Why Would You Want to be Pandaren?

Despite being a race in Warcraft many, many years ago, there were a lot of people slightly confused by the reveal of the Pandarens at Blizzcon. They're basically racial stereotypes, right?

In an interview with Blizzard Insider, Greg Street sets the record straight and explains what the allure of the myserious Pandarens will be.

"Ultimately, the challenge with races is to make them feel unique without actually providing them with so much power that players feel like they don’t have a choice in which race they want to be. If tauren are the best warriors, then Horde players might feel like they are sacrificing too much in order to try out a different race or stick with a race they really like. With the pandaren, you probably won’t see anything so amazing that everyone gravitates to them… except that their art and animation is just so wonderful.

"The biggest difference for the pandaren is that they can join the Horde or the Alliance, which is something we’ve never tried before. That alone will make them feel unique. They also have a very strong cultural kit. Our trolls might be somewhat Jamaican and the draenei have Eastern European accents, but the pandaren have a very strong Asian influence. That affects everything from their animations — which have a martial arts vibe, even for non-monks — to their hairstyles.

"For racial abilities, we’re giving them a bonus to cooking… and to eating. We’re also giving them a moderate bonus to rested experience to make it less daunting to level one all the way up to level 90. They also get the mystical-martial ability to paralyze opponents by touching their pressure points. Finally, we came up with a silly racial, Bouncy, that causes them to take less falling damage. While the pandaren are as noble and epic as any of our races, we felt like we had to acknowledge their, shall we say, endomorphic body shape in some way.

"Of course, as with any design this early out, this may all change by the time the new expansion goes live."