Project Lore

BlizzCon! Rumors incoming! With BlizzCon less than two weeks away there is no surprise that we are starting to see leaks and rumors. MMO-Champion had reported on the races first with their data mining showing new Halloween masks that featured Goblin and Worgen races (of both sexes) and then pixiestixy brought us news today that WoW.com confirmed this information with sources close to the company, and specifically that Goblin will be Horde and Worgen will be Alliance. To be quite honest, this news is a little underwhelming. This doesn't specifically add content outside of the starting zones and is quite a bit of work (all items have to be remodeled/skinned for these new races) for something that really doesn't ADD to the gameplay (argue all you want but it's merely a cosmetic upgrade). With the races apparently set in stone (we will know for sure at BlizzCon) I find that to be disappointing. The announcement of Blood Elves and Draenei had a much stronger impact because of the classes that you could use with those races, which were previously exclusive to the Horde (Shaman) and Alliance (Paladin). Blizzard really should make these races start out neutral (can't interact with any Alliance/Horde player characters) and either the actions you take through your questing will decide your faction at, say level 20, or you just flat out get to choose. With faction transfers incoming, this would seem to be a logical extension of that model and where Blizzard wants to make the game as accessible and varied as possible. This alongside the lore implications that both these races are (generally) faction nuetral. Based on past experience though I am inclined to believe that the new races are in the next expansion. We knew about Burning Crusade days before BlizzCon 2005 and BlizzCon 2007's announcement of Wrath of the Lich King was known a few days before as well. Funny though was that when I picked up my press badge that year they gave me a program guide with all the details about WotLK (which hadn't been officially announced) so that kind of killed the suspense of the opening ceremony but it was nice to see that the rumors were true. With BlizzCon so close I expect to see a lot more "rumors" pop up, at this point be skeptical of nearly everything from this point on and we will all know August 21st (and we hope to see you there!)! Let us know what you'd like to see related to the new races, do you think picking your faction in game (rather than associated race) would be a good idea? What kind of ideas do you have if they continue down this path of alternating race/class additions every other expansion?

Click to read more ...

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?

Click to read more ...

Could These Be The Faces Of The Future? Ever since MMO-Champion.com dug up those stupid masks the corner of the Internet that is home to WoW has been a storm of investigation.  Shortly after discovering the pair of Worgen and Goblins masks another four pairs, Naga, Ogre, Murloc, Vrykul were found.  The discovery dosed the fire surrounding Horde Goblins and Alliance Worgen, while at the same time fueling the idea of a third faction being introduced to World of Warcraft. In my opinion two factions suck.  Few games have implemented just a pair of competitors successfully.  This is in large part due to the grass is always greener effect.  If you are beaten badly by the opposing team, then the developer likes them more, they are overpowered or there are population problems.  Some of the complaints are certainly real, but one way developers, including Blizzard itself, has skirted the issue is by having more than two factions (see Starcraft's three factions and Warcraft III's four).  As such, I would love to see a third faction, but I don't expect it to play out as many would have us believe. Most of what I have seen points to the neutral faction being one in name only.  That somewhere down the line you would chose who to fight for, Alliance (obviously) or Horde (fail).  It sounds absolutely awesome, and I would love to see it happen, but I doubt it.  To implement this Blizzard would have to drastically change the stance on factions, again.  Specifically, the company would have to allow players to have characters of different factions on the same server (already allowed on non-PvP servers).  Otherwise my Goblin (duh) could never be truly neutral if Solidexplosion was forced to select Alliance down the road because of Solidsamm's and Solidsagart's affiliations. But that doesn't mean I don't see a neutral faction happening.  In fact I wrote the unique classes hoping this could come to fruition.  Blizzard could easily implement a third faction (based on the masks no less), one that stays out of the Alliance-Horde affairs.  One that watches from the sidelines offering refugee for any that may require it.  One that I will label as the "Swiss" faction.  These non-aggressors will act as diplomats between the warring sides, while still contributing to the often combined goals of said sides, such as killing the Lich King.  In the long run there'd be more work needed to create a separate entity, but the new content should be far more appreciated than tacking on a choice down the road. Certainly if a neutral faction was to happen, the cash flush Goblins would be the race in charge, with the battle hardened Worgen, brutal Ogres, and the swarm happy Murlocs lending a helping hand.  The multi-talented Vrykul are new to Warcraft, so their addition as a playable class would annoy this purist.  After how many times I creeped them, or grinded them for reputation, I believe the fifth slot should go to the furry Furbolgs. And yes, I know I ignored the Naga masks.  While there could be some sort of Forsaken-type branch or tribe, I write off their addition to the line-up of Hallow's End fun to the fact that they are the incoming bad guys. Again, I'd love it if Blizzard makes me eat this post with a side of 'in your face,' but I just don't see Blizzard revamping the PvP servers to allow them to go cross faction.  It'd be a bit of work, just for a choice down the line.  But they have done crazier things.  Speaking of the choice, let's hope it'll be a cool, lengthy quest line to prove your allegiance. What would some of the racial benefits be?  Goblins get extra gold from kills, Murloc has higher level fishing, and Ogres get, umm, kaleidoscope vision?  What is more likely, the labor intensive relative to reward faction choosing, or an entirely new faction?  What about blending the two, letting you chose a side, or remaining in the new faction?  That'd be interesting.

Click to read more ...

Just days after the hooplah surrounding the addition of Worgen and Goblin masks into the game as possible signs of new races in the theoretical expansion "Cataclysm", more masks have been discovered by MMO-Champion, seriously hindering the chances that any of these are going to be new races in the new expansion. The masks that have models in the game now includes all ten playable races, goblins, worgen, ogres, murlocs (!), naga, and vrykul. While two of these races could be playable in the next expansion, I doubt all of them will be. When Blood Elves and Draeni were announced as playable races in The Burning Crusade, everyone was very excited. New races and the introductions of paladins into the Horde and shamans into the Alliance was a huge change. Wrath introducing Death Knights was equally important; there had not been a new class added to the game since early beta. With the new expansion on the (distant) horizon, players are expecting a new playable race, and probably two (for each faction) at that. Blizzard has said that new playable races in the future will be familiar to us (contrary to the retconed Draeni in Burning Crusade), so expect lots of speculation. Pandareans are as good as retconed out at this point, so don't expect the to jump from obscurity to playable so soon. That leaves a lot of possibilities, and these masks may be some sign. As for the masks' actual role, I hope this is some sign of a revamped Hallow's End event. Blizzard added achievements for world events so that players would have incentives to experience the content they spent time and money developing, but players who already got all the achievements from last year would have little reason to participate in the festivities this year. With new masks, this may be a sign of new Hallow's End content and maybe even achievements! Or at least making A Mask for All Occasions doable. Would you re-roll one of these races? What if they started at, say, level 80 in their own starting areas in the new expansion?

Click to read more ...

Source image courtesy of MMO-Champion. It is often that we find hints of new or as-yet-unreleased content by carefully and dutifully digging through the files of new patches. Few are better at this than Boubouille of MMO-Champion, a site nearly unparalleled at breaking this brand of news for our favorite game. But I'm not so sure about one of their latest. Boubouille has managed to scrounge up several graphics of Hallow's End masks that depict both Goblins and Worgen. Traditionally, these masks have only been made from playable races, and the next expansion is predicted to focus primarily on the Maelstrom, which would theoretically feature zones such as the Goblin home city of Undermine and the isolated kingdom of Gilneas (which may or may not have fallen victim to a Worgen invasion -- after all, it is suspiciously close to Shadowfang Keep!). Little has been confirmed by Blizzard themselves, but the evidence certainly tips in favor of these races being prominent players in forthcoming events, if not completely playable. So what's holding me back? Not excitement, that's for sure. Worgen would be a great addition, and it'd be nice for the Horde to have their very own little people. But the fact of the matter is that both Goblins and Worgen (read: werewolves) are creatures traditionally associated with Halloween, which may explain the inclusion of their masks for the holiday. Despite my skepticism, there is one key point that intrigues me: there is a female Worgen mask. Of course, this is only fair and in keeping with the tradition of offering a mask of both genders for players to wear, but I'm not aware of any female Worgen currently existing in the game (at least none that take on an appearance apart from the generic model). Looking at the image provided by MMO-Champion, you can see softer, almond-shaped eyes and a smaller nose, perhaps implying that they might account for playable options in the future. Ultimately, everything at this point is simply an educated guess, but Blizz's own loremaster, Chris Metzen, has stated that they are "doing some awesome stuff for Gilneas." Worgen are apparently naturally evil, battle-worn creatures, but it wouldn't be beyond reason to see them do a turn for the Alliance. After all, the story of Warcraft is all about people or races being redeemed or damned through their actions. Darkspear Trolls shied away from the cannibalism prevalent amongst their people, the Forsaken have made strides to separate themselves from the Scourge, and who can forget the once benevolent High Elves transforming into magic-addicted wretches after the corruption of the Sunwell? Who's to say there isn't some small contingent of Worgen trying to earn their place in the world by rising above their race's natural anger and ferocity? The discovery of these masks certainly gives us food for thought, if no concrete answers. Teasing us this far ahead of the expansion is awfully cruel of Blizzard, but if they are in the files now, might that imply that we'll see a release before the next time Hallow's End rolls around? I'm eager to know how everyone else feels about this development. Is Blizzard just playfully baiting their fans (as they have for so long with the Pandaren), or is this serious evidence of things to come? If playable, do you think that Goblins and Worgen are locks for the Horde and Alliance respectively? Which would you like to play as, and would you be willing to switch factions just to do so? And why does that female Goblin mask look exactly like Fiona from Shrek?

Click to read more ...

UPDATE 7/7/09 Wow, I figured this would be fixed, but I didn't think it would come quite this quick. Mania's Arcade now is reporting that the Worgen can no longer be tamed, and those that already have been tamed are somewhat useless. It was a good show while it lasted! Earlier: This past weekend was a great one for hunters everywhere as word spread about a newly discovered way to tame a Worgen - WoW's version of a werewolf-like, badass humanoid creature. It turns out that with just the right timing (described in detail at Mania's Arcade) you can tame Garwal, an NPC in northern Howling Fjord who gives out the quest Alpha Worg (in both Horde and Alliance versions). He has both a worg (beast) and a worgen form, and you have to tame him at just the right time to make sure you get to keep him as a worgen. And once you've gone through the trials of claiming the worgen pet, you then have to be careful in order to keep him. You shouldn't, for example, risk certain activities like bringing him out in an arena, lest risk his return to worg form. Now the big question - will Blizzard allow this game exploit/bug/awesomeness to stay in the game? All this excitement over an unexpected new pet reminds me of a similar situation with the Ancient Grimtotem Spirit Guide, who once upon a time in late 2007 / early 2008 was tameable. Similar to this time around, there was a ton of activity on the official hunter forums about the new addition to the pet kingdom. First, a blue poster for WoW Europe said the bug would not be removed. A couple weeks later, a separate post on the US forums informed us that the ability had been removed through a hotfix. With this in mind, it seems unlikely that the worgen will remain as a pet, now matter how many petitions you sign. In fact, I'd say that all the attention the topic is receiving through blogs and the forums may just hasten Blizzard's response. But, there is some good news. If you're able to claim him quickly enough, I would say that chances are good you'll get to keep him. Any non-hunters who are trying to complete the Alpha Worg quest in the meantime may just have to put up with some serious competition! Also something to keep in mind - not everyone is happy with being able to tame a worgen. But I'm keeping my positive stance until I hear a good reason beyond jealously because you've already turned in that quest and can't go back to redo it (Yeah, I know it sucks. But at least some people can partake in the fun - I'm all for that). I've had  a great time sorting through the dozens of threads that have spawned up as a result of the whole situation. Everything from what to name your new pet worgen (my fave submissions - ManBearPig, Sirius, GonnaGetDeleted) to what other creatures players wish they could tame (griffons and zhevras are high on my list). It also makes me want to log on to my lowly level 19 hunter in the Project Lore fan guild and start pumping her up. It's a race against the clock! So what does everyone else think of this recently discovered game mechanic? Have any of you hunters gone out and tamed a worgen yet, or have most of you already completed that quest? For those of you who have successfully tamed the worgen, are you hopeful that you'll be able to keep him?

Click to read more ...