Herding adults into diablo 3?

10/25/2011 04:32 PMPosted by Knost

C'mon, Pandas? And don't give me that "I'm and adult and I'm looking forward to it" crap

I'm an adult and I'm quite looking forward to it. I vastly enjoyed the Mists of Pandaria preview at BlizzCon, I am incredibly excited for the new Monk class. I really didn't get any negative feedback at BlizzCon about Mists of Pandaria. Quite the opposite, in fact: The people I had the privilege to speak with were just as excited about it as I am.

It's easy to dismiss something when you don't have complete information. It's easy to jump to snap judgements because Pandarens look cuddly or because you watched a cartoon that had pandas in it.

The Panderans have a rich culture and the world they inhabit is both stunningly beautiful and incredibly dangerous. That comes across in gameplay in a way that can't be captured in screenshots.

I think it might be worth giving it a chance before one starts shrieking about how it's for kids.

To be fair. You are an highly biased opinion for 2 reasons.

1. You work for Blizzard.
2. Since you work for Blizzard you are usually passionate about what they make(since they probably would not hire you in the first place if you weren't) or you are just full of crap and just saying this simply because you are told to.

Nah, I always choose what I write, and I think that my credibility is heavily influenced by my sincerity. I try to be as real as possible when I interact with the Blizzard community just about anywhere I post.

What I posted is my real opinion, with zero prompting, and it's one that has shifted in favor of Mists of Pandaria after having the opportunity to play it for the first time at BlizzCon alongside the other attendees.

You have yourselves to blame. Blizzard did everything you could to make the racials as silly as possible.

There are silly things everywhere in World of Warcraft as it is currently, and humor is a hallmark of Blizzard games. There are also darker story elements and features within the world itself, and many of the themes we address are very serious indeed.

The Pandaren people are not humorless, nor are they only humorous; they reflect that duality.

This is the problem you face when you offer up snippets of information and no in-depth info. People make snap decisions based on what they know.

I would be inclined to agree, if it weren't for the extremely shallow criticisms I've seen. It seems as though the initial impulse boils down to: pandas = dumb kid stuff.

I just think even a cursory look at the Mists of Pandaria site reveals that there's more to it than that: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/

I come back to a post I made (probably since deleted) that sums it all up. The blues come in here with their smug attitude about "Oh just wait until you see it!! The Care Bear Kung Fu Panda aspect of this xpac is only the TIP of the iceburg!!!" Well... when your subscription base is headed to the toilet because you targeted 12 year old girls instead of gamers, we'll see if that smugness remains.

I thought of it as "genuine enthusiasm" rather than "smugness", but text is subject to interpretation. Anyway, look, I know that for some of you, there's nothing that we can say will dismiss your.. dismissiveness. That's fine.

What I think is unfortunate is the vitriolic need that some have to despoil the enthusiasm that others might have for what's on the horizon. It's needless, and won't change the course of the future. There are better ways of providing informed feedback.

You made the Kung Fu Panda xpac. How did you expect your player base to react to that?

No. We're making Mists of Pandaria. It's a story about exploring a new continent, occupied by an ancient people with a rich culture, who are coming into contact with invaders who have their own agendas, in a conflict with potentially far reaching consequences for all involved. It is a story of cultures clashing, warfare, alliances, and politics. It is a voyage through a beautiful and often dangerous land. This culture is based on a race that has a basis in Warcraft lore. That's what it is. Unfortunately, some players are snidely choosing to interpret it as a cartoon expansion, and that's too bad.

For that matter, we rather did expect that we would get that reaction from some quarters. It was inevitable, I suppose. We hope that the more everyone gets to see and experience everything that's coming, that they'll begin to appreciate it, even if the idea seems silly now.