World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

[Hathen]

Probably seems like a step back in terms of scale, but at the same time, going back to a more "naturalistic" design for the areas is potentially interesting.

Only big announcement gameplay-wise is a promise to revamp the talent system so it becomes more customizable. They've already tried this in Cataclysm (and failed), so let's see if they're able to do it this time, I suppose.

Also you can pretend to be Jack Black I guess.

There seems to be some player backlash with this announcement- people think it's some kind of joke. I can understand that, I suppose, taking a gimmick race and making them the center of a whole expansion. It'd be like making an entire FF game about a chocobo...er wait, I mean making an entire MMO expansion about moogles...er wait. Well, shit.

[John]

Question about pet battles.

I have a Grunty.

How the hell does another vanity pet win AGAINST A MURLOC WITH A GUN?!

[Annubis]

How the hell does another vanity pet win AGAINST A MURLOC WITH A GUN?!

Simple, corehound or diablo.

[Akanbe-]

Well, Guild Wars 2 and SWTOR are fucked.


Not.

I like(d) WoW, but kinda underwhelming.  I'm sure they'll be announcing more, but I'm not feelin' it.  Monk might be semi-interesting, but not enough to make me buy.  I'm sure there will be 1000 youtube videos showing them so no biggie.

[Demon_Princess_Kay]

To whoever though Pandaria was a good name, IT'S NOT!

[Sagacious-T]

It just doesn't seem as interesting as any of the other locales.

[Akanbe-]

It just doesn't seem as interesting as any of the other locales.

I was pretty sure it would be Emerald Dream after Cataclysm.  Oh well.

[Raze]

It just doesn't seem as interesting as any of the other locales.

Eh, it could be. It really depends how much panda people drags it down because there's nothing wrong with a chinese theme itself.

[Andrew]

The Pandaren have been a super popular race since WC3, though. So it may well drive sales on that fact alone.

[(Tunnels)]

I'm excited, and I only kinda like WoW. It seems silly and fun, like a wink and a nudge.

[ZeronHitaro]

I'll admit; the Monk class almost makes me want to play again. The only thing stopping me from prepping to play WoW once more is the constant reminded that once you hit the level cap the game blows chunks for a single player. PuGs suck, PvP is way too repetitive, and for both PvP and PvE all the "good" stuff pretty much requires you join a guild. Which between the application processes and strict "Thou shalt do this at the time in order to do this at this time" methodologies pretty much means it's a second job I pay for.

Which is a shame because it is a gorgeous game. :-\ Just not very soloist friendly.

[Hathen]

It just doesn't seem as interesting as any of the other locales.

One thing I was thinking about was that there seems to be a pretty low amount of Eastern-inspired locales in MMOs popular in the west. Even a lot of Japanese/Korean MMOs take inspiration from medieval Europe or from Tolkien/Arthur fantasy. It's all big stone castles and the like- I can't think of a lot of times I visited a Pagoda-like area or something that looks like the forbidden city. The last time I remember something remotely like that was Neudaiz in Phantasy Star Universe.

There's a lot of popular wuxia-style MMOs in the East, but they pretty much never gain popularity in the West.

[D-Rider]

I find it hard to believe that there are people out there who are legitimately excited about the option to play as a giant fucking panda.

[Vanguard]

Yeah, I don't see how this panders to the tastes of the fans.

[John]

I find it hard to believe that there are people out there who are legitimately excited about the option to play as a giant fucking panda.

Don't care about Panda.

Care about GNOME FUCKING MONK.