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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 6 of 11)
trls Mar 6th 2011 10:33AM
well as i have not played a new race, i have had a race change on account of my boomkin...which leads to another subject... I paid (like many other druids) $25 for a race change to gain benefits to a class (about 1.3k dps increase)...that ive played since vanilla. We all complained that war stomp was a huge waste of a racial trait; to tree or moonkin, esp. if you didnt pvp. I think blizz knew how much money they could make dangling the troll racials infront of druids like that.. we paid a little more than half the price of an expansion....we have played a part in a crooked marketing scheme that should have come at a discount if not for free! Am i looking at this wrong? What do you guys thing?
Henrah Mar 6th 2011 10:33AM
My thoughts exactly.
It's not a bad expansion. It's just... meh.
trefpoid Mar 6th 2011 10:36AM
I can't play Worgen, their casting animations and jumping make me sick. The female Worgen is a whole other story, her voice is disgusting.. and the sniffing in both genders is just annoying. The starting zones are waaaaaaaay too long, I don't wanna play throw the Lost Isles everytime.. it's 100 quests.. feels eternal! but well, it's still fun though. The goblins in general I find to be extremely awesome. Incredible casting and stealth animation, awesome emotes and great racials. Also, they friggin' rock. I'm really happy with my goblin shammy, gonna make a male one soon too :D
trefpoid Mar 6th 2011 10:37AM
oh, and the whole Azshara experience after is just incredible. No words can describe how much fun I had there.
Aro Mar 6th 2011 10:39AM
I think the execution was fine, but not that excited in the long run. After the initial starting areas,
I abandoned both my Worgen and Goblin and level older races with the new classes instead. I don't like the way the Worgen moves, I rather be in cat/bear form.
The issue I have with Goblins is that, I see them as a Neutral race since playing Warcraft, so I can play them. The sterotype they potrait gets old too. Blizz did a nice job and all and most people are happy with their Ninja Werewolves and all.
Next time, give me a Naga and a Centaur (Along with Hero caster class).
exogenesis. Mar 6th 2011 10:40AM
When Cataclysm was announced, I was devastated at the idea of horrible, squeaky goblins in the Horde, and so very excited about worgen. I thought that this expansion, I might possibly end up switching factions.
As soon as I made my first Cataclysm alt, I made a worgen. And ... I was so disappointed. The males are ridiculously top heavy, with stupidly wide shoulders and an itty bitty waist, and the women are so thin that they aren't intimidating at all. Add to that the badly imitated English accent, stereotypical English phrases, and horribly sexual dances - Jiggling breasts? Really, Blizzard? - and I rapidly came to hate the worgen with a passion. I cannot stand them.
And the goblins, on the other hand - the race I thought I'd hate - I have completely fallen in love with. Just the attitude, and the sillies are awesome.
Go figure.
Saruya Mar 6th 2011 10:46AM
I race changed my mage from forsaken to Goblin, and started a goblin warrior 3 weeks ago, and am just about hitting Northrend seeing as I'm only really playing her at the weekends.
Love the goblins. Love Worgen DKs too, they look friggin awesome.
Very disappointed with the lack of mounts for either new race, 1 basic and 1 advanced mount for the gobbies whereas other races with mounts have about 7 altogether, and the worgen "mount" is a joke really.
Very lazy on Blizzard's part tbh.
Saruya Mar 6th 2011 10:48AM
Oh and the goblins starting zones just dragged on foreeeeeeeever. So damn long just to get back to Azeroth. Seriously Blizz?
:/
Sleutel Mar 6th 2011 10:50AM
1.) The quests are pretty cool... the first time through. Just like the DK starter zone. (And the DK zone is a lot shorter, if memory serves.) I can tell that having such an "on the rails" experience is going to get progressively more tedious with every additional alt.
2.) It's also obnoxious to have essentially given every single Worgen and Goblin PC in the entire game the same backstory.
3.) There's no option for Goblins who'd prefer same-sex partners. (And Blizzard is usually pretty good about giving *players* options that way, even if I don't remember any explicitly non-hetero NPCs, such as not restricting items to usage on the opposite sex during Love Is in the Air.)
4.) There's also no option not to murder your ex and the person they left you for. A friend of my mother was stabbed to death in a parking structure by her ex-husband, because if he couldn't have her, he wanted her dead. Thanks for setting me up to be just like an abusive, murdering asshole, Blizz!
5.) The ending to the Worgen storyline is abrupt and forced. They set it up and then... it went nowhere.
6.) Running Wild is a bizarre and spastic animation.
SaintStryfe Mar 6th 2011 11:21AM
one thing I notice: Running Wild looks a lot nicer at 100% speed (level 40) then at the 60% speed at level 20.
Sleutel Mar 6th 2011 11:26AM
@SaintStryfe:
Hahaha, further proof that there's no accounting for taste--personally, I think it looks even more spastic at 100% speed than at 60%.
razion Mar 6th 2011 10:54AM
Let's just say I'm still waiting for the day the Alliance get Furbolg, Panderan, and Dryads as playable races. And let's just also say that I'm still kinda hoping we get Ogres in the Horde some time soon.
Drakkenfyre Mar 6th 2011 12:25PM
Never going to get the last two.
Panderiens were meant as a joke, always. They started as a joke, they are still used as a joke. Even Blizzard said "They are too awesome to add to either side", or something to that effect.
Dryads are four-legged. They have said the way the engine works, we will never get non-bipedal races. Armor cannot fit on non-bipedal races's legs. You could change them to 2-legged, but then we would just have a thinner Night Elf.
Dreyja Mar 6th 2011 11:05PM
I'm not sure why Drakk got down voted. He's right. They've stated as much, several times.
/shrug
Amaxe Mar 6th 2011 10:57AM
My problem with the Goblin zone was eventually I got to a vehicle quest which was impossible to pass with my latency. Blizzard GMs were utterly unsympathetic to my requests to be able to move past the quest. Though to be fair, maybe they couldn't do anything. Either way, the only way I'll have a Goblin past level 8 is to roll a DK.
From the part I did see, it was too gimmicky.
My problem with the Worgen was it was interesting once, then it got tedious.
Moreover, it gimped you when it came to starting professions. You could get to level 75 easily. But then you were stuck until you reached the end of the zone. Moreover, you were dumped in a zone where you were necessarily behind in catching up if you wanted to be a miner, blacksmith, engineer or Jewelcrafter.
In comparison, my Nelf mage left Darnassus for Stormwind at level 6 and had a lot more options there.
So that's another problem. With the Goblins and Worgen, you can't say "Screw this, I'm heading to Stormwind/Ogrimmar at level 1.
In all honestly I won't roll another worgen unless I need the racials for the class. (I have a level 68 rogue and a level 30 furry... er fury warrior). The experience is too confining.
Amaxe Mar 6th 2011 11:00AM
That's "Skill Level 75" Not "Level 75". Sorry.
SamLowry Mar 6th 2011 12:05PM
That's exactly why the word "trapped" comes up so often in association with Gilneas--you really can't leave until you're done with the whole zone and there is so little to do between the beginning and the end aside from just killing everything that you do feel isolated and, eventually, behind.
SamLowry Mar 6th 2011 12:07PM
...and I forgot to mention that just about every guildie announced that's he was finally done with Gilneas by typing "Free at last!"
Scampi Mar 6th 2011 11:08AM
I really like the Worgen starting area, very atmospheric, with an engaging storyline. The Goblins on the other hand i found intensely irritating, and seemed aimed at a very young audience. My 9 year old son loves it.
The major gripe i have with the Worgen is the voice acting. All the npc's speak in a terrible Dick Van Dyke Cockernee accent. Surely Blizzard could have invested in some voice actors who had actually heard a Londoner.
Sleutel Mar 6th 2011 11:27AM
Pip pip cheerio crisps lorry, guv'nah, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.