game franchise, ever, and it is in every way the very opposite of this Pandaren trailer:
the narration: Wrath of the Lich King's felt like you were listening to lines from a movie, very well delivered, whereas Pandaren's felt like the hokiest television commercial ever
the visuals: Wrath of the Lich King's were these beautiful, photo-realistic CG renders. Pandaren's are crude in-game videos. I'm sure gamers appreciate the latter but the latter sure ain't gonna make me budge from my seat to go and buy a WoW account. Certainly not when Wrath of the Lich King couldn't even do that! :lol:
the direction: Wrath of the Lich King's transitions, both audio and video ones, are perfect. It feels like a very professional Hollywood movie trailer. Very professional, very good. The decision to spend half of the Pandaren's trailer recapping WoW's storied history while spending the other half focusing on the Pandaren race and the other new features in the Pandaren expansion seemed, uh, very schizoid to me. :? Should have been more like 20:80 or 15:85, not 50:50. Not to mention that the choice of what to show felt very juvenile. "Oh! Let's show the boss from Burning Crusade as he dies! Now let's show the boss from Cataclysm! Oh, and we mustn't forget to show Arthas the Lich King in his final chamber!" These cliche choices were then intermingled with bizarre selections of unimpressive castle interiors or outdoor settings. It was all, uh, very ........ raw. It felt very rough around the edges. Like whoever directed production for this trailer had never directed a video before in his life.

So yeah. If it's the race that has you going "I'm done with WoW for good," then I don't get it. Sure, it's silly, but it's also canon. Not to mention you guys have giant buffalomen (Tauren) and so what's the problem with having some Chinese bear-people? But if it's the trailer that has you holding down vomit, then I completely agree and feel sorry for you and anyone else who's ever held WoW close to their heart. :lol: That's never been me, but I can definitely relate, so yeah ... yeesh, what an awful trailer. :lol: :oops:

[Trepie]

Actually Pandaren started off as an April fools joke. Second, they're freaking Panda's. At least bulls look tough. All I see when I look at them is "Kung fu Panda", overweight martial arts experts.

So no it's not the trailer. It's that of all the races they could've made playable, they chose Panda people. Centaur, Murloc, Naga, even demons would've been a better choice. The trailer sucked, the new species really sucked and the fact all of the new content will center around them is laughable. It looks like a disney MMO. I keep waiting for Mulan to pop out at some point.

Also of all the cool asian themed warriors the could've come up with, we end up with Panda monks.

[deoxys]

The Pandaren's and Pandaria is nothing new to the Warcraft universe and was speculated as to eventually becoming a race and continent for quite a while now, so I'm not at all surprised.

And yes, like Dopple said, the way the trailer was set up was horrid. It wasn't at all "epic" or captivating, and it didn't make me leap up and go "holy fuck I want to buy that" like the 6 minute intro trailer for The Old Republic made me do.

I got out of WoW earlier this year and I have no intention of going back now. I was on the edge of potentially giving Mists of Pandaria and run through and then let my subscription expire again, but now I see it's pretty much the same ol' same ol', so there's really no reason for me to drop that kind of money.

The direction I had speculated on them taking for WoW would have been much more dodgy and risky, so much that in fact I firmly believe it would have been the right choice as well as the best way to shift the story around---

In Cataclysm, there was a lot of tension that began to rapidly build up between the Alliance and the Horde. Treaties started being breached and agreements broken; Horde began to attack and take over what was previously Alliance territory; Horde and Alliance troops could be found at random places around the map breaking out into random battles; Thrall stepped down and Hellscream became the leader of the Horde; Races that fall under Horde, such as the Trolls and Tauren, started to fallout of line with the rest of the Horde's motives, much as the Night Elves and Dranei seemingly started to as well on the Alliance side (maybe I'm getting those last two mixed up); just a bunch of things. It was building up to something, or so I thought.

I imagined the next expansion would be centered around a full-scale world war between the two factions, with the twist being that it would create more PvP areas as well as the ability for certain races (the ones aforementioned) to go "Neutral". What would be the benefits of going neutral if you so chose to? I don't know, I didn't think that far! But basically, the story would become broader and deeper as the two sides went into an all out quarrel, with constant random attacks on the capital cities for event purposes and such.

But this? Not bad. But not great. Just... okay. It's not going to scare off purchasers any up and coming MMO's --- namely TOR and Guild Wars 2--- which is what they really needed. WoW's subscriber rate is falling fast and it seems like any attempt Blizzard makes to quell it is futile.

On a side note, I was hoping for a Brewmaster class or profession, which would allow you to utilize the art of Pandaren Drunken Fist. Oh well.

EDIT: I just saw your newest post, Trepie, in response to that, I have to say, back about a year ago when I first read about Pandaria, I was actually quite fond of the idea of having the Pandaren become a playable race. I think it's more or less a "to each his own" issue at that, but I also think comparing it to Kung Fu Panda is a bad example. While they are reminiscent, the idea that Panda's with martial art skills live on a secret continent in WoW has been around for a while...

[Doppleganger]

The nerd-mad is quite whimsical to read.

All I see when I look at them is "Kung fu Panda", overweight martial arts experts.

Pablo Sandoval is one of the most intimidating third basemen in baseball, appearances can be deceiving.


So no it's not the trailer. It's that of all the races they could've made playable, they chose Panda people. Centaur, Murloc, Naga, even demons would've been a better choice. The trailer sucked, the new species really sucked and the fact all of the new content will center around them is laughable. It looks like a disney MMO. I keep waiting for Mulan to pop out at some point.

I have to agree with Talon here, the trailer only served to remind me how much I've grown to hate Blizzard since the old WCI/WCII days. The company went senile after StarCraft and hasn't recovered it bearings since.

That "Wrath of the Lich King" trailer was legitimately cool, but it's a bit at odds with Warcraft's roots - WC was always campy in a Starship Troopers kind of way. The bare bones story was never meant to be taken seriously, and that's what made the original RTS fun and disposable.

Diablo was the series that was meant to be serious, down-to-earth and grim. As I found out two years ago, StarCraft is like that, too.

Now, I have to agree with you I feel pandas is a bit too far, but silliness along those lines isn't too outrageous for the WC universe.


And yes, like Dopple said, the way the trailer was set up was horrid.

omg VGM sent his post into the past cellphone-microwave el psy congroo truth of steins;gate yadda yadda yadda.

[deoxys]

omg VGM sent his post into the past cellphone-microwave el psy congroo truth of steins;gate yadda yadda yadda.


YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW

YOU AREN'T

_______________________

I also want to say, just because the idea for Pandaren's was originally an April Fool's joke doesn't mean it's inherently bad, especially considering they were able to sit down and say "You know, actually, while it was intended to be funny, we may be on to something interesting with this."

If they had presented it better, and I know, that's a horrid argument, I may have been interested. But they didn't and so =/

[Trepie]

Meh, I stopped playing WoW just before my guild downed the Lich King, so It really doesn't make a difference to me. But having played since vanilla, this doesn't feel like WoW to me. It's too bad that they've been unable to keep subscribers.

I'm not the kind of person who pops MMORPG's like candy. If the WoW community is ok with this then by all means they can play it to their hearts content. I just know that if this was the new race when BC or WOTLK came out, I would've stopped playing then and there. So I I'm fairly sure they will end up losing subscribers over this. Those people on the cusp of leaving, that were waiting to see the expac before deciding, are going to cut and run. They may not go to TOR or GW2, but they won't be playing WoW anymore.

I plan on trying TOR, but that's mostly because I'm a Star wars geek and I love Bioware games. Plus I haven't been in an MMO for well over a year now and I need a fix.

[deoxys]

Meh, I stopped playing WoW just before my guild downed the Lich King, so It really doesn't make a difference to me. But having played since vanilla, this doesn't feel like WoW to me. It's too bad that they've been unable to keep subscribers.

I'm not the kind of person who pops MMORPG's like candy. If the WoW community is ok with this then by all means they can play it to their hearts content. I just know that if this was the new race when BC or WOTLK came out, I would've stopped playing then and there. So I I'm fairly sure they will end up losing subscribers over this. Those people on the cusp of leaving, that were waiting to see the expac before deciding, are going to cut and run. They may not go to TOR or GW2, but they won't be playing WoW anymore.

I plan on trying TOR, but that's mostly because I'm a Star wars geek and I love Bioware games. Plus I haven't been in an MMO for well over a year now and I need a fix.

I quit before mine downed the LK, too.

Also, I don't either, the only reason I point out I will be getting TOR is becase of the same reason you are. But yeah, people are going to start dropping out of WoW after seeing this, methinks...