World of Warcraft: Pandaren Race and Monk Class Overview

Many people seemed somewhat disappointed with the most recent World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. People complained about the length of the dungeons, the sketchiness of the lore, the failure of the raid designs and so much more; Deathwing probably now knows how Illidan felt in Burning Crusade.

To counter act the perceived disappointment with Cataclysm, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that they will be launching a new expansion soon featuring... Pandas? Many people did not realize that there has always been a panda race within the game and it's lore since it's launch in 2004. The race is called Pandaren, from the island on the back of a giant turtle called, Pandaria.

For those who have been playing World of Warcraft for quite a while, they'll remember the Pandarens as those being the ones behind the Brewfest holiday. They'll probably also remember that once upon a time, Blizzard said that they would NEVER release Pandarens as a playable race.

The change of plans behind the Pandarens seems to have come from Chris Metzen. Mr. Metzen is the Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard and can also be noted as the guy behind almost all of the voices in WoW and other Blizzard games. During the 2011 Blizzcon, Metzen revealed that he had been trying to pursued Blizzard to implement Pandarens into the game since the Burning Crusade expansion. He said that with his design plan, Draenei would have been replaced with Pandarens. However, his idea was knocked down and Draenei were drafted instead.

Despite the fact that Blizzard is going against what they have said that they would do, it appears that the Pandarens should give the company the necessary boost that they've been lacking for a while. The Pandarens received great reviews from players at Blizzcon, so only time and the new expansion can tell how the not-so-cuddly pandas will hold up for WoW players and for Blizzard Entertainment.

"Couched in myth and legend, rarely seen and even more rarely understood, the enigmatic pandaren have long been a mystery to the other races of Azeroth. The noble history of the pandaren people stretches back thousands of years, well before the empires of man and before even the sundering of the world." - Blizzard Entertainment Website

Pandarens should not be confused with cute, cuddly teddy bears. Nor should they be confused or compared with Jack Black's Kung Fu Panda. Pandarens look to be the time that deal out a lot of damage and ask questions later.

The Pandaren is the first true neutral WoW race, being able to play either Horde or Alliance. At level 10, players will be given the choice as to which faction they wish to join. Once this choice has been made, they cannot go back and change it, except through a payed faction change.

Pandarens can be Monks, Mages, Rogues, Warriors, Hunters, Priests, and Shaman. Do note that they cannot be Death Knights. Blizzard said this is due to the Pandarens having been isolated on an island far away from the Scourge and Arthas' forces, therefore they were not affected by the rise of the Death Knight.

Their racial benefits are almost all food related (Stop thinking Kung Fu Panda!). Their racial, Epicurean, increase stat benefits from foods by 100%. This racial seems slightly overpowered and will probably be fixed, or nerfed, sometimes early within the expansion. Pandaren cooking skill is increased by 15, allowing them to be a little easier to level cooking with.

Other, non-food related racials include: Inner Peace (rested experience (XP) lasts twice as long as other races), Bouncy (50% less fall damage taken), and Quacking Palm (Puts targeted enemies to sleep fro 3 seconds).

Pandarens are known for being able drink down a brew just as good as a Dwarf, if not better. So if a Pandaren is the race for you, be sure to keep a large stock of delicious Ale to satisfy your raging teddy bear.

Monks are offering a new and exciting look at melee. Combining powerhouse melee classes like rogues and shaman, monks look like they will top these guys using elements of their classes that they are prized for.

Monks can be tanks, healers, and melee dps. They work in cloth and leather gear, making them the first leather tanking class that doesn't have a shape-shift ability (Druid Bears). Monks can be played by all the races in World of Warcraft; both Horde and Alliance. Similar to the way a Warrior's rage bar works, Pandarens will have a power bar powered by "Chi".

The three monk specs are Brewmaster (tanking spec), Mistweaver (healing spec), and Windwalker (melee dps spec).

Brewmasters appear to be pretty similar to Druid bears, just without the shape-shift. They work off of Chi, which works in a similar way to a Warrior's rage bar and a Druid Bear's rage bar. Their major gear stat will be agility leather, making huge competition in gear with Druids.

It's still a little unknown how the Mistweavers will work. They'll be a support healer class similar to how Shaman were back in the early days of World of Warcraft. It is also being said that they'll be a dps/healer class, somewhat like a Disc Priest. Their major gear stat will be Intellect Leather, making them once again in huge competition with Druids. Hopefully Blizzard will release more information soon on this very interesting healer class.

Windwalkers look like ninjas. They work similar to like a rogue or a Kitty Druid. They're based off of Chi and their main stat is Agility based leather gear. This spec looks like it will be a powerhouse in PvP due to an impressive Roll ability they have that allows them to roll away for a fairly long distance. It is said that if a Monk has a full Chi bar, they will be able to roll at least twice. Sadly, there is still little information on this spec as well. Hopefully we'll hear more on them soon.

If there are any changes or updates to the class and race to be announced prior to the expansion release, I will update this Hub accordingly to accommodate. I do not plan on updating it once the expansion has released. Any interesting updates performed during expansion will most likely result in me simply creating a new Hub about the topic.