The BIG Debate

MoP. Mists of Pandaria. Pandas.  Panda BEARS?? Fluffy wuffy KUNG FU panda bears???

Yup. Love ‘em or hate ‘em those bears are on their way. I’ve watched people QQ and argue over a few expansions now but this seems to be the most heated one yet. I can’t quite put my finger on it though. I’m not sure if the main complaint is that the new race are pandas (and therefore not a stereotypical fantasy race) or that there isn’t a single “big bad” to focus on in MoP, unlike the past few expansions. I can’t help wondering if the people who are accusing Blizzard of going soft would be more accepting of the pandas if there was a big evil that needed to be vanquished. Is it altogether too much softness?

Alternatively, to play devils advocate, isn’t this game we play called WORLD of Warcraft? We’ve had several expansions of the WAR part, now maybe it’s time for the WORLD part? And Pandaria is certainly all about that. I think Blizzard is being rather crafty in fact. They know their player base is incredibly varied and they are using that to their advantage. I’d be very surprised if we don’t see something much more violent and bloody for the expansion after MoP. Mix it up. Appeal to all types of players and you’ll keep those subscriber numbers up. I can remember a time when playing end game pretty much meant raiding. If you weren’t raiding you were farming mats to make flasks/buff foods etc. Your other alternatives were levelling an alt or grinding rep. Over the last few years we’ve seen a little more non-raid content added. Now, with MoP shortly incoming, a whole bunch of non-raid end game content will be available to players. With pet battles and the Tillers faction, plus the usual rep grinds for cool stuff, there will be plenty for people to do outside of raids and this will appeal to many casual players. Widening their player base? I reckon so.

As for me, I'm excited about those pandas and everything they bring with them.