Pandaren

We've all had this experience -- you log in to review patch notes, skim-skim-skim and wait, what is this weird new thing?

Once again the folks at Wowhead have datamined up a crucial piece of information: namely the voice files of Highlord Darion Mograine and the Lich King himself, Bolvar Fordragon, that are part of patch 8.3's change to allow Death Knights of every Allied Race and the Pandaren.

Death Knights have been a staple of World of Warcraft since their introduction in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

The folks at Wowhead have been doing their datamining  magic on the patch 8.3 PTR, and some things they've found may not be intended to go live for patch 8.3 at all.

There are many kinds of monks -- religious men and women who inhabit monasteries and devote themselves, for example -- but World of Warcraft Monks are a different story: chi-wielding unarmed combat specialists who can heal wounds, strike like lightning, and dazzle an enemy with seeming intoxication.

Pandaren as a whole are a little difficult to roleplay.

Back in Mists of Pandaria, I wanted to roll a Pandaren.

Last week, we discussed the basics of the Alliance faction -- which races are available to play, and the kind of plot points you can expect to see with each race.

We've had several columns now where we've talked about developing and creating a character -- the basics of story creation, setting up character profiles, and even some of the basics of beginner roleplay.

It comes up time and again, when talking about the races of Azeroth, there are those races that were created as seed races by the Titans -- the Earthen, the Vrykul, the Giants, perhaps the Tol'vir and Mogu as well -- and then there are those races that appear to have either predated the arrival of the Titans or have arisen after them.