How did people feel about pandas when they first came out?

Community General Discussion
82

I still see them for what they are… an old joke that became a playable race because blizz wanted to pander to china… panda pandering!

They are an ok addition… except for the fact it is near impossible to mog a male pandaren and not have it look ridiculous

83

Totally not true!
<–Exhibit A

You can’t use the same transmog styles with Pandaren as you do with other races, they won’t work out. You have to get creative with them. Although helmets are generally troubling since they don’t sit right on the back of their neck; they’re best if avoided.
Try a style you might use on an orc on a pandaren.

Mists was the first time I actually really played the game, as it coincided with the introduction of Starter accounts. This character was my first. I chose Pandaren because their models had significantly more detail than the other playable options.

I love this character and have an equivalent version of him on the other faction (well, not exactly equivalent; I try to keep them even but I’m not in an active guild on Alliance side).
However…
Knowing what I know now about the game and the lore, I wish the playable race for that expansion had been furbolgs (one for each faction). They were already established as recruitment targets during Cataclysm and using them would have reduced certain plot issues that cropped up with the Pandaren.
That is, questing as a pandaren creates a perplexing continuity snarl that is particularly jarring for new players (allied races have it worse, but at least they aren’t playable by NEW players).

  • You start on an isolated island that has a ship crash into it.
  • You quest through new lands chasing after the destruction path of Deathwing. If you’re Horde, Garrosh threatens to kill you when you meet him for no reason, and then again for following orders in Stonetalon Mountains.
  • You then apparently go back in time and meet Garrosh as a teenager, and help him recover his confidence.
  • Then you go forward in time, but not far enough to get back to where you started, and fight off the Lich King.
  • Returning to the ‘present’, you get back on the trail of chasing Deathwing.
  • Then you go to Southrend, and Nazgrim (who helped you chase Deathwing) meets another Pandaren and greets it as ‘strange bear thing’… despite having adventured with you earlier.
  • Then you join the war effort in Kasarang Wilds and launch the airship that later crashes into your island… meaning the whole inciting incident for leaving the island was a paradox.

As for the Pandaren as a player race, I think not having access to the hero class (Death Knight) really hurt their first impression on experienced players. Having to start from scratch with them diminished their appeal.
It might have helped if Monk had been a hero class, or if Pandaren could have been every base class to compensate. I still think adding Paladins, Warlocks, and Druids to their class roster would be an improvement.