Recently, on twitter, pretty much from the moment Blizzard announced them as the new expansion’s focus and new race at Blizzcon, there has been much backlash against the Pandaren. I’ve seen many comparisons to Ewok and gnomes (because apparently many many people feel sickened and/or threatened by gnomey awesomeness) and assertions of how their “silliness” as a class equates to Blizzard having jumped the shark and ruined the World of Warcraft.
All I can say to that is: BALONEY!
Personally, I am equally at home with my love of vanity pets and gnomes and kittens and being a face melting shadow priest! I challenge anyone who has played with me to honestly say “Oh that Anexxia is such a carebear gnome lover and kitten scratcher that it gets in the way of her being a good player; she really needs to L2play.”
The entire style of WoW, to me, is somewhat cartooney, versus hyper realistic. It’s not meant to be a very serious representation of modern life. I don’t want to play a character that looks just like me in real life– I play me in real life every day. Having a little fun with appearances doesn’t change my ability to play in any way. Yes, sometimes we are going about very serious business, such as very important raid boss killing, but at the end of the day, we are playig a game, with a goal of having fun. And having a dancing gnome shadow priest in your raid is fun! Not as fun as a dancing boomkin perhaps, but FUN all the same!
You know what else is fun? Bouncing along as you run. I bounce on my night elf. I bounce on my Forsaken. I bounce on my gnomes. And the bounciness is contagious. Before you know it, you have other folks bouncing along in synchronization with you! And suddenly that long run back from that wipe isn’t quite as annoying.
Frankly, it always puzzles me how much anti-gnome sentiment I’d hear while playing my beloved gnomey casters. Now, Pandaren have taken up the mantle of most heckled and despised race. I don’t particularly like the hunchbacked, ever-sniffing worgen, but I don’t go on Internet tirades about how they ruined Wow and are ridiculous insults to my gaming self. I just simply don’t play one. Hopefully the anti-Pandaren uproar will die down and folks will find something else to deride. If not, at least all you pandas will have a nice thick furry skin to deflect the criticism. And hopefully you’ll have an awesome beer-powered dance to dance those cares away with…
PS a big thank you to Cyn for suggesting I actually post about this.
Here here! If you don’t want to play a panda, don’t! I look forward to raiding along side some furry guys and watching them own face!
As a fellow face-melter: not just YES but GOD, YES.
I love love love this new Hallow’s End because I can wear a Magnum P.I. mask to raid. I love collecting pets and wearing silly dresses and I covet the giant riding chicken. And in a game world with a never-ending stream of poop quests and such luminaries as the Big Love Rocket, having playable Pandaren is CERTAINLY not going to “ruin the immersion” or “alter the theme” or whatever.
There are a ton of things in the announcements to complain about. Big bouncy bears? Not so much. XD
Well — I am not too sure. My issue with them is more a concern about cultural stereotypes. Some of the temporary names players gave them at Blizzcon were very racist: now, to be sure, I realize that racism is abundant in our real and virtual worlds. The addition of the Pandas and their bouncy Tiggery-goodness won’t stop me from playing. Indeed, if some of my friends with younger children find a way to enjoy the game with their families, all the better. Like everything in WoW, there are choices for all.
Haters: beware.
PS I love gnomes.
My Priesty is a gnome. Every now and then she feels the sting of a “punted across Azeroth” emote, but, more often than not, people seem to adore her.
Staying on track, though, I have no problem with Pandas. I don’t think I’ll be back to a Blizzard game in the foreseeable future, but even if I were to return, I would opt not to play a Panda. They’re not really my thing. Space goats are as “not human” as it gets for me.
That said, I would be wary about the impending influx of gummi bears (bouncing here and there and everywhere…). People complained about the ubiquitous nature of the Blood Elves, and now the new, novel race will be on BOTH sides.
Eek.
Another face-melter here, and I agree completely. I don’t fancy the monk class, but I will certainly be rolling some flavour of pandaren. My main is a human, but she is no more ‘me’ than my draenei and dwarf alts. As you said, we have real life in bucketfuls, the game needs to be fun to counterbalance that stress. Brb, raiding with a team of ninjas & pirates while I still can 🙂
“Brb, raiding with a team of ninjas & pirates while I still can :)”
ahahaha! I always save up my Halloween wands for raids, busting them out when things need some livening up…
I wish they had announced some way of changing the looks between horde and Alliance. I think red pandas for the horde would make sense.
*gnome power!*
As for the naming, I hear you on that. It’s a problem in the game currently to tho– orc females given derogatory names, BE males given rude names, hunter pets given rude names. I hope that people who are offended by others’ poor choices in those areas pop in a GM ticket; I know that more than once my doing so has caused a person’s name to get flagged for change.
Exactly!
SHADOW PANDAS! INCOMING!
The “ruin the immsersion” is the funniest to me. How do I not already ruin their immersion with my silly vanity pets? Or with the BC clown suits?