One of the more interesting aspects of the most recent beta build was the implementation of random character service options for purposes of testing. It's interesting in an abstract way because it shows that Blizzard is thinking ahead about the volume of attempts to use these services when Cataclysm launches and we get tons of new race and class combinations as well as two whole new races. Granted, we won't be able to shift to goblin right away, but eventually. You know you're thinking about it.

I was not immune to the siren song of this option and its possibilities, and soon I had converted one of my level 80 warriors to a worgen. However, there was a slight catch: my new worgen had no racial abilities, meaning he couldn't transform at all. So rather than race-changing into an intimidating wolf man, I'd transformed into someone with a vague English accent and a tendency to talk about sniffing himself. As you can understand, I was mildly devastated, but resolved to soldier on.

And then our own Gregg Reece descended as if a being from Olympus, surrounded by shafts of light and winged cherubs, and bestowed upon me the answer: "Go drown yourself in a sewer."

The reason you don't have your racial abilities if you race change to a worgen is because you haven't done the starting quests where you get them. Therefore, in order for your race changed worgen to get those quests, you end up needing to go to the Ruins of Gilneas, which of course is phased past those quests for you. So you take a dunk in the flooded ruins of the cathedral, and while still a ghost, run along the city's canals until you reach the Merchant Square.

After you get there, talk to the spirit healer and take the rez (yes, you'll end up with 10 minutes of rez sickness and a substantial repair bill), and there you are in Gilneas, phased with the starting zone quests and ready to run around annihilating everything in your path. Easy as pie! Just treat it like any starting character, and if the quests say to throw a barrel of gunpowder on an abomination's head, don't ignore that and melee them. The quest won't complete no matter how many abominations you personally tear into pieces.

All in all, a howling good time.