Blizzards' marketing is targeted towards children, confirmed yes.

I really don't understand the MoP hate.

I hear people complaining that its an old april fools joke thats gone out of hand. However, Pandaren have been part of the Warcraft lore since before WoW and before Kung Fu Panda.

I remember after Burning Crusade when people were posting threads about races they'd like to see in future expansions. These included all sorts of crazy suggestions like Murlocs (id approve!), Naga but there was a lot of support for Pandaren. 

Yet now its been announced its getting mixed reception, all the ignorant mmo players who know nothing about WoW or its lore are saying Blizzard isn't taking the game seriously and that its copying Pixar and catering to children etc etc. 

To the people who say WoW is going to die and that they should simply announce Titan, yes they will announce it when they see fit too, but even if WoW loses a lot of subs, 1 million, 2 million, more than that to other games on the market it will still hold a majority player base because when all the mmo free loaders jump ship it will still contain its loyal fanbase who have been with Blizzard since its early days of Warcraft, Diablo and Stacraft.

With all of that said, i really wouldn't put it past Blizzard to hire Jack Black to do the VA.

I was positive when clicking this thread that I would be disagreeing with the OP, just by looking at the header :p . But I think he has a point. Maybe Blizzard realises that its easier to grab the attention of new younger customers, then trying to satisfy the old vets, especially with the upcoming other MMO's. Those vets will never look at WoW with fresh eyes again, so will critisize a new expansion a lot more then new players.

Originally posted by rt33

Panda's are getting slammed so hard, even though I'm on board with Blizz stepping back and going with a more light and airy setting, yeah every mmo same thing, you start off in the shire and end up in the fires of Mount Doom, YAWN!!!

Leave it to Blizz to hit the big reset button, although i even scratched my head a bit with the Panda's i admit i like the overall setting.

But why Panda setting. Obviously they are rebooting, setting up a new foundation for future expansions, but why Panda, yeah i like the movies, but why so similar?

It then became obvious when one of my sons starting telling me allot of lore detail about PO, the Furious Five, the Valley of Peace, heck i know you watch the series faithfully, and we watched the second movie recently, but somewhere in there an interest spark was awakened and he's edging into teenage years. He's going on about the next movie already, and that in all there might be 6 movies which i had no idea about (but then i started to go, hmm and a major mmo with the world you can run around in after watching the movie, is there some behind the scenes deal)

He's reading anything and everything he can find on the net, I'm almost afraid to mention that Blizz is planning an entire expansion/world he could adventure in based on that setting, although he probably already knows.

Weird it's like Blizz can predict the future as this expansion will most certainly grab his attention and the attention of future movie goers of Kung Fu Panda 3,4,5,6.

   Now they are going for the 4-7 yr olds, LOL

Honestly I am .. and yes I seriously mean it.. just waiting for the Jack Black is a pandaran (or however you spell it) monk .. commercial. Yes I know Kung fu Panda is a Dreamworks product but it wouldnt be the first time theres been cross marketing between successful media sources and the timing is just sooo curious.

Originally posted by someforumguy

I was positive when clicking this thread that I would be disagreeing with the OP, just by looking at the header :p . But I think he has a point. Maybe Blizzard realises that its easier to grab the attention of new younger customers, then trying to satisfy the old vets, especially with the upcoming other MMO's. Those vets will never look at WoW with fresh eyes again, so will critisize a new expansion a lot more then new players.

At the end of the day they are a business and Blizzard makes a lot of money off of making its game more accessible than most in the genre. Some could argue that it is simply a casual online game rather than an MMO these days but i think that would be extreme, at its core its still an MMO that takes up a lot of time.

Every expansion has seen a portion of vets leave saying the next expansion is too casual and 'easy mode'. Vanilla vets said Burning Crusade was making it casual, the vets from that said WoTLK was too casual friendly etc etc, MoP will be no different. I think Blizzard will constantly innovate, slowly but surely pushing the game towards instant gratification and user friendliness and being very accessible. They actually expressed interest in putting it on the ipad if they could figure out a way of getting the controls sorted, also its one of the only MMO's that has a native Mac client which means its the only option for people who want a native Mac mmo (besides eve). The logical next step for them would be to figure out a browser based version that runs from facebook, then they would truly capture the casual market and then it wouldn't matter how many MMO players left for new games, it would enter a whole new realm all to itself.

Originally posted by Akais

Blizz put the Pandaren in because it has the most requested race addition for years.

I agree that MoP is a reboot though, but it's to focus the conflict back to Horde vs. Alliance for land and resources as opposed to saving the planet.

Pandarians were not the most requested race to be added in.  Don't buy the propaganda. 

Originally posted by Hoplites

Originally posted by Akais

Blizz put the Pandaren in because it has the most requested race addition for years.

I agree that MoP is a reboot though, but it's to focus the conflict back to Horde vs. Alliance for land and resources as opposed to saving the planet.

Pandarians were not the most requested race to be added in.  Don't buy the propaganda. 

Maybe not the #1 , but it was quite often been mentioned tons of time in forum during my time.

No propaganda here, move along.

Originally posted by dreamsofwar

I really don't understand the MoP hate.

I hear people complaining that its an old april fools joke thats gone out of hand. However, Pandaren have been part of the Warcraft lore since before WoW and before Kung Fu Panda.

I remember after Burning Crusade when people were posting threads about races they'd like to see in future expansions. These included all sorts of crazy suggestions like Murlocs (id approve!), Naga but there was a lot of support for Pandaren. 

Yet now its been announced its getting mixed reception, all the ignorant mmo players who know nothing about WoW or its lore are saying Blizzard isn't taking the game seriously and that its copying Pixar and catering to children etc etc. 

To the people who say WoW is going to die and that they should simply announce Titan, yes they will announce it when they see fit too, but even if WoW loses a lot of subs, 1 million, 2 million, more than that to other games on the market it will still hold a majority player base because when all the mmo free loaders jump ship it will still contain its loyal fanbase who have been with Blizzard since its early days of Warcraft, Diablo and Stacraft.

With all of that said, i really wouldn't put it past Blizzard to hire Jack Black to do the VA.

It was a joke in Warcraft that then became lore from what I understand..:) Well, I still think it's absurd ...

But on the other hand so is the entire World of Warcraft game/lore , all of it..

/

Two steps ahead, three steps from a sheer drop. Thats where blizzard is.

WoW has always been a mix of childish and mature, comic and tragic, aggressive and peaceful. I don't see why all of the hate and saying that Blizzard has lost the plot.

I think it is about time for an Asian themed area. We have lots of different themes: Carribean, Meso-American, lots of deserts, sort of extraterrestrial, Norse, Western European, but no Asian. It makes complete sense to me for Blizzard to add this and who knows, maybe they will finally add an African expac too one of these days... Sure I would have preferred two new races, one for Alliance one for Horde (come on, where is my two-headed ogre??).

Originally posted by rt33

Panda's are getting slammed so hard, even though I'm on board with Blizz stepping back and going with a more light and airy setting, yeah every mmo same thing, you start off in the shire and end up in the fires of Mount Doom, YAWN!!!

Leave it to Blizz to hit the big reset button, although i even scratched my head a bit with the Panda's i admit i like the overall setting.

But why Panda setting. Obviously they are rebooting, setting up a new foundation for future expansions, but why Panda, yeah i like the movies, but why so similar?

It then became obvious when one of my sons starting telling me allot of lore detail about PO, the Furious Five, the Valley of Peace, heck i know you watch the series faithfully, and we watched the second movie recently, but somewhere in there an interest spark was awakened and he's edging into teenage years. He's going on about the next movie already, and that in all there might be 6 movies which i had no idea about (but then i started to go, hmm and a major mmo with the world you can run around in after watching the movie, is there some behind the scenes deal)

He's reading anything and everything he can find on the net, I'm almost afraid to mention that Blizz is planning an entire expansion/world he could adventure in based on that setting, although he probably already knows.

Weird it's like Blizz can predict the future as this expansion will most certainly grab his attention and the attention of future movie goers of Kung Fu Panda 3,4,5,6.

 The results of drugs, low IQ, and parenthood is why the movie Idiocracy is none-fiction

Pandarens were originally a April Fools joke during Warcraft 3 TFT - People responded well the Panda Brewmaster was added, and people liked it..

Some how that translated to 7 years later they should add them to WoW...

Personally i don't care either way...

I realized last year, that after 6 years of WoW, i don't care if a free BJ came with the expansion nothing will bring me back IM DONE

Obviously this is all part of a master plan, like the OP states, oh wait...

Ghostcrawler: Pandaren were added as an April Fools? joke for Warcraft 3 years and years ago... It’s something that we’ve brought back every now and then as a joke --

GC: No, in fact we had already started work on a totally different idea for 5.0 and then we started to say “you know, I think we could really do something with the Pandarens”.

Interview Nov 2011, AusGamers

So much of a master plan that blizzard wasn't even originally doing it...two steps ahead, more like tripping and breaking a leg.

Originally posted by Hoplites

Pandarians were not the most requested race to be added in.  Don't buy the propaganda. 

People have been banging on about Worgen, Goblins and Pandas since TBC and obviously we already have all the rest.

Originally posted by namelessbob

Originally posted by Sebali

does this guy think blizz made kung fu panda?

I believe so. Sounds like he thinks Kung Fu Panda lore = WoW lore. Not sure I followed the post either unless it was... My kid likes pandas woooo yeah WoW for having pandas to addict small children to their game.

Um.. no.

He means that Panda characters and lore are age-appropriate to their target audience (ie. the next generation of young MMO players).  And that Blizz is capitalizing on the popularity of a recent trend in order to hook young players.

I stopped playing before 4.3 came out, fun timing.  But I'm done with it unitil the brigde patch comes out fot MoP, it's WOW 's last chance for me, if it doesnt wow me I will delete WOW from my PC.

Originally posted by Zeal77

Blizzards' marketing is targeted towards children, confirmed yes.

SW:TOR has a metacritic 5.7 score, confirmed yes.

Originally posted by Dakeru

I know what the OP means. It's all about getting new generations to play.

My first mmorpg was Ragnarok Online. Back then one of the only games worth playing. Nowadays there are so many free games out there that kids have no reason to pick this one.

Using a theme that attracts kids to get them to play is a smart move.

Yeah, but there is one slight catch... The new generation usually want their own things. Playing the same games, watching the same movies or listening to the same music as last generation usually ain't their cup of tea.

I think Blizz should have made a new MMO about pandas instead of just adding them to Wow. 

I remember thinking that stuff my parents liked was the most uncool stuff around when I was an young teenager.