The Pandaren race seem to have been heavily inspired by Kung Fu Panda, as evidenced by their racial abilities which seem to reflect a love of food and the fact they’re fat. The “Epicurean” race ability increases the stat benefits from food by 100%, while the “Gourmand” race benefit gives them a 15 bonus to cooking skill. All that eating has led to the “Bouncy” trait, which halves falling damage. One of the more useful abilities, “Inner Peace” makes the rested XP bonus last twice as long. “Quaking Palm” actually allows the character to touch a secret pressure point on an enemy target, putting it to sleep for 3 seconds.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Pandarens is that they’ll be both Alliance and Horde. Does this mean they’ll be able to communicate with each other crossfaction, or just speak wildly different dialects?
As for the Monk class, they’ll be light on armor (cloth and leather only), but heavy on melee attacks, especially unarmed. Players will still be able to wield Fist Weapons, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, and Staves. A sampling of the melee skills include the Spinning Crane Kick attack.
However, the most intriguing addition to the expansion are Pet Battles. According to the official site, ”You and your friends can pit your pets against each other in fun, friendly duels. You can teach your pets unique abilities and attacks, and they will use these abilities when battling other pets. As they fight and win battles, your pets will gain experience and level up, which makes them tougher and may even unlock new abilities. Assemble your roster and duke it out with your friends to see whose pets are the strongest!”
”What’s more, you will also have a brand-new way to add more pets to your collection. In addition to purchasing pets or getting them as item drops, you can now also encounter and capture vanity pets in the wild. If you run into one of these rare pets, you can have your own pet challenge it; if you manage to defeat the wild pet, you will capture it and add it to your collection! Wild pets have stats that vary slightly, so you may end up catching an exceptionally powerful pet.”
Sound familiar? Yes, World of Warcraft is bringing in a Pokemon monster training and combat duel mechanic, which should be sweet music to fans who have been waiting for a Pokemon MMO for years.
