The pun only just occurred to me
The Pandaren race has been a sort of Warcraft in-joke forever - it started as an April Fools thing - and until a year or so ago, they always said it would remain a joke and there would never actually be Pandaren in the game. There was always a vocal element of the fandom that really really wanted them to be real though. And finally Blizzard gave in, panderin' to the fans' desires.
It's probably an unintentional pun, though. Regardless of intent, they did a great job bringing the Pandaren and their world to life, in my opinion!
Now, I have not bought the expansion, so I can't play the new Monk class. But even without the expansion, players can make new Pandaren characters and get a taste of the new content via the starting zone. New Pandaren players find themselves on a floating island and must face various challenges to save their land from impending disaster.
It's very colorful and pretty, and the environment and quests are almost childlike. Really a contrast to the darker themes in much of the rest of the game, which is kind of a refreshing change. It also reminds me of various Western takes on Chinese/Asian themes, like Mulan or Avatar (not like a copycat, but the general flavor). I have not seen Kung Fu Panda so I can't speak to that.
There is nothing really ground-breaking, but it is nicely done. I don't want to spoil the storyline for anyone, so I won't go into details. I also won't go into political discussion about cultural appropriation. It IS a habit of Blizzard's, and many people have made good points about that elsewhere, but I choose to enjoy it anyway. 'Nuff said.
Most of these pics are from after I finished the quest line. I stuck around to explore and revist. If you want to see more landscape/scenery type pics, you can look at my Tumblr post here (one repeat image but the others are different from this post).
I made a hunter to try out the starting zone. I started with a female character, but they are maybe a little TOO cute for me. I think they did a great job with the model (and they didn't repeat the mistakes of the horrible female Worgen) but in the end, I just like the males better. My guy is named Tachu.
Both genders appear to be meditating when they sit down - LOVE it.
Tachu taking a shower in a cave waterfall.
So, Pandaren hunters start out with a turtle pet. It's a pretty cool turtle, but I don't really get attached to turtle pets in WoW, and I traded it for something else once I had the ability to. So I just have a turtle butt picture, sorry.
When I saw the pretty tigers, I tamed one of them. And I was curious... given that this expansion is Chinese-influenced, a large percentage of the players are in China, AND Blizzard has a habit of blacklisting certain names for hunter pets... I wondered if I could use the name FreeTibet. Turns out that one's NOT blacklisted.
I was going to tame a new one and give it a more congenial name (I support the movement to free Tibet, but I don't want to make my pet's name a trigger for political debate) but then I read on the Petopia forums that the cranes get really tiny when you tame them. Like, SUPER tiny. I could not resist!
Here is a comparison so you can see just how much they shrink down - like maybe they're made of wool and they got thrown in the washer on hot.
So freaking cute!
People on Petopia were saying they'll probably be fixed, because "they could be exploited for PvP" but they said that about the flaming boars too, and those haven't been fixed. So hopefully Tachu will get to keep his origami crane.
Like I said, I stayed to explore after I finished all the quests, but before the final step of choosing my faction. I revisited the pretty areas and found some nifty details. Like this earthy little shrine kind of off the beaten path near the turnip fields, with the local farmers coming to visit or sitting there to meditate.
Another thing, if you play WoW and are rolling a Pandaren, and if you like the little flavor details, you shouldn't miss sitting in on Lorewalker Amai's class teaching the children about the explorer, Liu Lang. And especially don't miss the song that Lorewalker Ruolin sings. It's just beautiful.
Or, if you want to listen to the song you can hear it on YouTube; you can also read the text of the lesson here on Wowpedia. It doesn't spoil anything in the quests. It actually inspired me to go find Liu Lang's resting place (which you can see in the Tumblr pics linked above).
And that is all for now! Because my dinner seems to be done (apple and butternut squash tart, yum).
It's probably an unintentional pun, though. Regardless of intent, they did a great job bringing the Pandaren and their world to life, in my opinion!
Now, I have not bought the expansion, so I can't play the new Monk class. But even without the expansion, players can make new Pandaren characters and get a taste of the new content via the starting zone. New Pandaren players find themselves on a floating island and must face various challenges to save their land from impending disaster.
It's very colorful and pretty, and the environment and quests are almost childlike. Really a contrast to the darker themes in much of the rest of the game, which is kind of a refreshing change. It also reminds me of various Western takes on Chinese/Asian themes, like Mulan or Avatar (not like a copycat, but the general flavor). I have not seen Kung Fu Panda so I can't speak to that.
There is nothing really ground-breaking, but it is nicely done. I don't want to spoil the storyline for anyone, so I won't go into details. I also won't go into political discussion about cultural appropriation. It IS a habit of Blizzard's, and many people have made good points about that elsewhere, but I choose to enjoy it anyway. 'Nuff said.
Most of these pics are from after I finished the quest line. I stuck around to explore and revist. If you want to see more landscape/scenery type pics, you can look at my Tumblr post here (one repeat image but the others are different from this post).
I made a hunter to try out the starting zone. I started with a female character, but they are maybe a little TOO cute for me. I think they did a great job with the model (and they didn't repeat the mistakes of the horrible female Worgen) but in the end, I just like the males better. My guy is named Tachu.
Both genders appear to be meditating when they sit down - LOVE it.
Tachu taking a shower in a cave waterfall.
So, Pandaren hunters start out with a turtle pet. It's a pretty cool turtle, but I don't really get attached to turtle pets in WoW, and I traded it for something else once I had the ability to. So I just have a turtle butt picture, sorry.
When I saw the pretty tigers, I tamed one of them. And I was curious... given that this expansion is Chinese-influenced, a large percentage of the players are in China, AND Blizzard has a habit of blacklisting certain names for hunter pets... I wondered if I could use the name FreeTibet. Turns out that one's NOT blacklisted.
I was going to tame a new one and give it a more congenial name (I support the movement to free Tibet, but I don't want to make my pet's name a trigger for political debate) but then I read on the Petopia forums that the cranes get really tiny when you tame them. Like, SUPER tiny. I could not resist!
Here is a comparison so you can see just how much they shrink down - like maybe they're made of wool and they got thrown in the washer on hot.
So freaking cute!
People on Petopia were saying they'll probably be fixed, because "they could be exploited for PvP" but they said that about the flaming boars too, and those haven't been fixed. So hopefully Tachu will get to keep his origami crane.
Like I said, I stayed to explore after I finished all the quests, but before the final step of choosing my faction. I revisited the pretty areas and found some nifty details. Like this earthy little shrine kind of off the beaten path near the turnip fields, with the local farmers coming to visit or sitting there to meditate.
Another thing, if you play WoW and are rolling a Pandaren, and if you like the little flavor details, you shouldn't miss sitting in on Lorewalker Amai's class teaching the children about the explorer, Liu Lang. And especially don't miss the song that Lorewalker Ruolin sings. It's just beautiful.
Or, if you want to listen to the song you can hear it on YouTube; you can also read the text of the lesson here on Wowpedia. It doesn't spoil anything in the quests. It actually inspired me to go find Liu Lang's resting place (which you can see in the Tumblr pics linked above).
And that is all for now! Because my dinner seems to be done (apple and butternut squash tart, yum).