Pan is not bad for sure
Pan has lots of options available. It is the options which makes it difficult to me. Basically you have to decide before the game which way you want to go, and then have to stick to that. If you try to change tracks in the middle of the game, you crash.
Plan your pretender along the lines you intend to play.
You want Pan thugs to rule the game? Design your pretender so that he can craft the gear, also it might make sense to have Order scales (for increased income, because those Pans cost a ton).
EA Pans don't have deathmages, so what? If you want to get carrion critters, give your pretender D2 and you get all the carrion critters you want, first summon a Revenant and empower him to N1 -> Carrion Centaurs and Carrion Ladies all over the place. Or better yet (in CBM before 1.6), take D6N5 on your pretender and get Carrion Woods rolling on turn 10 (not possible in vanilla or CBM 1.6).
You want to have sneakers all over the place? Go for it. Get A3 on your pretender, and craft Flying carpets for Harpies who can then take 7 revellers along; two such squads will eat any PD20 or less just like that. Meawhile have your centaurs sneak in the regular way. Call of the Wild on first turn of war with all your pans. If War opens up with you taking 20+ areas on turn one, it will be very intimidating (and it will be something you can pull off during the second year of the game).
Or go with minotaurs and centaurs in a more traditonal warfare. Focus on Alteration, buff your armies to all new levels. Again, you have to plan for this, and get for your pretender the paths you need.
Or (in EA) go with a Dom10 SC pretender at start (the White or Black Bull being the obvious choice in CBM), and blood sac everywhere, with dryads rush-building temples. It is evil if you can dominion kill your closest neighbour during first year, but quite doable with Pangaea. If we are not talking of very big maps, it is quite easy to even get critical mass with your dominion rather fast, and the dominion roll becomes unstoppable. You thought LA Ermor dominion roll was evil? Hah! EA Pan with blood saccing, stealthy H2 preachers and temples costing just 200 gold is *evil* if you plan for the dominion kill.
If you don't have a plan, then I agree Pangaea will suck. It is easy to fail with Pangaea because it can be so easy to get lost amongst all the options. Make a plan and stick to it, that is my advice