The Worgen female model controversy still rages on here at WoWphiles as well as throughout the Warcraft Community. I decided to showcase the model and animations of the Worgen female to give you all another look beyond just a still image.

After seeing her on the character creation screen I am still sticking with my opinion that the new model is definitely the way to go.

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I’m seeing a lot of complaints in the World of Warcraft Community about the look of the Worgen Female model. I’ll admit that I was part of the crowd that thought the first look we got of the female Worgen was too soft. Now that we are seeing an updated model a whole new crowd is fired up about how angry and “ugly” the new model looks.

In the image for this post I put the face of the new model on the left and the old on the right for comparison.

Here are some quotes from players:

“The face is beyond ridiculous.”
“Then I saw the new female forms. And… Wow. This is terrible.”
“That makes me think of the Hyenas from the Lion King… ”
“I am also for the old models, the new ones just don’t cut it for me.”

Players may not prefer the look of the new model to the old one, but if you think about it, a Worgen should be an angry, nasty, snarling creature. The old model looked to me like she would be more likely to be standing in the woods holding a tray of cupcakes singing the theme to all your favorite Disney movies.

While the new form looks like when she transforms from Human to Worgen form, you had better run because she will claw your face off.

I think if you really want to play a “pretty” race, play an elf. But if you want to play a race that will change from human to beast, and in doing so, will go from friendly to scary, then play a Worgen. In my opinion the new model fits the race much better and just makes more sense.

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Update 9/19 – It looks like Blizzard has indeed confirmed that Running Wild will be the Worgen “mount”.
This comes from Blizzard blue poster Zarhym:

Running Wild is indeed the new racial “mount” for worgen. Functionally the ability works exactly like a mount. This does mean the worgen are not bringing faction mounts to the table which other Alliance races can access. This is also of course very different from the original Plainsrunning implemented for taurens. We have no plans to try and bring that ability back in any form.

Ultimately, we feel Running Wild fits very well with the nature of the worgen race. Rather than getting a physical mount, they get down and sprint on all fours. When you’re playing a worgen, it just feels awesome.

I signed on to Twitter this afternoon and was met with conversations galore about the information that has come out about Worgen mounts, or the lack thereof, and a new ability called Running Wild.

First off, I love MMO-Champion and big props to them for getting this information out there.

A lot of people are up in arms saying that why don’t Worgen get mounts when Druids and Shaman do. The first response to this is that Druid and Shaman get mounts because they get their racial mounts (eg Tauren, Orc, Night Elf, Draenei).

People are also upset because this means one less mount for the Alliance because the Goblins get their own cool mounts while Worgen get to drop to all fours and run.

My first thought on this was that I think it is actually a cool idea for the Worgen to run on all fours like some crazed werewolf. I think it fits the race very well. But I do see the point of Alliance players who will feel like they are getting the shaft from Blizzard by not getting a race specific mount.

Now, before we are all up in arms remember one thing, we don’t know for certain whether the emergence of the Running Wild spell truly means that there will not be a mount. The tool tip for this ability does not say how fast the speed increase is. For all we know it may be similar to Druid Travel Form and its a 40% speed increase for all Worgen who will also get a mount. But this is all still speculation on all of our parts.

While it does look very possible that his could be the Worgen “mount”, we still need to wait and see what Blizzard actually has to say about this.

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So I’ve officially come around, I am switching my support to Garrosh Hellscream for the upcoming cataclysm Horde Warchief elections…

Wait, who am I kidding? Garrosh needs no election he smashes the competition.

So why have I come around? What would make me abandon the comfort and diplomatic nature of Thrall, Saurfang, or Bloodhoof. Maybe because I’m sick of the prissy alliance running around in all their righteous glory, and I’m ready to cleave some heads. (With the exception of the gnomes and dwarfs, they can stay.)

So what say you!?!?! Come support the new warchief!!!

The Platform’s Agenda…
- Burn Ashenvale to the Ground… Ha! No more trees for you pansy Night Elves!!!
- Allegiance with the Dark Iron… Yeah, they’re dwarfs but we need those mole machines to launch an all out assault on Stormwind…
- Varian Wrynn needs to die, and have his head paraded around on a pike like Onyxia in Orgrimmar!
- Destroy all currency… who needs gold when you have an axe!
- Destroy the Undercity… because they’re gross… and Silvermoon… they’re just too prissy!!!
- The New Horde… Orcs, Tauren, Taunka, Trolls (all of em), Goblins

Any objections? Didn’t think so.

FOR THE HORDE!!!

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Gift of the Naaru (Instant cast, 3 minute cool down, 40 yard range)
Heal your target for 35 + (15 x Level) over 15 sec. The amount healed is increased based on the caster’s Spell Power or Attack Power, whichever is highest.

Heroic Presence (Passive)
Increases chance to hit by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.

Gemcutting (Passive)
5 point skill bonus to Jewelcrafting.

Shadow Resistance (Passive)
Reduces chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 2%.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

One of the defining characteristics of the race is Gift of the Naaru, which is an instant cast Heal Over Time (HoT) spell that increases in power as your character does. This is the only racial ability that heals, and it is the only one that can be cast on someone else as well. When I think of the Draenei race, this is always the first ability that comes to mind for me. As far as leveling early on and getting a solid start this is the best of the Draenei racial abilities.

Another racial that you can’t go wrong with though is Heroic Presence. This is probably the defining racial for Draenei when it comes to end game. Having a higher chance to hit is great even at level 1, and while the 1% never gets higher this ability becomes stronger as you level.

If you feel like being a Jewelcrafter, then Gemcutting is a nice little boost for you. It’s only a +5 bonus as opposed to the larger bonuses that some of the other races receive, and I’m not really sure why that is to be honest, but every little bit helps. For a race that is heavily reliant on gems and crystals for energy and so forth I don’t see why their bonus should not be more like that of the Gnomes, or Tauren at the very least.

You do find a few mobs that use shadow magic throughout many zones in the game, so having Shadow Resistance can be helpful to you from time to time. Overall it isn’t much better than any of the other racial resistances of the other races, but there are certain zones in the game where shadow damage is fairly common.

Class Analysis
Hunter: With 20 Agility, 21 Int, and 20 Stam the Draenei Hunter is pretty well rounded. You won’t be hitting quite as hard as other races will starting out, nor will you have as much mana or health as some of them. But, it’s still a solid choice with all of your appropriate stats starting out at, or above, 20. Gift of the Naaru can also be used on your pet in addition to your Mend Pet spell, so you have a good advantage in keeping your pets alive. Heroic Presence of course provides a nice bonus to your chance to hit as well, making the Draenei a solid choice for a Hunter.

Mage: With 24 Intellect, 19 Stamina, and 24 Spirit you have your starting attributes covered pretty well. As a class that is unable to heal itself (at least not without a glyph), the Gift of the Naaru is a great help and since a mage is going to stack Spell Power above all else that heal is going to be quite powerful, especially in lower levels where your health pool is small to begin with. A lot of the Mage’s survivability is also reliant on your spells hitting, so the racial bonus from Heroic Presence is great as well.

Paladin: As is usually the case, the Paladin has pretty well rounded stats for all builds with 23 Strength, 21 Stamina, and 21 Intellect. The Ret Paladin takes a bit of a loss with only 17 Agility so you won’t crit quite so often as other Paladins will starting off, but you aren’t all that far behind the curve really. All of your builds will have good Attack Power and/or Spell Power to boost your Gift of the Naaru even though it’s not quite so big a deal to a class that’s capable of healing as it is to one that’s not. And having your Taunts or Judgements miss is never a good thing so Prot/Ret Paladins will make good use of Heroic Presence.

Priest: With 23 Intellect, 25 Spirit, and 19 Stamina the Draenei present an excellent option for the Priest class. Gift of the Naaru isn’t quite so useful to you as it is to other classes that don’t have bubbles and heals, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not handy in a pinch. At the very least, it’s another healing spell and it comes with no mana cost at all.

Shaman: Similar to the Paladin the Shaman has a nice array of stats for his builds: 20 Strength, 22 Intellect, and 20 Stamina. Also like the Paladin, Enhancement Shamans take a slight hit by having only 17 Agility so they don’t crit as often, but with the versatility of the class that can pretty easily be overcome. While Shamans are capable of healing themselves with spells, their mana is better spent elsewhere if they are not healers, so having a free HoT everything three minutes can be a great benefit.

Warrior: The 24 Strength and 22 Stamina help give you a nice start on your two primary stats, though you do once again fall victim to the lower 17 Agility that takes away from your crit as well as your avoidance if you happen to spec into Protection. Another class without healing capabilities means another class benefiting from Gift of the Naaru.

Psynister Preferences
Personally I prefer the Shaman as the class of choice for the Draenei because everything fits together so well for them. But, the race is a great choice for all of their available classes so you really can’t go wrong here. I would say Paladin, Priest, Mage, Hunter would follow next in line for my personal taste.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Draenei, Races

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Arcane Torrent (Instant cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. In addition, you regain 6% of your mana. Death Knights and Rogues restore 15 runic power/energy instead.

Arcane Affinity (Passive)
10 point skill bonus to Enchanting Profession

Magic Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance to be hit by spells by 2%

General Assessments
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

If you ask me, Arcane Torrent is clearly the winner for the Blood Elf’s racial traits. It’s good no matter what level you are. Every class relies on some form of energy (mana, energy, runic power, rage), and this ability gives you a percentage of that back instantly an for free. In addition to that it interrupts spell casting in an area around you. This is one of the few racial traits in the game that is beneficial to every class that is available for the race to play.

Having Arcane Affinity is great if you happen to be an enchanter, basically allowing you to level the skill up with fewer mats early on and then letting you get a little further ahead before having to get more expensive or harder to find materials later in your levels. Obviously situational as it does nothing at all for you if you do not have the profession, but it’s good if you do have it.

Out of all of racial resistances in the game, Magic Resistance is probably the best one all around as it affects every type of spell rather than a single type and is essentially a 2% Dodge versus spells. You will face casters more and more as you move up in your levels, so it plays a larger role later than it does early on, but it’s a nice passive bonus to have.

Class Analysis
Mage: Your 27 Intellect puts you right in line with the Gnome with the two highest Int scores in the game starting out. The 18 Stam is still decent though it could be higher, but 21 Spirit will help with your regen. Enchanting is one of the most common professions for a mage, so if that happen to be the route you prefer to take then Arcane Affinity will be a nice bonus for you. And of course you have the mini-Evocation known as Arcane Torrent that will restore 6% of your mana when used.

Rogue: The 25 Agility helps make you a solid choice for a Rogue with 18 Strength and 19 Stam backing you up. The high agility makes up for the somewhat lower strength score, and Arcane Torrent allows you to not only shut down one of your worst opponents (spell casters), but also gives you a 15 point boost to your energy every 2 minutes.

Warlock: Just below the Mage at 26 Intellect you too will have a great start on your mana pool. The 19 Stam could certainly be higher for a class that sacrifices their hit points for more mana, but 19 is still a great start. The 21 Spirit will help with your regen early on and Warlocks are eventually able to convert Spirit into additional Spell Power to make their spells stronger as well. The extra mana from Arcane Torrent will help you just as well, allowing you to get mana back without having to lose your hit points as you do with Life Tap. Warlocks also frequently take Enchanting as one of their professions making you a bit more likely to make use of Arcane Affinity than some of the other classes.

Hunter: The 25 Agility sets you up with a strong base of ranged attack power and the Hunter is able to take advantage of the 24 Intellect you start with as well. Hunter damage falls way behind when there is no mana to back you up, so Arcane Torrent can be a real benefit to you.

Paladin: The 19 Strength starts you off a bit lower than the other choices for Paladin, but considering you are the only option for Horde until Cataclysm is released, that’s something you just have to deal with. Luckily you have 22 Agility to help with dodging and melee crits, a 20 Stamina to keep your hit points high, and 24 Intellect gives you the mana you need to keep on going. A Paladin without mana might as well be dead, so having not only a high base Int but also Arcane Torrent allows you to somewhat overcome that problem. Your biggest threat is spell casters, so being about to silence them with Arcane Torrent as well as being 2% harder to hit thanks to Magic Resistance .

Priest: Much like the other casters 26 Intellect along with 22 Spirit will help with your mana issues, and your 18 Stam is decent though it could use a boost. Again you can make excellent use of Arcane Torrent to get your mana back when you need it. And Priests also frequently take Enchanting as one of their professions if you want to make use of Arcane Affinity as well.

Psynister Preferences
My personal preference for the Blood Elf is the Paladin. The benefits of this race cover the weaknesses of the Paladin class making it an almost perfect match. Following that I would go Mage, Rogue, and then all of the rest. Considering the racial traits offered by other Horde races, Hunter is not the best choice for you, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with being a BElf Hunter.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Blood Elf, Races

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Stoneform (Instant Cast, 3 minute cooldown)
Removes Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increases by 10%. Lasts 8 seconds.

Gun Specialization (Passive)
Your chance to critically hit with Guns is increased by 1%.

Frost Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%.

Find Treasure (Instant Cast, No Cooldown)
Activate to see treasure chests on mini map. Lasts until canceled.

Mace Specialization (Passive)
Expertise with One-Handed Maces and Two-Handed Maces increases by 5.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

Having the ability to cleanse yourself of Bleeds, Poisons, and Diseases is certainly beneficial to you at any level in the game, and Stoneskin does all of that in one ability. The 10% bonus to armor is a nice benefit, but I don’t find that to be the strength of the ability.

Any time you manage to get a straight bonus to your chance to crit, you know you’ve found a gem. Dwarves get +1% crit when using guns from Gun Specialization which makes them excellent hunters. Warriors and Rogues are also able to take advantage of this, but since it is not their primary form of attack it will not benefit them nearly as much as a hunter.

Having Frost Resistance can help in Northrend, and in small patches around other areas in the game as well. The percentage of course is small, so it will not be a huge benefit to you, but every little bit helps when the time comes to put it to use.

One ability that I always found fun is Find Treasure. It works like any other Find ability like Find Minerals or Find Herbs, but it looks for items that can be looted like chests, barrels of milk, weapon boxes, etc. It’s surprising just how many of those things you can find sitting around in Stormwind. It’s also surprising just how many chests you can find tucked away in a cluster of trees or behind a distant bush and such when you have this turned on. There are a lot more chests in this game than I thought there were.

Having Mace Specialization gives you a nice bonus to your expertise, making maces one of the better options for Dwarven Ret Paladins. Other classes can benefit from it as well, of course, and any class that attacks with a one or two handed mace will find it beneficial.

Class Breakdown
Hunter: While your 19 Agility could be higher, you still have a solid start on your primary stat. With 19 Int and 24 Stam you’re going to have a good pool of resources for keeping you alive and being able to use your mana-based attacks more often. As mentioned above, the +1% crit provides a great boost to your burst damage when using guns as well.

Paladin: With 24 Strength, 25 Stamina, and 19 Intellect you have a good start on any type of paladin you want to play. The 16 Agility hurts somewhat for a Ret build, but the high strength balances that out nicely. Mace Specialization can come in handy if you happen to be using a mace, and Stoneform can be used in place of some of your other spells without requiring mana.

Priest: You get a good start on your mana pool with 21 Intellect, and you have strong support for that with 22 Spirit and 23 Stam. Priests are well known for being hard to kill and that high Stam along with Stoneform make it even harder.

Rogue: Your 19 Agility could handle being a little bit higher, but 23 Strength and 24 Stam helps you to pack a harder punch (stab?) and gives extra survivability as well. One of the Rogue’s major annoyances is not being able to stealth due to various DoT effects, and while Stoneform doesn’t get rid of all of them it does take care of some of the more common ones while also adding a bit to your already low armor.

Warrior: Starting with 25 Strength and 25 Stamina, it’s no wonder why this is the most common class I see among Dwarves. Stoneform provides great utility that your class does not otherwise have and you can probably benefit a bit more from the increased armor from Stoneform than any other class save possibly the Rogue.

Psynister Preferences
My personal preference for the Dwarf is a toss up. I don’t particularly care for dwarves, but when I picture one they’re always holding a gun. So my three-way tie for preferred class for a Dwarf is going to be Hunter, Rogue, Warrior. Dwarves are a good fit for all of their available classes, but if it were up to me then that is how I would rank them. I’ve never been a fan of Dwarves being spellcasters, so I don’t know that I would ever roll a Priest even though they have good stats for them. Dwarven Paladins are great options as well, and you see them frequently in PvP environments, but if I’m going to play an Alliance Paladin then Human or Draenei are my top choices.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Dwarf, Races

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Berserking (Instant cast, 3 minute cooldown)
Activate to increase attack and casting speed for 10 seconds. Speed is raised by 10% at full health, increasing as health is lost to a maximum bonus of 30%.

Regeneration (Passive)
Increase health regeneration bonus by 10%. Also allows 10% of normal health regenerate during combat.

Beast Slaying (Passive)
5% damage bonus to Beasts.

Throwing Weapon Specialization (Passive)
Increase Throwing Weapon crit chance by 1%.

Bow Specialization (Passive)
Increase Bow crit chance by 1%.

Da Voodoo Shuffle (Passive)
Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

Berserking: Is one of the key features of the race, but I very rarely see anyone actually using it. While the 10% bonus when you’re near full health isn’t huge, the 30% speed increase when you’re low certainly can be, especially if you happen to be a healer or a melee dps class.

Regeneration: Overall I would say that this is the strongest of the Troll’s racial traits. It can go a long way towards reducing your downtime, though it does have a stronger presence for some classes than it does for others.

Beast Slaying: With most of the mobs in the game falling into the category of Beast, you could almost just call this a straight +5% damage and call it good. This is one of the most beneficial racial abilities in the game when it comes to leveling. If you’re at all into grinding mobs then this makes the troll race an excellent choice for you. However, it’s usefulness is geared more towards leveling/grinding/farming than it is raiding as you will not find much use for it if you are raiding end game content.

Throwing Weapon Specialization: Increased crit chance with thrown weapons is good, but you aren’t going to be using it very often. Personally, I rank this among the most useless racials in the game. Only a few classes use thrown weapons, and none of them uses it as a primary form of attack. If anything I would rather have a bonus to Hit than a bonus to Crit.

Bow Specialization: This more than makes up for the sadness of Throwing Weapon Specialization by giving you a bonus to crit when using a bow. Obviously a Hunter will get more use out of this than anyone else, but a straight 1% crit is a pretty big deal.

Da Voodoo Shuffle: This racial works well with both PvE and PvP. Like many other racials, it is a situational in its usefulness, but being slowed is never fun and this will help you shake it off faster.

Class Breakdown
Hunter: With 25 Agility your primary stat gets a great start, tying you for first place with the Blood Elves for Horde Hunters. The 16 Int is a bit low for your mana pool, but certainly still manageable, and you have 22 Stam and 21 Spirit to provide you with a boost to your survivability. Having Bow Specialization provides you with more burst damage potential than every other hunter race save the dwarves with their Gun Specialization. For low level PvP, this is one of the best race/class combinations you can take.

Mage: Starting at 19 Int puts you slightly below the curve with your primary stat, meaning you’ll have a bit more down time than other races when you start out. Your racial Regeneration will help with your health both in and out of combat, and Berzerking can give you a nice boost to your casting speed when you need it as well.

Priest: As with the Mage, having only 18 Int is going to mean you start with a smaller mana pool than other races, but you also have 23 Spirit to help with your mana regen, and 21 Stam for a good starting health base. Regeneration becomes extra useful to you since you are able to bubble yourself to prevent damage from coming in while you regenerate, and you also get a lot of benefit from Berzerking.

Rogue: With 25 Agility you get a high primary stat and 22 Strength backs you up on damage quite well. The 22 stamina gives you a slightly higher starting health than most other Rogues, and you benefit from either Throwing Weapon or Bow Specialization depending on which you use (if either). Being able to Regenerate while stealthed is a nice bonus, as is reducing slow effects which are crippling to Rogues. Once you are able to make use of poisons, Berzerking becomes a real treat by increasing your attack speed and giving you more chances to apply your poisons. Being a melee-only class as well as having fairly low armor with leather as your only option, a Rogue will likely make more use of Berzerking than any other class, and get more out of it as well.

Shaman: You have a nice balance in stats with 22 Agility, Strength, and Stamina. Again you hurt just a bit in the mana pool area with only 17 Int, but as a hybrid class that uses both spell casting and melee attacks you are able to use Berzerking to its full potential.

Warrior: Everything you need as a Warrior is right there waiting for you on the Troll. With 24 Strength, 22 Agility, 23 Stam, and 21 Spirit you’ve got all of your bases covered and all with scores above 20. Rengeneration is going to give you a bit of an advantage while in combat, and Berzerking may come into play more often for you than any class other than Rogue as a Warrior will always be up in the thick of battle.

Psynister Preferences
My personal choice for the Troll’s best fit is going to be the Rogue and Hunter, in that order. Looking at the starting attributes and abilities, Warrior is probably your best fit overall. When I roll a Troll it is always either Rogue or a Hunter. My first “main” character was a Troll Shaman that was pretty fun to play, but overall he didn’t really compare to other shamans that I have played of other races. Race doesn’t play a very big part in the overall picture, but it was enough that I don’t even consider Troll when I decide to roll a shaman.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Races, Troll

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Shadowmeld (Instant Cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect.

Elusiveness (Passive, Rogue and Druid only)
Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while shadowmelded or stealthed.

Quickness (Passive)
Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will hit you by 2%.

Wisp Spirit (Passive)
Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing speed by 75% (instead of 50%).

Nature Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

Shadowmeld Is an awesome ability that has a lot of uses in PvP, PvE, and Roleplaying as well. This is an excellent racial and easily my favorite of the race. It can provide you with some amount of safety when you need to go AFK in the middle of a hostile region, and it can help to some degree in PvP situations to hide from your enemies.

With Elusiveness, classes that are able to become stealthed are even harder to find once they do so. A Night Elf subtlety Rogue is almost impossible to find by players or mobs that are not at least three levels higher than them. Classes that are not able to stealth do not gain quite so much benefit from this as those that can, but it does affect your Shadowmeld as well.

Staying alive is always a good thing, and not getting hit in the first place due to Quickness is a nice way to get started off on the right foot for that. Short of being able to heal yourself (like the Draenei), this is one of the best defensive racial traits in the game making you harder to hit.

Nothing sucks more in this game than dying and having to run all the way back to your corpse to resurrect yourself, and the Night Elves are the only ones that give a special benefit like this. When you die you run faster than someone on a regular ground mount on your way back to your body. This also happens to be the only race that has an animation for it other than a greyscale version of their regular character as you turn into a wisp.

As with the Tauren, Night Elves possess Nature Resistance which again is able to help somewhat in certain circumstances. It’s not an exceptional racial trait, but with resistances generally being fairly hard to find every little bit helps.

Class Breakdown
Druid: While their 18 Strength is not perfect for the feral druid, it is a solid start for either tanking or dps. The 25 Agility shines through for the feral Cat druid’s dps as well as a bear tank’s avoidance. The 19 Stam is their second lowest score, but it also happens to be a very solid score for starting out. With 22 Int and Spirit all of your starting needs for mana and spirit-regeneration are already ahead of the curve. With their starting stats this is about as close to an absolute perfect fit as you can get.

Hunter: Right off the bat a 28 Agility sets the Night Elf as the strongest Hunter in the game as far as base stats are concerned. Next up on a hunter’s needs is 20 Int and 20 Stam which both give you a solid start on your primary attributes. The 21 Spirit will also help to keep your mana regeneration going for minimizing your downtime.

Priest: With 22 Int and 23 Spirit the Night Elf gets a good boost on their starting stats and the 19 Stam is fairly strong for starting out as well. While Agility is not very important to you, being able to start off with a 25 will help you a bit with dodging attacks early on.

Rogue: Much like the Hunter, 28 Agility makes the Night Elf the best stat-based Rogue starting out as well. The 18 Strength could be a little bit higher but the higher Agility more than makes up for that. The rest of the rogue’s stats start off with a 20 which makes for a very well balanced start.

Warrior: With 20 Strength you aren’t going to be the strongest Warrior starting out, but you aren’t going to be the worst either. Your 25 Agility will help a lot with your avoidance which is especially nice if you plan on filling the role of a Tank, and 21 Stam and 20 Spirit will help keep you alive regardless of which path you take your class.

Psynister Preferences
Even though I do not care much for the Alliance Faction and rarely play on any of the few toons that I do have in the faction, the Night Elves are still my favorite race in the game. I could really do without the Michael Jackson dance that the males have, but everything else about the race (especially the occasional front flip when they jump) just fits in perfectly with what I like in the game.

With my constant exception of the ever-hated Warrior class, I love every class selection that the Night Elf has open to them. Narrowing the classes down for this race is really hard for me as they are such a perfect fit for each of them. If I absolutely had to narrow it down to a single one I would say that Hunter is the perfect fit and my personal preference, followed closely by Rogue and Druid, and finally Priest.

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
War Stomp (0.5 second cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds.

Endurance (Passive)
Base Health increased by 5%.

Cultivation (Passive)
Herbalism skill increased by 15.

Nature Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

With War Stomp you are able to stun everything within 8 yards of you for 2 seconds. This stun can be used for any number of things, depending on your class, but what I generally find myself using it for is to heal. Almost all of the classes that can heal are able to do so either within 2 seconds time, or soon enough thereafter that they can avoid most of the pushback that they might otherwise suffer from being attacked. It’s also useful for either gaining distance or making use of crowd control spells if you are a class and spec that makes use of such.

Taurens are pretty well known for their Endurance, and every class can certainly benefit from having extra health. While Warstomp has a lot of applications during combat, this is probably the best of the Tauren racial abilities.

Everybody has to eat, and cows like veggies. Cultivation provides a large boost to herbalism that allows you to pick almost every herb in your starting zone from the very beginning. Most starting zones include 1-2 nodes for Mageroyal as well, which cannot be picked until skill level 50, but that number is not quite so far off when you start with a +15 bonus to begin with. The major drawback to this racial is that it does not count towards your ranks of Lifebloom. So where everyone else gets Lifebloom Rank 1 at skill level 75, a Tauren does not get that spell until skill level 90.

Taurent have Nature Resistance from sleeping in the dirt so much. Fire is probably the only damage type that I see more of than Nature while leveling prior to Outlands. Nature damage generally is not very high, so while Nature Resistance is a bit weak from the low score that it has, that low resistence actually works quite well against a low source of damage.

Class Breakdown

Druid: This is probably the most common of the Tauren classes, simply because they are the only Horde race that can choose the class. With 26 Strength and 22 Stam, along with their various other racials, the Tauren is an excellent choice for a bear druid. Having only 15 Agility hurts a bit if you plan on being a Cat druid, but there is enough +Agi gear to be found that you can overcome that fairly easy. Your mana may lack a bit with only 17 Int to start off, but having 24 Spirit will help to keep your mana and health regeneration high.

Hunter: With 18 Agility, the Tauren does not make the best race for hunters. You also have only 15 Int to work with which means your special shots will not be able to be fired quite so often. Your 25 Strength is somewhat wasted as you should never be using a melee weapon, but for the rare times that you are forced to use them at least they can hit hard. With 23 Stam and 23 Spirit though you do have a very solid base of health and regeneration to keep you alive. Hunters probably get the most benefit out of Thunder Stomp racial of all of the Tauren’s class choices by using it to gain distance on an enemy who has closed in to melee.

Shaman: Starting with 26 Strength is going to help an enhancement shaman with the melee effectiveness and makes up for the poor 15 Agility. A 23 Stam and 24 Spirit will be a great benefit for your survivability, and while 16 Int hurts somewhat in the size of your mana pool the Shaman has some of the lowest mana costs for spells in the game.

Warrior: Warrior is one of the best fits for the Tauren making the most use out of their three highest stats: 28 Strength, 24 Stamina, and 22 Spirit. Warriors can always use more hit points (Endurance) and an extra stun (Thunder Stomp) is always good as well. One of the most frequently taken professions for warriors is Alchemy, which is usually teamed up with Herbalism which can take advantage of Cultivation as well.

Psynister Preferences
If you want to get the most out of your race/class combination, then Warrior is clearly the way to go for a Tauren as everything lines up almost perfectly with that class. You cannot go wrong with this race/class combination and it’s one of the strongest that the game has to offer.

My own personal preference, since we all know I hate playing a Warrior, is going to be the Druid though. Even when the new expansion, Cataclysm, comes out and allows Trolls to become druids as well, Tauren will be the race of choice for Horde Druids in my book. I see a lot of Tauren Shamans running around and while I have thought about rolling one myself, I personally prefer the Orc for that role as Enhancement or Troll for Elemental/Restoration.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Races, Tauren

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Escape Artist (Instant cast, 1.75 minute cooldown)
Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect.

Expansive Mind (Passive)
Intellect increased by 5%.

Arcane Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance you will be hit by Arcane spells by 2%.

Engineering Specialist (Passive)
Engineering skill increased by 15.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

The Gnome racial abilities are similar to the Undead’s in that they aren’t specifically geared towards any one class, with one exception in Expansive Mind. Expansive Mind offers an excellent boost to your intellect and that boost is able to scale with you while you level because of it being a percentage increase.

Gnomes have the Escape Artist ability that allows them to break out of any root/snare effects used on them as well. While it does have PvE applications at times this is one of the better PvP racial abilities that are offered. This ability makes up half of the Every Man for Himself ability of the humans, with Undead’s Will of the Forsaken making up the other half.

While Arcane Resistance, or any other resistance for that matter, is not going to be used all the time, there are times when this is helpful. At only 2% it’s not a fantastic bonus, but every little bit helps when the situation for its use arises.

Gnomes are pretty well known for being Engineering Specialists, and they have the +15 bonus to back it up. This will save you from having to waste mats on some of the lower skill-level items while leveling the profession and it will also help save you the a lot of gold on much more expensive mats to get it leveled up later on. If you plan on leveling to your racial cap of 465, then you’re free to do so but as of right now in 3.2 there’s no reason to go beyond 450. I would imagine we get another 50-100 skill levels in professions once Cataclysm comes out though, so it doesn’t hurt to max the profession either.

Class Breakdown
Mage: This is an excellent choice for the gnome race because of their bonus to Intellect from Expansive Mind, which is calculated in even after gear bonuses. Gnomes are capable of having the highest mana pools of every race/class combination in the game. Higher mana pools means less down time for you. With a starting Intellect of 27 you also have more mana starting out that every other race/class combination in the game as well. The 19 Stamina could use a boost but it’s still decent so not a big deal, and 22 Spirit helps you to regenerate that large mana pool a bit faster.

Rogue: Rogues have a great bonus from being a gnome because of their Escape Artist racial. Since Rogues are only able to be a melee dps class it really hurts to not be able to close in on your target and being able to break roots and snares serves you well. With 26 Agility you make one of the best starting rogues in the game as well, though you do miss out on a bit of Attack Power with only 16 Strength. You finish off the primary stats with a 20 Stamina which is a solid start on a decent health pool. Engineering also happens to be one of the favored professions of the Rogue class.

Warlock: Much like the Mage, Warlock is an excellent choice for any Gnome. They fall slightly behind mages with 26 Intellect instead of 27, but you make up that point with 20 Stamina instead of 19, and you share the 22 Spirit. Increased Intellect from Expansive Mind helps to prevent mana issues, and Engineering Specialist is put to use by quite a few Warlocks as well.

Warrior: Warrior is a pretty common choice for gnomes, but from a straight attribute analysis it’s not the best choice for you. Your primary stat is low with only 18 Strength, so you lose out on some attack power and Block from your base stats. A 26 Agility helps to fix some of that though, providing you with extra Attack Power, Crit, and Dodge. Your high 26 Intellect goes to waste as does your Expansive Mind racial, but 21 Stamina puts you a bit above average and you can make great use of Escape Artist, especially in PvP when used alongside your Charge attack.

Psynister Preferences
My personal preference for the Gnome is certainly a caster class. They make excellent Rogues as well, but I like my rogues to look a little more brutal than cute. If I were to pick a single favorite class for the Gnome race, it would be the Mage. Warlock is a close second, and Rogue is not far behind either. I don’t care for Warriors to begin with, but I would not personally consider a Gnome Warrior for anything other than low level PvP.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Gnome, Races

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Classes and Starting Attributes

Racial Traits
Will of the Forsaken (Instant cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Activate to remove any fear, sleep, and charm effects.

Cannibalize (Instant cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Activate to regenerate 7% of total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Only works on Humanoid or
Undead corpses within 5 yards.

Underwater Breathing (Passive)
Underwater breath lasts 233% longer than normal.

Shadow Resistance (Passive)
Reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow spells by 2%.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

The Undead racial abilities do not really have any impact on the class that you take. Rather than having racials geared towards class the undead are geared more towards general gameplay. Will of the Forsaken is one of the most useful racials in the game, especially in PvP, with the human’s Every Man for Himself being the only one that can outclass it. Even though it is a spectacular ability in PvP, it does still have a lot of uses in PvE as well as mobs that are able to fear/sleep/charm you appear throughout the game.

Cannibalize is probably the most defining feature of the race and it’s one I absolutely love. It’s suited best for classes that are unable to heal themselves, so a Priest will not get quite as much use out of it as a Rogue for instance. But, free healing is free healing no matter which way you look at it. Overall it heals you for 35% of your total health if you are not interrupted while using it. Side Note: There’s an addon that you can get if you like to have a some extra fun called Comix, which plays special sound effects when you activate certain abilities, score critical hits, etc. When you activate Cannibalism is plays a track from the Cookie Monster, “And now, me eat cookies! Omnomnomnomnomnom.”

Underwater Breathing isn’t as spectacular as it used to be. Back in the day if you went underwater with a non-Undead you kept your eye on that breath bar and made sure you didn’t get any closer than absolutely necessary. A few patches back though they increased everyone’s breathing timer to 3 minutes so that any race can pretty well stay under as long as they need to. Undead can stay under for significantly longer, but you probably will not have much need to do so.

Shadow Resistance is good for every character, especially when you get up around level 50 or so. It’s decent for PvP even at low levels when fighting Warlocks and Priests, but it’s not exceptional. Overall it’s a good thing to have and will help keep you alive in some cases, but it’s not spectacular either.

Class Breakdown

Mage: From a cosmetic standpoint, I think that Undead make the coolest looking casters in the game whether they be Mages, Priests, or Warlocks. That’s not a huge thing for most people, but I’m throwing it out there anyway. With a 21 Int the Undead gets a strong start on the class’s primary stat, and backed with a 21 Stam and a huge 27 Spirit, this race was built to cast. I would like to have a higher Int with the Undead, but 20 is still a solid start. The higher Stam and exceptional Spirit really helps to keep you on your feet though.

Priest: With 28 Spirit the Undead make for some of the best Priests in the game. Having 20 Int sets you up with a good mana pool right off the bat and 21 Stam also helps with your squishiness. What the Priest needs, the Undead has, and it has it in a good supply.

Rogue: Undead Rogues are somewhat iconic and nothing beats one-shotting your target with an Ambush and then Cannibalizing their corpse. With 21 Agility the Undead Rogue gets a good start on their primary stat, and they follow that with excellent scores in their other attributes as well: 20 Str, 22 Stam, 25 Spirit. Rogues are always looking to stack Agility to help them hit harder and crit more often, but they also need Stamina to keep them alive. Even though a Rogue can destroy their target in a matter of seconds they are also fairly squishy themselves with only Leather Armor to protect them. While Rogues do not stack Spriit for any reason it does help you to regenerate your health more if you happen to be in a hostile area and cannot risk sitting to eat or have run out of bandages/potions.

Warlock: Undead Warlocks have a lot of things going for them. While they don’t have the huge mana pools of other classes or races, a 20 Int is still a strong start on it. Key to a Warlock’s mana issues though is his Health as Life Tap can be used to trade in your life for mana instead. With a 22 Stam, 27 Spirit, and the Cannibalize racial ability the Undead fill that need perfectly. The Stamina will give you a larger health pool to Life Tap from to begin with, and the high Spirit helps you regenerate both of those pools while your demon and your DoT spells wittle your targets down into piles of loot.

Warrior: Undead have a slightly smaller Agility (18) than most Warriors would prefer, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker. With 22 Str and 23 Stam Undead Warriors fit their bill nicely, and 25 Spirit helps with regen to reduce downtime as well. As another class without heals, Cannibalism again shines through as a great method of restoring a decent amount of your health.

Psynister Preference
My personal preference for Undead is to be a caster. They work great for all of the other classes as well, but they really excell at casting. I tend more towards Mage than Warlock or Priest, but I do have an Undead Priest that is nearly indestructable. I really like the whole look and feel of an Undead Rogue, and they are a solid choice for it. Much like the Human, Undead are designed to serve well in any function you assign them to. It’s hard for me to pick a single class for my personal preference, but if I had to choose then it would probably be Mage or Warlock on a personal level, or Priest and Warlock as far as best race/class combination.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Races, Undead

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I have two post series in mind, one based on each race and an analysis of them as a whole, and another for each class. Starting with races feels sort of odd since people are usually more interested first in a class and then deciding which race to make them, but I’m going to switch it up just a bit and do both of them.

Classes and Starting Attributes
Orcs have six different classes that they can choose from: Death Knight, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior.

Racial Traits
Blood Fury (Instant Cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Increases attack power by (Level*4)+2 and your spell power by (Level*2)+3 for 15 seconds.

Hardiness (Passive)
Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 15%.

Command (Passive)
Damage dealt by Death Knight, Hunter and Warlock pets increased by 5%.

Axe Specialization (Passive)
Expertise with Axes and Two-Handed Axes increased by 5.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

I find the Orc to be an excellent race for all of the classes that it can take. With their passive racial, Command, they make for excellent DK’s, Hunters, and Warlocks as they are able to increase the damage of their pets. With Blood Fury they are able to increase their attack and spell power significantly with every class, and their reduction to stun durations helps in both PvE and PvP environments.

Class Breakdown
Hunter: With a starting Agility of 20 the Orc is a fair choice for a hunter, though not outstanding. With an Intellect of 17 they will be lacking a bit more in mana that other races. Neither of these is a reason not to have an Orc hunter, and both of them are countered strongly by the passive racial, Command that increased the Hunter’s pet damage.

Rogue: With a starting Agility of 20 the Orc is a fair choice for a rogue, though not outstanding. Lucky for the rogue though, they don’t rely entirely on Agility for their strength in melee combat, and the Orc’s 24 Strength helps to balance that quite a bit. Higher strength will allow you to hit harder, while the slightly lowered agility will mean you aren’t quite as likely to score a critial hit. Having said that, note that the percentage of crit gained from only 4 points in an attribute is very, very minimal at only a fraction of a percentile.

Shaman: Shaman’s rely on a lot of different stats as they are very much a hybrid class. The higher strength and lower intellect pushes them more towards Enhancement builds than it does Elemental builds, but shamans are fortunate in that many of their spells have a low mana cost. With a nice balance of attributes with a high Strength value Orcs make for excellent shamans. With racial bonuses to expertise with Axes and the Blood Fury racial that increases both Attack Power and Spell Power (both used by shamans), Orcs are a prime choice for Horde shamans, and are my personal preference when rolling shaman. Strictly looking at racial abilities and stats, Orcs make amazing shamans, and this class is the only one that fully benefits from Blood Frenzy as shamans use a mix of melee attacks and spells during combat.

Warlock: Orcs start off with 19 Intellect as a Warlock, which makes them a fair choice. Inceased pet damage means you are not quite so likely to draw agro off of your pet at lower levels, and your racial ability of Blood Fury can provide a strong boost to your spell power to help increase your damage output. Orcs also have a solid starting amount of Stamina that will help when you get up to around level 8 or so and start being able to cast Life Tap to sacrifice your health for more mana.

Warrior: While this class doesn’t make use of the Command racial, it does put every other aspect of the race into use. High strength and stamina make this class an excellent choice, regardless of your talent specializations. Whether you’re a tank or you want to deal damage in large and frequent quantity, you can never go wrong with an Orc.

Psynister Preferences
Personally, I feel that Orcs make the best Horde Shamans, and I feel that Shaman is the best class for the race as well.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Orc, Races

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Classes and Starting Attributes
Humans have seven different classes to choose from: Death Knight, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, and Warrior.

Racial Traits
Perception (Passive)
Increases stealth detection by 5 points (equivalent of 1 level).

The Human Spirit (Passive)
Spirit increased by 3%.

Diplomacy (Passive)
Faction reputation gains increased by 10%.

Every Man for Himself (Instant cast, 2 minute cooldown)
Activate to remove all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character.

Sword Specialization (Passive)
Expertise with One-Handed Swords and Two-Handed Swords increased by 3.

Mace Specialization (Passive)
Expertise with One-Handed Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 3.

General Assessment
Here I go over each class with an analysis based purely on stats. A lot of people on forums like to ask what race their should pick for a certain class, and the answer they receive is always the same, “go for whichever race appeals to you most visibly”. But these people aren’t asking which race looks the prettiest, they are asking which one will help them the most with the character. The answer they receive is pretty valid, it really doesn’t matter. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t help as well.

While your race does not make a huge difference in the overall scheme of how powerful your character will be at end game, it can impact how well you do early on. Oftentimes a player will start a character and then decide within the first 10 levels whether or not they like the character. So, it’s important to start off with a solid race/class combination if you’re not one for sticking it out for a while to really give the character a chance.

If you ignore the long term and start out looking just at the base starting attributes then I find the following.

As is typical with most games that include other playable races alongside humans, the human receives a few extra little perks so that everyone doesn’t just grab the extraordinary races and leave the humans behind. The excellent thing about the Humans is that their attributes all start out at 20 or higher, so every class choice that they have is great. It might not be exceptional like some of the other races that have base attributes above 20, but they don’t fall into the trap that those races do in having less than 20 for another attribute.

The Human racial ability of Perception is good for all classes, though it’s not exceptional. It has more use in PvP than it does in PvE, but even then it’s not all that great as the only class that’s going to be using stealth against you (Rogues) is likely to have spent talent points to raise their stealthing ability as well. But, not every rogue will be spend their talent points the same way, so this could very well save your life. There are some instances that use stealth in them as well, so it does have PvE uses, just not a whole lot of them. Spell casters will find the most use out of The Human Spirit, and priest and warlocks tend to love it.

Their racial bonus from Diplomacy makes quite an impact on anyone who plans on doing any reputation farming. I’m not usually a big fan of farming rep, but here lately I have had to do just that with my paladin so that I could get Enchanting formulas for him. Unfortunately, I’m a blood elf so no +10% bonus for me (/frown). If you have any plans to spend a good deal of time with end game content or raiding, the time that you save from having Diplomacy make it one of the best racial abilities in the entire game. You will not see much benefit from it for the first part of your character’s life, but it will certainly pay off in the long run.

Gaining Sword/Mace Specialization gives some of the melee classes a bit of an edge. While the bonus from these isn’t spectacular, every little bit helps.

And the strongest of Human racial abilities is Every Man for Himself which has applications in all aspects of the game. Gnomes can escape snaring effects, Undead can remove effects that cause the loss of control, but only Humans can do both at once. Again, this is an amazing ability for PvP, but it also has great potential in PvE as well with how many mobs are able to use the very effects that this protects you from.

Class Breakdown
Mage: As I mentioned before, the Human’s high starting attributes make them good for all class choices, and with Intellect and Spirit both starting at 23, Humans get an excellent start on the mage class. From a racial ability stand point, the mage’s only real benefit for being a Human is going to be the increased Spirit to help with mana regeneration.

Paladin: Being a hybrid class the paladin’s attribute points are a bit more spread out than other non-hybrid classes. But again, since Humans start with such high scores in everything they are still exceptional in all class choices. With Strength, Stamina, and Spirit all starting at 22 a Human paladin is a perfect choice for the class and specifically for the Protection Paladin spec (I have quite a bit of Prot Pally info here). If you do happen to be playing a tank, then Every Man for Himself becomes an excellent tool for helping you stay in control.

Priest: Priests rely pretty heavily on their Spirit to regenerate their mana for them, and The Human Spirit is a perfect fit for that. With 23 Intellect to establish a solid mana pool early on and 24 Spirit to help with the regeneration of that mana, Human Priests will have less downtime to worry about regenerating their mana. Every Man for Himself also allows a healer (or dps) to stay more focused their roles in a group. Nothing sucks more in an instance than having your tank die because something took out your healer, and the Human has some great tools to prevent that from happening.

Rogue: If you look at the table above with the starting attributes you will find that most race/class combinations have an overall +6 bonus if you count the number of attribute points above 20 and subtracting those below 20. The Rogue is an exception to this as they receive an overall +8 bonus. Humans make great Rogues with a starting 23 Agility, and while it’s not the highest in the game it is certainly a solid choice for a rogue. Being able to slip out of your enemy’s hands is always a rogue’s job and Every Man for Himself helps with that a lot. The increase from The Human Spirit will also help you to regenerate your health while stealthing around your enemies. Rogues also benefit from both Mace & Sword Specialization, though you don’t see a lot of mace rogues these days. At early levels swords are a stronger choice for rogues than daggers, and these racial bonuses can help you even more.

Warlock: Human Warlocks do not get quite so optimized attributes starting out as other classes do, but 22 Intellect, 23 Spirit, and 21 Stamina help Human ‘Locks to do what they do best. The biggest benefit that a Warlock is likely to get out of this deal is The Human Spirit to help with life/mana regeneration as well as spell power if the warlock specs to receive the bonus.

Warrior: With 23 Strength, 22 Stamina, and 21 Spirit, a Human Warrior again is able to start off with a solid set of attributes. The same general trend we’ve seen in other classes above apply here as well: The Human Spirit will help with regeneration and by doing so reduce downtime a bit, Every Man for Himself helps to keep you in control of your own character, and the Mace/Sword Specialization abilities work very well here.

Psynister Preferences
With such a great array of starting attributes and solid, though not spectacular, racial abilities the Human can easily perform well in every class. My personal preferences for Humans is either Priest, Rogue, or Paladin, but as I said they make excellent choices for all of their available classes. If I were to pick a single class that I feel is a perfect fit for the human it would be Priest, but I put the Rogue and Paladin close behind.

Posted in World of Warcraft Tagged: Human, Races

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As it turns out, they may have been right all along.

The rumors have popped up again with WoW.com announcing more leaked information regarding the goblin and worgen races.

I have to admit that I am not very excited about these being the new playable races. My first thought about goblins being playable was that it seemed a lot like Yoda wielding a lightsaber. It’s a cool novelty at first but after a few minutes it just seems silly. Plus, goblins have long been the race that creates weapons and bombs and vehicles but they don’t do the fighting themselves.

My problem with worgens is that they just seem more like a beast than a humanoid. They appear odd wearing armor and how will they communicate? Can they speak the same language as a human? It doesn’t seem like they should be able to. Now if worgens were able to shapeshift…that would be cool.

All in all these two races seem like they are strange choices for the new playable races. I think Blizzard could have chosen a race like Ethereals, which to me would be a fun race to play.

Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on the possibility of goblins and worgens coming to World of Warcraft.

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