We’re Waiting!

[Insert tapping of foot here]

Okay Blizzard, we give. You can stop kidding now. Seriously, you don’t have to wait anymore to release new worgen info. Hello? Is this thing on? As you can tell, news has been so slow that . . . okay, we haven’t had *any* news since Blizzcon. NONE. Everything we’ve seen or heard since either leaked late or are pure works of fan fiction. Blizzard is dropping the viral marketing ball, as far as Cataclysm is concerned. This isn’t double dribble, traveling, or even delay of game. We’re talking straight up ’screw you guys, I’m goin’ home.’

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the wizzes at Blizz working instead of bragging. But there is a marked difference between all the leaked info we got as far back as February and the current post-Blizzcon nothingness. We didn’t even get worgen masks for Halloween. THAT is a sure sign something at Blizzard is amiss. You don’t tease fans with worgen masks that have better textures than what’s currently in-game, and then NOT INCLUDE THE MASKS IN THE REAL HOLIDAY. Left hand, meet right hand.  Glad ta meetcha. In fact, outside of a small string of single class quests and subtle changes in the noob zones, there has been not a single in-game hint of Cataclysm, let alone worgen.

Heck, we’ve gotten night elf mohawks, revamped vanilla raids, a plethora of vanity pets, but not a single shred of anything. In fact, had it not been for Blizzcon and all the Youtube footage online, I’d start to make bets if Cataclysm was real or not. It has now been *4 months* since we first got confirmation that worgen would be in the next expansion. Yet, to date, we have heard NOTHING since then. Worse, there’s something wrong in the world (of Warcraft).

The Decline Of The World Of Warcraft 2.0

Towards the end of the last expansion, there was a decline in WoW’s subscription numbers. There was also a hubbub about said decline in the WoW community and the gaming press in general. In fact, many WoW subscribers and investors were becoming worried with how long Wrath was taking to get here. Would Blizzard be able to get the expansion out in time to keep WoW on top of the MMO market? At the time, it was a legitimate question.

And then Wrath arrived ™. Everyone jumped on board the new expansion like it was the Polar Express. We all hit 80, flew through Naxx, got our first Tier 7 pieces, and there was much rejoicing. And then the waiting began. It wasn’t until people began pining for the fjords, er, Ulduar that everyone realized Wrath (and Blizzard) had a problem. The players were chewing through the new raid content far faster than Blizzard could make it. Even casual raiding guilds were chewing through content patches in weeks, not months.

This inspite of Blizzard reusing a TON of old models, textures, and an entire raid instance from classic WoW. This would not have been a problem if Blizzard wasn’t funneling EVERYONE through Naxx (and raids). The death of ARENA PVP in 2009 did not help the situation. That left rerunning Northrend’s dungeons until you were blue in the face, or running the older BC and vanilla content for funsies, or you PVP’d on the side . . . or you stopped playing. This trend continues to this day.

But Wait, There’s More!

I’m not even mentioning all the other indirect problems currently afflicting WoW (and Blizzard). WoW is bleeding subscribers slowly but surely again. One cannot officially confirm it, outside of indirect evidence, but it is becoming fairly obvious.  Or possibly faster than anyone outside of Blizzard knows about. Blizzard is also reusing content like it is going out of fashion (probably because it is). The revamp of Onyxia, as well dropping ilevel 200 loot from Brewfest bosses was a last ditch effort to tide fans over until Patch 3.3. Now that Icecrown has dropped . . . it is more difficult for fans to keep going. It will take 28 days from the introduction of Patch 3.3 until the next wing of Icecrown even opens. At that rate, it will be March, possibly April before we crawl to Arthas and finish him off. I sense there is going to be a precipitous drop off of interest by then.

Blizzard is also experimenting with a vanity pet store as well as other expensive paid services (server transfers, race changes, name changes, etc) in an obvious nod to rival free MMO’s. We’re also being bribed (yes bribed) with vanity pets. I have never seen so many ’special’ free vanity pets drop in  my lap in the past 6 months for one reason or another. An Onyxia whelp. A penguin. A corehound pup. A freebie gorlock or wolvar. Raptor chicks. That doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of how many of these things are being shoveled at us. If Blizzard spent half the time creating actual raid content instead of vanity pets, players would end up much happier.

The community is also bleeding top tier bloggers like a vampire running in a razor factory. At this point, I’ve lost count. Mike Schramm, Turpster, David Bowers, and more. The paid cats at WoW.com are jumping ship to better pastures at nearly 1 a week. That also doesn’t take into account the megashroom cloud that appeared recently on the official game forums, and the side fallout at WoW.com itself. Others have been steadily dropping as the expansion wore on. And don’t get me started on the well-known losses of the likes of Phaelia and Big Red Kitty. It is very difficult to replace those types of fans. A large portion of fans are READY to jump ship from this game right now. If the new Star Wars MMO is equal to WoW’s polish, there might be trouble. The new expansion may come too late to save Blizzard’s headlock on the MMO market.

How Can It Get Any Worse?!

First, Cataclysm has not arrived yet. Even if half of WoW’s player population drops off the face of the earth before then, the game will certainly still be running. Worgen will still arrive and be playable for every class outside of shaman and paladins. WoW will NOT shut down in 6 months’ time even in worst case scenarios (except nuclear war. And even then.). Also, precedent is still in play. We SHOULD be seeing a decline in WoW’s subscriber base right now. The question is  . . . is the decline worse than it ought to be?

Also, consider that Kalgan and the B Team are in charge. These are 2nd stringers at Blizzard. They are the live team that has been running the game since February of 2009. That’s right, these guys have been running class balancing for the first time. Can you tell? What, the changes coming at you every few WEEKS wasn’t a tip off? Wrath has been their training ground. I expect we’ll see larger but fewer class changes in Cataclysm due to consolidating stats, as well as fewer visible stats. This should make the game easier for everyone to play, as well as lighten the class balancing load for the B team.

Also, if you didn’t want to ramp up a worgen from 1-85  because it would take forever, fear not. Leveling will be increased, as well the added bonus of Heirloom gear giving a 10% experience bonus each. Currently, there are 2 pieces you can wear, so an extra 20% XP bonus that stacks on top of the rested bonus is pure win. Despite how fast people are running through Northrend, Azeroth is getting revamped. You will be able to FLY in the old world. You will have a new quest path until 60 to run through. And you will have even more raid instances than Wrath had. Whew.

So, we just need some news then, right? Hopefully, the B Team will take some time off to drop us some news, eh? Some screenshots of our racial mount would be nice, for starters. I apologize for the wall of text, but hopefully it should tide everyone over until SOMETHING legit drops from Blizz.

From Russia With Love

I’ll be honest, I’m loathe to post youtube footage from IgroMir 2009. What’s that, you ask? Well, in case you haven’t read it at WoW.com already, IgroMir 2009 is Russia’s version of E3. Blizzard decided to take the Blizzcon Cataclysm Show on the road, game panels and all. Footage leaked online shows our friendly, neighborhood worgen doing some new tactile moves (emotes, swimming, idle animations). I love the way worgen move. Blizzard’s artists are still top knotch at what they do, and have outdone themselves this time.

However, news has been hard to come by since August. This is the only tidbit of worgen news we’ve had since October. In fact, we’ve been living off of Blizzcon leftovers for over 3 months now. Many of us having been sitting idle, waiting on Patch 3.3 and beyond. But take heart, worgen fans! The Friends and Family Alpha should be just around the corner. When that begins we should finally start getting more official (and unofficial) info. In the meantime, keep busy. Measure your game time. Don’t burn yourself out. I myself am taking an extended break from WoW until Patch 3.3. Even then, I plan on budgeting my time. Why? Because raiding the same content over and over for months on end is a great way to quickly find yourself sick of WoW, let alone worgen.

Gratuitous violence happens outside WoW, too.

For now, I spend my time (aside from keeping up on worgen) doing something COMPLETELY outside of WoW to gather my raiding reserves. All my WoW 80 toons are on standby. I currently reserve my time playing Borderlands, Gratuitous Space Battles, and making my OWN 2D game. Speaking of which, reminder #3,287, time to finish game website before said game is finished. If you exclusively play WoW, I can recommend you get a little something on the side going. Take it from a veteran vanilla raider: don’t put all your eggs in one basket with WoW. When you get sick of raiding (and you will), it helps speed your recovery. For those of you already doing this, what do you spend time on away from WoW?

[NOTE: I've already been doing this since September, so don't get antsy if you think this site is going anywhere. Worgen updates are dictated by Blizzard releasing news, officially or unofficially. This here is the doldrums before the alpha, so expect slow news to continue until some more worgen sources open up.]

I’m Infected! Cure Me Now!

I’ve been cursed to wait for worgen!!!!! GIMME WORGEN NAO!!! Oh wait, it’s just the swine flu. Nevermind. Still, doesn’t it seem like this is taking forever? Hallow’s End is upon us at last and we didn’t even get worgen masks, for crying out loud. But you already know this post is about more than a mere holiday we see every year. We are finally seeing the first roots of a new Cataclysmic event on the 3.3 PTR. Something is brewing in Northshire, the human noob zone.

Preface To Disaster

As long time WoW players might remember, Blizzard released a pre-Wrath of the Liche King zombie event for Hallow’s End 2008 that rocked Azeroth. Diseased crates appeared all over the place that gave you a disease if you clicked on them. This disease turned you into a zombie if you didn’t get it dispelled. Each week, the timer got reduced, until you were turning into a zombie nearly on contact. Zombie players were overwhelming cities to the point that banks, auction houses, inns, everything was reduced to a gnawed skeletal heap. It was incredibly fun. However, Blizz had to end it early due to the event disrupting entire servers. Nobody could get anything done, unless being a zombie was your life-long goal.

Skip to 2009. On the 3.3 PTR, we are now seeing old noob mobs that haven’t changed since vanilla WoW becoming young diseased wolves in Northshire, a noob zone of all places. They apparently don’t do anything other than run around diseased at this point. Eagan Peltskinner wants you to bring him diseased wolf pelts instead of wolf meat now. This is a perfect hook for a Cataclysm event. I can’t exactly say we’ll see it in time for Hallow’s End, of course. But with Blizzard’s anniversary around the corner, Patch 3.3 will drop somewhat soon. And with it will come a pre-Cataclysm event, possibly in time for Christmas, maybe even Thanksgiving.

Is this a revised noob quest and nothing more? Involving wolves? That are diseased? About as likely as me winning the New York Lottery Sweet Million. Keep your eyes open and your ears turned up. We should begin seeing Pre-Cataclysm clues dropping more often now. Like more than a month at a time. (Psst, Blizzard, hurry it up awready!)

Site Update And Blogroll

(Click to enlarge)

The map above is our current known view of Gilneas put together by Hidden over at Scrolls of Lore. I can’t recommend SoL’s forums enough, and not just for worgen research and discussion. I’ve included this map as part of Dude’s Gilneas section. I’ve also revamped our speculation section into Official Info. I figure the official Cataclysm site can keep everyone well fed as far as official media (screenshots, concept art) is concerned. However, knowing which classes, which starting stats, mounts, etc is something we need. Oddly enough, OI is rather spartan at the moment mostly because we do not know very much.

We know starting stats, classes, starting location, even some of the starter area phasing. However, we are still guessing at major amounts of lore, mount models, female models, Stormwind’s worgen quarter, on and on. We will update it as we get it. In the meantime, check out our blogroll waaaaaay at the bottom. Yep, our theme doesn’t allow for much of one. However, keep an eye on it for some reciprocal link love.

[NOTE: Zul'dare is TINY! I hope Kul Tiras doesn't eventually suffer a likewise fate. Blizzard take note!]

Three Worgen Wah?!

I was going to post a site update tonight, until this arrived unheralded on WoW.com. It FORCED me to alert our readers to the shock and awe (mostly shock) of the phenomenon known as the Three Worgen Moon. In case you missed the Internet Meme That Never Was, check out our old post on the Original. In the meantime, I shall quote from Jinx’s website:

I slipped into my Three Worgen Moon T-Shirt and stepped confidently out of the Dalaran sewer. Blood elves immediately swarmed around me and started giggling uncontrollably. I couldn’t tell if they were male or female (who can?) but they were obviously attracted to me. I strode confidently into the Violet Citadel and told Rhonin I was going to kill the Lich King. He said “You need help.” I responded, “Three Worgen Moon is all the help I need.” Rhonin shook his head, apologetically. I expected a wise mage to know more about the power of Three Worgen Moon.

Prices start at $19.99 for small, and increase with each year you’ve lived in your parents’ basement.

Patch 3.3 PTR Drops

Don’t look now, but the next batch of PTR files just dropped. Why is this important, you may ask? Easy. Remember the Halloween masks? Yup, they were datamined from Public Test Realm files. Datamining the PTR is a nice way to get a sneak preview on what is coming our way. If we are going to get anything else for Halloween (or for Blizzard’s 5 year anniversary), MMO Champion and Co will find it on the PTR. And it is huge, ladies and gentlemen. The current version is 1.4 gigs.

Think about that a minute. What do you want to bet something more than a worgen mask is buried in there? Be watching sites like MMO Champions (and Dude, of course) for updates. We’re already seeing new individual totem models for shamen, new tauren skin textures, etc. We might not see a thing for worgen, but considering this patch lays the groundwork for Cataclysm, we should see SOMETHING. Also, we now know there will be a world event between Patch 3.3 and Cataclysm (thank you, Kisirani), so cross your fingers.

Official Worgen 1-5 Starting Zone Info Released

Finally! It took over a month, but Blizzard is finally releasing Cataclysm info again. Or else PC Gamer UK has spilled the beans on something they weren’t supposed to. Scrolls of Lore first spotted it, then WoW.com plastered it up 2 hours ago. We now have a summary of the worgen starting area levels 1-5. You know the drill – this is a worgen site, giving you worgen rumors, confirmed news, blah blah blah. If you are here, you WANT spoilers. If you don’t, you better scram while the gettin’s good. I’ll even be nice and give you a graphic break to skedaddle with.

Gather ’round folks, this is good!

[Summary from Scrolls of Lore about the PC Gamer podcast]

“The story of the zone begins in the past, in Gilneas itself – with you working with and for descendants of the King. The Gilneans’ look is distinct from the Stormwind faction: they favor top hat, waistcoat and tails, an almost Victorian appearance. Rumours of a plague have begun to spread, and you’re to prepare the defences. You meet a dissenter Crawley, who’s been sent to the castle stockades for causing trouble. Crawley believes that the Gilnean appetite for isolation is a mistake – that they’d be better joining the Alliance in the fight against the Forsaken.

The Worgen curse, when it does arrive, is devastating, You and Crawley organize a fighting retreat, taking up a last stand in the Gilneas cathedral. As you fight and quest, the city is taken over by feral Worgen. Safe districts turn to fire thanks to Blizzard’s phasing tech. As you realise the horrifying truth – that the Worgen you’re fighting are your former friends – you turn into one yourself.

The game cuts to years later. You’ve been wandering feral in the woods, when you are captured by Crawley. He puts you in the stocks, and feeds you a potion brewed to give you control over the plague. It works. If you enter combat you’ll automatically shift. But you can still wander the cities in human form. It’s under control.

You set about rebuilding and regrouping. But it’s all too late, again Lady Sylvanas, the Forsaken leader, has decided that Gilneas and the surrounding area is to be a Horde port. She sends a vast fleet. By level six you’re fending off Forsaken soilders, and preparing a fresh evacuation.
That’s when the Cataclysm hits. In one almighty tsunami, the Forsaken fleet is wiped out and the Gilneans are saved. But in an impressive demonstration of Blizzard’s phasing tech, half of Gilneas shore is flooded in the process. The Worgen have no choice – they must decamp, and join the Alliance at Stormwind.”

Wow. This means that Gilneas is abandoned due to the Cataclysm. Worgen of Stormwind, indeed! Rumor has it that the Gilnean capital city will become a PVP battleground, but we do not have that confirmed yet. You can listen to the entire PC Gamer podcast in it’s entirety HERE. Warning: it is very long.

It Came From Blizzcon!

I’ll be upfront, I HATE leftovers. Except pizza, which is a universe unto itself (and a non-worgen post to boot). And lo and behold, here we are with leftover news from Blizzcon. Think of these as leftovers from the Mellow Mushroom, because they are definitely tasty. Just imagine we slammed through a sampler pizza and you’ll be good. We’re emptying the Blizzcon fridge, expect a wide variety. Here we go!

First, a slice of the House Special. We can now add worgen to the rogues’ gallery (thank you, worgen.info!):

Next, a slice of Mega Veggie, some femme fatale worgen concept art, courtesy of Blizzcon:

And a side sampling of Bruschetta, our starting worgen stats (per wowwiki.com):

And finally, the last slice of good ol’ fashioned cheese. Otherwise known as more worgen warrior concept art:

That’s pretty much it for Blizzcon. Wow, the microwave seems so empty now. We’ve got worgen gameplay footage, concept art, transformation sequence, starting area, stats, classes, racials . . . I think we’re just missing the official ground mounts and female worgen model. Otherwise, we’re set until we can officially play worgen, which can’t get here soon enough. More on that later since the latest patch has gotten me thinking.

Beware of Benicio!

The toothy mug above is courtesy of Rick Baker for the new Wolfman movie coming in 2010. Yes, that, that, and THAT Rick Baker. You can view his entire f/x bio here. This is a publicity shot of the new movie starring Benicio Del Toro as the protagonist. Like Blizzard’s Cataclysm, we’ll have to wait to see the film in the not-too-distant future, assuming it doesn’t get pushed back beyond February 2010. Either way, it is in decent proximity to Cataclysm’s worgen, both in timing and theme.

The Golden Age of Werewolves

Many of us need distractions until Cataclysm arrives, whenever it arrives. And what better way than to look back on werewolf lore in movies? After all, that is the main source of inspiration worgen really come from. Movies bring these characters to life more than any other source (aside from WoW of course).

Let’s start with the one verse that will get drilled into everyone’s skulls by the time we can actually play a worgen. And it should be, since it comes from the original movie at the heart of werewolf mythology.

Even a man who is pure in heart,
and says his prayers by night,
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the Autumn moon is bright.

That verse comes from Universal’s original Wolf Man, 1941, starring Lon Chaney Jr. Laurence Talbot is a sympathetic character played so well by Chaney Jr that it became his signature part. Universal’s monster movies (Frankenstein, Dracula) were based on pieces of literature, but not this one. The Wolf Man script was created entirely from scratch, with no Shelley, Webling, or Stoker to guide the studio hacks. If you watch some of the truly horrible B flicks of the 30’s and 40’s, you’ll understand what an accomplishment that is.

This leads to another reason to examine the Wolf Man movie (new and old). Rick Baker. His love of werewolves makes my feeble attempt at worgen fandom look like puppy love (pun intended). The original Wolf Man helped inspire Baker to get into Hollywood make up and effects. It also directly informed An American Werewolf In London, which won the very first Oscar for Make Up. He also created or consulted on the effects for the Howling, Wolf, Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, and far too many more to count. NO ONE currently has such an exclusive grip on werewolf movie effects and design than Rick Baker.

Of course, it was a no brainer to sick him on the current Wolf Man design. His influence, and the original’s influence, will likewise feed into worgen lore. For example, you can see a touch of it in the worgen’s stompy run animation from Blizzcon, and the old gothic horror design of Gilneas.

In the meantime, go find the original and get inspired on creating a worgen. We’ll feature more movies in the coming weeks. The Wolf Man is only a foundation for werewolf movies, not the complete lore.

NOTE:
There are 5 major flicks featuring Universal’s Wolf Man:

The Wolf Man
Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
House of Frankenstein
House of Dracula
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein

[NOTE: Why include that last one? Quentin Tarantino in 2006 said "when it was supposed to be funny, it was really funny, and when it was supposed to be scary, it was really scary." The Wolf Man gets many of the scariest parts.]

Weekly Worgen Roundup

WoW, eh? takes a look at the lore behind the worgen druid.

Elias tackles Papercraft worgen (note, try Babelfish for translation)

And a special doggie treat, Dog Soldiers (video here). This is a 2002 werewolf flick with a bit of a cult following. Very gory, very funny, and not to be taken too seriously. It is what it is, soldiers fighting werewolves. To sum up, a routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scotland wilderness. Spoon, the guy holding up his dukes, is absolutely hilarious throughout. I can’t say it is a GOOD movie, per se, but it certainly makes it’s mark. And hey, it is a free werewolf movie on Youtube. [EDIT: Dog Soldiers is NSFW - Not Safe For Work, watch at your own risk.]

“Well come on, you beauties!”

Racial Profiling: Worgen

[UPDATE! Find current class and racial trait info in the post 'Dude, THERE'S My Worgen!']

Any talk of a worgen player race automatically brings us to racial traits. These are the additional benefits and skills that a race bestows on a player just for choosing them. One of the most popular is Will of the Forsaken, which allows a Forsaken player to cancel any fear or stun. Our topic today is what would Blizzard give worgen, as far as racials are concerned?

There are indications that Worgen will side with the Alliance (due to Gilneas) and Goblins going to the Horde. Currently, Forsaken and Worgen match up pretty well for darker races. This might prove important further on as we examine other racial trait indicators.

In the meantime, it is helpful to look at existing lore as a starting point. References such as the Book of Ur, Velinde’s Journal, and Jitter’s Complete Journal are where we’ll begin.

The Book of Ur

Considered the first benchmark text on worgen, this book gives us some insightful clues albeit from a biased viewpoint. It is much like looking through a cracked window at our target. There is a single key paragraph that points us to racial abilities:

“As mentioned above, some Worgen are skilled in the mystic arts, and their magic is of darkness and corruption. Curses and supernatural poisons are common, so be forewarned–those who face the worgen should arm themselves with wards against shadow.”

Worgen have powerful arcane magic users, who specialize in curses and supernatural poisons – warlocks. The Alliance already has Arcane, Frost, Nature, and Shadow resistance racials. That would leave Fire and Holy resistance. With nearly all Holy users on the Alliance, that wouldn’t make much sense. Frost was used in Northrend, Fire in the South Seas would seem possible. Fire might be an alternative.

It might also be possible to have a curse or a poison bite as an ability here, as well. A curse could be anything, if not very dark. A poison bite that does nature or shadow damage is feasible, but not likely very helpful.

Velinde’s Journal

Velinde summoned the worgen to Azeroth with the Scythe of Elune. We find out that worgen can organize, have pack leaders, etc. They have an impressive ability to coordinate and attack as a group.

“All goes well. I have summoned larger numbers of the worgen to fight at my side. Though they are of simple mind, they have shown impressive ability to coordinate their attacks and function as a group.

I have identified leaders in their packs. To them I have given command of small groups of warriors. We strike from many places in the forest at once, and my campaign against the demons is a fruitful one.”

They also have warriors, though this might be a general reference (fighter, soldier) and not the class. Although this isn’t as direct as the Book of Ur, it does provide some more interesting racial possibilities. A group buff, much like the Draenei’s Heroic Presence, is possible. A group buff of any type would be welcome, and likely very popular.

One other passage from Velinde’s Journal merits review here:

“Holding the Scythe in my hands, I received a vision of chaos. Wolf-men… the worgen… battled an incredible enemy. The worgen fought savagely, as fit their primitive race, but their enemy was unflinching: the Lords of the Emerald Flame.”

A Demon Slaying trait is also a possibility. Worgen are mentioned here fighting the Lords of the Emerald Flame, which is presumed to be a faction of the Burning Legion.

Jitter’s Complete Journal

Jitter tells more of a story of events caused by worgen than about the beasts themselves. However, his account of their attack in Roland’s Doom solidifies the worgen’s reputation for ambush. At first glance, Jitter’s account implies a dimensional rift of some sort bringing the worgen to Roland’s Doom. The worgen attack seemingly like rogues:

“They came at us from everywhere, clawing from hidden holes at our feet and dropping upon us from silent perches above. Half our men fell in those first panicked minutes.”

We already have indications of poisons and warlocks from the Book of Ur. Worgen also seem to use magic to aid their attacks here, not just simple use of the shadows. Boosting their abilities through supernatural (i.e. arcane) means is implied.

This might indicate a bonus passive racial for reducing threat or detection. This could also be a direct shadowmeld type skill, or even a bonus to first attack.

Possible Racials

This leads us to our tally of possible racials, based on lore:

• Fire Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by Fire spells by 2%.
• Demon Slaying: 5% damage bonus when fighting against Demons.
• Curse of the [insert title]: (Possible Fear, Damage Over Time, Debuff)
• Presence/Aura: Increases [stat] by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.
• Shadowmeld: Slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence.

This is based off of lore and the assumption that worgen will go Alliance. So what racials do YOU think Blizzard might come up with?

Class Dismissed!

As far as we know, there are no announced races or classes for WoW’s next expansion, dubbed Cataclysm. However, Blizzard has done just about everything it can to let us know about worgen in particular. When there is a formal announcement, it will happen at Blizzcon.

When (not if) worgen arrive as a player race, which classes would we see? I decided the best course here is to examine the likelihood for each class, rather than randomly pick my personal preferences. I’m also basing this on our 3 main worgen lore sources, but keep in mind this isn’t by any means perfect. The 3 sources each seem to focus on a class (the Book of Ur, Velinde’s Journal, Jitter’s Complete Journal).

Here is the scale we’re measuring by:

1. Very Likely (as close to a sure bet as there can be)
2. Likely (more than possible, but not a sure bet)
3. Possible (no indicators either way)
4. Not Likely (could still be possible, but has indications otherwise)
5. Not Possible (it could happen, but I might win the Powerball Lottery)

Deathknight – Very Likely
This class scares me more than any other, as far as worgen are concerned. If you thought DK’s overrunning Outland were bad, then imagine worgen DK’s as the tip of the spear. Everyone and their grandmother will have a DK worgen wearing plate, with a pet, and no clue how to play it. And the yiffing. Dogs with chains and whips. Ugh. This is the only factor that makes me whince when I think of worgen DK’s. Otherwise I’m an absolute fan of the concept. Plate wearing wolfman who controls the undead. Groovy. It’s the entire level 55 part with all the noobs that gets me. Thankfully, the proactive furry players should be few and far between.

Noobs aside, worgen fit with the visuals of the class quite well. Every race can already become a DK to boot. How does a worgen fit in with DK’s, however? Lorewise, Arthas aquired the skills of a certain mage known as Arugal. Worgen are going to come into play somehow in the CURRENT expansion’s last hours. This would likely lead directly into the next expansion as a lore hook. I’m almost willing to bet Arugal will show up as an instance boss in Icecrown (thank you Shade of Arugal). A plate-bearing worgen wielding an army of ghouls? Yes, please. An army of worgen noobs sniffing each other’s butts? Frak, no.

Druid – Not Possible
Droods have a slim chance of showing up as a worgen class. Why? They likely come from the Emerald Dream, and live among night elves there, right? Aren’t they primal creatures of nature? Primal, yes. Natural, no.

Lore currently points to our wolvie friends being dark magic users fighting darker enemies (Lords of the Emerald Flame and all that.). They don’t seem to shift forms, unless it’s against their will (Arugal!). Despite first appearances, Blizzard went out of their way to make worgen seem ‘not of this world‘. That would tend to negate a relationship with Azeroth’s natural beauty. Also, all current races that have droods do NOT suffer warlocks, which worgen will likely have (more on that later).

Hands down, the biggest obstacle is druid class balance. The Horde and Alliance each have 1 race with druids: night elves and tauren. If the Alliance get worgen druids, the Horde WILL need another race to balance that (Blizzard trying to keep druids in balance, see). Goblin droods to offset worgen droods? That’s possible . . . but not likely. Goblins are about as anti-nature as you can get, so they’re not going the drood route anytime soon. There is a certain synergy of worgen with the concept of druids. Without adding druids to another race, however, it’s not very likely worgen will get them. This put droods firmly in ‘it could happen, but I might win the Powerball Lottery’ territory. Sad, but true.

Hunter – Likely
This should go without saying. It’s fairly self-evident that worgen could be hunters in concept and common sense. Wolfmen. Gee. What do they do? They HUNT things and kill them. Big shock, I know. Need proof, do you? Don’t forget our Wolfcult hunter friends in Silverbrook, Grizzly Hills. You know, the guys we retrieved that sc- thing for? Yeah. They also hunt us down as a pack for an Alliance quest, where we defeat them with molotov cocktails while riding on horseback (excellent quest, by the way). No need to beat a burning dead worgen, though. We’re likely to see this class.

The only thing not letting our hunter worgen clear the last hurdle to Very Likely is a complete lack of lore references. The original lore sources make no mention of hunters at all. The offset to this is the in-game quests and mobs of human hunters and trappers that turn into worgen in Silverbrook. Still, this gives us an excellent indication about the class possibility.

Mage – Possible

Mages are an interesting paradox for worgen player classes. No direct lore, no in-game mobs, no references to them at all (aside from Dalaran’s attempt to harness worgen a la Arugal). Worgen tend to be hardcore melee users and abusers. However, there are also no knocks against them being mages, with one indirect exception. The Book of Ur describes worgen having powerful magic users of darkness and corruption. Curses, supernatural poisons and all that. This would imply that their magic users are ONLY warlocks. However, it is infered and not implied that this is so, so we can only guess at it.

Worgen do have powerful magic users. They tend to be a mostly melee race, but that doesn’t rule out mages. So that leaves us at square one, meaning it is possible. The real problem is lack of sources or indications, which might be an indication in and of itself. Possible.

Paladin – Not Likely
Our good friends the pallies will probably not see much worgen love. Why? They have absolutely no lore hooks. The only nudge in a worgen paladin’s direction would be former human paladins-turned-worgen. Would such a being retain their light-given powers? Not so much, no. Also, there are indications Blizzard threw around the idea of a worgen Shadowknight. SK’s are an old reference to Everquest’s Shadowknight class. Many Blizzard employees played and/or worked on Everquest, so it’s no surprise SK type classes might show up in WoW. Longstory short, shadowknights are anti-paladins. They deal pain and offense rather than heal and defense. Worgen fit with that, not paladins.

Are there any indications ruling out worgen pallies? A few, yes. There are also no indications pointing them to the hammer-swinging way. Worgen would be the darkest race to enter the Alliance. The Light is probably going to shine the weakest in their story. Classes that focus on the Light will likely get short shrift here, and the Paladin is no exception. Still, the case against worgen pallies is a bit weak, so we merely designate them Not Likely.

Priest – Not Likely
This class is the least likely to be a playable worgen with the exception of droods. Why? This is the most ‘light’ focused class there is, even putting pallies to shame. Multiple lore sources put worgen as evil at worst, dangerous at best (think chaotic neutral). Also, they use dark, corrupt magic. Serious followers of the light they are not.

Like paladins, they have no lore hooks other than former priests-turned-worgen. They might retain a power or two, possibly, but they certainly won’t be priests anymore. Blizzard could make them happen, but they would have to really stretch the lore like a pretzel to do it. Unlike droods, there isn’t a class imbalance issue. This would put them between pallies and droods in the Not Possible/Not Likely debate.

Rogue – Very Likely

Of all classes worgen are likely to have, rogues are near the top of the list. Jitter’s Complete Journal describes roguish worgen jumping out of nowhere. Between multiple descriptions of ambushing prey and a penchant for supernatural poisons, the lore points to worgen as rogues incarnate. There have been worgen mobs with rogue abilities (Nightbane Dark Runner, Nightbane Tainted One, ) in the game since it’s launch. Some apply poisons, other attack from behind, just like a rogue. In fact, I believe worgen will have a specific racial trait for player rogues of some sort. Either a stealth type ability, a buff to poisons, or even a poison attack. The Nightbane’s Tainted Howl is especially notable as a racial trait possibility.

Despite the in-game mobs, the main reason for a high rogue probability is the existing lore. 2 of the 3 main sources point to the worgen’s excellent rogue abilities. Ur describes their focus on supernatural poisons, Jitter describes their ambush ferocity. Combine that with in game worgen rogue mobs and we’re very likely to see them.

Shaman – Likely
Unlike droods, shammies have possibilities with worgen. Even better, they fit in with worgen like hunters. Shammies focus on primal mysticism, and worgen are certainly primitive. The only downside is there are no current examples of worgen shammies in lore or in the game.

What offsets this is that there are no other shammies in the Alliance aside from Draenei. The Horde have 3 shammy races: orcs, tauren, and trolls. The Alliance needs another shammie race for balance, and worgen can easily fill that niche. There isn’t anything preventing worgen shammies lorewise. The only mark against it is no prior precedent.

Warlock – Very Likely

Tied with rogues for lore references, warlocks are a strong contender for being a playable worgen class. The primary worgen lore text, the Book of Ur, makes direct reference to the their magic users’ leanings in dark and corrupt magic:

1. Specialities in curses.
2. Supernatural poisons.
3. Wards of shadow needed to fight them.

Further, multiple worgen mobs in 2 different locations are warlocks: (Moonrage Elder, Nightbane Shadow Weaver). 1 of the 3 main lore sources indicate warlocks as a possible class, the Book or Ur. The others make no mention of it, but Ur was always the foundational point of lore the worgen story springs from. Combined with the in-game mobs, worgen warlocks have a strong case behind them.

Warrior – Very Likely
This class is a shoo-in as a worgen player class. Why? To begin with, it is the only player class worgen specifically use in the game. Notably, Velinde Starsong makes mention of worgen warriors in her journal:

“I have identified leaders in their packs. To them I have given command of small groups of warriors.”

This could be referencing warriors as generic fighters or soldiers, but not likely. Again, Velinde describes them as large, damage dealing meatshields:

“They followed me into battle, and with their brutish strength at my command, we tore into the demons of Felwood.”

There is also existing Blizzard concept art of chain/plate wearing worgen floating around the intarwebs since vanilla wow.

Do we need another warrior race? No. Do we NOT need another warrior race? No. This is the only negative I can think of against the idea of worgen warriors. Combine that with specific mention in the lore, the joy of melee combat worgen are known for, Blizzard concept art of chain/plate worgen and I don’t see how worgen do NOT have warriors.

SUMMARY

This leaves us with 5 classes in the Very Likely/Likely territory:

1. Rogue Very Likely
2. Warlock Very Likely
3. Warrior Very Likely
4. Hunter Likely
5. Shaman Likely

We have 1 Possible class:

1. Mage

And our Not Likely/Not Possible classes:

1. Paladin Not Likely
2. Priest Not Likely
3. Druid Not Possible

Welcome New Readers!

Thank you WoW.com for the helpful link on the Worgen FAQ! For all you new readers just reaching us, we have several useful links on worgen fan art, speculation, Blizzard news, and existing lore. Here are few main links that will prove helpful in your search for more worgen info (and where Blizz might be headed with them):

Scrolls of Lore – The site that broke the bombshell on worgen masks on the last PTR.

• Worgen Racial Discussion
• Worgen Class Discussion

WoWwiki.com – A great source for research on anything in World of Warcraft. If you need to know 3 things about worgen lore, then know these 3 texts.

• The Book of Ur
• Velinde’s Journal
• Jitter’s Complete Journal

Sweet Speculation – And of course our own Blizzard section. Check out some of what’s driving recent worgen news, namely Blizzard employees themselves. DWMW is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment, nor paid for any articles or blog posts (but don’t we wish). We do this purely for the enjoyment of the game. Thanks for dropping by, make us a favorite and keep checking back!

Ozzy Rumors Heat Up

WoW.com is reporting that Ozzy Rumorfest 2009 is heating up. The whole notion of a Blizzard of Ozz started with a tweet. Yes, a tweet. The (former?) Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde stated in 140 words or less that he was looking forward to playing with Ozzy Osbourne at Blizzcon. Woot, you say. However, blabbermouth.net (orly?) is stating that multiple sources are saying Gus G. (aka Kostas Karamitroudis) of greek thrash/powermetal band Firewind is now playing guitar.

(Sadly, no Wylde Vrykul at Blizzcon)

Why is this relevant? The entire notion of Ozzy at Blizzcon has a direct link to a certain song in his back catalogue, Bark at the Moon. I remember sitting on short metal bleachers in a drab, grey, cinderblock elementary school in 2nd grade. My music teacher, who taught us the importance of musical diversity, walked into class, ripped the cellophane off of a new Ozzie album and played ‘Bark At the Moon.’ Once it finished playing he simply asked ‘what do you think?’

Backstory: he scarred us for life a year earlier. He made us do a public dance in front of our parents. Set to an Oak Ridge Boys’ song. An Oak Ridge Boys song known as ‘Elvira‘ (no, not THAT Elvira). My father STILL laughs out loud anytime that travesty of a musical composition plays. Needless to say, our music teacher had to increase morale among the troops. ‘Elvira’ WOULD NOT DO. So we accepted the apology and proceeded to nearly break the bleachers as only 2nd graders jumping around to heavy metal can do. I went to music class uphill, both ways, in the snow, year round. That’s right, you whippersnappers – get off mah heavy metal bleachers!

(I had the coolest music teacher of 1984. And the worst of 1983.)

25 years later, I immediately knew the connection when Ozzy was rumored – NAY! – merely implied to be showing up at Blizzcon. So, now we get a further whiff o’ darkness moste foule when blabbermouth.net stokes rumors of a lineup change in Ozzy’s current band. Gus G. has a little talent with the bard’s weapon of choice.

Take a listen:

As you can tell, if any of these rumors are true we have a very groovy concert coming our way. But there is a bit of a warning, per blabbermouth.net:

It should be noted, however, that this information has not yet been corroborated by anyone in the Osbourne camp and should be treated as a rumor only.

Feh. Bring on the heavy metal and the worgen already. We’ll be done with Patch 3.2 in mere weeks.

Blizzard of Ozz: Weather Report

WoW.com is stating that DirectTV has announced a special appearance by the one and only Ozzy Osbourne on August 21st. However, it appears that DirectTV has pulled the mention of Ozzy already.

Here is WoW.com’s screenshot of the DirectTV for August 21st:

And here is what we have at that same linked page today:

Did you miss it? Is the print too small to read? It actually says:

BlizzCon is back with 16 hours of live HD coverage from the convention floor! BlizzCon 2009, Live!

No mention of Ozzy is listed at this page, on the regular or HD listing. Further, Ozzy’s own site has no listed concert or appearance date for Blizzcon. There is also not a *single mention* of Blizzcon on Ozzy’s entire site, aside from one forum comment.  I do not know how WoW.com found this, and yet now it is gone. How did they find it to begin with? Curious. This makes one wonder how much WoW.com is fed info by Blizzard for viral marketing, no? At any rate, the official sources (DirectTV, Blizzcon, and Ozzy.com), as of today 08/10/2009, have no mention anywhere of a concert or special appearance of Ozzy at Blizzcon.

Even Blabbermouth.net is reserving judgement at this point. They cite WoW.com as their source, even using the same screenshot of DirectTV’s listing (which no longer mentions Ozzy). Something is not right here. We are less than 2 weeks away from Blizzcon, yet Blizzard isn’t releasing official info on Ozzy performing? It sounds like money might be an issue at this point. Otherwise, why wait until the last minute to promote this?

I am edging closer to thinking it will be a marketing appearance instead of a concert. Ozzy’s WoW commercial (though cheesy) is freaking hilarious. It would not surprise me if they use him again at Blizzcon to continue the ad. For all I know, they may have him show up as a Family Guy cartoon on a screen. Or Ozzy might not show up at all. Who knows without confirmation of anything?

There is one other minor thing to consider. Many websites believe that Blizzard will announce their next WoW expansion AND their next unique sci-fi IP (IntellectualProperty) at Blizzcon. If Ozzy DOES appear on August 21st, that would likely indicate the day they announce the expansion (and worgen player races, et al). August 22nd might be the day Blizzard uses to focus on their new IP. I’m not making a prediction, just laying out some possibilities through educated guesswork.

For the time being, it is best to go with Blabbermouth.net’s original disclaimer from the Gus G. rumors:  It should be noted, however, that this information has not yet been corroborated by anyone in the Osbourne camp and should be treated as a rumor only.

[EDIT: Since we know WoW.com has access to inside sources and leaks at Blizzard, I am officially taking their word for it that Ozzy will appear. How Blizzard is going about this just strikes me as odd, however.]

The Worgen Has Landed

WoW.com is officially confirming rumors of worgen and the name Cataclysm for the next expansion:

WoW.com has learned through multiple sources close to the situation some details on the next expansion, to be called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Our sources have told us that the new races of Cataclysm will be:

• Worgen – Alliance
• Goblin – Horde

This information has been speculated upon by multiple places, and we’re pleased that everyone’s speculation has turned out to be more or less true.

You can find out more information about the Goblins and Worgen from WoWWiki, as well as from previous articles we’ve written.

This is not an official release from Blizzard. WoW.com is about as close as you can get, however, to being an official mouthpiece of Blizzard (without being owned by the company). WoW.com has time and again been successful with reporting leaks and rumors. I have no doubt they are correct this time, as well. Also, Adam Holinsky (WoW.com editor) responds to criticisms of using anonymous sources to leak any upcoming info:

Oh indeed. We’re prepared for it.

We were right about 3.2, we’re right about this. It’s all good in the end. =)

At this point, all we need are confirmation on what the classes, racials, and starter areas will be.

Blizzard of Ozz: Throwing Down

WoW.com is reporting official confirmation (finally) that Ozzy is appearing at Blizzcon. According to the Blizzcon press release ‘Ozzy will unleash a thunderous spectacle of rock to put the Liche King in his place and cement his own title as the one true Prince of Darkness.’

I have my own press release. To borrow a phrase from an anonymous space marine, ‘it’s about time.’ DWMD will have an overview of existing geography and speculation on possible worgen areas (aside from Gilneas, of course) in the coming week. We have covered speculation on classes (likely rogue, warrior, warlock, and DK), racial traits (group buff FTW!), and now locations.

Cavalcade of Cataclysm

Cataclysm news at MMO-Champion.com and WoW.com is exploding left and right this week, much to the benefit of worgen fans. The last 24 hours has seen various sundry announcements: Onyxia returning, a revamp of Azeroth, and many classes added to existing races. It is the last item which interests us here at Dude.

Let’s repost the class additions datamined from the last PTR for 3.2.2:

• Human Hunter
• Orc Mage
• Night Elf Mage
• Blood Elf Warrior
• Dwarf Shaman
• Dwarf Mage
• Undead Hunter
• Tauren Paladin
• Tauren Priest
• Troll Druid

It was completely unexpected that Blizzard would add more classes to existing races at this scale. This upends our worgen class predictions (based on lore) like Krakatoa. The level of class balance change seen here is unprecedented in WoW. I’m not sure I know of another MMO upending their class structure so radically. In the meantime, these details are some of what we have been waiting for.

To begin with, the last class change interests us the most. The Horde is getting a 2nd race with druids, so the Alliance will likely get one too. Since we don’t yet see one in this list, worgen druids have shot up the list as a possibility. The notable classes (according to balance) are: druid, priest, mage, and warrior. 1 druid, 1 priest, 1 warrior, and 1 mage added to Horde. No priest, no warrior, no druid, and 2 mages added to Alliance. Hunters are a wash (could go either way). Using class balance as a guide, we can see possibilities for worgen warriors, druids, and priests . . . but not mages? I admit, I’m a bit let down about that, but you can’t have everything. Those will likely go to gobbies to offset the 2 Alliance mage additions. Paladins and shamans appear to offset each other, though we cannot completely rule them out.

Notice there is no mention at all of rogues, warlocks, and DK’s. If no more changes appear on the PTR (fat chance of that), I’d say both goblins and worgen will get all 3. Lore points to worgen rogues and warlocks easily, so they are distinctly possible. Worgen have been enslaved to Arthas’ cause through Arugal, so we have lore hooks for worgen DK’s (depending on what happens in Icecrown).

To summarize, this is what our current worgen class lineup looks like:

• death knight
• druid
• priest
• rogue
• warlock
• warrior

Obviously, this information is conjecture and subject to change. However, it is based on new details we did not have until this week. I’ll be frank – there is a megaton of rumor, innuendo, nuance, and outright trolling going around several blogs. MMO-Champion and WoW.com are two of the few sources of news that can reasonably be trusted. WoW.com has sources within Blizzard, while MMO-Champion datamines the PTR’s for information. Both are rarely wrong. View other sources and news with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Calm Before The Cataclysm

The past week has given worgen fans more news than we bargained for. We have major news of expanded character classes, Azeroth’s physical sundering, Ozzy playing at Blizzcon, and worgen unofficially confirmed as a playable race.

We are in strange time in WoW. When is something officially unofficially confirmed? How is that even possible? Yet here we are before Blizzcon, as sure as possible that we have playable worgen, yet there is no official announcement or confirmation. I’ll let that be for now since we are within 24 hours of learning the truth.

In the meantime, let’s review the ’so official tis true despite no confirmation’ unconfirmed factoid of the hour. Thanks to MMO Champion, we have some outlandish ideas that could sink Boubouille’s reputation, if he is incorrect. If they are true, however, Azeroth is in for a wild ride. Let’s review what MMO Champion has dug up:

‘The Cataclysm has cracked open the Greymane Wall, finally revealing what has happened to the kingdom of Gilneas and its citizens. With the worgen curse taken hold, they have found a partial cure, allowing them to retain their Human minds even when transformed. Venturing forth from Gilneas and seeking help from the Alliance, they have decided to join them, to combat the new threats of Cataclysm.

Gilneas will make extensive use of the phasing system (much like the Death Knight starting area), to show what happened while the kingdom was cut off from the rest of the world and lead up to the present day.

[Ed: here is where news becomes very interesting]

Worgens will have two appearances, a worgen form and human form. Players will be able to customize the look of both forms.’

So worgen players will apparently get a phased starting area, much like DK’s did. We will also get 2 forms for the price of one (before droods even think of entering the picture). This has my jaw dropped. Blizzard has apparently decided to go with cursed worgen as the playable race instead of summoned worgen!

This means our lore and character motivations are very different. Players will possibly be focused on a full cure in the quest lore. If our racials are divided, it could make a difference in class choice as well. Worgen form for melee, human form for casters. Possibly. Maybe. We-will-not-know-until-Blizzcon keeps popping up, I’m afraid.

Then there are racials: do we get human racials AND worgen racials depending on our form? Or one single set regardless? Another interesting twist, depending on how Blizzard structures it. Regardless, I intend to document our announced features tommorrow evening.

Dude, THERE’S My Worgen!

I’ll wait for you to click the above pick for our default worgen idle. Once you’ve stopped drooling, come back to this page. . . .

Okay, now that you’ve picked up that jaw, let us continue. The big day has arrived, and Blizzard has not disappointed. Just the facts, Jack:

• Worgen are a playable race.
• Worgen have the cosmetic ability to shift between human and worgen form. Combat is always in worgen form.
• Classes: No Paladins or Shaman, but can do everything else. Including DK’s.  (WOOT!)
• Racial ability – Darkflight: +70% movement speed for 6 seconds, 3 min cooldown.
• Racial ability – Aberration: Reduced duration against curses and diseases by 15%.
• Racial ability – Flayer: Skinning bonus, no need for a skinning knife.
• Racial ability – Visciousness: 1% passive damage bonus
• Starting area is, of course, Gilneas.
• Worgen have their own new district in Stormwind.
• Worgen will be able to start at level 6. This will likely be to show off the phasing instance.

The racials are in line with what I expected, with Flayer being a bit of a shock. Also somewhat meh. Aberration, Visciousness, and Darkflight are about spot on with the lore. The cosmetic ability is just simply beautiful. Okay, that is the one gushing moment you’ll get out of me. But yes, it looks awesome. Check out the WoW.com video link below for more on how it was made.

Today would not be fulfilled without actual video from Blizzcon. I cannot provide a complete DirectTV stream (legally), but I can provide some VERY notable youtube footage that will make everyone pleased.

First, the process of transforming between human and worgen (link opens new window):

Next, we have the starting area for worgen, Gilneas (link opens new window):

Next, we have the Cataclysm trailer. You can view in normal or HD, of course.

Cataclysm Preview Panel, Worgen Discussion

WORGEN GAME PLAY FOOTAGE (yes, it’s short, but we have some!)

Finally, we have concept art!

[Genn Greymane, perhaps?]

And there you have the main worgen news today. We will be altering the site sections a bit as more news becomes available. Out with the speculation, in with the media!

Fan Art Update

Man, are we getting hammered today. The Blizzcon cometh, arriveth, and our hits are all snowed in. While you guys keep refreshing our pages for news, remember to check out our fan art page and Gilneas page. I just updated both again, and will likely add more over the weekend. That should hold over your temporary hunger pains until we get more news today. Thank you for dropping by, and Happy Blizzcon 2009!

KAWAIIIIIII!

Blizzcon2009: Worgen Gameplay Video

Yes. Yes, you just read that title correctly. Blizzcon 2009 is STILL underway and we already have a Youtube video of worgen. In the game. In Gilneas. You may drool over the transformation riggedyroll now.

EDIT: I realize Blizzard didn’t have to throw in the transformation, but I am very glad they did. It is purely cosmetic. No racial addons, no nothing. If anything, it might slow you down. However, it makes for a FANTASTIC bit of atmosphere that could serve to really pull a player into the game world. Roleplayers will certainly love this. Casual players will likely never stop using it. And old-school vanilla players like myself will still be pinching ourselves 6 months from now realizing yes, we are FINALLY playing that worgen mob we saw the first time we ran to Shadowfang Keep. I NEVER thought I’d get to play one despite how cool it looked. Blizzard, you have done the fans an awesome service.

Thank you!

So WHEN Do I Get My Worgen?

That is the $64 million dollar question, isn’t it? WoW.com has a bit of a direction for us here – very, very soon. Let me quote liberally from the article:

Blizzard’s Lead Level Designer on World of Warcraft, Cory Stockton, has stated that Cataclysm’s development began before Wrath shipped (there’s a surprise …) but it’s obviously futher along than many might have thought and then Mike Morhaime hesitantly confirmed the game was slated to be released in 2010 along with StarCraft II.

SCII is slated to be released sometime in the Spring of 2010. My gestimate is we will see the new Xpac around March of 2010. This thing is READY. The goblin and worgen starter areas were playable YESTERDAY on the Blizzcon showfloor (visit the last post for Youtube video of Gilneas and worgen transformation). We have in-game video of most of the changed areas of Azeroth (Barrens, Orgrimmar, Ashenvale, Desolace, etc). We weren’t shown concept art for these areas in the trailer – we got to see before and after in-game shots. It appears Blizzard set their staff to work on Wrath and Cataclysm back to back. Eeeeeeeeeexcellent, smithers.

Blizzard is obviously being pushed by something. It took years, plural, for Burning Crusade to come about. Wrath was announced at Blizzcon 2007 (also in August) and was not in playable form until July 2008. That is nearly a year, folks. Cataclysm was announced on Friday AND IT IS ALREADY PLAYABLE. I’d ask for a pony, but it might already be too late (in a future patch, Ghostcrawler, sir?).

Riders On The Storm

Riders On the Storm, what a great song. Which alludes to our current topic: worgen mounts. The racial mounts were still not announced at Blizzcon. What will we ride? Some enterprising photoshoppers managed to catch this pic from the Cataclysm panel at Blizzcon 2009. I brightened it up so it was a bit easier to see.

Look at the overbite on that thing!

It looks like a battle boar with some dental issues. Personally, it takes getting used to. They need to file the log chin, it is irritating. Or make it a blade like the spiny raptor art. I think worgen ought to have something more appropriate. The problem is all the existing mounts in the game limit our choices. You could use a wolf, but orcs have ‘em. You could try a dinosaur, but trolls have those. A horse? You get my point.

Obviously, we need something original here. WoW could use a battleboar, I admit, but we need more art here. This is an area wide open for more artistic expression. For a start, here are the existing mobs in Silverpine Forest:

• Bears
• Bog beasts
• Ghouls
• Gnolls
• Murlocs
• Skeletons
• Spiders

The Warcraft RPG also lists some notable excerpts:

• Albadian Battle Dog
• Bane Spider
• Blade Beast
• Dragonspawn
• Elk
• Salamander

Now obviously, this area is still not nailed down (that we know of). We could be riding mechanostriders, for all we know. I do suspect some Blizzard employees have been lurking on worgen sites (including ours) so feel free to post additional idea in the comments. You never know . . .

Blizzcon Video Bash

If you are like me (and 11 million others) and did NOT go to Blizzcon, this post is for you. What was the character creation screen like? What do the starter areas look like? What about the quests? Thankfully, some attendees were able to sneak some cameras in, and have released their findings on Youtube. Others have documented what they saw on official gaming sites. First, let us see the character creation screen and some of the worgen visual options available at Blizzcon.

Character Creation

Starting Area

Darkflight Racial and 2-Handed Sword Combat

Some notes on the starting area. According to multiple sources, all characters started at level 6, not level 1. Kotaku reveals something interesting. Levels 1-5 are not finished:

During my interview with lead developer Tom Chilton, he explained that this was simply because the 1-5 areas weren’t quite finished, and they felt the 6 and up areas offered a more complete grasp of what they were trying to do.

Also, this is a heavily phased area. You start in Gilneas chained up in stocks. You are then freed to gather a potion to tame your ‘wild’ side. You then must repel the Forsaken trying to invade the area. Once done with this quest series, things get interesting. Per The Escapist, ‘a huge portion of the coastline had vanished below the waves thanks to an earthquake – the first harbinger of the Cataclysm, one would assume. From there, the story turned to less of a “repel the Forsaken invasion,” and more of a “We need to get out of here, now.”

INVASION!

World of Raids goes into some detail on the starting area quests:

Your first two quests are to fight off forsaken attackers, and also blow up abominations by tossing gun powder barrels on their heads. These quests are your fairly basic World of Warcraft quests everyone has come to know from Wrath of the Lich King. Next up you’re given three quests; one is to kill more forsaken who are pushing into the farms of the area, another to locate 3 children and get them into a wine cellar, and another to use forsaken catapults to launch yourself onto nearby ships where you’re tasked with killing the captains.

After your next quest — which is to kill the leader of the forsaken assault by calling in a pack of gilneas mastiffs — you first experience the new terrain phasing feature. As you turn in the quest a massive earthquake strikes the region and you leave the wine cellar to discover that a large mass of land has broken free and fallen into the ocean. What was once an area you were completing quests on is now completely flooded by the sea.

EVACUATION!

From here everyone knows the situation is dire, and thus you’re given the task of making sure as many people evacuate as possible. Your three quests are to visit an orchard, the fishery, and a cottage and ensure they’re told to evacuate. Throughout this each NPC gives you quests before they’re willing to leave. At the orchard you must round up horses so that the townsfolk are able to escape easily. At the fishery, you’re asked to help collect tools to use on a boat that will be the escape route for a set of brothers whose love is the sea and nothing else. At the cottage you must rescue Grandma Wahl’s cat, gather her journal, and retrieve a proper, clean dress for hear to wear.

It is still unknown if the town alone is evacuated, or if the entire country had to be saved. Either is possible. Neither is confirmed. Considering worgen get a district in Stormwind (and the Horde reportedly are overtaking Southshore) it is possible that they evacuated Gilneas proper. Interesting news, indeed!

Gilneas Map Quest

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

That, my friends, is the map of Gilneas at Blizzcon (thank you WoW.com). I recommend you save that picture for any private files. Why? Blizzard has been nailing many videos of worgen and Cataclysm posted on Youtube (see many Blizzcon posts below). Where did this pic come from? Right, a video. So take it as you will. I think this is legal at this point . . . but you never know until the Blizzard legal dept. comes calling.

This may or may not be the map we see live in game. I think it is what Gilneas looks like right before the Cataclysm arrives, however. There is a significant portion of land near the shore demarcated by a river or border of some sort. I speculate this is the portion of Gilneas that falls into the ocean, refered to in the quest descriptions by World of Raids:

After your next quest — which is to kill the leader of the forsaken assault by calling in a pack of gilneas mastiffs — you first experience the new terrain phasing feature. As you turn in the quest a massive earthquake strikes the region and you leave the wine cellar to discover that a large mass of land has broken free and fallen into the ocean. What was once an area you were completing quests on is now completely flooded by the sea.

We have pointers to the destruction of a large swath of Gilneas. It is also possible that the worgen lose their entire nation due to the Cataclysm and the Forsaken invasion. The quest descriptions point to an evacuation, but we do not know where to. Another part of Gilneas? To Stormwind? We will keep a lookout for more info. Also, if anyone spots more info on this, feel free to leave a comment. Any news is welcome!

My Main Squeeze

So you have a level 80 nightelf mohawk that bores you to death. And you want a worgen so bad you’d eat kibble for a week. But you WOULD eat kibble for a week to avoid leveling another character from 1 to 80. What can you do? There is a new option available, with a few more on the way. The first is the newly announced faction switching service that went online last week. This allows any Hordie to switch over to a worgen (when they go live), as long as the character classes match. Dude, there’s your worgen.

What this also means is Shammies and Pallies need not apply. Sorry, this option isn’t enough for you guys because worgen don’t have those 2 classes. So NOW what to do? Pallies and Shammies just cannot win, right? We are now aware of a new race switching service coming soon too. This isn’t live yet, but it might just be the vaunted ‘ultimate reroll’ everyone has dreamed of. Nothing is 100% certain, but it would be the best hope for shamans and paladins.

Now let us talk worst case doomsday scenario for you hybrid healers. Imagine the race change feature is the same as faction switching: classes must match. Blizzard has sentenced you to the Bataan Deathmarch known as the 85 Level Grind. Or have they?

Cataclysm is revamping Azeroth. It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). First, all the quests will be redesigned to rid us of all those loooooooong runs in the starter areas. Greenhills of Stranglethorn questline: gone. Barrens quests: gone. Desolace: ALL gone. All vanilla quest areas will turn into the magic happy funtime of Azuremyst Isles and Ghostlands. Concentrated quest givers, short quest runs, logical quests, no more 19 items for 1 QUEST, WHEW.

The second benefit we will see is heirlooms using an existing main toon. You can purchase chest and shoulder pieces with awesome stats that scale as your worgen levels, as well as providing 10% extra experience EACH. That’s right, the bonuses stack.

So there you have it, Pallies, Shammies, and altaholics. If you have to level a worgen from scratch, you will not have to suffer through the old vanilla content (as we know it now anyways). You can buff your xp by 20% with heirlooms (on top of the rested bonus!). The world will be new, filled with new quests, with an easier load to carry. Not bad.

So prepare yourselves! We could possibly see Cataclysm between Christmas ‘09 and summer of ‘10. You can wolf it down sooner than you think.

Site Update Incoming!

Just a heads up, Dude, Where’s My Worgen? is going to go through a site revison soon. There is a lot of Blizzcon info we’re still combing through (and needs to be added). We have much of it in news articles, but not in a dedicated section like it deserves. We can survive on Blizzcon leaks for a while, but leftovers get old very fast. Please surprise us, Blizzard!

There is also more stuff lurking on the PTR. Patch 3.2.2 and beyond should have some more tidbits to find. And then there is Halloween. Blizzard will NOT let that holiday pass without a worgen related event. No, masks do not count. But DO count on big things for worgen in October.

In the meantime, our info sections will consolidate now that we have more solid worgen news. We will also create an official Blizzard art and images section for worgen. Hopefully, WordPress’ themes will accomodate our future growth. Keep an eye open despite a sleepy post-Blizzcon September.