Topic
No more Warcraft?
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At least until patch 6.0 that is. To expand on my (Hopefully) not to ambiguous title, MoP is going to be changes to the game that will no doubt improve upon it tenfold. The improved talent trees, account wide achievements, better loot systems, a new class, PvE scenarios etc.
While you can certainly question some aspects of these new changes, on the whole most of the changes to the game are positive and seek to expand upon what was achieved in Cataclysm, which outside Vanilla, is the expansion I've enjoyed the most. Yet I'm still not interested in MoP, despite it looking even better than Cataclysm from a game-play perspective, why? Because it just doesn't feel like Warcraft anymore. Look, I understand that Blizzard can't keep building around the same lore and characters continuously, nor should they, There's only so many Illidan's and Deathwing's you can fight, so I agree that Blizzard needed to breathe a bit of fresh air into the story and atmosphere of WoW. However, Mists of Pandaria wasn't the way to do it, for a multitude of reasons. A lot of people see pandaren as childish, but WoW and to a lesser extent Warcraft always had a cartoon-like graphic style, and I never really felt Chen Stormsnout was grotesquely out of place in the Warcraft universe. What I do despise however is how it feels like in MoP that WoW has been "asianfied" to an extent. I think the culture of the far east is incredibly interesting and I've enjoyed many a game that has been built around the culture, but those games are not WoW. I don't want to see Asian towers in WoW, I don't want to see Chinese dragons, races such as the "Mogu" and the "Sha" hold no interest to me. MoP to me just screams of Blizzard trying to expand their playerbase to an Asian market, and while thats perfectly understandable from a business perspective, as an expansion it just does not hold interest for me. One of the focal points of the expansion is to put the "War" back into warcraft, but that presupposes there is even a warcraft in the first place, which to me there isn't. It just doesn't feel like the same universe as past expansions. A good example of the direction I feel Blizzard should have gone down is what they did in the Burning crusade. While TBC had a lot of familiar enemies from past games such as pit lords, Eredar and the likes of Illidan, in addition to recognizable locations such as Hellfire Peninsula. Some of the zones in TBC were pretty bizarre and completely different from anything we had seen before, such as Netherstorm, but not once did I ever feel that I was not playing a warcraft game. I don't want this post to come across as whiny because I understand why Blizzard has shifted in the direction it has, but still from a personal stand-point I can't get enthused in the game and am wondering if there are other people that think the same :) |
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Edited by Krisandra on 24/05/12 14:48 (BST)
Cataclysm brought with it an ancient Egyptian style with the Tol'vir. We already had various other designs in game which were inspired by other cultures from all around the world. Yet a design idea taken from traditional Chinese culture is suddenly bad? I, for one, can't see what the problem is with the style for MoP. I welcome it, really. Also, just out of curiosity, what would you have preferred the style of the next expansion to be? |
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Hey, Asia is where the money's at now :)
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Edited by Angorn on 24/05/12 14:58 (BST)
Cataclysm brought with it an ancient Egyptian style with the Tol'vir. We already had various other designs in game which were inspired by other cultures from all around the world. Yet a design idea taken from traditional Chinese culture is suddenly bad? I too welcome it, as it will provide a different kind of fantasy. |
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Agreed, I'm looking forward to this style. It's something new and different. I don't understand why people hate on it so much... |
Difference is Tol'vir was just one zone, this is an entire expansion including story, main characters, music, races and even the new class, Monk. Monk's have been in WoW before so it sounds good in theory, until you hear they generate "chi" and have attacks like Spinning Crane Kick and Tiger Palm. The most unfortunate thing about this is that Monks are going to forever be in the game, while MoP will not be relevant past Patch 5.x I'd rather Blizzard continue with their own fantasy-esque style and not draw so heavily from Asian culture. Again, a great example is TBC, where you had the likes of the Gronn, King ogres, Draenei and ethereals - all of which were completely new in conception, but never really strayed too far from the warcraft universe. I can't say the same with Mists, the only glimmer of hope is what the Pandaren consider as "Sha" is actually corruption stemming from an Old God, but if you go down that line you may as well have had a south seas expansion or something similar relating to Azshara + Old Gods |
Cataclysm brought with it an ancient Egyptian style with the Tol'vir. We already had various other designs in game which were inspired by other cultures from all around the world. Yet a design idea taken from traditional Chinese culture is suddenly bad? Is it really different though? None of the elements introduced are different from what I've seen from other games/art forms. Fighting pandas, the chinese architecture, even the Sha which are negative emotions manifested have been done before, common example of the Sha is the persona series in which sha instead are "shadows". If its not broke, don't fix it. |
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I can't take this Thread serious. Too much hating on Pandas and trying to use it as an argument.
With all the new things coming in Mists of Pandaria (and this is not just adding Pandas) I am more than excited and interested as to how it will affect my passion for the game. |
It is true that it has been done in other roleplaying games. However, my point was that japanese/chinese fantasy is something that is new for Warcraft. |
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I personally think the more light-hearted, cartoony aspect of Warcraft, mixed in with interesting/dark themes is what Warcraft has always done best and MoP seems to be doing that well from what i have seen of beta videos.
That's a terrible attitude to have in the context of game/story development. |
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Same. I always (Well, since I actually took an interest in what buildings actually look like past the "What is its purpose to me?") liked Asian architecture and designs. Just seems so sweet to me. (And I would murder someone to get a Years Free Chinese takeaway... mmmm... Lemon Chicken...) |
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nah
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MoP is proof of Blizzard moving towards the Asian market in the same manner that WotLK was Blizzard moving towards the Scandinavian market, and The Burning Crusade was Blizzard moving towards... idk, a market on Mars.
Yeah, this is pretty much what is annoying me with MoP, not the asian feel. I want the opportunity to choose, even if I would choose what they had "tagged" as appropriate. I like having the opportunity to choose items on looks and worth, and I also like picking items just because they are fun. |
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So you don't think talking pandas are fantasy? Personally I love the scenery and the whole feel of MoP so far. |
Everything far from the "source" its just the reflection of what is real. |
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Well, you could have argued that Wrath was a 'nordic' expansion if u were so inclined. Outland definately was the 'sci-fi' expansion. Warcraft has a history of taking from various cultures, albeit in a thematic way, I really don't see the issue that they chose asian this time round.
Vanilla has been done. Blizzard re-visited vanilla in this expansion with a return to and re-making of the main world - and the result was (as Blizz has said) an expansion that really didn't feel like it had its own identity. So, this time, they're returning to the 'island with a theme' expansions, which personally I much prefer. As Krisandra said OP, if MoP is such a terrible idea - what would you have done? |
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I've played the beta, and still do, and like the 'chinese inspired' look but it is let down with the low quality textures, I hope they have higher rez ones for release.
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