New Alliance Race

[gothmog]

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

Occhi
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If there is such a law (I don't find anything on the net about it):
There are only a few hundred Pandas left in China, so it wouldn't seem unlikely that they make a law forbidding to advocate killing Pandas - killing them in-game might fall under such a thing. China is very active in trying to protect Pandas (after they destroyed nearly all their habitats).
It is not the most severe of such laws regarding Pandas:

Giant pandas are considered natural treasures and the government of China is actively involved in their survival. In fact, pandas are so revered in their homeland that any poacher who dares to kill one of these beautiful animals pays the ultimate price for their hunt: execution.

http://www.aza.org/ConScience/PandaPublicEye/

[castille]

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
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I would say Pandarens seem unlikely because in Warcraft lore, they've ALWAYS been neutral characters. Just my thought.

[Sir_Die_alot]

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
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I'd like to see how they get around your pandaren hero dying in WCIII then. Sounds like hype. :wacko:

[kandrathe]

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.
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It seems a little condescending of you to assume I did not check out the official pages. And, there is little hint of what the blood elves capabilities might be from those pages. So, the new class(es) might not be a part of the "Burning Crusade" expansion. There are many people, now eating crow, who proclaimed that "Blood Elves" would not be the Horde race as well. It probably is rumor, but speculation is speculation until the beta release next summer.

[bonemage]

It seems a little condescending of you to assume I did not check out the official pages.  And, there is little hint of what the blood elves capabilities might be from those pages.  So, the new class(es) might not be a part of the "Burning Crusade" expansion.  There are many people, now eating crow, who proclaimed that "Blood Elves" would not be the Horde race as well.  It probably is rumor, but speculation is speculation until the beta release next summer.
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No offense intended.

[lfd]

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?
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Er?

Is there a law in America preventing the _depiction_ of the death of bald eagles?

If not, you've completely missed the point.

[WildFire]

Being ethnically Chinese, here's my two copper pieces...

There's nothing sacred or off-limits about the giant panda. It's just an animal, like any other animal. Sure, it's an endangered species... and a cute, cuddly one at that, which explains why it's been taken into the hearts of the Chinese. But no, there's nothing taboo about killing a representation of a panda in a game.

If anything, the dragon is looked upon as being much more of a sacred animal. There are even Dragon King gods in the mythology. Still, most have no qualms about slaying Onyxia and kin in WoW, and indeed in the other Taiwan- and Hong Kong-based MMORPGs.

The line was drawn long ago as to what was deemed appropriate and not.

In short, there's nothing stopping the Pandaren from being the 5th Alliance race. And if they aren't, you can be sure that the Chinese market has nothing to do with it.

[Lissa]

Er?

Is there a law in America preventing the _depiction_ of the death of bald eagles?

If not, you've completely missed the point.
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No, I'm understanding the point perfectly. The point I'm making is that it's not that unusual to see the Chinese create a law like this. They probably want to do everything they can to protect the Panda and make an example of anyone that suggests injuring and/or killing a Panda.

You must understand that a lot of Chinese believe very highly in Holistic and Herbal/Faunal medicines. In order to try and protect species from dying out completely in China, the Chinese government probably believes that the best way to stamp out this problem is to make it a serious issue even to depict the deaths of some of these animals.

So, to me it makes perfect sense and I was trying to point out that it's not that far a field from what is the law here in the US.

[TFLlama]

IIRC, isn't the new race supposed to be connected with Outland somehow, like the Blood Elves are?