Hunting for Pandas

Recently a new addition had been attached to the World of Warcraft family. Everyone say hello to obligatory Panda character Kyuzo!

Well with a new race being introduced into Azeroth one would think that creating a character based on said race is somewhat inevitable. Still, having taken Rithendal through Pandaria, I found the narrative rather compelling and I become curious to see how it may work through the perspective of a Pandarian. The Pandarian campaign, of course, is based around the Alliance and the Horde blundering their way into a foreign land - and the inhabitants of said land being less than thrilled with the intrusion and being forced into picking a side.
Therefore, there is appeal in seeing the Pandarian campaign through the eyes of a Pandarian: A countryman bringing a newly found conflict to his homeland. And I have no hesitation admitting that the Pandarian starting zone is indeed one of the best.
And another Hunter? Well this warrior class proved so successful the previous time around that I decided that I might have another go – only this time it would be a Marksman hunter than a Beast Mastery hunter. And whilst I may be used to the pet doing all the work, I am finding some appeal in the shooting and the pet has done well at holding their own in the fighting.

At time of writing I am at level 26 – a long way from the Pandarian campaign to be sure but still there is some interest to be had. What is interesting however is that this past week I’ve invested more hours in WoW than I have in previous weeks. This in turn reinforces my theory that WoW is at its strongest and most appealing during the first 60 levels. Why else would I lavish so time on a new character when I have three stuck in the Outlands?
 But going back to the hour investment, whereas previous weeks I was, according to Raptr, investing 4-6 hours on WoW per week, this week however I’ve sunk over 20 hours. One could make the argument that any new character would make the world of Azeroth seem completely new no matter times one has been over the same locations – but I’m reminded of the suggestion that game developers going out of their way to make their game addictive as possible to in order to make sure people play it. And if that suggestion is indeed correct, one can only wonder how many psychologists Blizzard have on their payroll.