Was MoP made to appeal to the Chinese?

As Chris Metzen said in his interview on DirecTV just after opening ceremony, the pandaren race was originally planned to be added as the Alliance race in The Burning Crusade.

There are a number of reasons why that didn't happen, but none of them are because we thought they wouldn't make for compelling characters with interesting stories and living environments. We've wanted to add the pandaren people into the game for a long time. And, when recording feedback over the years from events like BlizzCon and many other avenues, the number one request (by a large margin) has been for us to add pandaren to the game. A lot of people want it and we feel the timing's just right post-Cataclysm.

We want the next expansion to be less focused on a primary antagonist, and more on the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance after the fall of Deathwing, particularly as a new land with diverse and foreign cultures is discovered.

The original World of Warcraft didn't have a primary antagonist and that wasn't strange to most players. Granted, we've set a precedent in the last few expansions of having the one major bad boy. But now, we want to focus much more on creating a bunch of varied content which lets you choose what you want to do in the game on any given day. We want to focus more on what's fun than what you have to do to excel -- and, by that, I mean we want more progression paths in the game to better cater to the extremely diverse player population.

We wouldn't have gone forward with this idea if we weren't confident about whether or not we're breathing some new life into the game and changing up the formula.

I understand the debate over this isn't going to be settled today -- or over the weekend -- but give it a bit to sink in, check out the remaining panels (including the Q&A panel tomorrow), and be on the lookout for more information about our design intent for Mists of Pandaria.

As a side note, even with some of the inappropriate comments and spam going on today, we do still really appreciate how passionate everyone is about the direction of the game. We share that passion and look forward to continuing to divulge our evolving philosophy on making this the funnest game possible. And we'll make sure there are plenty of opportunities for open conversations between community managers, developers, and players as time advances (it's difficult for me to follow any thread for too long while working BlizzCon). For instance, we'll be doing a CoverItLive developer Q&A next week with Lead Content Designer, Cory "Mumper" Stockton, and Lead Systems Designer, Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street, next week. Stay tuned for more info on that!

From the BlizzCon show floor (Ask Blizzard booth) and with love,
~Zarhym

10/21/2011 04:53 PMPosted by Dëadpøøl

Its SO asain themed and i know blizz has a hard time getting their game into china with BILLIONS of people, so is MoP just a way to tap into all that cash without having to revamp much of the game like they did with WotlK?

10/21/2011 07:22 PMPosted by Pixiestix

As a side note, even with some of the inappropriate comments and spam going on today, we do still really appreciate how passionate everyone is about the direction of the game

How is expressing our disdain inappropriate? Isn't this what the forums are for? I sincerely hope you are not implying that people that are weary about this are trolls or being inappropriate in any way whatsoever.

Constructive dissent is totally fine. I apologize if my wording wasn't clear. I just mean that we've seen a decent amount of spamming, trolling, and inappropriate comments in regards to the announcement -- such is the case with any major reveal like this. However, as I was trying to express in my previous post, we appreciate that everyone's passionate about this, even if they're not sold on the Mists of Pandaria concept.

So please carry on with your feedback, positive or negative. Just keep it constructive. We're listening! Err... reading. Well kinda both since we're talking to people at BlizzCon.

Okay, I'm officially really tired. <3

10/21/2011 10:58 PMPosted by Kitrik

After seeing this I know even you blue posters are saying inside, "Yes we know we have sunk to a new low" Sure disguise your feelings all you want. Most of the players know you also are like, wtf...

Ouch. The was the most painful shoving of words into my mouth I've felt in a long time.

So after reading what I wrote... well, maybe read again with less focus on your own angle. It's been an extremely busy day. I wouldn't dare take the time to write a post of that length from the show floor just to spoon feed you marketing slogans.

You didn't speak for me very well, so please don't assume you're speaking for most players either. Thanks. :)

It's true the female models are not yet ready for show, which made me a little sad too. But we haven't forgotten the release timeline and public reaction to the female worgen model. I'll definitely check in with the developers. :)

10/22/2011 12:32 AMPosted by Clovyn

Zarhym. before you go, over this next few weeks could you check in with those incharge of the Female Pandaren? Alot of players are worried that another Female Worgen fiasco will occur. Including myself.