Blizzard Publishing announces two new Pandaren stories and more
by Anne Stickney 
Oct 22nd 2011 at 9:30AM
The second story is called Quest for Pandaria, a four part novella by author Sarah Pine. It will be released on Blizzard's website much like the leader short stories, and it takes up the story after the Shattering and brings it up to speed. Sarah Pine was the winner of the first Blizzard creating writing contest with her story In the Shadow of the Sun, about Lor'themar Theron, and she's also penned the leader short story Garrosh Hellscream: Heart of War.
Other interesting tidbits from the panel include a heads up on the Curse of the Worgen graphic novel by Mickey Neilson and James Waugh, which includes five extra pages of story. Those five pages? They're really important, if you like keeping track of the lore -- they tell the story of Velinde Starsong and the Scythe of Elune, which players experienced in World of Warcraft itself. On top of that, Christie Golden is still diligently working on Tides of War, the Jaina Proudmoore novel which will presumably tie into the Pandaria expansion.
It's nice to see that the upcoming expansion will see as much attention to story detail as Cataclysm – and that the precedent set by the leader short stories will continue on with more lore on the official Blizzard website as time goes on.
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: Lore, BlizzCon, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rachel-barbra-berry Oct 22nd 2011 9:48AM
So they're serious?
CLASSIFIED Oct 22nd 2011 10:10AM
They're serious ._.
general Oct 22nd 2011 10:17AM
... Yeah, serious.
Pretty sure the Annual Pass was done for damage control of losses.
Marcosius Oct 22nd 2011 10:47AM
I see it's still not safe to express one's opinion (that is not "ZOMGZ THIS IS SO AWESOME!"). Maybe next week.
Suzaku Oct 22nd 2011 11:24AM
No, this is the most expensive and elaborate hoax in video game history.
When the expansion is released, you'll open the box, and inside of it will be a slightly smaller box with the expansion's real name: Waves of Grrgllmrrgll.
It will be entirely about murlocs and and take place on the great island of Grrgllmrrgll, where you will unlock the secrets of murloc society. You will visit their majestic capital, Fishrot, carved into the hollowed-out carcass of a whale shark. You will also be able to learn the murloc language, which will be incredibly important because all of the quests will be written in it. in order to help you learn the language, inside of the box you will find a murloc phrase book and an audio CD guaranteed to teach you murloc in just four short weeks!
That's not all! It will also introduce the murloc race, which is killed on site by both factions, and the new Coastrunner class, which cannot equip any armor but has the ability to run really fast and yell for help when it's almost dead. King Mrgl-Mrgl will teach these new and powerful abilities to the Horde and Alliance.
The villain of the expansion is Neptulon's less successful cousin, Kurt the Tidewasher, who is seeking to transform the Maelstrom into a giant laundromat (just the latest in a series of bad investment opportunities)! You must stop him before his ambition washes the coasts of Azeroth in waves of sudsy doom!
Waves of Grrgllmrrgll, coming never!
Zayd Oct 22nd 2011 9:52AM
Have to say whenthey first announced pandas yesterday I was very much against them being in the game.
More I think about it though the more I'm looking forward to seeing them strut their stuff. Still not convinced about them being dual faction however.
ThatGuy Oct 22nd 2011 10:12AM
Dont worry, when blizzard makes an official announcment at blizzcon, it will put these rumors to rest
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Luotian Oct 22nd 2011 10:11AM
I'm excited by all the new changes, and my panda obsession helps :XD: . I can't wait to see how they're added into the lore, and I seriously hope they do it with flair just to show all those whiners how evolving stories are really handled.
TV shows are canceled because characters aren't allowed to change or learn in them. WoW can do better.
Bellajtok Oct 22nd 2011 10:17AM
Escellent. One of the things that excites me most about this expansion is the story. I feel like people are trying to avoid talking about it, to the point where it wasn't an option on today's Breakfast Topic.
But I think this is going to be magnificent. It's going to pit Alliance and Horde against each other like never before. When you roll a Pandaren, you'll have to choose between Alliance and Horde, and there's no doubt that the questline will give you strong reasons to do one or the other.
Chris Metzen said this expansion is going to be all about war. Sure, there are some enemy races to fight, and I'm sure the Naga, Azshara, and N'Zoth will all find themselves at the business end of our spells. But in an expansion about war, I feel confident that we will see at least one (and probably several) questlines and raids reminiscent of Battle for the Undercity. A clearing-house of all the internal struggles we've seen in both factions.
And on that note, I'm hereby calling it now: the "Big Bad" will be Garrosh and Varian. As the people of our factions become tired of war although they lead us onward, we will discover the things they have done to stay in power- especially from Garrosh.
doc Oct 22nd 2011 10:19AM
Some of you more mature gamers may remember 1st Ed. Warhammer 40k and the race known as Squats.
Maybe I personally just don't get what the kids are into today, and pandarens will be forever popular, but I can't but help think this might be Blizz's 'Squats' moment, and years from now will just try to forget all this as soon as they can.
dartht8ter Oct 23rd 2011 2:58AM
Agreed Doc and maybe even worse it may be a Netflix moment.
Mperiolat Oct 22nd 2011 10:20AM
Worth mentioning, even if it is not WoW-centric, the Diablo III lore book coming out and that Chris Metzen mentioned they might do something similar for WoW and Starcraft if it is popular.
Might I suggest something to Blizz and, if someone is at the Con, this be asked at the Lore panel today? They already have two things they started but did not finish: the comic history of WoW and Brann Bronzebeard's journal from the WoW magazine. Perhaps those could be developed into similar lore books, one for the casual fan (the comic based one), one for the lore geek (the Bronzebeard journal). I'd buy both myself!
j0ust Oct 22nd 2011 10:40AM
"It's nice to see that the upcoming expansion will see as much attention to story detail as Cataclysm – and that the precedent set by the leader short stories will continue on with more lore on the official Blizzard website as time goes on. "
It would be nice to see some of it actually occur in-game, as opposed to via third party means.
And as for Cataclysm's story detail; if you aren't aware or don't care to know what Blizzard puts out beyond the parameters of the game itself, you'll have a hard time knowing what the hell is going on.
I'm asuming for MoP, Blizzard are going to be mining Chinese myth, Japanese feudal history, and James Clavell for their stories. Not that this is a bad thing. Whether they can tie it all plausibly into existing WoW lore without it feeling tacked on, will be the test. And if they accomplish it within the game, rather than expecting people to buy novellas and comics, I'll be amazed.
Suzaku Oct 22nd 2011 11:32AM
They did a decent enough job with Kalimdor and Northrend in Warcraft 3. I'm sure they'll have no trouble introducing another new and unique landmass with its own lore.
Granted, an Asian-themed setting is a bit more exotic than what you typically see in a Western fantasy setting. Arguably not as exotic as Outland, though.
Blizzard already seems to be handling this new setting with a great amount of care and respect to Chinese culture, so I have high hopes, personally.
It'll also be great to see some stuff that's actually new to World of Warcraft, instead of extrapolating from RTS games that are tens-of-years old.
jfrombaugh Oct 22nd 2011 11:39AM
It's already been confirmed on the MoP website that the main theme of the lore is that chaos has gripped Azeroth as the elemental boundaries were disturbed in Cataclysm - Deathwing ruptured the boundaries of the Elemental Plane, causing a tremedous series of cataclysms and for entire zones to disappear beneath the sea...the near-apocalyptic setting coupled with the increasing use of force by the Alliance & Horde leaders has forced the two factions into constant war, which is culminating in the Fourth War just as the lost Pandaria contienent is discovered.
I'm guessing that the Tides of War novel will involve Jaina's desperate attempts to cease hostilities throughout Cataclysm, and then she'll probably become friends with the Pandaren & a major neutral leader in the whole hope for Azeroth aspect (sort of like Thrall in Cataclysm). It's been hinted that the diplomatic minorities of both factions will play an even more important role in the lore than before...
Who knows, maybe at Level 90 there'll be some sort of plan amongst the Pandaren and your characters to stimulate a rebellion within the factions and bring down their corrupted leaders Varian & Garrosh...that'd be awesome!
nicko666 Oct 22nd 2011 12:10PM
You mean like WoW died when Rift, AoC, WAR... all these so called WoW killers came out?
Ok so you don't like Pandas. Doesn't mean everyone else dislikes them too. TBH, I'm getting pretty sick of the constant negativity of WoW players in general. The concepts and ideas are fantastic for MoP, the art work and level design they have produced so far is stunning. I really don't see how Pandas are any different to talking cows or Spacegoats?
TL;DR, if you don't like it, go play something else, and stop commenting so the people who are actually excited about this don't get drawn down in the wave of negativity.
nicko666 Oct 22nd 2011 12:29PM
I understand your point. However, I don't think we can yet say that it's gonna suck cos it's just a bunch of pandas. We have seen no lore, no announcements about raid bosses, and no concrete evidence over how the Alliance vs Horde thing will happen in terms of PvE.
Because there will be a big bad somewhere along the line. Maybe not on the world annhiliation level of Lich King or Deathwing or Algalon (who laughably gets overlooked despite being the single biggest threat we have faced to date.)
Yes we will fight the Mantid and Mogu in dungeons in the dungeons and possibly early raids. But I have a feeling they won't really be that big a threat in the grand scheme of things. Much like the arrakoa weren't in TBC. And the Vrykul weren't in wrath. And the Tol'vir in Vortex pinnacle weren't in Cata.
In essence, there's no point in jumping on the WoW is dead bandwagon just yet. Wait to see how the storylines develop in the lore before MoP lands and the early experience. I completely expect Blizzard to pull an awesome narrative out of the bag, a great experience building on what was an infrastructure expansion in cata.
dartht8ter Oct 22nd 2011 4:22PM
You can explain it ten ways to sunday and it doesnt change the fact that we deserved so much better for our years of payments. How about Xpac and Playable race based on... Ethereal? Satyr? Arakkoa? Ogre (how over due is that, Ogre tank ftw!)? Centaur? Naga even? But we get Pandas? Not OK. We payed for it to be developed. NOT OK
ash.p.liu Oct 23rd 2011 2:17AM
You paid for access to Blizzard's World of Warcraft servers at their discretion and nothing more.
ajdavidson Oct 23rd 2011 2:43AM
@ash.p.liu and those who rated his comment up
Why don't you ask Netflix how well that policy works with customers in America. See in this country we are free to pay or not pay, log in or not log in, or go to another one of the 1000 viable companies down the road. There is no gov. mandate (yet) And we get a lot more for our money than the 'honor' of using some companies wonderful product (again see Netflix and many more in history). And then we get to say whatever we want about it wherever we want. Sounds like maybe you aren't used to freedom.