New Alliance Race

[Raven Vale]

Did'nt blizz say something to the effect that Pandaren would not become a race for fear of excluding the panda loving chinese , but maybe have an NPC or 2 ? I read it somewhere , its just finding it :P

[CaLViN]

What would be really cool is if your character was human by day and wolf by night the way the citizens of Pyrewood Village are.

How about Pandaren by day, wolf by night? :w00t:

[MongoJerry]

Did'nt blizz say something to the effect that Pandaren would not become a race for fear of excluding the panda loving chinese , but maybe have an NPC or 2 ? I read it somewhere , its just finding it :P

I believe that this idea came from forum discussions rather than anything officially said by Blizzard employees. If anything, I would think the Chinese would love being able to play pandas, actually.

[Gurnsey]

I believe that this idea came from forum discussions rather than anything officially said by Blizzard employees.  If anything, I would think the Chinese would love being able to play pandas, actually.
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I think the more applicable quote is 'it will be one you [the players] won't be expecting'. I think Pandaren overwhelmingly qualify as 'expected'. And Worgen....nobody saw that coming. But it makes sense!

Oh, and at the Blizzon Q & A...

[MissileToad]

Wow. This would be really cool :). I'd make an Alliance character in a heartbeat if this was an option.

The Pandaren pic looks photoshopped to me. Cut/paste looking edges, top half is almost dead on for female tauren structure, bottom half looks pasted on around mid-chest.

[ima_nerd]

What classes would be allowed? Warrior and Rogue, obviously. Hunter? They seem kind of beastish, maybe they could commune with animals or something, who knows. For the same reason, Druid looks good but I doubt the Horde would be too happy about them only having one Druid race. Warlock seems pretty likely but that kind of clashes with the Hunter idea. So much to think about!

[Skandranon]

I believe that this idea came from forum discussions rather than anything officially said by Blizzard employees.  If anything, I would think the Chinese would love being able to play pandas, actually.
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China has a law forbidding the depiction of the death of a panda in any way; that's the potential stumbling block. Unless Blizzard wanted to make the pandaren invulnerable, there's a bit of an issue there.

[swirly]

Druid looks good but I doubt the Horde would be too happy about them only having one Druid race.
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I don't believe that Druid would be a choice, because Druids have control over their form. The whole point of this race is that they don't have such control. A druid would be able to shift out of the curse without any problems. So I think that class is a definate no no for them.

[Occhidiangela]

China has a law forbidding the depiction of the death of a panda in any way; that's the potential stumbling block.  Unless Blizzard wanted to make the pandaren invulnerable, there's a bit of an issue there.
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Gotta love that censorship thing . . . is the Panda a holy symbol?

Occhi

[kandrathe]

So the classes might reflect some talents of the current Worgen like;
Nightbane Shadow Weaver
Nightbane Dark Runner
Nightbane Vile Fang
Nightbane Tainted One

Although there does not need to be any continuity from the current NPC's, for example, there are Dwarves and Dark Iron Dwarves with little hint of shared capabilities.

The Blood Elves in WCIII are spellbreakers with the capabilities to take control of summoned creatures, they are immune to magic, they can reflect spells and their attacks do mana burn. Whatever capabilities are introduced on one side will need to be reflected on the other to maintain a balance.

Some excerpts I've found out there on the web;

Blood Elves
Serving Illidan to satiate their magical addiction, the blood elves have grown stronger than they ever imagined. But even now, with demonic magic in constant supply, many of the blood elves are hungering for even more magic.

Racial Traits:
Demonic Corruption - Due to their corrupted blood and their hunger for magic, the Blood Elves begin the game with +10 resistances to all types of magic. In Addition, all of their resistances to magical spells and effects, excluding Nature, are increased by 8%.

Available Classes: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Priest, Warlock, Spellbreaker

And;

New Class: Spell Breaker

Spell Breaker - Among the Blood Elves, there are those who show such an amazing aptitude for magic that they can become almost immune to it's effects and can even twist the spells of others to benefit themselves. Called Spellbreakers, they were the elite, holding mastery over all forms of magic. Now, with demonic blood flowing through their veins, these Spellbreakers and their allies among the Naga and Draenei have begun to evolve into demons themselves, with the most powerful able to manipulate the fabric of the Twisting Nether.

Spell breakers begin the game with leather armor but are able to use mail once they reach level fourty.

Examples of Specific Abilities:

Shadow Orbs: Summons several shadowy spheres to circle the caster's body. This spell will increase the player's parry/block rate, with each parry or block causing shadow damage to the attacker. Each attack blocked/parried in this fashion will cause an orb to violently explode, causing minor arcane damage to the attacker and decreasing the number of orbs surrounding the player until all orbs are gone and the effect ends. 30 second cooldown.

Demon Fangs: Fangs are often the first demonic trait evolved by Spellbreaker characters. Using this ability will cause you to attempt to bite your enemy, causing shadow damage and causing a Damage over Time debuff on the opponent, unless resisted. 3 minute cooldown.

Fel Strike: The Spellbreaker's weapon is charged with demonic energy, causing extra shadow damage every hit. Lasts five minutes.

Dark Whispers: Has a 75% chance to temporarily lower nearby enemies' attack power by 10%, lower their hit points by 5%, or lower their mana by 5%. Has a 25% chance to buff nearby enemies' attack power by 10%, hit points by 10%, or mana by 10%. Effect is random on every target. 1 Minute Cooldown.

Fel Concentration: Has a 50% chance to either slow casting time of the target by 10%, or making it 10% faster. May be used on Party Members or enemies. Lasts 5 seconds. 15 second cooldown.

Talent Trees:

Fel Protection - Centered around defensive abilities that allow the Spellbreaker a chance to survive when up against melee classes.

Fel Combat - Talents used to improve offensive spells and abilities used by the Spellbreaker.

Spellbreaking - Talents used to attempt to increase spell the spell resistances of the Spellbreaker.

Example Talents:

Spell Alignment: The caster attempts to align his body with the next spell cast upon him. Once hit by the spell, his body 'aligns' to that spell's school, making him immune to that spell school for 20 seconds. Lasts until a hostile spell is cast on the Spellbreaker. 15 minute cooldown. LEVEL 40 TALENT - Fel Protection.

Spell Reflection: For 20 seconds, all positive and negative spells used on the Spellbreaker are reflected at the caster. 15 minute cooldown. LEVEL 40 TALENT - Fel Combat.

Spell Absorbtion: For 20 seconds, all spells used on the Spellbreaker will cause normal damage, but the mana cost of the spell is added to the Spellbreaker's mana. LEVEL 40 TALENT - Spellbreaking.

Improved Demon Fangs: Damage caused by the bite of the demon fangs does 5%/10%/15% more damage and has its cooldown reduced by 15/30/60 seconds. 3 ranks. FEL COMBAT.

Melee Specialization: Chance to cause shadow damage on hit with a melee weapon is increased by 10%/20%. 2 ranks. FEL COMBAT.Improved Shadow Orbs: Damage caused by the shadow orbs is increased by 10%/20%/30%. 3 ranks. FEL PROTECTION.

Shadow Shield: Increases your chance to block with a shield by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%. Also gives a chance to cause shadow damage equal to the amount of damage that had been blocked to the attacker by 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%. 5 ranks. FEL PROTECTION.

Fire Resistance: Increases your resistance to fire spells by 2/4/6/8/10. 5 ranks. SPELLBREAKING.

Frost Resistance: Increases your resistance to frost spells by 2/4/6/8/10. 5 ranks. SPELLBREAKING.

Shadow Resistance: Increases your resistance to shadow spells by 2/4/6/8/10. 5 ranks. SPELLBREAKING.

Arcane Resistance: Increases your resistance to arcane spells by 2/4/6/8/10. 5 ranks. SPELLBREAKING.

If Spellbreaker is a new class, the Alliance race will need a representative as well.

[bonemage]

If Spellbreaker is a new class, the Alliance race will need a representative as well.
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There are no new classes coming in the expansion. What you quoted was rumor/false patch notes. This article states that Blizzard will have no new classes, and is directly linked to by Blizzard's official game page. There are several articles that Blizzard has linked to with this same information. You can check out the official expansion website for confirmed information, but the lack of new classes is only slightly less confirmed. The Blood Elf racial abilities were on display at Blizzcon, and were not what you have in your quoted information.

[Raelynn]

There are no new classes coming in the expansion. 
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Just in case anyone wanted a post in the forums with the same info:
Blue Post

[MongoJerry]

China has a law forbidding the depiction of the death of a panda in any way; that's the potential stumbling block.  Unless Blizzard wanted to make the pandaren invulnerable, there's a bit of an issue there.

How sure are you of this? This is one of those "could be true" things that could also be completely made up. It could be one of those "wierd and crazy Chinese government things." Or, it could be one of those "let's make up something about China to make them look wierd and crazy so that people will say, 'Thank God I live in America'" things.

[Skandranon]

How sure are you of this?  This is one of those "could be true" things that could also be completely made up.  It could be one of those "wierd and crazy Chinese government things."  Or, it could be one of those "let's make up something about China to make them look wierd and crazy so that people will say, 'Thank God I live in America'" things.
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Moderately certain, though I can't dig up my source at this moment. I do know for absolute certain that as recently as five years ago, China had a law against depicting human skeletons, so this type of censorship is not out of line with previous policy.

[Skandranon]

Gotta love that censorship thing . . . is the Panda a holy symbol? 

Occhi
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The panda isn't a holy symbol in any Chinese religion, so far as I know. That said, I doubt the Communist government would restrict anything based on a religious reason, anyway.

[MongoJerry]

Moderately certain, though I can't dig up my source at this moment.  I do know for absolute certain that as recently as five years ago, China had a law against depicting human skeletons, so this type of censorship is not out of line with previous policy.

OK, but wouldn't that also be a problem for World of Warcraft, since there are so many human skeletons in the game?

[Skandranon]

OK, but wouldn't that also be a problem for World of Warcraft, since there are so many human skeletons in the game?
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Yes, but it's probably easier to code around that.

For example, simply switch all the skeleton type monsters in the game to use the ghoul model, and cause corpses to fade to nothing on resurrect. Those two changes alone eliminate the vast majority of the skeletons you'll see without changing the game much, and unless the law's been repealed I'd assume that similar changes are already in place in the Chinese localized version of WoW.

It's much harder to deal with dead pandaren. I suppose you could cause them to disappear on death.

[MongoJerry]

For example, simply switch all the skeleton type monsters in the game to use the ghoul model, and cause corpses to fade to nothing on resurrect.  Those two changes alone eliminate the vast majority of the skeletons you'll see without changing the game much, and unless the law's been repealed I'd assume that similar changes are already in place in the Chinese localized version of WoW.

Or I suppose that you could wine and dine a few government officials and show them how much money the game would make for the Chinese economy (and how that would benefit the officials' careers) and get an exemption from the law.

[Lissa]

How sure are you of this?  This is one of those "could be true" things that could also be completely made up.  It could be one of those "wierd and crazy Chinese government things."  Or, it could be one of those "let's make up something about China to make them look wierd and crazy so that people will say, 'Thank God I live in America'" things.
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Umm...what's so hard to realize that the Panda may be the Chinese national animal? The Bald Eagle is the national animal of the US and it is illegal to kill them intentionally. So why would you think that it would be any different in China is the Panda is their national animal?

[JustAGuy]

... WORGEN?!  Maybe.  Shamelessly copied from an allied guild forum:
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Pandaren are nice and all, and I'd expect to see at least one Panda NPC in the Xpac, but they just don't seem to be Xpac playable race material.

I heard some such about a faction of Taurens being the new race, but that would just be weird. Taurens vs Taurens...

This idea of Worgens being the new Ally race, now that's pretty neat. Of all the things I've heard, this one is most plausible and fun-sounding. They are humans, after all. I really hope that it is true, because then I'd actually want to roll alliance, namely Worgen Warrior. Fun times ahead! Too bad we won't be able to find out for another year (Blizzard + release dates = xpac is at least 1 full year away).