The Daily Quest: Panda-monium
by Anne Stickney 
Aug 8th 2011 at 8:00PM
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
Pandaren. Adorable, absurd, or the subject of the next expansion? Talk about the supposed Mists of Pandaria expansion has been split between people who think pandaren would be amazing and people who are highly offended at the prospect of talking pandas infiltrating their highly serious game with the talking cows, doggy people, and little green men. Personally, I think it's an entertaining prospect with a lot of potential. But I do love me some pandaren, so I'm biased, probably.
As for the rest of the blogsphere ... well, how about we take a look at some links and see what they have to say?
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Pandaren. Adorable, absurd, or the subject of the next expansion? Talk about the supposed Mists of Pandaria expansion has been split between people who think pandaren would be amazing and people who are highly offended at the prospect of talking pandas infiltrating their highly serious game with the talking cows, doggy people, and little green men. Personally, I think it's an entertaining prospect with a lot of potential. But I do love me some pandaren, so I'm biased, probably.
As for the rest of the blogsphere ... well, how about we take a look at some links and see what they have to say?
- Blessing of Kings is cautiously optimistic about the whole idea of a pandaren expansion.
- Player vs. Developer ponders the potential of Pandaria.
- The Dead Good Tanking Guide is intrigued by the prospect of Pandaria, and the author has his own thoughts regarding what the expansion could contain.
- MMO Melting Pot goes over what they know -- which is absolutely nothing, much like the rest of us, so it's up to some fun speculation and outright guesswork!
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Revanel Aug 8th 2011 8:15PM
"Talk about the supposed Mists of Pandaria expansion has been split between people who think pandaren would be amazing and people who are highly offended at the prospect of talking pandas infiltrating their highly serious game with the talking cows, doggy people, and little green men. Personally, I think it's an entertaining prospect with a lot of potential."
I see what you did there Anne! Anyways, I'm in the panda-hating camp. But it isn't because I think WoW is a "serious game" and that pandas will just make it to comical.
I don't like the idea of Pandaren because I want to fight the Burning Legion in outer space. I want to return to the real enemy out there in the Twisting Nether. And more importantly, I want to get the hell away from Azeroth. Misty islands aren't far away enough for me.
Just wanted to clarify that a lot of fellow panda-haters feel this way as well. It isn't all about the "pandas are too cartoony" thing.
BTW long-time fan of your lore articles!
austin Aug 9th 2011 1:13PM
That. And I don't see how "Pandaria" is automatically inhabited by the Pandaren just because it has "Panda" in it. It could be something else. AusTRAILia isn't an entire continent full of roads, is it? I sure hope the Pandaren aren't the big scoop though, the whole "Brewmaster" gimmick could spark an ESRB hissyfit and bring the game up to M.. Thus, 13-year-olds like me would be repelled from the game.
Lee Weaver Aug 8th 2011 10:21PM
13 yr olds aren't supposed to be playing anyway.
razion Aug 8th 2011 10:29PM
@austin There's already plenty of alcohol use in the game already... That rating wouldn't budge anywhere, trust me.
loop_not_defined Aug 8th 2011 10:30PM
WoW is currently rated T for Teen, which is 13 and up.
Kolumbus Aug 8th 2011 10:48PM
I guess I'm sort of neutral. The idea has me a little skeptical but I'm willing to wait and see what Blizzard does before panning it completely.
Drakkenfyre Aug 8th 2011 11:04PM
austin, except for the fact that in lore, Panderan live on Pandaria.
Al Aug 9th 2011 3:45AM
"Austrailia" isn't anything.
Ice Aug 8th 2011 8:23PM
I feel like getting overdozed of pandas lately.
I wonder what happens if the whole mists of pandaria was just hoax or something not related to WoW as expansion and whole theories go down.
Wonder would it be more "thank godness it was silly idea" or "omg but there was so much new stuff to be made".
Oh well, we shall see
blancester Aug 8th 2011 8:41PM
I think some are ready for it to be a hoodwink, but you never know.
Truthfully at first I wasn't sure about pandas (do not confuse that with anger, I only hate warlocks). After listen to Pride and Jesse talk about it I warmed up to it.
Phaelan Aug 8th 2011 8:43PM
went and read http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2005/10/rumor_control_w_1.php wow....I wonder if the "political" reasoning was that the Pandaren that they were going to use was based on Japanese culture and not Chinese. I know that was an issue at one point.
Professor Orc Aug 8th 2011 9:12PM
Early concepts of pandaren were more Japanese, samurai based but when blizz was asked by some Chinese groups to change it they did and ever since then the artistic style has been more Chinese based.
After that China has no more issues with Pandaren. The idea that its against Chinese law to show violence against pandas in video games is a false rumor.
loop_not_defined Aug 8th 2011 9:45PM
http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/232989.htm
Phaelan Aug 9th 2011 12:27PM
yeah, and I read about that law that was talked about in 2007, however there has been 2 major things against your point. One there already is an MMO in China that has anamorphic Panda's as player characters and Two, Kung Fu Panda movies were both huge hits in China and have a lot of violent acts against pandas (seeing as the main character is a panda).
peaceful_chaos Aug 8th 2011 8:49PM
I will weep if Pandaren are not playable. I've been wanting to play as one since forever ago.
Dreyja Aug 8th 2011 9:16PM
I agree - the only thing is that we may be on opposite factions. This is why I'm SO not sure about the Pandaren. We shall see. :D
olzer Aug 9th 2011 5:48AM
I'm pretty (read: 90%) sure that Blizzard said in a Q&A some time back, when asked about a race that can choose a faction, something along the lines of:
"It'll definitely never happen, when designing character models one of our priorities was always to make sure a player could identify and enemy or friend on their silhouette."
Just a memory of it that stuck because some people were crying over it at the time :/
Dreyja Aug 8th 2011 9:14PM
Is anyone else NECK deep in Panda-mania, when it comes to summer-camp-type-fun? It's just so weird for me that most of my life is about panadas, at the moment! I kid YOU NOT! XD
I have mixed feelings about Pandaria over-all. I think they are silly but they may be the RIGHT kind of silly for this moment. Ugh ... no idea!!!
razion Aug 8th 2011 9:22PM
It's like when you move to Italy, and then the second you get on the internet YOU CAN'T STOP SEEING IT REFERENCED EVERYWHERE YOU GO.
MusedMoose Aug 8th 2011 10:13PM
Well, we're in the middle of an uber-serious expansion about a cult that wants to end the world and, of course, an enormous metal-mouthed dragon who leads them.
I don't know about you, but I think we could use a little silly now and then. ^_^
Also, I've been encouraging people to read the Pandaren entry on WoWpedia; the stuff about their culture and way of life is really, really interesting. Done well, a Pandaria-based expansion could be utterly unlike anywhere else in the game.
(I'm also totally hoping for a Brewmaster hero class. But that's just me. Dwarf is the obvious choice, but drunken boxing with a draenei or a gnome could be richly entertaining.)