Shifting Perspectives: Fun with race choice, part 2
Allie: Not quite so good-looking is bright green skin with druid gear.
Letitia: Those shoulders with the top half of her chest must be just hell.
Allie: I see what you mean. Oh, ow.
Allie: Gotta love male orc casting animations.
Letitia: Yep.
Allie: Neither one of us seems to have much to say about orc druids.
Letitia: I'm not sure there's much you can say about the druidic prospects of a race that's clear-cutting the southeastern portion of Ashenvale.
Allie: Trolls will be great druids. I just wish more people played them.
Letitia: I see you picked the same female troll face everybody else does.
Allie: Well, that would be one of the reasons so few people play a female troll. Something can be savage without being ugly, and it just doesn't feel like the model's there yet.
Letitia: What's faction balance like right now?
Allie: Closer than it's ever been, although night elves still have the advantage. If Armory Data Mining is on the money, night elf druids have a 5.7% share of the population at 80, compared to tauren druids' 4.2%.
Letitia: And trolls are underplayed.
Allie: Right. Worgen will almost certainly not be, so I'm a little worried about what the class' faction balance is going to look like a year from now.
Allie: See? That looks cool! Why don't more people play trolls?
Letitia: Keep in mind that the cool model you're looking at now doesn't actually exist in game yet. What's your highest level troll alt?
Allie: Uh ... like 13?
Letitia: You're complaining about people not playing trolls and your troll is 13?
Allie: Shut up and drink your lunch.
Allie: Finally, a character model who actually weighs as much as a real model.
Letitia: Nah, she needs to drop 10 pounds before they'll let her on the catwalks in Paris.
Allie: I can't tell if that's funny or really scary.
Letitia: As with most observations I could make concerning the fashion industry, it's both.
Allie: This just doesn't work. There's just something deeply, horribly wrong about undead druids.
Letitia: It can't have anything to do with the undead state being an unnatural contradiction of the druidic imperative to nurture and safeguard life.
Allie: Nah.
Allie: Something about male undead druids seems even more wrong than female undead druids.
Letitia: I think because it's impossible to make a male undead who looks even vaguely happy about anything.
Allie: "Here I am in a woodsy tier set with happy little flowers growing all over my shoulders and and a shiny stick ... and being dead still sucks."
Letitia: More happy little flowers are needed, obviously.
Every week, Shifting Perspectives treks across Azeroth in pursuit of truth, beauty and insight concerning the druid class. Sometimes it finds the latter, or something good enough for government work. Whether you're a bear, cat, moonkin, tree or stuck in caster form, we've got the skinny on druid changes in patch 3.3, a look at the disappearance of the bear tank, and thoughts on why you should be playing the class (or why not).
Letitia: Those shoulders with the top half of her chest must be just hell.
Allie: I see what you mean. Oh, ow.
Allie: Gotta love male orc casting animations.
Letitia: Yep.
Allie: Neither one of us seems to have much to say about orc druids.
Letitia: I'm not sure there's much you can say about the druidic prospects of a race that's clear-cutting the southeastern portion of Ashenvale.
Allie: Trolls will be great druids. I just wish more people played them.
Letitia: I see you picked the same female troll face everybody else does.
Allie: Well, that would be one of the reasons so few people play a female troll. Something can be savage without being ugly, and it just doesn't feel like the model's there yet.
Letitia: What's faction balance like right now?
Allie: Closer than it's ever been, although night elves still have the advantage. If Armory Data Mining is on the money, night elf druids have a 5.7% share of the population at 80, compared to tauren druids' 4.2%.
Letitia: And trolls are underplayed.
Allie: Right. Worgen will almost certainly not be, so I'm a little worried about what the class' faction balance is going to look like a year from now.
Allie: See? That looks cool! Why don't more people play trolls?
Letitia: Keep in mind that the cool model you're looking at now doesn't actually exist in game yet. What's your highest level troll alt?
Allie: Uh ... like 13?
Letitia: You're complaining about people not playing trolls and your troll is 13?
Allie: Shut up and drink your lunch.
Allie: Finally, a character model who actually weighs as much as a real model.
Letitia: Nah, she needs to drop 10 pounds before they'll let her on the catwalks in Paris.
Allie: I can't tell if that's funny or really scary.
Letitia: As with most observations I could make concerning the fashion industry, it's both.
Allie: This just doesn't work. There's just something deeply, horribly wrong about undead druids.
Letitia: It can't have anything to do with the undead state being an unnatural contradiction of the druidic imperative to nurture and safeguard life.
Allie: Nah.
Allie: Something about male undead druids seems even more wrong than female undead druids.
Letitia: I think because it's impossible to make a male undead who looks even vaguely happy about anything.
Allie: "Here I am in a woodsy tier set with happy little flowers growing all over my shoulders and and a shiny stick ... and being dead still sucks."
Letitia: More happy little flowers are needed, obviously.
Every week, Shifting Perspectives treks across Azeroth in pursuit of truth, beauty and insight concerning the druid class. Sometimes it finds the latter, or something good enough for government work. Whether you're a bear, cat, moonkin, tree or stuck in caster form, we've got the skinny on druid changes in patch 3.3, a look at the disappearance of the bear tank, and thoughts on why you should be playing the class (or why not).Filed under: Druid, Humor, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Despard Jun 1st 2010 7:27PM
Holy. Shit. I have been wondering where that damn mustache on my Draenei shaman suddenly appeared from for the LONGEST TIME. I was forever looking for some kind of holiday buff or item my toon was wearing. Huh. Guess it is just his face.
Kurash Jun 1st 2010 7:36PM
Awesome, as usual Allison. Hilarious conversations can be difficult to present in writing, but you nail 'em.
Re: the male dwarf, you reminded me of a Monty Python quote. "I love animals. That's why I like to kill 'em!"
Cetha Jun 1st 2010 7:42PM
I LOVED the female dwarf look, especially with her casting animation. me wants!
Cetha Jun 1st 2010 7:45PM
I forgot to add seeing that druid casting a nature spell makes me SOOOO excited for changing my shammy to a dwarf!
Ronin Jun 1st 2010 7:43PM
That Draenei mustache is _not_ Burt-Reynolds-ish. I call it the molestache. It wasn't supposed to be there; it was suddenly added to any male Draenei who had the "chin-beard", in one of the patches. There's nothing you can do to get rid of it _and_ keep the chin-beard, either. And I've _never_ heard Blizz explain where it came from. When it first happened, we reported it as a bug, and were promised that they would look into it-- but they never got back to us (that I'm aware of). Further inquiries on our part have been met with a deaf ear. If anyone thinks they have info to the contrary, I'd love to see it.
It's really sad, that was the best look for male Draenei IMO, and it put me off playing my Paladin until I finally changed him to no facial hair.
Sorry, that's a bit OT for this article, but the authors did start it!
Ringo Flinthammer Jun 1st 2010 8:47PM
"Letitia: It's not really the same thing. I mean, when I picture a dwarf walking through a forest, I can totally see him going, "Och, yer a bonny stag," or "What a beautiful wee bunny!", but it's followed immediately by the sound of a gunshot."
Oh, hell, YES.
And troll druids -- so long as they get crazy jungle forms, and not something too similar to Tauren forms -- will be amazing.
otheus Jun 1st 2010 9:01PM
Sorry to nitpick! but female dwarves have two casting animations, arms out to the side for general spells (heals and such) and hands in front for targeted spells (smite and soon lightning bolt/fireball). The targeted animation looks like she is holding a pure ball of whatever element the spell belongs.
Female trolls also have two casting animations, though they look very similar. It reminds me of washing hands. Washing hands in front for heals, washing hand to the right for targeted spells.
Female humans, female undead, female tauren, and male tauren all have only one casting animation.
And I rationalize the new mustachioed draenei as sign of cultural assimilation into an alliance that really like their lipfuzz: http://www.wowhead.com/item=43718
PKthe13thvah Jun 1st 2010 9:09PM
Is it bad that I really want undead druids, just so I can have skeletal cats, zombie bears, ghostly boomkin, sickly, leafless trees and bat flight forms?
talitha3k Jun 1st 2010 9:35PM
I desperately want a gnome druid. think of the forms: bear cub, seal pup, kitten, fast kitten, owl baby, sapling, baby birdie. win!
alpha5099 Jun 1st 2010 9:53PM
Enough lies! Female dwarfs are awesome.
Sharvis Jun 1st 2010 11:17PM
I enjoyed the article very much Allison. The witty banter is my type of humor, I loved it. I've partaken in similar gear outfitting through Wowhead, taking glimpses at what a race would look like in a certain class' tier gear. I'm very excited to make a Troll and Worgen druid in Cataclysm, see what new lore Blizzard works in to explain how they came to be.
It's funny about your plug for the Troll race. I like the race very much but so far haven't gotten one to max level. I did manage to get a female Troll warrior to Outland and a male Troll rogue to the fifties. I think at this point I'm just waiting to create the awesomeness that will be a Troll druid, then maybe I'll really enjoy playing the class. Yes, humanoid form for a druid who spends most of his or her time in an animal form matters to me, what can I say.
KJP Jun 2nd 2010 1:26AM
Dwarf Druid tanking form:
http://images.pictureshunt.com/pics/d/dog_saint_bernard-12915.jpg
He'll pull the boss right after he finishes the keg.
oneraindrop Jun 2nd 2010 1:36AM
Good fun!
I actually thought the femgnome looked cool in the t7 helm.
She looked... intense.
breaklance Jun 3rd 2010 2:38AM
my mains a troll shaman, in cata, its going to be a troll druid.