When it comes to World of Warcraft, if PvP is important to you, it can actually make a difference in the race you choose. While you can certainly be successful in PvP with any race, there is a huge disparity between races when it comes to their benefits in player versus player combat. Let’s examine race by race.

• Draenei: Unfortunately, none of his racials are that useful in PvP. Shadow Resistance helps some vs. shadow priests, warlocks, death knights and, to a lesser extent, hunters. Heroic presence gives you a slightly higher chance to hit, which is always nice, but never changes the game. Out of all of them, Gift of the Naaru could save your life once or twice, especially if you take advantage of the fact that it is do not on global cooldown. This means that if you create a hotkey with Gift of the Naaru and another heal, you can basically activate both of them at once, which could really save you.
• Dwarf: Like Draenei traits, dwarves don’t have many strong races for PvP. Frost resistance helps vs. Frost Mages, Frost Death Knights, Shamans, and the rare Hunter’s Trap. Mace specialization helps penetrate defenses a little better. The best is Stoneform, which can be quite nice if you’re fighting a melee class (see: warriors, rogues, death knights, wild druids, and even other monks). Just put it on and it will be free from debilitating physical effects!
• Gnome: Gnomes are fortunate to have a very useful race (as well as three minors). To start from the bottom, Arcane Resistance will help against arcane mages and, to a lesser extent, against druids and hunters. If you use a sword, Shortblade Specialization will help you hit a little more often. Expansive Mind is less useful than in PvE, because you are not likely to run out of mana before dying in PvP. Still, it is always better to have more mana (especially if you are a Mistweaver and a priest burns mana). However, until you get a trinket, Escape Artist will be your friend. It frees you from roots and slows, which you will find in yourself most of the time when fighting a warrior, druid, or rogue. Plus, it has a 1:45 cooldown, which is shorter than any trinket you can buy.
• Human: While not as universally useful as in PVE, humans still get best racial PVP: Each man for himself. It’s basically the equivalent of having a 2 minute free cooldown trinket from level 1, and you should have it activated right away, because you will be using it all the time. Even better, having it frees up the trinket space that would otherwise be occupied by the PvP trinket, so you have room for two more useful trinkets. Immensely useful once you hit 90. Oh, and the other races, the human spirit and the specialization in maces and swords, are fine. If you are a mistweaver, the human spirit can help you regenerate mana faster. And since monks can use maces and swords, there is also some versatility.
• Elf of the night: There isn’t much for the night elves to do in PvP. Shadowmeld can be useful for forcing an enemy to lose a target on you, but if they’re within close combat range, they can fire an AOE and knock you out of Shadowmeld. It’s a bit more useful when fighting a launcher as they have to run towards you before they can launch the AOE. Evasion doesn’t really help here, as your enemies are unlikely to forget where you were a second ago. Wisp Spirit only has use in the PVP world, where you could have an advantage if you reach your corpse and spawn faster. Nature Resistance offers help with shamans, druids, hunter bites, and rogue poisons. Swiftness is probably the best race, offering a 2% dodge rate that stacks with other benefits of dodging monks.
• Pandaren: The new career has a few things to recommend you. Epicurean can be good in world PVP if you are always diligent with food. You can also use it on battlefields, though it’s unlikely to stick with you once you leave the starting area, unless you have great gear and never die, or you’re just good enough to never die. If you are leveling up, Inner Peace can help you go faster as you gain experience from world PVP and battlegrounds. The bounce can be nice if a druid or shaman throws you off the edge of something (see: sawmill in Arathi Basin). In world PVP and battlegrounds, it’s definitely situational. Probably the best pandarens breed they are gifted with is the Quaking Palm. A four second stun? That is forever it will be useful.

So which career is the best? As with PVE, I will have to say human. Every Man For Himself is simply excellent, and you will continue to use it once you hit 90 and can equip two stat trinkets, which is one more than all the others.

But when you factor in stallion, it’s hard to imagine anything more astonishing than a gnomish flying snake kick. Seriously.