Posted by pixiestixy on Monday, August 10th, 2009 - 59 Comments
Tags: Alliance, blizzcon, cataclysm, expansion, goblin, Horde, 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?
Related Posts: The Next Expansion: What Blizzard SHOULD Do With New Races, Hallow’s End 2009: Why No Goblin or Worgen Masks?, The Next Expansion: A Skeptical Look At The Leaked Information, BlizzCon 2009 Video Highlights: Live Goblin, Worgen Gameplay, /Dance Suggestions for Goblin and Worgen,
By amidaman on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
for gods sake man, theyre not playable classes, theyre playable RACES
By veldoran on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
does anyone know if this is acualy official? or is it just a really big hunch?
By Carlos on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Worgens huh?
Interesting.
By davie261 on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
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.
By pixiestixy on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
@amidaman fixed, thanks
By Pauldy on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
LOL, funny seeing playable classes except gnome. ESP when you stop to think thats gnome is a race and not a class.
By oaky on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
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
By higy on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
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.
By amidaman on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
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
By TItianmur on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
think of the classes
By b4k4 on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
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.
By heane on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
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.
By Kevin on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
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
By Lisim on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
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
By Wittgenstein on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Mage + Engineer = Goblin!
By Highwayman on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
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!”
By Tom on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
hmm It doesn’t seem like Blizz to allow such info to leak out. Lots and lots of assumptions!
By mike simplename on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
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!
By Pokee on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
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.
By ellendi on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
/change alliance
i dont want to be a fucking goblin, i wanna be a worgen!! those guys are fucking awesome. so anyway goodbye horde!
By Mr. Vincent on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I still can’t buy it, there’s no way Metzen and team can weave through sime lore loophole to have this make sense.
By Mark on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
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.
By alex on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
dude i would love to see a goblin tanking halls of lightning lol
worgen on the alliance get real
By Convertabull on the forums on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
worgen….alliance….gilneas…..nuff said
By Octaviax on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Rise my brothers of the Nighthowl! Rise! And feed upon the tears of the Horde!
By Dieoxide on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 1:35 am
I for one don’t think these will be playable races, or at least anytime soon. They may be come 2012-15, but until then, we’ll be stuck with WotLK because I heard Blizzard say they won’t do any more WoW expansions until Diablo, Starcraft, and the unannounced one which maybe this Axion I’m hearing about, but probably not. Oh, and all I remember was Blizzard said they were taking a “WoW Hiatus” to work on other MMOs, I’m not sure which though.
By Moomindrood on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 3:37 am
I wonder if they will treat these new races in a hero class way?. i.e. Start at 55 and have own phasing starting zone (the only good thing about DK’s imho)
By Grushnarok on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 6:08 am
OK Goblins allied with someone is bullshit. Because all they live for is profit and allying with someone is bad for buisness. Even though goblins were allied with the dark horde in 2nd war but only for profit reasons.And horde don’t need small caliber character anymore since they got elves which got the inteligence of the “smaller” races. I also think that goblins may become victim of WoW racism like gnomes nowadays
Worgen in the other hand are a good decision since alliance does need some “Very ugly freaky animalistic not from space” kind of race.
I would really like to see some sort of Half Races like half elf half human or such
By HerofTime on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 6:10 am
I’m ditching my healadin and going worgen. HELL YES! I don’t care if you start at level one. I’ll do it all again to make a worgen. I’m guessing their healing class will be a shammy, if at all. But, hey, This just makes us hungry for more info like the classes they can be! Come on Blizzard! Stop teasing us and bring Blizzcon!
By Shanto on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Wow, ever since I saw this the first time when it was just pure speculation. I wanted Worgen on the horde side, I hate Goblins they look like wrinkled ball sacks. Ugh am I going to need to roll alliance to play these *tear*
By Fwibib on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Im saddened by the choice of blizz… i am going to reroll all alliance if i have to play worgen
By Drekraijin on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Worgen and its on Alliance. There is a god. Grats to Horde getting green gnomes :3.
By Nauren on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 7:10 am
hey! hord needs a gnome like creature lol
By Rymla on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 7:36 am
i think this is info someone made to sound true. only time will tell on what happens. so sit back, pull up a chair , and see what happens
By Ombrenoire on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I am so playing a Worgen ^_^
By Tempe on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am
have we thought of maybe a large scale enigma instead of having the whole what will happen to goblin towns and that sort of stuff, why not take the time to consider that you could play as either one on either fraction so you will start in the starting place but then be able to chose if you want to be horde or alliance could cause some amusing confusion in pvp
By canadian bacon on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am
the alliance needs a more animal based race cuz all there oter races are human based
By Celeria on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am
idk, I think all this is BS. Maybe if there were rogue goblins (not the class) that decided they wanted to help the horde instead of earn an income. But I just cant see them making 2 new races that have almost nothing to do with the individual factions. I mean, come on, we’ve always killed worgens, and the goblins are completely faction neutral, I think we can put this to rest, imo.
By Adiscus on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I’m skeptical about there being a Worgen and Goblin race appearing in WoW. One thing Blizzard knows how to do is annoy us by keeping all of their ideas to themselves.
But it would be cool if these leaks were true, having Worgen on the Alliance would give us a beast like class, like Horde has Taurens. But for goblins, I say switch em out with the Naga, that way you guys can get another paladin class(aka, Naga Royal Guard) because Naga worked together with Blood Elves during WC3. Same with Worgens being able to be Shamans.
If they do go ahead with the Goblins have them be part of a different faction besides the Steamwheedle Cartel, that way you don’t take a large chunk out of WoW.
By Albullno on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:23 am
if worgen went to alliance, id reroll just to play one
By Dan on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I feel like I am the only one hoping this is all a bunch of bullshit. I don’t want goblins on the Horde…….I play the Horde to avoid short annoying creatures…….
They are just MASKS for the holiday. I don’t understand why everyone automatically assumes they are playable races now…..
By fuzzy on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:37 am
worgen hunter ftw. or.. would that be considered like canabalism cuz they r animals 2?
By Trial on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 10:12 am
worgens?
brb gonna cut my wrists
By Destructionz on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 10:30 am
goblins are the best
time is money friend
By Elsey on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
i Realy could not see worgon wearing armor especialy the helm
On another subject I play a GNOME warlock the alliance shouldent get big badass werewolves they should get dwarves mixed with gnomes mixed with orcs but oh wait the horde gets them /cry
By Cuppincakes on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
All I’ve ever seen of the Worgen were in that small village in the Grizzly Hills. Apparently, they’re werewolves. Since the only ones I’ve see transform from humans, it’s not difficult to make an Alliance connection. Obviously they could be Horde, since they seem to like killing humans a whole lot. However, I can’t imagine Blizz giving the Alliance another race of little people. The goblins would have to be Horde for balance if nothing else. Honestly, I see more reason for each race to become playable by each faction. The current npcs would still remain neutral, but the worgen and goblin players would be part of their own faction. Kind of like how the Darkspear are Horde, but still fight plenty of other trolls.
By madarra on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
I`ve been thinking,(o my god ,that means the world is coming to an end) if blizzard would put new clases they would probably wear mail or leather as to avoid loot cluter
so its probably Shadow Hunter (mail) and Demon Hunter (leather)
anybody agree?
By bloodraptor on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
i would so roll worgen the halloween mask for the male looks awsome
By Littleraven on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
@Cuppincakes
that town (silverbrook) isnt exactly an alliance town…when you first get to grizzly hills as an alliance player you are sent there on a diplomatic mission to see if they will help amberpine lodge….when you get there you eventually find out that the people are worgen and a horseback escape through the wood ensues….so that connection is null because they hate the alliance….
as for the races being added or not….im not sure how i would feel about them….it just seems so damn random to add them now of all times if they did….and trying to picture a goblin or worgen in like tier gear isnt happening for me…i mean the lore could (and i emphasize on the could) fit in if they added them in but to be honest we really dont know what the hell is going on in gilneas….cant wait for blizzcon so we can finally find out what blizzard has in store
By Dyra on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 4:47 am
I really hope this doesn’t happen…..
At least with the restrictions down on PvP servers I could make a Worgen if this really happens.
Oh, and what will happen to Horde members with ‘Bloodsail Admiral’ title?
By Moophobia on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I would love to play a Worgen, but since they are alliance I will have no problem playing a Goblin (which I’ve always wanted to do).
By Hawkreaver on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 9:13 am
BTW nothing will change with neutral goblins, its prolly just like there are tons of troll races but only 1 is aligned with the horde, same deal here
By wtf on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 9:30 am
i can see goblins being a playable race because they have been in the game for a long time and have been friendly with both factions but the worgen i cant see being a playable race. Blizz would have to change the model for them to be more humanoid so it doesnt look like your just playing a wolf that can walk on two legs. Hopefully they’ll just look like humans with some fur and a little bit more wolf like features cuz then they would be pretty interesting to play i think.
By Shnoo on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Worgen - Gilneas.. have you all forgotten about Gilneas? You know, right next to Shadowfang Keep?
And as trolls go.. the Darkspear tribe alligned with the horde because Thrall saved them from the naga (i think). The other “forest” trolls hate the horde because of their failure to destroy Quel’thalas.
By Jormuttar on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Are you serious? wow.com has absolutly NO REFERENCE WHATSOEVER! mmo-champion had shown the masks and the admin was sure they’d be the new races,then this goes around the forums alot, when it finally settles, suddenly wow.com has breaking news that they’re definatly the new ones, with only linking the mmo-champion post as reference, which was a guess made by a GM.
wow.com logic:
1) find old rumors
2)link the rumors and say they’re proven with no other info
3) ???
4) Profit!
By Voidscreamer on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Damn… I sure hope the new Horde race won’t be the damn goblins. No offense to anyone, but goblins are GAY!!
Not to mention the fact that goblins are something we see everyday in wow… why not find some new and better race? Goblins would suck as a new race. . . lame-ass green midgets with long ears. . yaaaaay… : /
By Luke Majerowicz on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
It’s exciting to hear about thses races. Now i am not saying that this is impossible, however my attention is toward Worgen race. Its’s rather obvious that this race would rather have a capability to be a warrior or rogue class..besides shapeshifting capability, now..problem exists with combat.. We know that they will not rather use weapons becase they use claws… So what they will use? How do upgrade the damage? Getting new pair of claws…Blizzard would have introduce some sort of a new system just for thal race.
By teo.p on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 am
dude, i think worgens would be the best race ever! (im alliance) i have an 80 and im willing to ditch it to make a worgen druid or priest lol, maybe a warrior or rogue i mean come on! they would be fucking awesome! oh and i got official info worgens can be every class cept for shamans goblins i forget lol. i dont think they would use claws man, they would use swords and shit. =D
By Brandon on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Ok, Goblins are going to be horde IMO thats pretty cool honestly im tired of getting ganked by those Lil Gnomes finally i get to roll a rogue goblin and just jump around someone while stabbing him with my lil butter knives >=D
also i wouldnt judge a class based on how you see them the racial for goblins is pretty good they get a bunch of kill things and then 1% casting and attacking speed ALSO they get 1k for free off their epic flying (exalted discounts with every faction)