tauren
Latest
Baine Bloodhoof leader short story now available
The tauren have witnessed great change within their own society and culture with the coming of the cataclysm, from political upheaval and great sadness to unbearable loss. With the death of Cairne Bloodhoof, the tauren people turned to his son, Baine, with reverence and hope that he would lead in his father's footsteps and be as great a high chieftain. With the ascension of Garrosh Hellscream to warchief and the bonds that held the orcs and the tauren together stretching thinner, Baine must work through his troubles and the troubles of the tauren people and help hold the Horde together. Baine Bloodhoof: As Our Fathers Before Us by Stevie Nix (not Stevie Nicks) begins with Durotar in dire straights. The goblins, now fully members of the Horde, have gummed up the Southfury river and made the water undrinkable. Garrosh has come to Mulgore to work with the tauren to begin water shipments to Durotar of fresh, clean water. Attacks on these water caravans, now frequent, pose a huge threat to the survivability of Orgrimmar. Hamuul Runetotem does not let his emotions get in the way as he confides in Baine that his love for Garrosh is lax. Baine insists that despite Garrosh's foolishness, the tauren are to remain as members of the Horde, just as his father had wanted. Check out the full story, Baine Bloodhoof: As Our Fathers Before Us, for some intriguing and action-packed new lore about our favorite tauren's son and his rise to chieftain.
Know Your Lore: The shu'halo
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. We talked about their origins last week (although that was primarily speculation), and we've talked about their politics and how they fit within the Horde. We've discussed Cairne and his son Baine, the great leaders of their people, and Magatha, the greatest living villain. But what of the shu'halo, the tauren people themselves? Who are they? The tauren today are in a very unusual position. They revere the Earthmother and yet are allied to people who stripmine her very flesh to plunder her resources, chop down her forests, and poison her creatures with plague. Former nomads, harried by enemies, they now reside in their ancestral homeland due to those same alliances. The Horde gave them much and now asks for much. For the tauren, the shu'halo, the debt owed when Thrall and his people helped them reach their promised land has never faded. But who were they before it?
Know Your Lore: Tauren origins and tinfoil hats
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Where, exactly, do tauren come from? Yes, there's the old standby about a mommy tauren and a daddy tauren -- but in a world where some beings trace their origins back to stone constructs and ancient curses while others are native and still others were altered by the Well of Eternity, the question of where a people originated can be an important and convoluted one. The most recent Ask Creative Development thread from the official forums managed to cover a lot of subject matter, from Elune and her relationship with the Naaru to whether Forsaken priests could actually blow themselves up by channeling too much of the Holy Light. But the question and answer that most interested me was the following: Q: What races were on Azeroth before the coming of the titans? A: Besides the elementals, the only known sentient races on Azeroth when the titans' forces arrived to subdue the Old Gods were the trolls, the race known as "faceless ones," and the aqir. Due to the Old Gods' war against the titans, as well as the extensive terraforming that followed the war's conclusion, records of what races existed before even the Old Gods' arrival have likely been lost forever. source Anne already discussed this to a degree, but I wanted to take a longer look at the tauren, their history and mythology, what they seem to believe about their origins, and why it might matter to this question. Where did the tauren come from? Please remember the rules. This is all speculation, and while I try and build it on the framework of the lore we're supplied in game, I'm going to end up somewhere that is absolutely not at all in game.
All the World's a Stage: Tauren and timelines in roleplay
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Have questions about roleplaying, or roleplaying issues? Email me -- I'm always open to suggestions! Last week, we discussed the timelines of gnomes and dwarves, two races that recently discovered their roots. Though the dwarves and gnomes were originally Titan creations, today we're going to talk about a race that has simply been here since the beginning -- the tauren. Much like the night elves, the tauren have a gigantic chunk of history that is simply ... missing, though the tauren have more of an explanation for that absence of information than their night elf counterparts. For tauren roleplayers, however, the past isn't really an issue so much as current events -- and the tauren race has a lot to think about. The tauren have often been thought of as the "nicest" of the Horde races, peaceful and generally kind to all. That's what makes what happens to the tauren race in Cataclysm twice as bitter -- their people turned on, their leader killed in cold blood, and their home under siege. Despite all this, the tauren remain staunch allies of the Horde, willing to lay down their lives for honor.
Lichborne: Racial abilities for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With all the upheaval regarding death knight abilities and DPS happening right now, it's sometimes a good idea to go back to the basics and figure out some of the stuff that underlies a good, solid death knight. One of the most basic cornerstones of choosing a death knight is choosing your race. Since every single race can be a death knight, you have your pick, and since there's a race change service, you don't even have to stay the same race forever. Personally, I tend to say that you choose whatever race feels right for you -- but for those who want to pick a race (or change your current race) based on what racials are "best," this guide is for you.
WoW Archivist: World of Warcraft patch 1.1
The WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? What secrets does the game still hold? If you enjoyed Patches of Yesteryear, you're going to love this. This week's Archivist will be tackling World of Warcraft patch 1.1. Up until this point, we'd been mired in alpha and beta patches, examining the game before the masses got its grubby mitts on it. Patch 1.1 is the first 1.x version of the game, making it the first version of the client made available for open release to the public. However, this patch was released prior to the official launch of the game -- those of you that participated in the open beta of World of Warcraft back in late 2004, it's this version of the game that you likely saw first. This patch included goodies such as: The implementation of kodo as the replacement for Plainsrunning Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair were opened up Removal of many in-combat resurrection spells Let's crack open the archives!
The Queue: Good Monday
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Hey, what do you know! We had a bunch of great questions for today's Queue, which is unusual for a Monday. I'm usually picking through scraps. I think that means this week will be a good week. Necromann asked: Do player character hitboxes differ? For example, can you hit a tauren farther away than you can hit a gnome?
WoW Insider's Weekly Webcomic: Safe Passage
Welcome to another edition of WoW Insider's Weekly Comic, Safe Passage. This comic takes place post-Cataclysm, so there will be minor spoilers. The first strike! A frost trap has been thrown onto the fire, blanketing them in darkness. She strikes, now within her natural element. Check out the full comic right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-102091%
The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling your new Sunwalker
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how awesome tauren paladins are. After The Shattering hit Azeroth, it was clear that the world was never going to be the same. Entire zones were torn asunder, and everyone who can take up arms to combat Deathwing has stood up to fight. The Horde recently inducted the Sunwalkers into the fold, and they're eagerly training in the way of the Light. Now players won't be stuck with blood elves when they want to play the paladin class. If you've been on the general forums in the past few days, you've seen some of the clever names that people have come up with for their tauren paladins. Retbull (gives you wings), Skim (Light milk), and Bovinity (divine cows) were among my personal favorites. I decided to start a new tauren paladin myself, figuring I could heal my way through the low-level dungeons and try out the new starting quests and zones at the same time. It's been years since I've played a new paladin, and it was time for a refresher course.
Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a tauren druid
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, welcome to Thunder Bluff. This week, we're continuing our series on why (or why not) to play a particular druidic race in Cataclysm, and today we'll continue with the tauren. Fair warning: We tread on some expansion spoilers in this article. The full series is available here: Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a night elf druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a tauren druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a worgen druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a troll druid
Cataclysm Beta: Worgen are their own mounts? [Update: Confirmed!]
Update: Zarhym has confirmed Running Wild as the worgen "mount" in Cataclysm. There have been a lot of people anxiously awaiting the arrival of worgen mounts on the beta. Goblins have had their mounts for a little while now, and most people are still curious what the worgen mounts will even look like. With some of the information mined out of the most recent beta build, it looks like a worgen mount will end up being the worgen themselves. A new racial ability called Running Wild has been added for worgen, with a 1.5-second cast time that adds the "mounted" aura to the player. The description says, "Drop to all fours to run as fast as a wild animal." However, worgen already have their own version of Sprint called Darkflight, which gives them a temporary speed boost, but this new racial implies mounted speeds. If this is true, then it will mean different things for different groups. For worgen druids, you never have a reason to buy a mount of any type now. For those Alliance players out there, this might mean a lack of worgen racial mounts, which will probably be compensated elsewhere to keep the number of mounts equal between Horde and Alliance. For tauren players, yes, someone else appears to be getting Plainsrunning before you. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Cataclysm Beta: Racial changes in build 12984
A new build for the Cataclysm beta is pending and should be hitting servers fairly soon. In build 12984, we're going to see several races getting a few updates. Racial changes Human Perception is gone. Undead Cannibalize now also regenerates mana. (7% of total health and mana every 2 sec for 10 sec) Tauren Cultivation still increases your Herbalism skill by 15, but also lets you gather herbs faster than normal herbalists. Gnomes Shortblade Specialization Expertise with Daggers and One-Handed Swords increased by 3. Human Perception is gone? My poor dwarf will have extra reason to be Cannibalized? Gnomes becoming experts with daggers and one-handed swords? And the change no one could have seen coming, taurens can pick flowers faster? Anyway, enough with the amazement. What do you guys think of these changes to racials so far? [via MMO-Champion] World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Byron the Tauren Rogue: And here's your lovely parting gift
Before Byron snuck off into the shadows, he told me to give you all a little something to remember him by. "Now," you ask. "what could you possibly give anyone that wasn't obtained illegally?" That's easy: IM icons! You are all more then welcome to use these swanky icons for things like forums, Twitter, or your absolute favorite site to talk about WoW! Also, if you somehow missed the ending of Byron, the review, or you don't even know what I'm talking about, why not try catching up a little bit? %Gallery-101950%
Byron the Tauren Rogue: The cow, the legend, the gnome
When I approached the editors of WoW.com to ask them if they'd be interested in letting me do some work, I was thrilled when they agreed and took me on. The creative freedom I got was incredible: "Write us an idea, and if it's all right, you can do it." Thus, Byron the Tauren Rogue was born. Now, the legend of the tauren rogue is just one of many jokes within the WoW universe, like the cow level, or skilled ret paladins. Even though I was told that this idea was "done to death," I really wanted to try out the lovable oaf sort of character. What I didn't expect is what it would turn into. The general synopsis of Byron is as such: Byron is a young, male tauren who dreams of becoming the first rogue of his kind. His friends -- skilled rogues themselves -- dare Byron to sneak into Stormwind and steal the Shield of Fordragon. If he can acquire it and safely escape the city, then he has more than proven himself.
WoW.com's Weekly Comic: Byron, the Tauren Rogue
Welcome to another edition of the WoW.com Weekly Comic, Byron the Tauren Rogue! Well, here we are: the end of Byron. Our story ends with Byron, the bovine hero, watching a raid take place upon the ever-assaulted Crossroads. He has chosen his path but swears to use it to protect those who need to be protected. He is now one with the shadows, always watching over his beloved Horde. I wanted to thank all of you for sticking with this story from the beginning. While I'll be the first to admit it got off to quite a rocky start, I feel that this comic has evolved a lot, and I'm ultimately happy with where it led. Next week, I'll be featuring an article which, among other things, will be an overview of the entire series. I'll talk about the characters, the story, the writing and many other points. I hope to see you all back again! For those who are worried -- don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm taking a small, two-week break to write the next story and pen out a couple of fun little Byron-related goodies. Byron may come back one day, as this next story will be completely unrelated, but who knows? From the Byron crew, we all thank you for reading. Take care! Check out the full version right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-77825%
Know Your Lore: An'she and the Holy Light
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. When considering the new race and class combinations that Blizzard has to offer, some are immediately recognizable, such as human or Forsaken hunters. It stands to reason they'd exist; they already have in game since the very beginning. Some take a little more research, such as the history of the Shen'dralar and how that effects new night elves that would like to study the arcane. However, some of these new race and class choices are so far out there and so inconceivable that the very mention of them existing seems completely out of place. The tauren race has long been a follower of nature, the spirits of the elements and the mysterious "Earthmother," as well as the elusive Mu'sha -- also known as Elune by the night elves. Yet in Cataclysm the tauren will be following the path of the Holy Light -- the paladin and the priest class. At first, the announcement seemed entirely out of line for the nature-loving race, but examining the tauren a little more closely gives the answers and the explanations we're looking for. To explain the tauren paladin and priest class, we first have to go way, way back to the dawn of tauren civilization and the only know records of tauren history, the Thunder Bluff scrolls. WARNING: The following post may contain some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain spoiler free, do not continue.
Breakfast Topic: I can't quit you, tauren
As you may or may not be aware, a disturbingly high percentage of my max-level characters are warriors. At present, a draenei, night elf and tauren are at 80. I transferred all three to the beta servers and figured I'd use the tauren to test out fury both in Titan's Grip and Single-Minded Fury variants. But I was determined not to enjoy it, because so far, I find the storyline of Cataclysm extremely polarizing. After leveling a worgen to 64 before mount bugs sidelined him, I was really angry with what seemed like the Horde's going to ridiculous extremes, and so I vowed to only use the tauren for some benchmark tests in the new quest drops. This lasted long enough for me to log in and for some reason go to The Barrens. That was a serious mistake. Seeing Camp Taurajo in ruins, finding Mankrik rampaging his way through quillboars, one-shotting Alliance sappers across the battlefield that was once the Field of Giants ... I don't know what it is about my tauren, but the second I play him, I forget I've got a much more highly geared, achievements-out-the-wazoo, heroic-ICC-killing draenei out there. I don't really feel this way about any other Horde race. But when I log on a tauren, I immediately feel at home, and so now I'm happily leveling through Hyjal and Vashj'ir and thinking it's time I gave his live-server self some attention. What I'm saying is that tauren are awesome, and I suggest you roll one. You can be paladins soon! And priests! Man, tauren priests are just the epitome of awesome.
The Classifieds: Coming out of the closet edition
The Classifieds is a weekly roundup of news from around the WoW community. Your host for this week is the ever-so-shadowy Fox Van Allen, filling in for a vacationing Lisa Poisso in exchange for an undisclosed sum of pirate treasure. As always, if you have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share, send it in to TheClassifieds@WoW.com. If there are 50 ways to leave your lover, then there must be at least 100 different ways to leave a guild. There's the middle-of-an-argument /gquit, the log-on-in-the-middle-of-the-night-so-no-one-sees-you /gquit, the passive-aggressive /gquit, and of course, the I-illegally-sold-my-WoW-account-on-Craigslist-to-buy-a-ten-year-old-dirtbike /gquit. I think I have a new favorite, though: The tauren-trapped-in-a-night-elf's-body /gquit. Milkmenot (Boulderfist [US-H]), formerly Slimbones (Uldaman [US-A]), wrote one of the most creative goodbye notes to his guild that I've seen in a long time: I have a confession I need to make, it's something that has been bothering me for quite some time and I need to get it out there. I've been having these feelings. It started out just around town in Dalaran when I would see this Tauren going by. Our eyes would meet, just briefly, and all these feelings would well up inside. I'd try to follow her, intrigued by her curves and horns, but then she always goes into that Horde-only area and I would get booted out. So I'd hang around the entrance there just hoping to sneak a peek. The rest of the goodbye note -- and so much more -- is available just after the break.
World of Warcraft: Shaman manga preview
Do you like World of Warcraft? Do you like comics and/or manga? If you answered yes to either question, then I highly recommend you check out the newest upcoming WoW manga by Tokyopop titled World of Warcraft: Shaman. Written by Paul Benjamin (Starcraft: Frontline) and drawn/inked by the ever-talented Roccio Zucchi (World of Warcraft: Death Knight), this will be the next installment of the WoW class-themed comics. World of Warcraft: Shaman follows the epic tale of one Muln Earthfury, leader of the shamanistic group known as the Earthen Ring. Muln and his fellow shaman become concerned over time, as the elements they worked so closely with start becoming unresponsive and exceedingly violent. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, in comes Shotoa -- a mysterious tauren shaman who doesn't just work with the elements, but brutally forces them to do his bidding. Shotoa promises power and grandeur for the ancient organization, claiming that Muln has lost his power. He vows to lead his followers into a grand new era of shamanism, but Muln and his people must decide if Shotoa is honoring their traditions, or desecrating them. I like the way this manga has a nice tie-in to the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If Deathwing's arrival is going to force open several elemental planes, it makes a lot of sense that the resident spirits of Azeroth are going to be in upheaval. There is also very little known about Muln himself. All we know is that he leads the Earthen Ring. Other than that, he's kept a pretty low profile. We'll also get to meet Kettara Bloodthirst, his spunky-looking orc apprentice. Once again, Blizzard is using the idea of trans-media to their advantage and exploring major lore characters that otherwise would be overlooked in-game. World of Warcraft: Shaman will be available in October 2010.
Know Your Lore TFH Edition: Cataclysm Horde politics
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Players who wish to play the new expansion spoiler-free should veer away from this post. All right, we've seen over the past five weeks the current political activity in all of the Horde races; orcs, trolls, tauren, Forsaken and blood elves. Needless to say, there is a lot of conflict just beginning to rear its head -- not just from one race to the next, but internally within those races as well. What does all this mean in regards to the Horde, when Cataclysm comes into play? Today we'll be looking at what (given all the information we've been presented previously), if anything, will happen when Cataclysm finally launches and the world gets thrown into chaos. Please note I've put a spoiler warning on this post. This is because the following content, while mostly sheer speculation, may or may not end up being correct and will also directly address several rumors regarding Cataclysm that have not yet been confirmed. If you see a "TFH" demarcation on any future Know Your Lore posts, these are "Tin Foil Hat" predictions based on current lore and are in no way actually indicative of anything officially from Blizzard in regards to the game or where it's going to go. If anything presented here does end up being correct, these will actually become Cataclysm spoilers; if not, we've still had plenty of fun trying to predict how things are going to go down! Potential spoilers start immediately after the break.
