Monday, August 24, 2009

Thoughts: Worgen

Worgen.

Bestial, angry, dangerous... and the new Alliance race once Cataclysm goes live. I'm beyond excited for Cataclysm, and for the opportunities it will bring. There's time, still, of course. Lots of time. The expansion won't be here until next year, earliest, and it will probably come out around the same time Lich King did. Still, hearing all the news regarding the next expansion is exciting. Ideas have already started cropping up in my head. I'm definitely going to create a worgen, but what class? What gender? What trade-skills will I want my worgen to have? It's a great deal to think about from an RP perspective.

From Blizzard directly, regarding the new Alliance class:
Worgens have a racial ability called Darkflight, which allows the worgen to temporarily increase their movement speed by 70%, and can be used every three minutes. This activated ability, like entering combat, will also force the worgen into its true form. Other worgen racials include a passive 1% increase to all damage, reduced duration from the effects of curses and disease, and a bonus to skinning, as well as the ability to skin faster.
All-in-all, very interesting racials, which allow for added depth for a backstory and lore. So now the questions have to be answered when rolling a new Worgen:

Male or Female? For me, it's purely aesthetic. I'm certain I could roleplay either one just fine. I have a great many male human toons, but not one female (not sure why... perhaps it's due to their eerie way of never blinking). While out of combat, you can choose to look human, so that has to be taken into account. The worgen form is purely cosmetic, although required while in combat, so it's what you'll see most. Perhaps I'll have one of my current toons become infected with the Worgen curse? A worgen rogue would be quite amazing...

What Class? Worgen can be anything but a Paladin or a Shaman. That still leaves Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, and Death Knight. That's a great many to choose from. If I were to create one on my RP server, I would no doubt try to level a class I don't currently have near level cap... which is pretty much everything, to be honest (Pally, Death Knight, Warrior are the only ones I have over level 60). Perhaps I will go for that rogue after all... (hehe, poor Loem). A DPS class would benefit from the extra 1% to overall damage, and the reduced damage from diseases/curses/etc. would help in PvP.

What Professions? If I did indeed infect Loem with the Worgen curse, creating a Worgen Rogue character, I'd probably go skinning/leatherworking. To begin with, Worgen get an excellent bonus to skinning. It makes the most sense lore-wise as well. Leatherworking meshes best with skinning, obviously, and I've never actually leveled it up all the way, making it a new experience. At least a rogue will always have need of leather armor.

What's a Worgen's Background? Worgen (at least the playable kind) come from Gilneas, one of the older, human kingdoms on the Eastern Kingdoms continent. It's located behind the large Greymane Wall, sealed off from the rest of the world when the Scourge attacked, shortly after the 2nd war. Essentially, King Greymane chose to abandon the Alliance after coming to the conclusion that the Alliance needed the Gilneans far more than Gilneas needed the Alliance. Unfortunately for him, Arugal, an archmage, decided the only way to hold off the undead Scourge was to summon strange creatures... the Worgen. Barely controllable, Arugal found a way to curse humans with the Worgen affliction, turning them into the beasts. He made them his "children" and took up residence in what is now known as Shadowfang Keep.

New players will start in Gilneas, most probably before the Greymane wall has fallen, with phasing technology used to get the player from their home kingdom to the world outside. This would mean than any character would actually be a native to Gilneas (unless you were really stretching the story, or your character was older than the usual 24 or 25 years old). Or, I suppose you could really, really stretch and say you were one of Arugal's worgen, now freed from his control...

Regardless, I'm excited. I do think that a Worgen will be my second level 85, after my main.

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