Leaked: WoW Cataclysm will Feature Worgen and Goblin
pixiestixy on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 59 Comments Tags: Alliance, Horde, Lore, blizzcon, cataclysm, expansion, goblin, leak, neutral, the next expansion, worgen, wow.com, wow: cataclysm 
- Source image courtesy of MMO-Champion.
It may come as no surprise since we've been speculating on this for quite some time, but it seems that folks over at WoW.com have confirmed from "multiple sources close to the situation" that the next expansion will be World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and will include the Worgen and Goblin as playable races.
While Goblins have up until now remained neutral, with currency their only faction of choice, WoW.com reports that the Goblin will be playable for the Horde in the new expansion (Go Green!). We've already received a ton of feedback from our previous speculative posts on what the implications will be for having this wide-spread race specific to only one faction. What will happen to the neutral cities, such as Ratchet, where they are a mainstay? I suppose we'll find out with time - perhaps some of the Goblin NPCs will remain neutral, or maybe we'll see a major upheaval of some of those villages. It could make for some great new lore - not to mention the Great Sundering, which also should make for a fun expansion topic.
So that leaves the Worgen, who up until now have played a much smaller role than that of the Goblin. They apparently will be joining up with the Alliance. We've already seen a glimpse of what the female may look like through Halloween masks revealed a while back. Now it just makes me wonder if all the additional masks revealed later (murloc, Naga, plus already available playable races) may have just been added to throw us off the trail? Maybe they're just included because they inevitably will play a large role in an expansion about the Cataclysm. Or, perhaps we'll see a couple more playable races still (One can hope, right?).
All this is still very preliminary and I'll feel a lot better about the information once we've gotten some kind of official comment from Blizzard. But that likely won't come until BlizzCon - and hopefully we'll learn much, much more at that point. New playable races alone don't equal a full expansion, so I'm sure there will be plenty more to report on in the coming weeks. Until then, I'll be crossing my fingers that I will soon be able to play green!
What does everyone make of these leaks and the possible lore behind them? Would you play a Worgen or Goblin? How do you think Blizz will handle all the complications related to turning Goblins for the Horde?
Reader Comments (59)
for gods sake man, theyre not playable classes, theyre playable RACES
does anyone know if this is acualy official? or is it just a really big hunch?
Worgens huh?
Interesting.
I've played every class but gnome, and I have my reasons...
I will wait and see what the specs are, I mostly play healer or dps and mostly horde so time will tell if these even make it to the expansion.
@amidaman fixed, thanks :)
LOL, funny seeing playable classes except gnome. ESP when you stop to think thats gnome is a race and not a class.
I think Worgen should be Horde Kus they look tight but they owuld only beable to be like mage and druid
not even So i dont no what they going to do maybe make new classes as well
well i guess i will be faction changing to the alliance cause my friend is madly in love with Worgens ever since we saw them we both wanted to play as one.
i knew the worgen would be for the alliance, if you've been in grizzly hills,you'll have noticed the various humans that transform into worgen when they are near death
think of the classes
If these races make it into the expansion I might play as Worgen, they could have a pretty interesting Racial if things are done the right way.
i cant wait to play a worgen.. its gonna be interesting to see there intro when u make one:) and the racials are gonna probaly be really cool.. i bet there classes will be warlock... hunter, rogue, and warrior.
It will be interesting to see what classes each race will be able to play as. Im sure worgen will be hunters,warlocks but not sure about any other. And i could see goblins being locks, mages, and possibly warriors. only time will tell
I Don't think this is postable material yet there is a Serve lack of ANY proof
the masks sure but that's about it and later more masks have been found also
is that Blizz trying to sway us away or just proof they wont be Playable Races
Mage + Engineer = Goblin!
actually, Worgen as alliance makes a bit of sense since from as far back as Silverpine, they've been associated with Humans in one shape or another (no pun intended!)...of course with Gobbos being a cousin to Orcs...well that's obvious...IF, and that's a monsterous IF, they do become playable races, I think the lore exists to make them alliance/horde specific...only time (and maybe Blizzcon) will tell! As the man once said though, "Don't, Don't, Don't believe da hype!"
hmm It doesn't seem like Blizz to allow such info to leak out. Lots and lots of assumptions!
Simon says you should change the title of this article so people know they're going to get
FUCKING BLIZZCON SPOILERS
after the break.
Thanks!
It would totally make sense for goblin to be on horde and worgen to be on ally, Then the horde would finally have a small playable race, and the ally would have a beast like race.
/change alliance
i dont want to be a fucking goblin, i wanna be a worgen!! those guys are fucking awesome. so anyway goodbye horde!
I still can't buy it, there's no way Metzen and team can weave through sime lore loophole to have this make sense.
New races? Oh please.
There are plenty of lvl 1-20 starter zones in the game; we don't need new ones. I'd rather have Blizzard use their resources to create more instances and expansion content than building new starter zones. Since racial attributes don't mean a heck of a lot these days, all that you would gain would be a new character model and new voice treatments. Not worth it in my eyes.
Oh, I suppose they could follow the DK method, and start the characters at lvl 65 in one neutral zone, allowing them to pick Alliance/Horde at lvl 68... but, frankly, that idea doesn't hold much appeal for me either.
Slightly better, in my mind, to implement a heroic healing class of some sort. Perhaps a melee healer that uses rage points to generate heals. I'm afraid, though, that we would have a repeat of the DK mess; massive numbers of players rolling the new class and be totally clueless as how to play that class. Besides, we already have plenty of nice healing classes. The problem is few players want to roll healing on their primary, or to grind a healing alt up to lvl cap.
The best solution would be to make it easier to lvl an alt. Give a 100% exp increase from every toon you have at max level to every toon that is lvling. Have one lvl 90 toon? Every other toon, while lvling, gets 200% exp (300% if rested). Two 90's? 300% and 400%. This solves the problem of "grinding an alt", being bored senseless repeating for the nth time old content, and thus increases the quantity of healers on a realm.
dude i would love to see a goblin tanking halls of lightning lol
worgen on the alliance get real
worgen....alliance....gilneas.....nuff said
Rise my brothers of the Nighthowl! Rise! And feed upon the tears of the Horde!