It’s one of the most burning questions in WoW, so let’s just jump right to the meat of this. When will World of Warcraft have Pandaren?
The answer is, The Maelstrom Expansion.
How do we know this? Themes. Look at what Blizzard Entertainment has done so far.
The Burning Crusade introduced Blood Elves and the Draenei. The Blood Elves, at the time, were desperate to reach Outland, and the Draenei were actually from Outland. The theme of The Burning Crusade was the re-opening of the Dark Portal and Outland, and both of those new races fit that theme.
Now, with Wrath of the Lich King, we have been given the Death Knights. Once again, Blizzard is following a theme: Northrend, the Lich King, the Scourge.
Do you see where I’m going here? Blizzard’s designers don’t just hap-hazardly throw things into the expansions. I see people constantly ask, “Why didn’t TBC or WOTLK have Pandaren?” Why? Because what the heck do the Pandaren have to do with Outland or Northrend?
So then where do they fit in? The Pandaren are an island race. Island. That screams Maelstrom. Aside from the Goblins and the Naga, you could not have a more fitting race.
Then the real question becomes, “Will they be a playable race?” For that, your guess is as good as anyone else’s. There are a ridiculous number of rumors floating around about the Pandaren pushing and pulling in both directions. But there are two that stand out.
The Chinese did not like the first iteration of the Pandaren, because they were a race of Chinese bears dressed in Japanese armor. If you don’t understand the full impact of that, then look at it this way: Imagine if the Chinese came out with a game featuring bald eagles dressed as Nazis. Yes, it’s not a perfect comparison, and some of us would admittedly find that funny, but you get the idea. Anyway, since the Pandaren have now been corrected, that rumor is moot and should be ignored.
The second rumor is the Chinese dislike the idea of a Panda Bear being killed in a video game. 
Heck knows if that’s true, but the Chinese do have some unusual censorship rules regarding death in video games. Namely, you’re not supposed to show bones. (So yes, if you play WoW in China the Forsaken do not show any bones, and when you die and res you leave a grave behind instead of a skeleton.)
If I had to make a guess, I’d say the Pandaren are going to be NPC’s.
If they ARE playable, however, then the next question is, “Which faction?” Lore-wise right now it’s really a tie. The Pandaren share the Dwarves’ celebratory love for ale, but they also share the Horde’s central belief in Shamanism. My hope is if the Pandaren are a playable race, then they will be WoW’s first race available to both factions.
…Couple that with the Demon Hunter hero class we’ll get in the Emerald Dream expansion and I’ll be good to go.
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You forget the third rumor, that the Pandaren are a joke race that gained so much popularity that Blizzard is now attempting to retcon and ignore them out of existence.
But yeah, I’d like to see them playable to both races. With a new Brewmaster class. That’s also available to Dwarves and Tauren.
As to the Demon Hunter expansion, if you’re sticking with themes, we would have to wait until Sargeras’ Homeworld (which I now believe we are getting too).
I would expect an Archmage hero class with Maelstrom. Zin-Azshari is right next to where the Well of Eternity used to be, so expect a lot of magic in that expansion.
I would also like to see a round of racial hero classes, like Priestesses of Elune, Gryphonriders, Undead Apothecaries, and Tauren that wield totems (real ones, not the puny shaman ones).
Orc Blademaster please!
Blade Master pls. Makes more sense for an islands and sea Hero Class. Prolly see half orcs and half elves before seing pandarens as a cross faction race. But who knows, we all wanna have a pandaren brewmaster, blizz has gotta know that
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I recently did a 3d model of there concept art to see what it would possibly look like in wow.
Check it out on my site polyputty.com
As much as pandaren was at first a joke in wc3 many have a desire to see pandas in wow. The tauren was first a joke but they got in. Like the undead have been changed in the Chinese version, you could give them a difrent race in the first place. this would make it popular on bolth sides. as for the whole armor thing, world of warcraft comes with its own armor that has nothing to do with wc3, so it shouldnt offend.
with all the sites on this topic, hopefuly blizzard will see that and take this seriously and not just an april fools joke.
It should be insanely easy to pick what the next two races should be:
Horde – Goblins
Alliance – Panderan
Both Goblins and Panderans come from island territories, hell there’s been tons of talk about making Undermine a real city, the Goblin’s capital.
And the Maelstrom is the next logically “point of attack” for both races, probably following uo with and ending all expansions with actually going to the demon home world of Sargeras.
Goblins have easily leaned more towards helping horde (blimps, guards at most of their ports, etc), while Panderans would give the Alliance a second race with playable Shamans.
I will admit freely that I would delete every character I have to play any class of Panderans.
Plus, Brewmasters would be a fun new occupation or hero class in general.
My two cents.
-T
The Pandaren go both ways. Itll be a playable character between both factions. Remember in W3 Frozen Throne? A pandaren allied Kael to free illidan from his cage. But they also taught the night elves magic. Theyll ally to both sides. First playable race for both factions. ^^
The problem with pandas on bolth sides is it is COMPLETELY against there beliefs to kill eachother, and with all the pvp that is gona happen.
pandarians….um Pandaria is in Northrend…..h8 to dissappoint u but if you played The Frozen Throne, you woulda seen pandarians in the NR levels….
i don’t want to see them as a class or race, but i was a little dissappointed they didn’t showup for brewfest 09….i mean blizz even put in ale gardens in both faction’s sanctuaries in dalaran
plus the next expansion isnt mailstrom it’s cataclysm so maybe we will see pandarians somewhere cas they came out of hiding and decided to help the world…demon hunter class…sounds awsome but thatd just make it a mele warlock…
just trying to update the articled
Good talking going on here. I am a huge fan of Frozen Throne and I can tell you guys this. Pandaren are not fair being alliance of horde factions. I dont have any solid reasoning behind that but its just opinion. If Pandaren become a playable race then Blizzard should and must take a huge step into the game of WoW and create a third faction… I could write a million pages on why this would be a great idea and some on how it wouldnt be a good idea. Although almost every major. popular and well-created game is a balance of two different teams, a whole new string of strategy and role-play can come out of this big boom. It would bring more of a togetherness in the existing factions. the third faction could be a race of two of believers that think the Horde and Alliance are destroying the world and that they must stop them. Sort of like the Aeon from Supreme Commander. Lots of promoting and brainstorming could make this the biggest, and successful transition in gaming ever.