Project Lore

iTZKooPA took us through the starting area of the Goblins, who have joined the stinky Horde, where as I will be bringing us back to the, ahem, better faction with the Alliance. I know you've been clamoring for this, so here it is: the hands-on preview of the new Alliance race, the Worgen! With the announcement of Cataclysm, the Alliance and Horde are once again receiving new races. The Alliance finally get a “beastly” race in the Worgen, which are a group of feral wolf-beasts. Those of us who got to attend BlizzCon 2009 got a chance to get some hands on time with the new race and their starting area and it is quite good! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) the demo we played started the Worgen off at level 6 (in the Cataclysm panel they told us they didn't want to show us exactly what happens with 1-5 just yet) and if you were at the event this weekend and saw a Worgen Rogue running around named “Projectlore”, well, more than likely it was me (a little more creative than certain other bloggers!). The demo started us off with your character, in Worgen form, in “The Stocks” with other Humans around your character discussing your fate. Some of the humans seem to think you are lost to your fate as a beast and should be killed, but a doctor runs up with a potion which allows you to be “cured” and appear as a Human again. This allows you to start your questing, and you have the ability to switch from Worgen form to Human form at will (although you are forced into Worgen form while in combat). Worgen also get a “sprint” ability on a three minute cooldown which increases their run speed for a short time. They also have a couple of static racials: Flayer, which increases skinning skill by 15, and Viciousness, which increases damage by 1%. The quests are designed to get you involved in the Forsaken invasion that is happening in Gilneas. The first couple quests involve finding a package, which upon completion starts a small cut scene showing you the Forsaken ships docked on the shore near Gilneas. You then go and kill them to advance to the next area, which involves Worgen in the basement of a shack where a mother asks for your help with finding her children at the farm nearby, and another asks you to continue to help kill the Forsaken. There has been a lot of care put into the starting zone, as Blizzard felt that the Death Knight area was really successful in engaging the player and getting the player really involved in their character (and I'm inclined to agree). While we only got a small taste of the opening area for the Worgen, we still witnessed lots of scripted events, phasing, and cut scenes which only get me even more excited for the new expansion. The area is well designed, and if this is any indication of how they're revamping classic WoW, there will be a fewer obnoxious walks to get to different places, which I am perfectly OK with. The whole of Gilneas looks absolutely stunning and I am really excited about what's to come in the later levels of the starting zone. Blizzard uses the weather effects extremely well here, as well, and I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the zone turns out. For players wanting a fresh start, there is a nice selection of classes to choose from including: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock and Warrior (only classes they cannot be are Paladins and Shaman). I am really hoping that, similarly to what they did with Wrath, they lock out Goblins and Worgen from being Death Knights at the beginning of the expansion, and maybe allow it later on in the life of the expansion. It would really be a shame if the first 85 worgen didn't even set foot in Gilneas because the brief taste we got at BlizzCon was so polished and well done that I can't wait to do 1-15 again (and I honestly thought I would never say something like that). I included some screenshots that will hopefully give a bit of perspective of what this great starting zone looks like! [gallery]

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Up until the past couple of months, I always stuck with Horde characters. Sure, I've tried out Alliance here and there, but never found them quite as intriguing. I'm sure the fact that my RL friends I play with are all Horde also plays a role. But now that I've been true to the Horde since the WotLK release, I decided to try out an Ally once again. And the fact that I wanted to roll a character on the Executus server so I could play in the Alliance Project Lore fan guild gave me a good push. I know my way around gameplay pretty well, and I expected a refreshing change of pace when I rolled a draenei hunter. But as I've been leveling with her, I've been surprised by how much it has changed my perception of the game by adding to it. Obviously, Alliance is a new faction, and draenei a new race for me. And therefore, it's a new starting area to learn my way around. Pixie is my first hunter character (but thankfully I have a little guidance on how not to be a huntard). I've tamed my first combat pet, Artemis, and started training fishing and cooking for the first time to support his dietary needs. I picked up a couple of professions I've never leveled before - herbalism and alchemy -  just to keep the excitement going. And the friendly group of players in the guild that I'm new to have done a good job of making me feel welcome. So how has all this affected gameplay? Well, there have been a couple of funny moments. Like the first few times I came back from questing and initially thought it was weird that I was walking into a group of Draenei and not getting attacked. Then, realizing I'm one of them now. Also, the first couple of quests to kill Bloodelf spies or other Hordies tore at my heart a little. My Locomomo started out just like them! And now that I've pointed out differences in how we speak in vent, I owe my guildies some props. I've gotten a lot of help learning my way around the Alliance areas that up until now, I've only ever heard of and never fully experienced. And, I learned how to cluck at a chicken until it laid an egg that I now have for a pet. That confirmed my suspicions that indeed each faction has a few surprises up their sleeves. So all this new stuff makes it almost like I'm playing for the first time again. But at least I know the basics and lingo to help get me through. And it's making clear to me just how wide the world of warcraft can be, if you choose to utilize all it has to offer. One aspect that I'm looking forward to seeing in action will come once I leave the starting area. This is my first time on a PvP server. Have mercy! Has anyone else had a similar experience when starting up a new character?  And how long did it take you to get into the groove and past the feelings of awe that come along with the unknown?

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