Friday, July 17, 2009

July 17, 2009
44
For those of you who were expecting this post today, I greet you. To those who didn't, enjoy the read. And the many images ^_^ Keep in mind a large part of today's post is Speculation based off a single image, mixed with an inch or to of some half truths, three cups of anticipation, a teaspoon of good guessing, a few pinches of wishful thinking, and a touch of common sense topped off with some relatively accurate background information. As you can guess, I'm not sure either, but if you put all the little dots together the story seems more and more likely than not to be something we can expect to see at some point in the future. If you didn't know yet (What rock have you been sleeping under the last few weeks?) Blizzard has registered the name "Cataclysm" as a trademark. Now, the last time they did something like this was obviously before the burning crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. "The Cataclysm" in WoW lore refers to the Great Sundering, which resulted in the creation of the Maelstrom. This is a giant swirling mass between World of Warcraft's two main continents. The only reason that makes any kind of sense as to why they would register this name "now" (A short while before the next BlizzCon) would be because they intend to use it in the next expansion. World of Warcraft 4.0 coming to a local store near you, somewhere early 2010! The Maelstrom So, what is the Maelstrom? How big is it, where is it, why is it there? Well, WoWWiki has some info about that. The Maelstrom is the gigantic rift that was created when the Well of Eternity collapsed into itself during the Great Sundering. As the aftershocks from the Well of Eternity's implosion rattled the bones of the world, the seas rushed in to fill the gaping wound left in the earth. Nearly eighty percent of Kalimdor's landmass had been blasted apart, leaving only a handful of separate continents surrounding the new, raging sea. At the center of the new sea, where the Well of Eternity once stood, was a tumultuous storm of tidal fury and chaotic energies. This terrible scar, known as the Maelstrom, would never cease its furious spinning. It would remain a constant reminder of the terrible catastrophe... and the Utopian era that had been lost forever. It's right there on your map, you can't miss it. It's the last large place of Azerothian landscape that hasn't really been disclosed to us yet. Queen Azshara is believed to reside there. Ugh yeah, more nagas. Don't fret however because "under" that giant swirly mass of clouds are islands! Lots and lots of tiny islands, as well as a few large ones. Islands, that means water, lots of water. Perhaps a very good reason why out mounts have recently gained the ability to swim. Something which, this far into the current expansion is completely useless. But in a water based expansion would be very welcome indeed. No doubt you've seen these images before, but here they are again. Directly under the Maelstrom are a series of small islands and land masses: * The Eye, where below it's waters reside the two opposing empires of Naga and Makrura (Crab people). * Nazjatar, the capital cith of the Naga in the Maelstrom, build in the walls of the rift. * The Boiling Terrace, an area southeast in the Maelstrom. * The Rift, all that remains of the original Well of Eternity. * Scintal Reef, a vast reach of coral on the eastern side of the Maelstrom. * The Drowned Reaches, a ship graveyard. * Gishan Caverns, generally avoided by the Naga. Giant sea creatures are expected to dwell within. * Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. * Pillar Deep, home of tube worms. Aside the Maelstrom itself we'd be looking at a few more islands and connecting land areas near and to the south: * Kezan. The Island which is host to the underground city of Undermine. * Plunder Isle. An island directly east of Kezan. * Gilneas. A human capital directly south of Silverpine forest. Currently inaccessible due to the Greymane Wall. * The Broken Isles. A series of islands south of the Maelstrom. * Zandalar. A troll island, also south of the Maelstrom. (ugh more trolls...) * Tel'Abim. Another island southwest of the Maelstrom. Wait, wait, wait! Why are we talking about the Maelstrom so far? OK, so, if you recall patch 2.4.0 - Fury of the Sunwell, perhaps you also recall that someone datamined the files in that patch and encountered some plants never before seen in Azeroth or Outland. Some other unknown items as well iirc. These 3D objects and plants were later removed from the data files a patch later, 2.4.1 or so. A lot of speculation had taken place as to the origins or intended use of those plants. The Sunwell was to be the last patch before WotLK, and thus the suspicion was made that the plants might be for the next expansion. In the end, we were informed by a Blizzard poster that the items were "unintentionally" added into the game's data files and thus removed. Now, Patch 3.2 is currently on the PTR, and it turns out there are some unexpected treats in there for us to see. A poster by the name of HandClaw encountered some Halloween masks with previously unseen models. Goblin male, Goblin female, and what appears to be Worgen. The files are named "Wo" for the first two letters of the race, thus hinting in that direction. Worgen?! Maybe just Wolf-people, or Wolvar or something. However, if you consider that Gilneas, which has been sitting just south of Silverpine, a place infested with worgen for years, might be added in the Cataclysm expansion as well. Suddenly things start to connect. Goblins, Undermine, Worgen, Gilneas. Hmmmmmm... As a result of that one picture, there's a growing thread on the MMOC forums speculating all manner of things regarding how Worgen and Goblins might, or might not become playable factions. So far the connecting pieces seem strongly in favor, but one can never be a hundred percent sure until Blizzard actually says so. Goblins and Worgen as faction Goblins Goblins have always had strong ties with the horde, were part of the faction during Warcraft I and II. But, in WoW they've always been a neutral presence. Steamweedle Cartel is neutral / friendly for both the horde and the alliance, Ventore.Co however, is hostile with both factions. While the zeppelin crews are friendly only with the horde. Goblins are after your money first and foremost, explosives second. If there's a faction of goblins specifically friendly with the Horde, and hostile with the alliance, there's no reason for the other (neutral) factions to suddenly hate the alliance as well. After all, there's also certain mostly human (argent crusade / argent dawn) factions which are neutral to the horde as well. Starting zone? Kezan seems the most obvious location, though they might as well "start" on one of the many small islands near Kezan. That way Kezan and Undermine itself can still be neutral territory available to both factions. Worgen How about worgen though? Never before have we seen a specifically engineered female worgen. Yet here we are, a female worgen mask. Why, other than for a playable faction would Blizzard "accidentally" add in worgen masks. There's no masks for other npcs or monsters. But, here you go a worgen mask, male and female. High quality as well. So, would Worgen be an alliance faction then? Historical / lore blabla would indicate they strongly favor the alliance. The first Worgen were "summoned" to Azeroth by Velinde Starsong and her magical Scythe of Elune. A night elf who was able to command the worgen into battle. Quote from the wiki: Holding the scythe in her hands, she received a vision of chaos. Wolf-men, the worgen, battled an incredible enemy. The worgen fought savagely, as fit their primitive race, but they faced an unflinching enemy: Lords of the Emerald Flame. It was then that Velinde realized the true power of the scythe. By focusing on it, she was able to communicate with the worgen. However, it was not speech she used to contact them. The worgen heard and understood her. By further channeling the energy of the scythe, the barriers weakened more, and she was able to draw the worgen to Azeroth. She summoned a score and a half. The worgen followed her into battle and, with their brutish strength at her command, they tore into the demons of Felwood. In the beginning, all was well. She summoned larger numbers of the worgen to fight at her side and she marveled. Though they were of simple mind, they exhibited impressive ability to coordinate their attacks and function as a group. She identified the leaders in their packs and gave them command of small groups. She then organized her rescued warriors into multiple attack parties, sending them out into the tainted forest to fight the demons. She waited as her attack parties rampaged through the Felwood, slaughtering the demons in their path. Velinde waited until the appointed time for her soldiers to return came and went; only a few did. She called and searched for the people Elune had entrusted to her. She found not a trace of those missing packs. She returned to her camp, her half-man servants enjoying the freedom Velinde had given them. She lifted her scythe to contact the worgen’s violent home world. There she could bring more to her cause. But though she had not summoned additional worgen, their numbers continued to increase. It was as though the scythe no longer required her intervention for the summoning process. She gathered as many of the packs as she could find, and ordered them to remain at the Shrine of Mel'Thandris. Velinde hurried to search the libraries in Darnassus and consulted with Onu in Darkshore, but not one scrap of information about these worgen could she find. She heard whispers of a Kirin Tor wizard named Arugal, who was said to have also summoned worgen. Velinde decided to venture to the Eastern Kingdoms and find this wizard in hopes of learning from him. As the worgen were intelligent, and some groups of them had disappeared there are a lot of open options as to their current state. Arugal has "created" hybrid worgen who are human by day, and worgen by night. A good example of these hybrids can be seen in Silverpine forest. The inhabitants of a small town beneath Shadowfang Keep display these characteristics. Though they are hostile to both factions, it wouldn't be impossible for a separate faction to exist, or to even have fully taken over Gilneas. Perhaps the worgen there are simply the inhabitants of Gilneas, further affected by Arugal's curse. There have been some earlier ideas made by other users as to how a worgen faction could come into existence. The author of that article has debunked it to be a spin of his own imagination, but Blizzard might have taken some hints off it. There's also an area just north of Silverpine, and just south of the undead starting area which is inaccessible. You can't even click it, but it "is" there. Two fairly decent sized zones would allow a new race for a good starting zone. The below pictures are fan-made, unofficial. Druid skins. Mage / Rogue geared worgen. Worgen (shadow)deathknight. As you can see, the worgen (And goblins) are among the few "non default NPCs" that are able to wear armor and even weapons. Perhaps an intentional foresight by Blizzard. Hunter pet! Next, you might have learned of a recent "bug" that was found out by hunters. This bug, or oversight allowed a hunter to tame the Worgen named Garwal during a quest in the Howling Fyord. Blizzard was very quick to give a response to this bug, and less than a day later it was hotfixed. Unlike the Ghost Wolf pet which was hotfixed much later (2 months instead of 2 days) or the tameable CrocoSlime pet which to my knowledge "still" isn't fixed after more than half a year. Why would blizzard's reaction to these different pets be so different? Surely having a pet worgen couldn't harm anyone? Even if it's a humanoid by default, there's no real reason for them to hotfix it this fast. That is, "unless" they had plans for worgen in the near future. Such as, for example, making them a playable race. Obviously the models for feral worgen would be different from the player worgen. Much as high elves and blood elves have gotten a complete re-modelling done to their appearance when The Burning Crusade was released. We can probably expect the same to happen for goblins if they become playable. The fact that a female worgen is coming, is in itself already a huge hint, as all the feral worgen that we know and have seen so far are quite simply all non-sexual, or male. Balance? Blizzard has done some balancing things in the past, giving the horde a "pretty" race in TBC as the blood elves was intended to draw more players from the alliance to the horde so they could play as an attractive looking elf. The alliance still doesn't have an ugly race however, and the horde still doesn't have a short race. Indeed goblins and worgen would fit those two roles perfectly. The WotLK worgen in Grizzly hills are markedly different from those in Silverpine in two basic aspects. Although the worgen in silverpine are able to wear a cloak, the new worgen seem to have been adapted with the ability to wear helmets and wield weapons. Something crucial for players. And then, there's the book called Torment of the Worgen, found in Karazhan. The book gives you a buff which has a chance to transform you into a worgen for ten seconds. This allows you to see and control a "lot" of animations which the npcs never use otherwise. Laughing, working, looting, shooting bows, swinging a 2h weapon, sleeping, waving and yes even mounting. (Something most other temporary shapeshifts and costumes - other than pirates and ninjas - are unable to do.) If you've ever been turned into a skeleton / worm / bat / cat during Halloween, you'll recall those models have "very" limited animations. Worgen however, are already nearly perfectly animated. As one poster on MMOC comments, that's an awful lot of effort to put into an NPC whose animation you'd rarely use to begin with. Seeding races? Wow.com refers us to a quote from Kalgan, he mentions how Blizzard plans to "pre-seed" future playable races in the game before they actually become available. Something you can agree on, has been done with both Worgen and Goblins, plenty of lore and presence. It's quite a different approach from the way they threw Draenei into game. So, worgen as a playable race? While not confirmed, I'd say it is most certainly plausible. Goblins? I don't see why not.

44 comments:

S_Sword101 said...

Personally i think the Goblins will be Alliance, and the Worgen will be Horde.

Goblins swore to never ally exclusively with the Horde again after the Second War, which is why a good majority of them are neutral in WoW.

Worgen from Gilneas. Well, Gilneas wasn't too strongly favored by the alliance to begin with, and being so close to Undercity (formerly Lordaeron), it makes sense that it would be the first place they associate with if under attack.

Not to mention, they've got a similar story to the Blood Elves and Undead. Fallen from glory, and turned into monsters. Will the Alliance treat them just as poorly, forcing them to the Horde as well? I would think so, especially considering Varian is now the self-proclaimed leader of the Alliance. He's too paranoid to accept something that everyone once thought of as nothing more than a mindless, savage beast.

Goblins are a bit more of a stretch imo. I think the only reason they'd be implemented is from lack of being able to implement Pandaren without designing something completely different for the Chinese version of the game. Since Pandaren rang more true to Alliance than Horde as far as lore went, i could see Blizzard replacing them on the same faction with something that's been neutral up until now.

bbr said...

Aye, it could swing both ways. Though putting yet another "ugly" race with the horde, and yet another short race into the alliance would seem a strange choice.

It's not impossible certainly, King Varian probably wouldn't want to deal with "freaks" like he considers most of the horde to be. He's quite stuck up that way.

Gilneas might even have been taken over by naga, or if not taken over certainly under heavy siege as Bran Bronzebeard suggests in his journals.

It'll remain to be seen whether the worgen retain their semi-human forms or play as purely worgen as well. If they can at least take a moderate human-like form Varian might be more likely to take them into the alliance.

The eventual choice of races and factions will remain to be seen, though my vote goes to the way I outlined. Even if the goblins swore not to ally the horde exclusively, a single faction could choose to do so. The neutral factions of goblins in booty bay, wintergrasp, rathet, etc would still all be neutral. Thus they'd not be "exclusively" allied with the horde.

Aggrokitty said...

If they actually make these playable races (and *damn* do I want them to!) I can't see it going anyway other than worgen/Alliance and goblin/Horde, both for balance issues and *because* their story would echo the Forsaken and the Blood Elves. I can't imagine third time being the charm. Which annoys me, because I am a Hordie at heart and want Horde Worgen.

I would love to see them follow the suggestion over on WoW.com, though, where you start out neutral and then have to choose a faction at level 20 or so. With DK-style phasing, it'd be feasible enough.

Irisia said...

What if they make them a neutral race, meaning both horde and alliance can play both races. I mean, blizzard will soon be giving us the ability to change faction and then also your race, Human paladin to Blood Elf paladin and so on. Why shouldn't they now add neutral races like these?

Anyway, this worgen race looks very cool (atleast the masks) so I'll be looking farward to see how this goes. Shouldn't be too long before they start talking about the new expansion, still remember they launched the WotLK "site" while I was still trying to level my draenei shaman, not too long after TBC was in stores.

Anonymous said...

You Forgot to Mention KulTiras

Green Armadillo said...

I don't disagree with the logic. The Alliance doesn't have a real city north of IF, and Horde goblins could set up camp just about anywhere with the help of zeppelins. The only real question would be what, if anything, Alliance Worgen would have to do with the rest of the expansion.

Then again, Blizzard knows that we datamine everything they put on the PTR's. If they wanted a red herring, tasking someone to make some Halloween masks - which can still be used as masks and therefore wouldn't be a total waste of time, would be an easy way to do it.

Anonymous said...

Well, I don't think the masks are really concluding evidence to assume Worgen and Goblins will be part of a new playable race. Although possible. The way I see it is Goblins are already a big part of Azeroth because they are everywhere's so a mask of them seems sort of fitting even if they're not playable and when I think Halloween one of the many things I think of is "Werewolves" along with pumpkins, etc so a Worgen mask doesn't seem so out of place despite that. Female one does seem a tad strange, though and another point I thought I'd point out similar to your "Horde doesn't have a short race" is the alliance doesn't have a bestial wrath like the Tauren.

Anonymous said...

Err, I didn't mean "Beastial wrath" (My main is a hunter..) I meant Beastial race :P

Liritia said...

I dont think worgen would be horde even thouhg they suit it im really hopeing goblins are horde and worgen are alliance. first of all worgen were ither summoned or changed from HUMANS witch means they have some ties to eachother. second the undead of silverpine and undercity despice the worgen. and third lots of goblins still like being part fo the horde y not make a whole new faction to surve te horde.

Anonymous said...

I personally like to believe that Blizzard may implement "neutral" races. On creating your character it would be located not under horde or alliance but under a different section. Upon leveling your character you could then have a choice as to what faction to follow along with.

Man that would just be awesome.

bbr said...

I don't really see any need for neutral races. Aside the fact that they'd have so much issues in PvP - confusing, it'd throw each server's economy to hell.

Starting out as neutral with both factions, and then choosing, would mean a lot of people will never choose and simply abuse the character as an in between auctioneer character.

Not to mention the language barrier.

Cuddles said...

Why does anyone really care about Varian, anyways? There are four other Alliance leaders, and I'm sure they'd like a say in who comes into the Alliance.

So if Worgen become a playable race, it'd be nice to see them level in their 1-10 starting zone as a neutral race, maybe. Then at 10, you have a quest to visit each faction leader. Obviously you would do this alongside Witch Doctor Magumba, the Worgen portal guy, who would make portals to each of the main city leaders (Would be a good time to get FPs). Four of them would welcome you, perhaps tentatively, while the Chin would not. But too bad for him, he's outnumbered and has to go along with it anyway.

Then for the rest of your Worgen career, whenever you hand in a quest from Varian or have any interaction with him, he throws a little insult your way. Where he would normally say "Gnome" or "Warrior", he would call you a beast or filthy mongrel or something. He would also be quite short with you... For instance, on the quest Order Must Be Restored, he tells you, "Keep your wits about you, NAME. The Horde will defend the ranger lord with their very lives." He wouldn't give you advice... it'd be more like, "If you die on your mission, it'd be one less beast I have to deal with."

I'd play a Worgen if I knew I wasn't forced into liking Varian.

Also, I hope this is the case, and down the road a Worgen mauls Varian to death and we never have to see him again.

Wolfington said...

to Cuddles,

That would be nice, especially the mauling Varian part.

Anyway. Thats past the point here.

Truthfully, I really don't think Blizzard is going to implant these as playable races. There are so many random Worgen camps out in the world, it would mess with quests in Silverpine Forest, Grizzly Hills and many other places. Quests that once told you to go slaughter a bunch of worgen would go from "Go slaughter a bunch of worgen" to "Uhm. Could you, uh, go speak with our friends over there?". (thats if they go Horde.)

Secondly. Understanding the ties Worgen have to the Alliance, I still think that the leaders would not accept them in to their ranks. Plus, in Grizzly Hills they learn a bunch of Humans are also Worgen and kill them all. I don't know, just doesn't make sense to me. The Horde might, but the Forsaken for one just don't like Worgen that much.

Goblins!
A difficult one. I for one don't think they will be playable because they already go both ways, Horde and Alliance. If they swore not to join the Horde, then they probably wont. But if they up and join the Alliance, what will the Horde think?
Plus, Goblins have very little to no care for nature. Night elves and Tauren would kill them all in their sleep if Goblins joined either of them. Or Tauren would just succeed. They already have enough problems with the Venture Co. in their own homeland!

Now that I have said all this, I will also say that if they do become playable, Worgen had darned better be Horde because I'm Horde at heart and I adore Worgen. Maybe I'll play a Goblin too. Maybe.

Anonymous said...

to Cuddles

Or Varian could be turned into a Worgen himself... that'd have him seeing things differently.

We Fly Spitfires said...

"Personally i think the Goblins will be Alliance, and the Worgen will be Horde."

Yeah, that would be a nice surprise :)

I think they would make cool new races but I'm not going to hold my breath until Blizzard make an official announcement

Drazmor said...

"Starting out as neutral with both factions, and then choosing, would mean a lot of people will never choose and simply abuse the character as an in between auctioneer character."

With phasing, it wouldn't be too hard to stop anyone leaving the starting zone unless they chose Horde or Alliance.

And if not that, why not some other new fangled tool that Blizzard implements in the new expansion. (Like phasing in WotLK)
When WoW first came out, I doubt any one of us imagined that phasing would ever be possible ingame, I doubt anyone even thought about it! Blizzard had quite a number of people who's jobs are to create new ideas like this for the game! As in they are paid good money to create new and crazy idea everyday for this game!

Firebyrd said...

I know this is on a side note, but the Hydra/Crocolisk/Slime mobs were actually fixed in 3.0.8 and made untameable back in January. So not a /quick/ fix, but not a terribly long one in coming either. I lucked out and found out just in time it had been fixed on the PTR, managed to get my hunter to 80 that night and a friend had already gotten the quest for me a few days before, so I managed to get my hydra at 1:00 am that Tuesday morning. Can't slip under the wire much more than that. 0.0

I'd never seen those maps including the stuff from the Maelstrom, so thanks for that! An interesting post, and the more I read, the more I think people are probably right, especially in light of how Blizz treated the Worgen pets. Normally when there's a bug like this, they just remove the ability for anyone else to tame them, they don't completely break the pet. My hydra is my tanking pet even today.

dj said...

Blizzard believes in factional alignment as opposed to racial alignment... in other words, if they want to add a new playable race, all they do is say "well THIS group of ______ decided to join the _________ because _________."

Trolls are the best example. Horde and Alliance kill all sorts of Trolls on a regular basis. Why? Factional disagreements. And High Elves (i.e. Blood Elves) FREAKING HATE Trolls. Trolls have... trolled them all throughout history. And now suddenly they're allied with Trolls! How could this be? ...well, uhhh, these are the Darkspear Trolls. They're nice! ...ah, okay. We can all be friends now.

So you can throw out just about anything you think the lore tells you. It will be explained away as "a group of ____"...

Anonymous said...

One thing you have to think about is how Worgens can be Humans and Worgen, that would compramise the whole, "Humans on alliance" thing, that would be unfair cuz then the worgen could turn into humans and slaughter the king in 2 min if they where horde.

and goblins did swear to never take a side, but that doesnt mean that history cant change, alliance could decide that the goblins favor the horde to much, so go to war with them and then they would go to horde, so that would compramise that to.

but Worgen as Alliance, would mean that they are more like Alliance than they are like horde, which automaticly puts them on that slot of having humans join horde as well.

and goblins as alliance, what would happen to Zeplins, would tauren take over? then how would they finish there war on alliance? there has to be a reason for something to be horde or alliance, there are reason for both to join both right here, as you can see, with all of my knoledge, Goblins will be Horde and Worgen Alliance, and, im Alliance, i want a wrogen, so i will kill some1 with my short little Gnome DK if i dont get to be a Worgen and join my friends...

Anonymous said...

A note about the worgen 'pet' hunters didn't tame these normally, they literally bugged the pet model by taming it just before the wolf turned into a worgen. So it was considered more of an exploit. If any hunter who tamed Garwal normally (as a wolf) it too was broken as a result. This was viewed entirely as an exploit of game mechanics.

Now onto the topic: One must remember these are just masks, we can speculate all we want but we won't know anything until something more solid is mined or until Blizzard announces something.

As for faction, I'd see worgen going horde, but goblins still being neutral for the most part, meaning some other race would join the alliance like say...Pandarean.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile no one has noticed that the Emerald Dream maps have been updated...

bbr said...

Hm, got any screens of the emerald dream?
And why on earth would they do that unless they intended to implement that content in 3.x?

Anonymous said...

Very well-written article. :) Thanks for the read.

As for the Emerald Dream maps, it was an announcment Boubouille made on MMO champion and, to my knowledge, no pictures have been posted.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=79546.0

bbr said...

"40 Players max zone."

Heh, they wouldn't make it a 20vs20 battleground surely...?

Anonymous said...

I personally think that as dreanei were kept secret for so long and that so many other races for the alliance were joked around with that i think that worgen WILL be a race for 1 of the factions just that the goblins r another red herring.

Anonymous said...

I belive your right!
Ok you know the goblins and gnomes of the shimmering flats? there competeing against each other and always want to beat each other. Now think why whould they want to be on the same side as the gnomes!

Also Gilneas is near SFK and argual ... argual could have turned the residents of gilneas into worgen. and like someone said the forsaken dispise them ... why whould they be on the horde???

:-) cant wait to play my worgen

Anonymous said...

I don't mean to pop anyone's bubbles ... mainly those who are saying there would be a problem with adding them in as a playable race due to their aggressive populations around azeroth ( Or neutral for goblins sake )

but ... you have to think of a few small thing.

Examples
Draenei: We kill their aggressive ancestors ( or what ever you want to call them ) a lot. Even as a Draenei player.

Blood Elves: You start off helping your people but by the time you hit Nether storm your killing them.

Death Knights: The chin accepted these guys and they are "Undead" as well.

Argent Crusade/Dawn: Humans ... and Orcs that are neutral with everyone. Despite the hate between Humans and well Orcs.

Soo ... we couldn't have worgen because we would be killing them in other areas? I don't see the issue, they might hate the savaged controlled lot ... kind like the undead hate the scourge. In northrend we slaughter Gurlocs but in Sholazar Basin we can befriend a group of them.

So saying that worgen and goblins wouldn't make sense because of whatever reason doesnt really add up.

bbr said...

This stuff just got a whole lot more confusing.

Naga, murloc, ogre, and vykrul masks added.

Anonymous said...

Examples
Draenei: We kill their aggressive ancestors ( or what ever you want to call them ) a lot. Even as a Draenei player.

Blood Elves: You start off helping your people but by the time you hit Nether storm your killing them.

Death Knights: The chin accepted these guys and they are "Undead" as well.

Argent Crusade/Dawn: Humans ... and Orcs that are neutral with everyone. Despite the hate between Humans and well Orcs.


You missed the most obivious example. The 100 different groups of hostile to both faction trolls

Anonymous said...

I write alot.
Was thinking of using this, perhaps sending it to Blizzard HQ, but... whatever, rather someone reads and feeds(back) than letting it rot in some envelope or my computer.
Here goes

Part l

The Moon Shines
Rise up, rise again.
The Moon Beams
Howl, howl once more.
Stil It Shines
We hunt
we...

...Worgen


For a long time the creatures known as worgens has been able to become summoned by great dark magics. Arugal brought the Moonrage to Silverpine, where they fought the living and dead alike, his mistake driving the archmage insane. In Rolands Doom, Duskwood, the man called "Jitters" brought the Nightbane, the horror that ocurred in the mine causing his mind to collapse. And Velinde Starsong, who brought the Terrowulf pack to Ashenvale, where they went rampage, causing the sentinel great sorrow.
This is an invasion.

Anonymous said...

Part ll

The worgen hail from a dark and violent world, known as Orsheoz. There they waged violent wars upon the interlopers: the lord of the emerald flame, more commonly known as The Burning Legion. Throughout the eternal night, they fought with brutal strength and crazed bloodlust, howling beneath their sacred moon. Alas, these battles proved futile, as pack after pack was slaughtered in the countless battles.
To ensure the races survival the great shadowcaster and Over-Alpha: Furinn crafted a magical scythe, and sent it through the thin barriers of the cosmos, until it reached the world of Azeroth, the forest of Ashenvale, and the night elf sentinel Velinde Starsong.
The scythe appeared to her as she prayed to the moon godess Elune for aid to fight the demons of Felwood with, and so she assumed the godess had granted it to her, to aid her failing crusade.
And so she used it, and called upon the worgen packs, guiding them through the labyrinth that shields our two dimensions and brought them to Felwood, where they gladly laid down their lives for the cance to lay down others.
However, the more Velinde used the scythe the more it seemed to do the summoning by it's own accord, her will not being a part of it. She consulted the libraries of Darnassus and the great lore keeper Onu, but found no answers.
Then she was told of Archmage Arugal.
In Lordaeron the scourge was advancing, at the time having just destroyed Dalaran, and marching on with many an undead mage among it's troops. Arugal had fled, with a few other survivors, to Silverlaine Keep, in Silverpine Forest. He grew frustrated by their lack of progress against the Scourge, and in desperation he consulted The Book of Ur, and used Ur's research to summon the worgen pack of Moonrage, against the advice and warnings of his peers. His intentions was to bolster Dalaran's diminishing ranks with them and destroy the Scourge with the powerful worgen at his side.
But the worgen grew bored soon after their first battle and turned on the wizard themselves in their bloodthirst. They broke through the keeps walls and slaughtered all.
All, but Arugal.
The guilt drove him mad, and this madness drove him into adopting the worgen as "his sons" after which he retreated to the newly dubbed Shadowfang Keep, where he remains, haunted by the ghosts of Silverlaine.
Dispite his madness, Velinde desided to seek out Arugal, to find out whatever he might just know.
She left the remaining pack, the Terrowulf, in a small vale, near the Shrine of Mel'Thandris and traveled to Ratchet, then further on to Booty Bay by ship and from there to southern Elwynn.
It is there that the last traces of her journey ends.
Whether the Terrowulfs had followed her, or if the scythe suddenly summoned more worgen, she was hunted and forced to hide in a cave not far from the village of Sunnyglade. There her trail ends, with her loosing the scythe in the caves, the sentinel never to be seen agan.
Only much later, when the cave was turned into a mine, was it found by a man called 'Jitters'. It had passed so much time since Velinde last held it, so at the slightes touch it opened the biggest rift it had ever made, practicly draining all its power and not only letting through one of the biggest packs on Orsheoz, but even changing the land around it into something no far from their beloved homeworld.
The miners were all killed, with the exception of Jitters, who fled, maddened by the events. The events that changed Sunnyglade into Darkshire, and southern Elwynn to Duskwood.


The worgen seek a new world, and to bring forth the eternal night, as proven by the forest of Duskwood's current state.
Their greatest invasion point, was a secret.
Until recently...

Anonymous said...

part lll

Not far from Arugals home, Shadowfang Keep, stands the Greymane Wall, sourrounded by refugees, pleading to be let inside the kingdom of Gilneas, which ceased all contact with the Alliance a long time ago, locking themselves behind the wall, avoiding the plague and the undead.
Yet the wall is unmanned.
Why?
And how come the gate had been broken from the inside?
As if people had been dying to get out...

Anonymous said...

part lV

With the disappereance of three packs (the Moonrage, the Terrowulf and the Nightbane) Furinn finally found the world of Azeroth, and used his scrying magic to find an ideal place for an invasion: Gilneas.
He opened a dark gateway, and let the packs pour through, invading the isolated country. Soon the worgen hunted across the countryside, destroying entire villages and eventually setting their crazed gaze on the capital.
The king, Genn Greymane, was killed and Furinn made his way to the castle, declaring it his own dark den.
In The Broken Tower, at the top of Castle Greymane, he built himself an altar of lord Greymanes bones, and he weaved the shadows of his world, that had come seeping into Azeroth from the gate, and called forth a curse like no other, sending it across the land and transforming every man, woman and child into them.
Into worgen.

Little did he know the mistake he had done...

Anonymous said...

part V

There were indeed those who succombed to the fury and turned feral, their minds flooded with the sents of blood and the hunger for meat, yet many kept their mind intact, remaining fully sane.
And angry...

Anonymous said...

part Vl

They soon overcame the shock and fought back Furinns worgen, naming themselves The Gilneas Moonhowl, reclaiming the capital and renaming it from Greymane to Lycan City.
When the news of this reached Stormwind and the Alliance, they were at first doubtful of this new race's morals, yet soon saw their potentials as brave heroes and fearless fighters. Once this was agreed the Alliance was quick to act, sending dilpomats to convince the Gilneas Moonhowlers to join them, seeing their value in the upcoming war at sea against the Horde.

Atleast... that's the official story.

Anonymous said...

Final part Vll

For indeed many of the alliance still doubt the wisdom of the vengeance-filled king Varian Wrynn to so suddenly accept these brutes into their ranks. Even the Gilneasans has doubts, many of them not certain if they themselves would have chosen to invite them...
There are even those who goes as far as to say there was threats being involved, of how they wouldn't want to join with such scum as the Forsaken, yet shouldn't shun such a great power as the Alliance. Fact is, the Gilneas Peninsula is indeed a strategic point in this war at sea, and these worgen may very well match the raw strength of an Orc, or even a Tauren.
With rumors like these floating around it is no suprise that the relationship is a shaky one at best.
With the aid of these untrusting and untrusted allies the Moonhowl imprisoned Furinn and the Elite Pack in the castle and secured the capital. But the wild worgen, now leaderless. run rampant through the peninsula and the new leader of Gilneas, alpha Ragus Moonfall, has declared these packs enemy of the Moonhowl and to be slain for the security of the kingdom.
Yet as this Fourth War closes in upon us all the Moonhowl will have ample opportunities to prove their worth, and the Alliance to prove their trust...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's it.
Feel free to spread it like butter over the giant sandwich that is the internet.

Now I've gotta go and find something else to write about...

Anonymous said...

Oh right, almost forgot, here's some ideas:
Part A

The Race itself

Racial Traits and Spells
Thick Fur - (Passive) Reduces chance to be hit by fire and forst spells by 1%.
Howl - (Spell) Terrifies the enemy, causing the next of the enemy's attack to miss, lasts 8 sec. After one attack has been missed, the debuff disappears.
Claws And Fangs - (Passive) Melee damage is increased by 0,5%.
Four Paws - (Passive) Increases agility by 3%.

Appearance
Fur Colour
Mane
Face (eye coulour, eye type and general face)
Facial Markings (Male)
Fangs (Female)

Classes
Warrior
A race always ready to fight.
Starts with a mace and a shield.

Mage
Hell if I know, it just seems popular.
I suppose that...
...In the madness of Genn Greymane the mages of Gilneas was hunted down and killed, only a lesser number remaining in secret, hidden from the king's men. Now, when the king has been pushed aside, the mages has returned to the open, and has begun training many new worgen mages, seeking to bring out their human intellect in their worgen minds.

Warlock
Natural affinity to shadow magic and summoning, some of the hiding mages gone bad.
Starts with a dagger.

Rogue
Fighting and prowling, no problem.
Starts with a trown dagger and a dagger.

Hunter
Although there are many animals scared by the worgen, the Moonhowlers seems to be more accpeted among the animals, and many train ferocious beasts to aid them in combat.
Starts with a Crossbow and an axe.

Priest
Many of the Moonhowl priests still holds the power of the light, even when many more has begun to explore the depths of the shadow.
Starts with a mace.

Death Knight
This is acctually a problem.
As is anything occuring after the death of Arthas.
I mean, he can't be dead in Gilneas, and alive everywhere else.
Possibly:
...There was those who saught membership amongst the Ebonblade...
or something, I don't know.

Mount
Spiders found within the Greymane Mines, larger than any other kind on Azeroth and far more intelligent.
Level 20, 60%
Black Spider Green Spider, Red Spider, Grey Spider,
Level 40, 100%
Epic Dark Spider, Epic Emerald Spider, Epic Rose Spider, Epic Blue Spider

Zones
Level 1-6 is Deepwood Village (They have a few tents in the square and your task is to clear out the village of the wild worgen, while befriending the suspicious and disaproving Alliance soldiers.)
Level 6-10 is Gilneas Peninsula.
Level 10-20 is... also Gilneas? A different part? Kul Tiras, perhaps?

Racial leader: Alpha Ragus ("rage-us") Moonfall
Aggro
"For the rising moon!" *Howls*
*Growls* "I have faced many challenges, you are merely and obstacle!"
Greetings
"Welcome to Lycan City, what do you seek?"
"How can the Moonhowl help?"
"We will overcome the curse."
"There is violence in my heart."
"Greymane was a fool."

Language: Worgen and Common.

Capital: Lycan City

Enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Background:
The Players starts in the ghosttown of Deepwood Village where they are tasked with slaying the poor souls that still linger since the worgen invasion. The local butcher informs you of the peoples great need for meat and that he needs you to slay some of the local wildlife for that very reason. The very diplomatic human mage wants you to gather some of the venom from the spiders in the caves, some berries and mushrooms from forrest and some pine cones, in a further attempt to study the curse of Furinn. Afterwards he'll send you to the next town with the objects for testing. The supplies have been scattered and scavanged and so the caravanmaster wants you to recover them. Then it's time to deal with the worgen pack that the local NPCs hunted to this valley, slaying several of their kind aswell as their apha, all under the command of a rude, untrusting and honest night elf sentinel. The sentinel then wishes you to report to the next town with news of your victory. The warlock trainer tells you how you must embrace your affinity for darkness and use it to gain the favor of the oh so untrusting alliance, summoning an imp for starters. The priest trainer will tell you to travel to ___ to learn from that priest trainer how you must utilize your great shadow potential aswell as cling on to your strong holy heiritage.
Genn Greymane slowly became more and more mad, as the years went by and the country strived to surivive on it's own, cut of from the rest of the world and his tyranny was only brought to an end once Furinn killed him. His cruel son Henry Greymane, the son and heir, now resides in a smaller castle a bit from the rest of Gilneas, hiding with a few other Gilneas loving and Alliance and worgen hating gang of soldiers.
There is also the threat of the naga, who took over the port in the confusion of Furinn's invasion, a port which the alliance has great intrest in.

Anonymous said...

Its quite simple...Varian is a Worgen.

bbr said...

Oh, my, gawd. That's so right.
It would also totally explain the constipated look he always wears xD

Anonymous said...

There's a new expansion coming out and Worgen are Alliance Goblins are Horde. Maelstrom is actually a volcano.

WORGENFTW said...

i heard that with the click of a buttten u can trancform into a human in worgen form i think that they r nerfing the horde by giving us worgen (im n alli playa) the goblinns tho have goood classes they have all accept 2 classes worgen however have only 4

Anonymous said...

Cataclysm