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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Are you happy with the new races?
by Andrew Ross 
Mar 6th 2011 at 8:00AM
One of the most anticipated changes next to a revamped Azeroth for Cataclysm was the announcement of two new races. The goblins would be joining the Horde, and the worgen would join the Alliance. These were two races the players have been asking Blizzard to make playable for a number of years. You couldn't browse the forums without seeing threads about what people would name their new goblin rogue or which class should Worgenfreman should play.
Cataclysm has been out for nearly 3 months, and most people have formed an opinion of the new races, whether it be positive or negative. Many people thought it would be a repeat of The Burning Crusade when you saw more draenei and blood elves running around than anything else. Surprisingly, this was not the case. Once Cataclysm went live, a number of people race-changed to one of the new races, while others started with a fresh level 1 to experience the new starting zones.
I played through the goblin zone first. I enjoyed it for the most part but at times it felt bloated or that Blizzard was trying too hard to mold the goblins into a certain image. It was still a blast, and I loved the Escape from Kezan cinematic. The only complaint with the goblins are the faces; all the faces look angry or like they are walking around with something "stuck." The worgen starting zone was fun but felt bloated and too repetitive at times. Overall, I'm not as thrilled with the worgen as I thought I would be. I'm not a fan of the appearance of the worgen, and the Running Wild animation is just weird to me. Seeing a worgen in a robe on all fours is even worse.
What do you think of the new races? Did your main undergo a race change, or are you leveling a new worgen or goblin?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 11)
Baba Mar 6th 2011 8:38AM
I've levelled my goblin more than my worgen, primarily because I want a max level shaman. The worgen are great though, but could've done with a lot more love.
My one main gripe with the new races is the goblin music - it's the same as the PvZ music and it's just so SO annoyingly chirpy.
Quasimofo Mar 6th 2011 8:39AM
The worgen just aren't very aesthetically pleasing and seem rushed in many ways, especially the females. They just look way too scrawny and they have terrible voices - like orc women with a cold. They also seem largely forgotten in the world once you get out of Darkshire, where the goblins are a lot more fun, more prevalent in the world, and don't look silly in a dress.
Ulrica Mar 6th 2011 8:42AM
Worgen appear poorly implemented with little impact in the world past their starting zone. Their females seem like a rushed after thought with no in game cut scene even showing them.
Goblins while not suffering from the above are a little over the top with the campy comedy aspect for me.
I'm mostly enjoying leveling a gnome priest instead at the moment.
Vantheus Mar 6th 2011 8:55AM
the redone questlines for the other races are better. sure goblins have their flashy explosions and wacky gadgets... the worgen have... teeth? but to be honest, i didn't get the same feeling from their starter zones as i did the others. Hell, i still prefer the death knight starting zone even now.
deathslove Mar 6th 2011 8:56AM
the biggest gripe i have with the new races is that the look of the new female worgen face it looks like a dog on speed. i would rather the original look otherwise i like both new races.
Joker Mar 6th 2011 9:06AM
Worgen have almost nothing in WoW, they don't even have a purpose in Azeroth, it feels almost like Blizz slapped some Werewolves in WoW to get subs because they're popular with kids right now.
Also, after reading the first two Curse of the Worgen I was annoyed at the look of the Worgen compared to the comic. The comic makes the Worgen look so much better.
The Worgen starter area is bland and boring just like most of the new 80-85 questing areas, and the story sucks.
Seems like Blizz doesn't really try anymore, they just put their good lore in the books and put the left overs in the game just so you have to read a book to fully understand what's going on.
(I pay money each month for this game and I expect to be told the whole story without having to go out and buy a book or comic to make sense of things.)
I have only played a little of the Goblin area but I did have much more fun with it than the Worgen area since pretty much everything that has to do with the Goblin story takes place in the Goblin starter area.
Worgen: Huge disappointment.
Goblin: Loving them, great addition to the Horde.
Hopefully my friend will get over Worgen because I'm ready to go back to just playing Horde side, mainly Forsaken.
Arann Mar 6th 2011 9:08AM
I was totally, TOTALLY stoked for Worgen leading into the Cataclysm launch. I'm primarily an Alliance player, so Goblins were a distant second place in my heart. I mean, come on, playing a green Mini-Me or playing a freaking ninja werewolf... how is there even competition there?!
Unfortunately, the reality of the new races has not met up with my expectations at all! I rolled my Worgen Rogue first. While I loved the atmosphere of the starting area, the quests seemed to drag on by the end, and the Night Elf connection felt as contrived as it sounded when I read about it pre-launch. The Worgen animations seem too cartoony to fit with the dark atmosphere and more-gritty-than-normal design of the Worgen. The male models look like they're in desperate need of a chiropractor, and the female models look like they're trying to decide if they're half wolf or half doe. (Yes, that's a comment on the faces.)
Worse than the aesthetic elements, however, is the significant lack of integration into the game world. I mean, you get to the end of the starting area, then get dumped near Darnassus, where your wolf people live in a weird little wolf tree. How did we go from gritty, London-esque werewolves to tree-dog-people? From this point on, we see the occassional random Worgen NPC, but there is little NPC discussion of bringing the (admittedly monstrous) Worgen into the fold of the Alliance. It's as if somewhere in the background, werewolves that up until this point had been known to mindlessly slaughter folks just showed up (off-camera) in Stormwind and said, "Oh hey Varian, just wanted to let you know, we're cool. Oh, and we're going to start running around your city all wolfy-like, so don't freak, m'kay?"
And the dances pretty much suck. Oh, and the VOICES! Blah.
All things considered, I've found the Worgen to be a pretty major letdown. Their lore has been under-utilized to this point, the models and animations are mediocre, and they're just generally kind of odd, leaving a feeling that they were tacked on as the "Alliance race" for this expansion, rather than given the development time they were due.
And then, you've got the Goblins.
It doesn't take an artistic genius to see that Blizzard clearly spent more time working on the model design of the Goblins than they did working on Worgen design. The Goblins are, in my opinion, the sharpest-looking models in the game. Few, if any, other character models convey the same level of attitude and personality as the Goblins. The animations are also cartoony, but in a way that fits with their aesthetic. I have been particularly impressed that I've been able to enjoy the Goblin animations when Gnomes drive me nuts to the point that I can't play them. Kudos on that.
The Goblin starting quest line, while quite long, does a good job of setting up the character of the race. I found the sometimes over-the-top humor to be a great reminder of my time listening to my Goblin Sappers run gleefully to their explosive deaths in WarCraft 2 and 3. While I can understand why some may not care for the quests, I think they were a faithful representation of the Goblins' history in WarCraft lore.
Since leaving that starting zone and making my way to Orgrimmar, I've felt that the transitional quest that brings you to Grom was far less jarring than the transition of the Worgen into the Alliance. After that point, Goblins have far less of a "sore thumb" effect within the Horde than the Worgen do in the Alliance. The Goblins also have Azshara to serve as a post-intro home base of sorts, right outside Orgrimmar. (The Worgen have a settlement on the very southern edge of the Blasted Lands. Woo?)
The sound design for the Goblins, while sometimes obnoxious, fits with the aesthetic of the race, and is far less annoying than the "let's-see-if-I-can-sound-like-I-smoke-a-carton-a-day-in-the-UK" voices of the Worgen.
The dances are also more fun.
TL;DR version -- The Worgen have been a pretty big disappointment, and clearly suffered from a relative lack of development time (finishing up the female models in the lead-up to launch, Blizzard? Really?), but the Goblins have been a surprisingly awesome addition to the game, and have become this Alliance player's favorite race--and a major temptation to switch to the Horde.
Higherp Mar 6th 2011 9:50AM
I have not tried a Goblin yet. But the Worgen start is OK. The time line seems cramped as it only seems to petrain to wild worgen and the undead atk on the homeland. So the quest line is more 'focused' but OK. Better than thinning this race/beast and then still have as many after ya kill a hundred running around!
As for animations, they are OK EXCEPT for running wild. With a 1.5 sec cast time (mounting time) the animation really LACKS. You go on all 4's long before the end of cast and I frequnetly interupt it! need to be something like transforming animation where the animation ends when the cast is finishing. However, as said, animations and developement was lacking/falling behind with Worgen compaired to Goblin!
As for the starting zone, it's DEAD after you are dumped in NE area! no mention of the above settlement. It's just a dead zone and as a race/kingdom, I don't think we saved much so it seems as a failure! no real home, few worgen NPC's. Most are inside a heroic and do nothing! I really hope they do something with home area. Or find a place where we can call a home! In Org, each class have an area AND an AH/bank!!
Solitare-sp Mar 6th 2011 9:16AM
The screen shot above sums it up about Worgen. The females just look awful. Just a human body with a dog head stuck on, which makes no sense at all for what should be a vicious physical ferel creature.
The more time goes on, the more dissapointed I get with cata. The leveling is linear and simple, and I don't feel an urge to grind through heroic after heroic dealing with the issues over them as they are.
Revolting Mar 6th 2011 9:19AM
I've seen a lot of disgruntlement aimed at both the worgen and the goblins, but personally, I've enjoyed the hell out of both races. I've enjoyed the goblins more than the worgen, but part of that is novelty value, as I'm primarily an alliance player, and certainly not a reflection on the worgen level of quality... those guys are ace too.
I'm not sure which worgen starting zone some of the above commenters played, because personally I found it to be the most gloriously atmospheric thing I've seen in the game yet, and I certainly enjoyed it more than the goblin one by far, right up until being dropped gracelessly in the middle of Darnassus, which helped none, as the entire Night Elf set of regions has always been my least favourite, although the Cataclysm revamps have made them more bearable.
As much as I love playing a goblin, I found the entire Kezan thing grating and misplaced. Things did pick up during the LOST/Kong/anything with pygmy tribes, zombies and volcanoes tribute that followed, but I only really started enjoying being a goblin as we knew and loved them before Cataclysm once I'd made it to Orgrimmar.
It does seem like the worgen have taken a back seat in terms of integration with the world beyond their initial introduction, and while there's definitely truth to that, I do think that's at least partly because we're already used to seeing goblins all over the place from before Cataclysm, as npcs, quest givers, lore generators and the whole shebang... the greedy little guys have always been around, but not so much moody werewolves. Despite goblins already prominent and now bolstered existence, both races do suffer noticeably from lack of long term impact on the world, a disadvantage they have against the Blood Elf/Draenei arraval, who both had an entire end-game world to fight over. Maybe (hopefully) this will be rectified in the future with some sort of worgen/goblin end-game boosting focused patches down the road, though. They've got to save some stuff for later, after all, beyond the obvious Deathwingery.
Treating Cataclysm as exactly what it was (in my opinion) intended to be, an introduction to the new stage in the world's overall story, a stepping stone to greater tings in the future, I'm pretty pleased with both the new races and all the new stuff as a whole. I can't wait for the next chapters to unfold with future patches.
chehggy Mar 6th 2011 10:54AM
THIS.
Honestly, couldn't do better at summing up that whole discussion. One more thing: The majority here seems to enjoy the goblin starting area more than the worgen one. I for my part was a bit bothered by the lack of coherency once you leave Kezan.
Just a short reminder:
Alright, so you're stranded on that little Island and you're looking for food (and cave paintings for some reason…). Next thing you run into the orcs and for no apparent reason you feel obliged to help them (there's no money in it, right?) Then you got you're town, and you're killing some Naga who obviously proove to be the wrong guys and are only introduced to show you: hey, there's a Faceless one, and they are working with him. Explanation for the whole thingy: fail.
Having the town suddenly attacked by pygmies who have nothing better to do than turn your folks into zombies may be – ah, let's call it fate. (Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those awesome boots). But why do we have to kill that giant turtle? (Money? Ah, no we just love blowing things up.) Oh right, because otherwise, there is absolutely no reason to flee this island. And why is Thrall so thrilled to help us battle our trade prince, when a couple of quests earlier it was obviously the Alliance posing the big awful threat?
You get my point: things just happen. Sure, they show us the goblin way of dealing with things, but I just don't get what we're actually doing on that god-forsaken paradise-island… (apart from being stranded there, that is)
Blizzard could have streamlined the story a bit. Or rather, make it a bit more coherent. The worgen starting-zone one the other hand, seems though having an awful lot of "go and kill things"-quests, a bit more like a real story.
But maybe that's just me, after all, the vanilla quest barely told any coherent story ;)
David Mar 6th 2011 9:23AM
I've done both starting zones and I think they're fine. My problem comes when I actually try to PLAY my Worgen. He's comes off as clumsy to my eyes. I think Blizzard could have spent more time on animations, making them more beastly and less gangly.
Then there are the sounds...
Goblins are more appealing, but I still don't really enjoy playing one.
Fefferman Mar 6th 2011 9:37AM
I enjoyed the Goblin starting zone much more than the Worgen one. It was so fun! And the initial quest line with the car etc. made me laugh. Unfortunately, 99% of my friends play Alliance so once I got out of the starting zone I never touched my Goblin hunter again. The Worgen zone was okay but ended so abruptly! Suddenly I was in Night Elf Land and....that was it. It was disappointing. I still managed to level my Worgen higher than my Goblin, though. But the sniffling drives me nuts so I have not played my Worgen since earlier January and am not really inclined to do so again anytime soon.
Mitawa Mar 6th 2011 9:42AM
Still no Plainsrunning. :(
Drakkenfyre Mar 6th 2011 12:25PM
Why would you ever want it?
Here's how it worked. When you got to 40, you trained it. It was a passive.
To use it, you had to run for 10 seconds, After 10 seconds, it kicked in. If you got hit at all, or even stopped for a moment, it stopped. If you were walking around an instance, you could go running off if you kept moving for more than 10 seconds. You could not control when it activated, you had to make sure you stopped every 9 seconds to keep it from activating.
It sucked, that's why they removed it.
Mitawa Mar 6th 2011 1:21PM
I know how it worked. I've been around since classic, please don't flame without thinking.
1. The discussion is about the new races, goblin and worgen.
2. Worgen have a racial ability called "Running Wild" which allows them to move at mount speed without appearing to be on a mount.
3. Plainsrunning was a way for tauren to move at mount speed without appearing to be on a mount, although it was sadly cut from the game due to implementation problems.
4. The basic idea behind Running Wild and Plainsrunning is the same, but Running Wild hasn't had implementation problems.
Doesn't it logically follow that I'm talking about bringing back Plainsrunning in the Running Wild implementation format?
Kodo's are ugly, lumpy oxen. Mostly for bearing heavy loads and eating. The settlers never wanted to ride their oxen, why do I want to sit on an uglier version of one? (Sorry kodo lovers, I don't get it.)
Jillette Mar 6th 2011 8:07PM
No, it doesn't logically follow, because all you said was: "Still no Plainsrunning." The connections were in your head, but not in your words, and we're not mindreaders. :)
Sel Mar 6th 2011 9:44AM
I've done both starter zones and wasn't thrilled with either. In terms of which race I like better overall, though, Goblins win hands down. I race changed my mage to a Goblin a few days after Cata hit, and I've been completely happy with her.
I tried leveling a Worgen, but gave up in the mid-20's. I just couldn't get into it, and the female (which I was playing as) seemed unfinished.
Realmreaver Mar 6th 2011 10:06AM
Oh and one more thing. Allow the @#$%^& hackles to be colored!!!! Not being able to color them means a 'white' worgen still has black bloody hackles!? WTH!!?
soladhorta Mar 6th 2011 2:23PM
There is no question in my mind that blizzard may have devoted more development time to the horde it is very apparent they did. Take a flight around SW and Ogg; Ogg received a complete and utter face lift, and just looks marvelous when you take flight within city limits, SW on the other hand still has (apart from the new keep, and a new backyard for the cathedral) the same buildings from vanilla;when you mount up in SW you look down and see a lot of roofs haphazardly conjoined together, chimneys that have no place being there (many chimneys are either sticking out of random places,or out of buildings that lack an indoor fireplace, many of the walkways atop the walls within the city are bulky, warped, or otherwise just misshapen, and the gates in front of stormwind keep that connect the drawbridge to the city are tilting. If this is blizzard's intentional portrayal of SW then it's no wonder Varian refused to pay the stonemason's guild.