Breakfast Topic: Would you play a Worgen or a Goblin?
by Zach Yonzon 
Jul 18th 2009 at 8:00AM
It's not that far-fetched, either. The Undermine, the home of the Goblins, is situated near the Maelstrom. Remember how Blizzard trademarked Cataclysm, which in Azerothian terms actually refers to the events around the Maelstrom? That means we just might see The Undermine in the next expansion. So Goblins aren't such a wild idea.
But what about the Worgen?
Well, remember how the human nation of Gilneas holed up behind the Greymane Wall? Who knows what's been happening behind that wall? And why are there so many werewolves hanging around there? Pretty curious. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough, though, considering Blizzard's been teasing us about it. These masks just might be more of the same.
Here's the deal, though... if Worgen and Goblins do become the next playable races, will you play them?
Would you play Goblin or Worgen?
It's not clear which side either race will be on, but some of you guys made great points yesterday - the Horde need a 'short' race. Goblins also man Horde zeppelins and run the Engineering shop in Orgrimmar. So playable Goblins could be Horde. On the flip side, Gilneas was a human town, so if it turns out to be a werewolf settlement, they just might ally themselves with the Alliance. Does this mean you'd pay for a faction change just to play a Worgen? What are your thoughts on this wild speculation?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Rumors, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 21)
the sparten Jul 18th 2009 8:04AM
worgen, hands down
Seedcake Jul 18th 2009 8:19AM
Goblin for me! I've been wanting to play a goblin - specifically a nice, smarmy goblin fella -- since I first started playing WoW. If the wild speculation comes true, I will be in heaven.
Also to add...I think people aren't really thinking out of the box when it comes to factions with goblins/worgen. I have a pretty strong hunch that these races will start off as WoW's first truly neutral factions. It would be neat to then allow the player become allied with whichever side (or with neither, even!) they choose...maybe through questing. :)
It's a fun thing to speculate about, that's for sure.
JustinScott Jul 18th 2009 8:25AM
@ Seedcake
I dont think they will never allow one race to "choose" between both factions. They have said before that they want their to be a distinct difference between the two factions, and allowing one race to be on either side, then their isnt that clear distinction that the devs want.
Bubsa Jul 18th 2009 8:51AM
HAI CAN I BE PANDAMAN PLZ
klink-o Jul 18th 2009 9:39AM
The real question was will you ever level another character.
The answer is of course no.
Heilig Jul 18th 2009 9:43AM
"The real question was will you ever level another character.
The answer is of course no."
Not only will I level another character, but if Blizzard told me I would have to start on a new server completely from scratch with no help from my main in order to be able to play a Worgen, I would still already be at level 2 before they finished their sentence.
Marshy Jul 18th 2009 11:09AM
What is it with people and wanting to be neutral? You want to be able to city-hop between factions? Get your hair did in IF and use the AH in Org? What if that wasn't possible? What if you couldn't use the cities period? What if you couldn't do quests tailored for either of the factions -- what would that leave you with? Get over the neutral idea. It ain't gonna happen.
$am Jul 18th 2009 11:43AM
@ JustinScott
If they really care about difference and make each faction distinct, why they are adding pay-service faction change ?
joerendous Jul 18th 2009 11:39AM
What makes a good man go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
kabshiel Jul 18th 2009 12:33PM
I've wanted to play a goblin since release. I was even tempted to play Warhammer just so I could be one.
@ Seedcake:
If they were just adding goblins, I could see them being a neutral race where you decide at character creation whether to be Alliance or Horde. With two races being added, I think this becomes very unlikely. And the ability to stay neutral or to choose your faction at a later level would never happen. It would mess up questing, mail, AH, communication, BGs, etc.
@ $am:
You don't get to keep your old race when you do the faction switch. You're forced to change to a race of the new faction that can play your class. So a Tauren Druid would become a Night Elf druid, while a Blood Elf Paladin could choose to be a human, dwarf, or draenei.
katyanna Jul 18th 2009 12:40PM
Both races would be very, very tempting.
Ultimately though Worgen would win. Goblin voices are unbelievably annoying.
Alanid Jul 18th 2009 12:56PM
Also note: The worgen arn't just transformed humans. The first worgen was summoned by a night elf using the Scythe of Elune. Just thought I'd bring in a little lore drop there.
Plus Gilneas wasn't a town, it was the largest of ALL the human nations.
Rylka Jul 18th 2009 12:56PM
I've wanted to play a goblin since I first encountered them (female goblin warrior engineer on a rocket mount FTW!), but a wprgen would be very tempting as well.
I sincerely hope that if Blizzard does introduce one or two more races that they up the number of toons you can have on a single server. Right now you could have one of each possible race on a single server, but unless they increase the maximum above ten, this won't be true with additional races.
I'd even pay a one time fee to up the number of toons I could have on a single server.
Since I can only PLAY one toon at a time, having more toons per server (even if they don't up the total number of toons) should not affect game balance hardly at all. All Blizzard would need is a little more storage space potentially, and I'm willing to pay for that if I have to.
Travis from Blogatelle Jul 18th 2009 1:23PM
If goblins became a part of the Horde, I would so totally reroll my tauren death knight to a goblin. Goblins are one-hundred percent awesome. Worgen would be incredibly enjoyable as a race, as well. I've always enjoyed the Gilneas speculation revolving them.
Keep in mind, just because one -faction- of the goblin social stratum sides with the Horde, doesn't mean the entire race does. To wit, we have really only seen two (perhaps three, if you follow a mixture of in-game evidence and minor speculation) of the many, many merchant houses of Undermine; the Steamwheedle Cartel and the Venture Company, with the third possibly being the goblins who remained allied with the Horde after the Second War. The goblins as a whole I think will remain neutral, but I can certainly see one of the merchant houses picking sides once and for all; I'm of the opinion that we'll see Undermine as the next Shattrath/Dalaran. (Though how cool would it be to have Pandaria be neutral city? One can dream.)
The goblin 'factions' splinter off and do their own things quite a bit -- like the individual businessmen the are. The Venture Co. is a good example of that, but so to are the goblins who have sided with the Horde to run the blimps and sundry mechanics. If they are recognized officially by the Cartel, it's only in the most tertiary forms, as they are essentially violating a prime directive from Undermine not to get involved with the war between the Orcs and the Humans.
Granted, I don't imagine the merchant princes of Undermine much blame them; seek profit where there is profit to be saught. The goblins are the Warcraft Ferengi, after all. Big ears and all. But officially they can only attribute them lip service, at best.
If goblins are a Horde race, I imagine it would work not unlike the Blood Elves and the Scryers, and the Draenei and the Aldor as far as reputations went. Those races got a very a small leg up on those reputations, but because of even mild ideological differences (the Aldor might have somewhat resented the Draenei who fled in the Exodar rather than staying behind to cling to what they had left, the Sin'dorei on both sides of the Scryer divide would be worried about potential loyalties still to Kael'thas), they would still need to 'prove themselves' with whatever factions were relevant.
The goblins whom have allied themselves with the Horde are most likely the followers of a distinct trade prince who the Horde sought out for assistance during the Second War. The other goblin princes jumped on board at that time as well, but we know around the Third War most of them followed the decree of Undermine toward neutrality. A mixture of speculation and in-game evidence could/would lead one to believe that the trade prince the Horde picked out in the Second War remained loyal to the Horde through the rise of Thrall for potentially altruistic (though likely more capitalistic and scheming reasons) reasons, and those goblins who are factioned with the Horde currently (the aforementioned blimp runners, shop owners, ect.) are loyal to that particular trade prince in advance of any loyalties to Thrall.
It would only take a very small story element to bring those loyalties closer to the surface; perhaps Undermine finally tires of this merchant prince's actions and makes an attempt on his life? He seeks out his 'ally' Thrall for protection? Weak and entirely speculation, but classically fantasy and certainly not outside the wheelhouse of consideration. There's a lot of potential there.
And, of course, there is simply the money.
Remember your Rules of Acquisition, kids...
Rule #9: Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Rule #34: War is good for business.
Rule #35: Peace is good for business.
Rule #62: The riskier the road, the greater the profit.
Standing behind Thrall's Horde offers that in certain ways that simple neutrality does not. I only hope if my speculation/musing is correct, the name the merchant prince of the Horde goblins 'Nagus Grandetray'. If they do, I'll almost feel as if I had my own NPC at that point. ;)
Xirifus Jul 18th 2009 1:36PM
Damn, I would roll both! :D
Maximize Jul 18th 2009 1:39PM
It depends on what their racials are.
Terethall Jul 18th 2009 2:26PM
Worgen, no contest. Way cooler than Goblins.
lefauve Jul 18th 2009 3:41PM
I agree with ^
The Worgen are badass....Darkshire was way scary!
Aidan8et Jul 18th 2009 3:43PM
Definitely Worgen. So assuming that Worgen will be something akin to a werewolf & that they'll be Alli, does that mean that Alli will finally have a class with a "Berserker" style ability?
@Rylka
Actually I think the 10 toons per server comes more from having 10 classes. Remember back to vanilla WoW when there were only 8 races, but 10 classes.
also, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the only way you can have both Alli & Horde on the same server is if you're on a Normal or RP server. PVP servers become tied to whatever side you pick for your first toon.
PeeWee Jul 18th 2009 5:56PM
Aidan8et
"Remember back to vanilla WoW when there were only 8 races, but 10 classes"
FAIL
Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
There were 9 classes in vanilla WOW.