BlizzCon 2011: Samwise on Mists of Pandaria
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 21st 2011 at 10:00PM
"It was one of the last things that I really wanted to see in World of Warcraft, which is Warcraft in general ... Now I can almost say, well, I think I've done good with Warcraft -- they're finally in."
Check out the full article.
The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Lore, BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Fletcher Oct 21st 2011 10:09PM
I have to say I hope that the female pandaren (like the one in the background of the pic on the linked article) don't turn out all tall and willowy. I want 'em short and curvy like the pandaren males.
sergeantharkness Oct 21st 2011 10:38PM
That one looked like a little kid standing on a snowbank to me, rather than a tall Panda-woman.
Abazadabra Oct 22nd 2011 3:40PM
I'm a Girl who likes a healthy body image in real life. A sort of Goldilocks zone that is not too fat, not too thin. WoW is not real life. In order to sell Pandaren females, and make people WANT to play as females, they have to be feminine. Nobody wants to feel frumpy when they play a race. Why do you think Dwarf females rarely get played? Tauren Females work, because they have the "ugly Betty" effect going for them .
I might not be able to play a Pandaren, if the females end up too fat. :/ Brutal but honest.
mem0ryburn Oct 22nd 2011 1:08AM
Definitely want to see a super round female body type on these
Spider Oct 22nd 2011 1:28AM
Female pandaren should look like this. Stocky, full of attitude. Perfect!
http://i54.tinypic.com/6qcn4k.jpg
mem0ryburn Oct 22nd 2011 1:38AM
That's the ticket, Spider, exactly what I envision.
Noyou Oct 22nd 2011 2:07AM
@Spider
That's awesome. The first piece of artwork that ever made me blush :) I hope blizz get's a hold of that somehow. That is how she should be. Good job.
Maribel Oct 22nd 2011 3:11AM
Spider, I approve!
Spider Oct 22nd 2011 3:24AM
Blarg, comments ate the second part of my post. Had link to the deviantart gallery of the artist:
http://tarajenkins.deviantart.com/#/d4dk6ck
snarkygoldfish Oct 22nd 2011 11:37AM
@Aba - See, that's the thing. I'm a plus-sized gal, and I WANT to see more characters that represent different sizes and shapes! That assert that ANY shape and size can be beautiful and butt-kicking, beyond a shallow "goldilocks zone" of ideals.
Take a step back and realize you just may be projecting insecurities and body images problems on an anthropomorphic panda. Because not all girls feel this way. And some of them do proudly play hard drinking, punch throwing female dwarves, too. ;)
snarkygoldfish Oct 22nd 2011 11:44AM
And sorry, didn't mean to go somewhat into a rant there. I just...bleh. There is no one "ideal" for body image, or healthy, or size. The sooner we realize that, the sooner people stop being bullied for simply being.
@Spider - That link is cute. :) I've been itching to sketch out what I see these gals looking like. :)
Connorbrown3000 Oct 21st 2011 10:16PM
I really hope this isn't everything Blizzard gives for 5th expansion. I really like Pandaren, Monk, and every else but the graphic haven't improved yet but I'm not graphic whore. I just like to see the improvement in each expansion. I really hope Blizzard to step it up when SWTOR and GW2 comes out. It will be troublesome for them.
Frase32 Oct 21st 2011 10:30PM
I gotta say I agree about wanting to see more graphical improvements. I play WoW so obviously I'm not a slave to graphics. But, I would like to see some improvements made to the original char models. They are soooo painful to look at. :(
ElrithCC Oct 21st 2011 10:43PM
Upgrading the core vanilla player models would be a dream come true for me. I've always loved Warcraft for it's whimsical visuals, it's like living in a world of my favorite paintings and illustrations.
To see an orc, or a dwarf, or a night elf, or a human,... with the character and detail of the Worgen or the Goblines, would bring a crystal tear in my wee eye.
mem0ryburn Oct 22nd 2011 1:32AM
How long is it going to take for people to realize that if Blizz updates their graphics too far they're going to lose a way larger percentage of subs than the minority that have cutting edge machines to play on?
Think, people.
They are making updates, slowly but surely, but they're not about to leave behind the majority of their subs.
mem0ryburn Oct 22nd 2011 1:42AM
Do you have any idea how many little old ladies and kids without paychecks are subbed to this game? I obviously don't have the numbers but you can be assured that it's a whole fuck of a lot.
Revanel Oct 22nd 2011 2:11AM
The main argument Blizzard has made with updating the old char models is that people are attached to the how they look now, and not everyone wants them updated. So if they updated them a lot of people would be upset.
So why not leave the old ones there and make updated ones too? Did they not ever think of that? It would just give people more character models to choose from.
Ice Oct 22nd 2011 10:45AM
" I really hope Blizzard to step it up when SWTOR and GW2 comes out. It will be troublesome for them."
This is why competition is good.
We shouldnt bash SWTOR or GW2 at all because the reason we get stuff like "PvE operations" is purely because of GW2 and theres no denying it.
If there was no competition this xpack would've been totally something else.
There would not be pve operations,
no pet battles (still thinking it might not make it into the game =/),
No different pvp things - Dota? Murderball(hutball from TOR?)? Payload(tf2)?
Hopefully you guys enjoy the game, I think my time with the game has come to its end. Not because of pandas or anything, the places look amazing. Its just that time of your life when you have to move on after playing one game for 5 years.
Artificial Oct 21st 2011 10:19PM
Judging from the pic, she's shorter than the snowman she's making. If we assume its the same size as pandaren male we see in the foreground (the similar turn of the head makes it look like she's modeling it on him), it would follow they're not that tall. OTOH, it really means nothing as their looks will probably go through three redesigns between now and next week, like the worgen did. XD
Fletcher Oct 21st 2011 10:33PM
A repeat of the worgen female situation is what we want to *avoid*.